Blogging Away Debt

Learning from the Financial Wisdom of Family…

My sister is visiting from Kansas City with her husband and four kids for the next two weeks. I’d love the fact that she visits more if she wasn’t… so… well…

Perfect.

She’s debt free other than her mortgage – and even then, she’s paying it aggressively. I’d love to tell you that her husband makes loads of money and that’s how she’s able to be a stay at home mom to four kids and remain debt free but…

He doesn’t.

My sister has found ways to live below her means and actively seeks new methods to spend less. She purchases clothing and toys for the kids at garage sales in nice neighborhoods then resells them when the kids outgrow them (sometimes, she actually MAKES money on this!), doesn’t waste money on cable TV or other ‘necessities’, drives an older yet reliable car, and she cooks fabulous inexpensive meals at home (my home cooked meals are inexpensive but they are far from fabulous).

She’s the annoyingly good at being frugal but not cheap.

Naturally, I spend this time around her basking in her infinite financial wisdom, asking questions, and learning from her example…

…and I am also the queen of England.

Sorry folks, sibling rivalry is alive and well.

So, I do the second best thing, I make my mom ask the questions and I pretend not to listen.

My advice, befriend someone frugal – even if it is your sister. I find that I don’t learn as much from the books or the internet as I do from those who may not have it all figured out, but they do a pretty darn good job.

Reining in Mr. Fix-It

by Beks

In the process of spending half our grocery budget on a ‘loaf of bread’, my husband purchased a plastic dog food storage container. In all fairness, the recent storms and moisture have molded the dog food and we’ve had to throw some away. Not realizing the container was too small, my husband dumped the entire bag of dog food into it – a large portion of which landed on the floor. Frustrated, he went back to Target to return the container and purchase a larger size. They didn’t have a larger airtight one so he brought home a cheap plastic bin with a lid. Putting his hand to his chin, he stared at it and said, ‘It’s not air tight. I refuse to lose anymore dog food to bugs or water!’

Today at work, I received an e-mail from my husband with a ‘solution’ to our problem.

From: Chris
To: Rebekah
Subject: Dog Food Storage
What do you think of something like this for dog food storage?

Dog Food Storage

Um. I don’t think food containers are even that complicated at the San Diego Zoo. A ‘blast gate’ on the bottom? Was he planning to build a dog food container or a launch pad for NASA?

I showed my co-worker the sketch from my overachieving Mr. Fix it and she laughed… then offered to give me a dog food bin from her dog who passed away 6 months ago. She wasn’t planning on getting a new dog and was throwing the bin away.

In the end, my husband came through, just not in the way we expected. We were able to return cheap bin. Woo Hoo for returns! More grocery money!