Reboot Frugality

In May I made some huge changes in my spending habits in order to curb overspending and work towards some hard core saving.  Well, I should say that I tried.  I did take a huge step by making my finances a little more transparent, something I would have never done before.

Some crazy things happened though.  The least crazy being some medical bills that had been piling up due to the past year's illnesses.  Then my poor Honey-cat needed an emergency vet visit to fix a portion of her tail that I caught in the front door after coming home from a doctor visit in Sacramento (she's healed up perfectly, no permanent damage!).  Oh and my best friend got married (while I helped her setup and maintain a budget for her own wedding, I didn't make a budget for me or if I did I didn't stick to it...at all).  That was all in just the first couple weeks of June.  Ouch!  Obviously, July needs more discipline.

The second to last week of June, Jeff's temp assignment ended.  To date, he's still looking for work. So far it's only been a week and a half, and I'm honestly not as stressed about it  now as I was the two weeks leading up to his last day.  He's a hard worker, he can learn just about anything, and he has a really likable personality.  I'm just hoping whatever he finds next is even more enjoyable and longer term (read: permanent) than what he's done so far.  His happiness is most important.  Money will follow.  Eventually.  Right?

My work front is apparently stable.  I have a weird feeling about things though.  Nothing in particular.  Call it intuition, but it makes me antsy.  Most days I don't let it get to me.  I try to do my best (although that's admittedly difficult while being packed into a sardine, being constantly interrupted or distracted by office noise from the cramped conditions) work and just focus on my projects.

But with that latent anxiety, I would be STUPID not to have a backup plan.  I've been watching job sites for the last week just to see what skill sets are in demand so I can continue to challenge myself to stay relevant.  I'm honestly not interested in changing jobs.  Despite my uncomfortable seating arrangement, I love my job and the people I work with.  But still, the best time to look is while you are employed.

However, I am primarily looking to supplement my income through other projects.  I don't want to spend the rest of my life in a cubicle, in front of a computer, coding.  I want to have a flexible schedule doing more creative ventures, like YOGA!  Last Saturday I kicked off my first yoga class in my living room for friends.  I won't spend a lot of time talking about it since I have another blog I've dedicated to that project (and a hopeful future project in simple living/personal organization).  I also have a Facebook page you should totally "Like"!  This is something I have wanted to do for a long time.  I'm using the small class fee I am collecting to help subsidize getting my certification so I can work with a studio and a more diverse client base.

I also have other ideas I may or may not experiment with to help bring in extra income.

Why all the income supplementation?

Why not?

I'm celebrating 30 years of life come September.  While I have done a number of amazing things I am very proud of, I want more.  I'd like to spend a few days at Disneyland to celebrate my birthday (including pictures will all the Disney princesses, of course) and we're planning a tour of Europe in December.  It's possible to do this with one income, but just barely.

Maybe I want too much.  Maybe I'm just being a ridiculous little girl chasing after unrealistic dreams.  Maybe everyone will laugh at me.

You know, I'll be laughing too when I'm having lunch with Ariel or sitting with my friends in a cafe in Amsterdam or stretching into Pigeon pose among the sheep in Wales.

Getting Financially Fit

A couple weeks ago, I talked about how shocked I was about my restaurant spending.  The grand total for the month of April ended up being $239.22.  Still ridiculously high but a $46.61 improvement from March.

I spent the remaining week of April trying to automate my finances as much as possible.  I switched my mortgage payments from a monthly payment to a weekly payment.  I've also increased the amount of principle I pay, so at the end of the year  it's like having three extra payments but going directly to principle (so the value is actually greater than three months of principle, since at the beginning of the loan term a larger percentage is applied to interest).  I have to pay the bank $2 per processing transaction, but I learned last year I can't do it on my own because their lockbox system doesn't recognize the non-standard payment amount.  However, having it set up outside my control gives me less incentive to go through Bank of America's annoying phone system to get to a representative to change it every week to suit me.  The object here is to be accountable.

I also set up my student loans to be withdrawn automatically every month.  I'm on an extended graduated payment plan so I can have smaller payments now, but end up paying nearly as much in interest as the original value of my loans.  I did this so I can still set aside some savings every month, which will hopefully enable me to pay off large chunks of my student loans every year.  If I'm good, I can have my student loans paid off in five years and end up paying only half of the interest as I would have on the standard payment plan.

Once my student loans are paid off, I can transfer that money to my mortgage payments.  My mortgage, again if I'm good and diligent, can be paid off in 10 years.

That's right.  I can be debt free in 10 years.  On just my modest salary.  In a three person household.  I think that's kind of badass.

I took a page from Dave Ramsey and instead of depositing the rent money I received, I broke it up into two groups:

Piles of money! My monthly allowance for food and gas.

I paperclipped the food cash ($120) and the gas cash ($160) together a put a post-it note on top so I could document where the money goes.  The food pile can go towards groceries or eating out, but once it's gone, that's it.  Same thing with the gas money.  If I have no gas and not enough money to fill my tank, I have to take the bus (which at most would be $40 to commute every day to and from work for the month).  However, anything left over is for me to spend on whatever I want (for now that will be saving up to take a 6 week yoga class when my bellydancing class ends).

There's just one little problem:  Jeff's temp gig that he's been working for nearly six months is just about over.  We're both confident they'll find a permanent position for him there, but we don't know for sure yet.  If the worst happens, I'll have to take on more expenses (like Dan's preschool and daycare) until the issue is resolved.  I'm not worried though.  Reducing my inflated mortgage payment will more than pay for the extras and I can pick it up again at a later time with very little upset to the overall plan.

It's not without sacrifice though.  I can't buy things for the house when I need them (or more precisely, WANT them), I can't contribute as much to potlucks as I would probably like, and I can't fit in as many social activities as I might be inclined to do otherwise (although I can certainly invite friends and family over instead of dinners or coffees out).  Actually, I kind of anticipate this journey being relatively peaceful once I'm fully acclimated to it.

How's your financial health?

Viva L'Autobus!

A couple weeks ago I talked about trying to be more frugal.  One way of saving over $100 was by starting to use the Fresno Area Express as my primary method of transportation for my work commute.  Because I waited so long, I was able to pick up a discounted bus pass on Monday. Tuesday I had a doctor's appointment and I didn't want to miss a lot of work trying to navigate the bus system for the first time in a long while.  So I started this morning.  I woke up about an hour earlier than normal, did my regular routine and was out the door by 5:45am to catch the bus.  I don't feel any more tired than normal.

The mile or so walk to the bus stop was lovely.  The streets were still quiet and the air was cool and moist.  Instead of popping my headphones in, I listened to the neighborhood sounds.  As I came up on a corner I started to hear a rooster crow.  I saw a black rooster wandering around a corner lot's front yard.  I thought roosters were illegal to own in this area of the city, but maybe they were in a county island that permitted it.  I don't know.  Our little suburb is right on the edge of a more rural area.  I listened to his crows as I walked, but as I rounded the corner he made the strangest gurgling crow!  I turned and realized he must have started the next crow and got slammed in the head by the owner's sprinkler system turning on.  I literally lolled.  Don't worry!  The rooster was fine!  He was crowing normally a few seconds later.

In fact, lots of houses along Brawley had black roosters roaming around, singing their little songs.  It was kind of cute.  I wondered how many people found the noise annoying.  I wondered if I would find it annoying if they were closer to my house.  I had a moment of gratitude that they weren't peacocks!  And yes, I did refrain from talking back to the roosters.  I learned my lesson when a friend's rooster with a Napoleon complex chased me down for getting too clucky!

So back to the bus.  I arrived at the bus stop 10 minutes early.  It was an awkward stop in front of a ranch style home with no bench or shelter.  Eight minutes later when the bus reached the intersection, I realized there was a bench and shelter caddy-corner from the stop I chose.  Doh!  I scurried across the street and hopped on.

Mostly high school and college students filtered onto the bus after that, trying to reach the inner city schools.  At one point the bus actually passed some jerk going 20 MPH on Blackstone.  That was pretty funny.  The ride was otherwise uneventful.

I listened to my music, but I didn't busy myself with the crochet project I brought along.  I was too fascinated looking out the windows taking in the buildings and happenings on the street level.  Plus I needed to get my bearings.  The ride home might be different.

I'm pretty pleased with the first venture.  I won't be taking the bus most Thursdays due to my having a yoga class that night.  It's just too difficult to make all the transfers and arrive ready to relax while hot and sweaty.

I'm lucky to have a straight route.  Transfers can be a pain!

The Art of Being Frugal

T's first big shopping trip

Over the last several months, I've been trying to find more ways to save money.  We started out small: using the compact economy car for weekend errands over the gas-guzzling mini-van; use dried goods like rice and beans sitting in the cupboard over buying perishable perishables that will inevitably perish before we can consume them; switching out lightbulbs for CFL's.

We even have a vegetable garden that has been producing like mad!  Zucchinis, crookneck squash, tomatoes, but especially Armenian cucumbers have been life savers during the heavy potluck season.

The beau, fortunately, has always been a thrifty shopper.  My weekly food bill for two quickly went from nearly $175 a week (long story, don't ask!) to an average of $50 (and that includes feeding the sometimes children we'd have roaming around).  I regularly tell my friends who complain about their shopping bill that they should take him shopping with them.  (And yes, he will do it, he loves saving money even if it's not his money he's saving.) He stumbled across a couponing blog last week and now he's buying $250 worth of groceries for $23.  I'm serious.  It's insane.  The picture above is very real!  I mean, I had to find space for all that stuff!

It's a little sad that it's not very wholesome food.  I'm not much into processed cereals (I was brought up on Cheerios and Kix and sometimes Honey Nut Cheerios when my parents went shopping with a sweet tooth), and I'll have the very occasional Poptart, but I anticipate most of this will be given away. Maybe the fruit snacks will hold out until Halloween!  Maybe I'll learn how to make chocolate rice treats for the next potluck. I don't know.

So obviously, we'll be saving a lot of money on groceries.  The couponing is a little too complicated for me, but I'm glad the beau enjoys it and saves me money in the process.  I'll try not to complain too much about the quality of foods and try to make the most of it.  Fortunately, there's some wheat bread and three bags of grapes to make me feel better, too! (And cornflakes, which make THE BEST crusting agent for chicken, yum!)

The next major area I'm hoping to save money is on gas.  One of the things I love about my new house is the public transportation access.  The closest bus stop is about a 15 to 20 minute walk (after some time, probably closer to 10 minutes) from the house and is a direct route to my office.  The last drop off point is followed by a 10 minute walk from the stop to my office.  So yes, plenty of walking AND leisurely reading time.

Gas costs me approximately $35 a week.  That's filling up a 12 gallon tank once every 6 to 8 days (depending on the schedule).  My commute is about 16 miles a day to and from the office not including other stops.

A monthly bus pass costs...$35!!!  So for one week's worth of gas, I can ride the bus for a month.  I would probably end up spending about $35 in gas per month for any extra driving I might do on the weekends or evenings after the buses stop (shouldn't be very often).  I even figured out how to time and switch buses to make yoga class after work two nights a week.

I had every intention of starting my new bus program today (just to and from home for a couple days with dollars before I invested in the pass), but life (read: I'm making up excuses) got in the way.  So I committed to start tomorrow.  I have to leave the house before 6am to get to the office before 7:30am.  Seems a little excessive, but I'm going to be saving money, getting decent exercise, and finally making time for all those books and magazines I've been wanting to read!  It will make evening planning a little difficult, but I'm excited to try it.

So, what drastic measures have you taken (or wish to take) to save money?