Frugal Findings

Before I go into all my findings, I should say how I got into this predicament in the first place. It was easy, my husband and I were spending more than we made. So to help rectify the situation I went to our Wellsfargo account and they have this wonderful thing called "My Spending Report" which breaks down all of your spending. We discovered (like we didn't know it already) that we were spending over $500 a month in restaurants, amongst other things. So, we were both put on a cash basis. I was given $1,000 a month for groceries...which includes household items also, remember I am shopping for a family of 9. Well we succeeded, actually went out to eat a little bit and still had around $500 a month left over. That was great! We were going to be able to get out of the hole very easily. Well, that is until this week when we were told that starting November 1st we were losing 28% of our income! Yikes

I know $1,000 a month is a very comfortable number for me, so I went online to research to see what I can do to reduce that number as much as I can. Like I said in the last post, I haven't learned too much that I didn't already know, but it is nice to refresh your memory and to get reinspired to be frugal. The following information is not just for grocery shopping, and remember this is the stuff I found on line, I am not telling you to do any of it. This information you use at your own risk...this is a cya statement.

Finances:

• You have to know what is coming in and going out, and where it is going, too. If you do on-line banking they may have a spending report. Use it, or something like Quicken to figure out what is going on with your money.
• To pay off bills there is something called the snowball effect, which sounds amazing. You don't worry about interest rates, but look at the smallest bill. Pay your minimum on all the bills but the smallest. Put as much money as you can on the smallest bill, keep doing that until it is paid off. Then put all that money, plus what you were paying on the next smallest bill, towards it. Do that until that bill is paid off. Then take that amount of money and add it to the next bill, etc. Keep doing this until your bills are paid off.
• Now that your bills are paid off, you think you have that extra money each month? NO! You take what you were paying to your bills and put it into savings until you have enough to live on for 6 months should something happen to your job.
• Now can you spend? No, you need to start investing your money, increasing your retiremnt accounts, and when that is done, invest in income earning assets, to bring you to financial freedom. This is where my husband can take over.
• Most sites recommend not to use credit cards. They all agree you need one for car and other emergencies. If you have a debit card that can be used to earn points if you use it as a credit card, then I would use it as a credit card every time you make a purchase. That is what we do, and at the end of the year we have $300-500 in store gift cards to use for Christmas shopping.
• Remember you cannot be accruing debt during all of this. You are actually supposed to try and increase your income through bettering yourself and your skills so that you are in better positions for raises. Also, you can "clean house" and instead of having a garage sale, sell it on line....actually you can go to other peoples garage sales and auctions and get things cheap to sell for a profit online.

Reduce Temptation:

• No more shopping for pleasure or because you're bored! Only shop when it is necessary and when you have a list. The only time you are allowed to deviate from the list is, if something you usually buy is on major sale and you can stock up on it. And of course shop on a full stomach.
• Toss all the catalogs that come in the mail...without looking at them first.

Groceries:

• Plan your meals; there are many frugal recipes online. Don't shop without a list
• Make more things from scratch: soups, casseroles, cookies, breads, snacks, etc.
• Do without junkfood and processed foods. They are more expensive and very unhealthy. There is an allowable amount of most kinds of fats that you can have, except for Trans Fat, it should be zero! Unfortunately, companies can label their items zero trans fat if they have less than one gram of trans fat. To be safe, read the ingredients label, if it says shortening, hydrogenated oil or partially hydrogenated oil, then the product is unsafe and you shouldn't buy it, period! Animal lards and tallow are okay. They aren't the healthiest, but are a much better alternative to trans fats.
• Go back to the staples and fresh foods.
• Use less meat and more filler: The kind you put in the meat to make it go further like textured vegetable protein and bread crumbs, etc., and other options on the table like vegetables, potatoes, rice, noodles, and bread.
• Start doing once a month cooking or when you make something, make enough for two meals and freeze one.
• Buy in bulk, but you need to be careful and bring your calculator, because many times I find it is cheaper to buy more of the smaller size than to buy the larger size or in bulk. Sometimes discount food stores such as Aldi or Save-a-lot will be cheaper to buy in regular sizes, than to buy in bulk at a warehouse type store. This is key when storage space is at a premium. So, be careful when buying in bulk.

Laundry/Clothing:

• Don't wash clothes, especially jeans, unless they are visibly dirty or stinky. Hang things up after you wear them. Washing too often wears out your clothes quicker, plus you are using more water, soap, fabric softner/dryer sheets and electricity than you need to.
• Only do full loads of laundry, and use the smallest amount of product necessary to do the job.
• Stain Remover Recipe: 1 part Wisk liquid laundry soap, 1 part Dawn dishwashing liquid, and 1 part vinegar. Put into a squeeze bottle and use on stains.
• Shop at consignment shops and/or second hand shops...like Goodwill. Never pay full price.

Household:

• Depending on how your garbage works, you can save money by recycling and using a trash compactor. Before we moved to our house with a trash compactor we used 3-4 garbage cans each week. After we moved we were down to one can. Now that I recycle, we are basically down to one to two compactor bags every week depending on whats going on and the time of year.
• Of course you should turn off all lights when you leave a room, and if you are a Myth Busters watcher, you know that they busted the myth about it's cheaper to leave a flourescent bulb on than turn it off and on again. Also, you are supposed to switch to flourescent bulbs, which use to be a big turn off for me, because it was never bright enough, but now they make those "day light" bulbs that have the white/blue light instead of yellow, and they are awesome!
• Don't leave your water running: when brushing teeth, when washing/rinsing dishes, and some will go so far as during washing in the shower...I'll leave that up to you.
• Don't be wasteful. Don't use 5 paper towels when you could get by with 1-2...or better yet use cloth napkins, rags, washcloths, dishtowels, to do all the work and you won't have to buy paper towels at all; and while your at it you can stop buying paper plates, too. I refuse to tell you to use less toilet paper!

Well, most of this is probably obvious to anyone who has been at it a while, being frugal that is. Hopefully, you have found something useful in my meandering.