Monthly Archives: November 2008

Buying time between haircuts

frugal haircutMy hair is trouble. Always has been. It’s naturally curly, oddly textured, and prone to breakage. If I don’t take good care of it, I end up looking a little like the Bride of Frankenstein.

Obviously, I try to cut costs on things when I can. When we first moved and money was even tighter than it is now, I thought haircuts could be one of those things. I went with my husband to the $8 hair cuttery where he gets his trimmed. Bad mistake. My hair looked like it had been butchered with a dull steak knife. I was self-conscious about it for months until it grew out and I could get it cut again and evened out.

So I’ve resigned myself to paying a little extra to a stylist I trust will make me look my best. Since I pay about $40 a haircut (a luxury to be sure), I have to limit myself to just a couple haircuts a year.

There are a few things I do to extend the time between haircuts without letting my hair look like a hot mess. Even if you don’t pay a lot for haircuts, these tips will keep your hair looking healthier for longer and extend the time between haircuts.

Use a good shampoo and conditioner.

I’ve written about how I get pricey salon haircare products for $3.25 a month. If your hair is no fuss, you might not notice a difference between salon products and more affordable brands. If you have dry, naturally curly, or damaged hair, you probably know what I’m talking about when I say it really can make a huge difference in the overall health and maintenance of your hair.

Take it easy on the heat styling.

I used to be a blow dry fanatic until a just a few weeks ago. Then I did the math and realized I was spending about 5 days a year styling my hair. Yikes. Now I’m wearing it curly more often. Even when I blow dried, though, I never did it more than twice a week. Heat styling damages hair and causes split ends faster. If you’re addicted to blow drying, limit yourself to a couple times a week.

Just trim your bangs.

Typically your bangs need trimming sooner than the rest of your hair. If you’re handy with scissors, keeping your bangs trimmed yourself can buy you a lot of time between cuts.

Personally, I don’t trust myself to cut my own hair. But my stylist will trim my bangs for $7. I can pop in for a trim every other month and extend the time between full cuts to 6 months or so.

Obviously, the easiest way to avoid the hassle and expense of maintaining bangs is to grow them out.

The easiest way to save money on haircuts is not to be so particular about them. I know many faithful frugals who swear by beauty school haircuts. Maybe some day I’ll get past my bad experiences and take the plunge. For now, I’ll continuing seeing the stylist I trust twice a year. :)

Frugal ways to make your dreams come true now

Photo by darwinbell

washer and dryer

Being frugal involves a lot of waiting. But frugality isn’t just about planning, saving, and waiting. Sometimes it’s about finding ways to get the things we want now without going into debt or spending a lot of money.

Yesterday I wrote about the dreams my husband and I have for all the things we want to do with our money in the future when our debt is paid. Today I want to share what used to be on the list of things we want, and the frugal ways that we found to get them now.

Washer and dryer

Every time we trudged our laundry to the laundromat and spent hours washing, drying, and folding, we dreamed of having a washer and dryer of our own. A few months ago, I bartered with a co-worker: she and her husband had an extra washer and dryer, and they needed help moving. In exchange for a Saturday and some heavy lifting, we got a nearly new washer and dryer for free. Now we do our laundry at our leisure in the comfort of our home without having to schlep it to the laundromat. Best deal I ever made.

Furniture

When we moved out of our college apartments, we left behind the furniture that belonged to our roommates. The nice thing about college towns, though, is recent grads are always trying to get rid of decent furniture for next to nothing just so they won’t have to move it.

I spent my last year in my college town collecting furniture. Some of it we bought for very cheap; some of it was given to us by generous friends and family members. As I said yesterday, we dream of the day when we can replace it with new(er), nicer furniture. For now we have a comfortable place to sit and sleep even if it’s not the prettiest or the roomiest. Most importantly, we didn’t have to go into debt to furnish our home.

A good set of knives

For people who love to cook, good knives are an important investment. For years we used dull knives and dreamed of chopping with ease with a good quality sharp knife. We thought it would be a while before we could afford a nice knife set, but a few weeks ago we found a clearance knife set at a Linens n Things closeout sale. Using birthday money and a little from our regular spending budget, we finally got the knives we’d always wanted at an affordable price. We’re still on the look out for cookware, though.

A dog

For as long as we’ve been together, Tony and I dreamed of welcoming a dog into our family. When we moved to North Carolina, we knew we wanted to adopt a puppy. We saved up enough to pay the adoption fee at a shelter (significantly less than we would have paid to adopt a pure bred puppy). We also negotiated with our landlord before we signed the lease to reduce the pet deposit.

Once we adopted Howie, we found frugal ways to care for him. We bought a nearly new kennel on Craig’s List for 1/4th what we would have paid at a pet store (the previous owner’s German shepherd puppy had only used it 3 months before she outgrew it). We found a vet that offers a 20% discount on vaccinations every Thursday, and we continue to make his appointments on Thursdays to save a little money. We buy his flea and heartworm prevention medicines online to save money. We spent a lot of time training him so he doesn’t have destructive habits that cost us a lot of money. Despite our best efforts, pet care is still expensive. It’s worth every penny, though.

What about you? How have you used your frugal skills so you don’t have to wait for the things you want?

Planning ahead for the big stuff

Photo by martie

frugal goalsLiving frugally eliminates a lot of life’s spontaneity. Because we’ve made the decision to live with as little debt as possible, we save for every purchase instead of charging it. We plan ahead for everything and scrimp and save to reach our goals. But planning and saving take a lot of time.

Yesterday on a long walk with the dog, Tony and I had a conversation about where our money will go when our debt is paid and our savings is fully funded. Mostly we were just dreaming about what we’d do with our money if we were free to spend it however we like.

By planning now, we can map a plan for saving. We can also keep our eyes open for frugal ways to make it happen sooner. Here’s our tentative plan for buying the things we want and building our future.

New furniture and television

All of our furniture is second-hand. We’re still sleeping on the second-hand double bed my grandmother gave me before I moved away to college. We bought our only couch and dresser drawers second hand as well. (I actually love the dresser and will probably keep it, but we really need a second chest of drawers since we’re sharing one now). Someday we’d like to have new bedroom and living room furniture. It’ll probably be a pretty long time since it’s pretty low on our list of priorities.

Also bought second-hand, our TV is pretty much an antique. It’s not even a flat screen (gasp!). But it still works. Stations are now broadcasting in wide screen, so our TV cuts off the sides of the picture. It really bugs my husband. Eh … doesn’t really bother me much. A TV isn’t a necessity at all, so this will also wait a while.

Sometimes I check Craig’s List, but I’m never impressed with the cost considering what they’re selling. I’m happy to wait a while until we can save up for furniture we really like rather than dropping a chunk of change on something we don’t. When we replace our TV it will most likely be second-hand, too, but I see no reason to do it until the one we have stops working. I’m keeping my eyes open, though!

A house of our own

Someday we’ll finally settle down in a nice suburb near a university that wants to hire Tony for a tenure-track teaching job. Then we’ll buy a little house with three bedrooms, a big open kitchen, a wood-burning fireplace, and a nice big fenced-in backyard with room for a garden. (I haven’t been thinking about this one at all. :) ) First we have to get Tony through school and pay down our student loan debt. Soon we’ll start saving for a 20% down payment. It’ll be years before we get there. I still like to dream, though.

A family

I’ll be honest, I wish it could happen sooner rather than later. But I want to be able to stay home with our baby. Until Tony is finished with school, we need my full-time salary. We’re planning now so we can start a family in the next three years, but it’ll probably be another two years before we can really start thinking about it.

This list used to be even longer, but through craftiness and frugality we found a way to get some things sooner. Come back tomorrow, and I’ll share that list with you!

What about you? What would you spend your money on right now if it didn’t take years to save?

I just earned $8 for buying $57 worth of toys

Photo by .bean

Christmas giftWhew. I got a lot of Christmas shopping done this weekend. Well, not a LOT since we’re not buying a lot, but I’m about 75% finished with my list.

This year we decided to cut our shopping list down to our parents and our 5 nieces and nephews. Unfortunately, we have huge families, and we don’t a lot of money in our budget for gifts (or anything other than bills, debt, and savings, really). I’ll do some baking for my sisters in the spirit of the season, but we just couldn’t afford to shop for everyone.

In true frugal holiday spirit, I found a way to get a great deal on toys for my nieces and nephews.

I redeemed about 7,500 MyPoints for a $50 Amazon gift card. (Have you joined MyPoints yet? If not, email me so I can send you a referral link! I’d love to get some points for telling you about it! :))

I found 4 of the 5 toys we need at Amazon. We bought one of the toys last month when we came across something that we knew one of my nephews would love. I made sure everything shipped directly from Amazon, so all the toys qualify for free shipping since my total was over $25.

My total came to $57. I used my Amazon gift code to bring the total to $7 and some change.

Here’s the best part: Right now, Amazon is offering a free subscription to Cookie magazine when you spend $25 on toys. (Thanks Kacie at Sense to Save for letting me know about this!) According to the promo information, you can pass on the subscription and request a $15 rebate instead. I should be receiving an email about it in the next few days. According to the promo, all I have to do is send a form along with my order confirmation to Amazon and they’ll send my $15.

If it works out, I’ll actually end up earning $8 on this transaction. Even if it doesn’t work, I bought Christmas presents for all 5 of my nieces and nephews for just $7. Not too bad considering I got $57 worth of great toys. :)

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Menu Plan Monday & Grocery Round Up – 11/8-11/14

greenmpm

This week, we shopped at two different stores to get the best deal. It worked out well. Our grand total was $58, including two Porterhouse steaks on sale for $4.99 a pound as well as some ingredients for our Thanksgiving feast.

We also picked up the ingredients for our Thanksgiving pumpkin pie. Still no sale on turkey, but we’re keeping an eye out at both of our local grocery stores to wait for the best deal on a whole turkey breast.

We were on the high side of our budget this week, but we’ve tentatively planned out next week’s menu to maximize items on hand and drastically reduce our food cost for the week. You’ll have to come back next week to see how we do!

Here’s the plan for this week:

Saturday: Grilled Porterhouse steak (we split one) and baked potatoes
Sunday: Chicken noodle soup
Monday: Bacon wrapped chicken with blue cheese crumbles and roasted potatoes (we’re omitting the pecans and the cream sauce)
Tuesday: Leftovers/sandwiches
Wednesday: Pasta with meatless marinara
Thursday: BLTs with oven fries
Friday: Homemade pizza

For breakfasts we have cold cereal and oatmeal. For lunches, I bring leftovers from the night before or salad.

Now go check out more menu plans at OrgJunkie!

TGIF Link Round Up: Post-Election Edition

What a crazy week! As exciting as Tuesday night was, I’m happy to say buh-bye to all the political ads. To be honest, though, the political junkie and journalist in me kind of misses the excitement leading up to the election. Definitely not the ads, though. :)

In the post-election return to reality, I suddenly feel like the holidays are sneaking up on us. Only three weeks to Thanksgiving! Does anyone else feel like that came out of nowhere?

This weekend I hope to pick up a couple items on our Christmas shopping list, as well as a couple items for our Thanksgiving menu. Lots to do and not a lot of time to do it!

And now for my favorites from my reader this week:

  • Patrick at Cash Money Life shares some tips for getting a great deal on holiday travel. Luckily, we’re avoiding air travel this year all together by staying home for Thanksgiving and driving a fuel efficient car to see family for Christmas.
  • Kacie at Sense to Save saved some money by taking advantage of price adjustments. When I worked in retail, I was amazed that more people didn’t take advantage of this.
  • Christina at Northern Cheapskate collected a fantastic list of repurposed household items from her readers. Lots of great ideas!

Here’s to a great weekend. Happy Friday!

Planning a frugal Thanksgiving for two

Photo by dennissylvesterhurd

Thanksgiving turkeyWith the election over (thank goodness!), we’re all turning our attention to Thanksgiving, which is now exactly three weeks away. (Where did the time go?)

I’m no exception. Tony and I won’t be traveling for Thanksgiving. We’re making a big trip to see family for Christmas, so we’ll be home in North Carolina enjoying a quiet holiday. We may invite a culinary-challenged friend or two if any of Tony’s classmates stay behind and want to join us. If not, it’ll be just the two of us.

That doesn’t mean we’re not cooking a Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings, though. My amateur chef husband wouldn’t miss roasting a turkey for the world. We had the most wonderful holiday last year. We invited a friend over for dinner and enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast. The leftovers lasted days. I’m looking forward to continuing our tradition of a low-key, no-stress Thanksgiving holiday cooking and eating good food, watching movies, and relaxing.

Last night we began preparing by putting together our Thanksgiving menu. We’ll be making all the traditional dishes, including turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry dressing, stuffing, greenbean casserole, fresh bread, and pumpkin pie. It’s a lot of food for two people, but we plan to eat nothing but leftovers all weekend. :)

Last year we didn’t roast a whole turkey. Instead, we bought a small bone-in turkey breast. I highly recommend that you do the same if your dinner party will be small.

To reduce the impact on our budget, we’ll be spreading out purchases for the menu over the next few weeks. At some point in the next week or two, I’m expecting a big sale on turkey at the grocery store. We’ll pick up our turkey then, and pick up an item or two for the meal on every shopping trip in the coming weeks.

Here’s how some of the bloggers from my reader are preparing for the holiday:

How are you preparing?

Being frugal means being flexible

Over the weekend, I posted my goals for November. In summary, I planned to pay off the entire remaining balance on my credit card and finish half of our Christmas shopping without reducing the amount budgeted for savings.

Well, this week I received a letter from my student loan company that threw off my plans. My student loans are currently in voluntary forbearance, which is a lender-approved delay in repayment. It has no negative effect on my credit score, but the loans continue to accrue interest.

It’s obviously not an ideal situation. However, when I made the decision I had just transferred my credit card balance to a card with an interest-free introductory period. I was simply too overwhelmed by both payments, so I decided to focus on one at a time. I wanted to focus on paying down my credit card debt before the interest-free period ended, and start paying down my student loan debt once my credit card was paid off.

My remaining balance on my credit card is a little higher than the amount I usually budget toward credit card debt, but I shifted things in the budget to allow me to pay it completely this month. My forbearance period on my loan is set to end in December, so it would have worked out perfectly. I would have made my final credit card payment this month, then used that money in December to begin paying down my student loan.

According to the letter I received from my student loan company, even though my forbearance period doesn’t end until December, my first payment is due November 28. Because my consolidation loan hasn’t finished processing yet, the minimum payment due is $300.

I started moving things around in the budget, trying to fit in this extra $300 payment. I found a little wiggle room in our discretionary spending, but our budget was already pretty tight because of Christmas. I didn’t want to cut too much and risk spending more than our income this month. Even after cutting several spending budgets, including a drastic cut to our Christmas shopping fund, I still came up short.

I came up with two possible options to make up the difference:

We could split the difference between the credit card debt and the student loan debt. It would delay our final credit card payment until next month, but allow us to pay the minimum payment on my student loan this month while we wait for the consolidation loan to process.

Or we could reduce the amount we put into savings this month. If we cut our savings amount in half, we could pay the student loan and still pay off my credit card.

Neither option is particularly appealing to me, but you know what? Tough. This is the way it has to be.

I made the decision to cut our savings for the month. I’ve been looking forward to paying off this credit card for a year now. When I opened the interest-free credit card last December, I figured out how much I needed to pay on my credit card each month to ensure that it was paid down before the interest-free period ended.

Even though we were on a very tight budget before I found a full-time job, we diligently paid the bill every month, always looking ahead to the final payment. Sometimes when I started to feel overwhelmed, the only thing that kept me going was the thought of making the final payment this month. The idea of delaying that another month is just too frustrating. I’m willing to cut our savings for a month to make it possible for us to pay the remaining balance.

I was really bummed when I realized my plan wasn’t going to work out perfectly. But you know what? At least we have the money to pay all of our bills. Even when our plans are unexpectedly derailed, we’re still able to put a little bit in savings. It’s not as much as we’d like, but it’s something.

There was a time when $300 would have been impossible to squeeze into the budget. There was a time when we absolutely just didn’t have that kind of extra money. If cutting back our savings a little for a month is as bad as it gets right now, then we’re doing a-ok.

What would you have done?

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Eating out doesn’t have to be all or nothing

Photo by vox_efx

When times are tough and it’s time to cut back, restaurant meals are often one of the first things to go. We try to keep eating out to an absolute minimum. Cooking at home is not only healthier but also more economical.

Cutting back doesn’t have to mean cutting restaurant meals altogether. We enjoy eating out, and we like to go out once a month. The problem with limiting restaurant meals is that it’s often tempting to go overboard when you do get to eat at a restaurant. Drinks, appetizers, desserts … adding those things can double the cost of your meal.

Eating out doesn’t have to be all or nothing, though. There are ways to keep the costs low and still enjoy the fun of a good restaurant meal. Here’s how:

Go out for lunch.

Prices are often lower, and many restaurants offer lunch specials. If you’re craving a restaurant meal for a low price, lunch is often a better option than dinner.

Drink water.

Alcoholic beverages often cost almost as much as an entree. Even fountain sodas can tack on an extra $2 each to your bill. Ordering ice water with a slice of lemon is not only a healthier option, it’s also free.

Don’t order more than you’ll eat (or more than you should eat).

Restaurant portions are usually ridiculously big. Even if you have the willpower to resist overeating, you’re still paying for food you can’t finish. Many restaurants are now offering smaller portions for a lower price.

If they don’t, I ask if they’ll allow me to order from the kids’ menu. I’ve never had a waiter tell me no. Sometimes they’ll add a dollar or so to the price since I’m not under 12, but most of the time they let me order the kids’ portion at the kids’ price. It’s just the right amount of food for me, and it usually only costs $4 or $5. That’s a huge difference from the regular entree prices of $8-$12.

Order an appetizer instead of an entree.

Appetizers are often just as filling as entrees at a lower price. My husband and I sometimes order one appetizer each and split them.

Take advantage of specials.

A lot of times certain entrees are on “special” for a lower price. Take this opportunity to pay less for your meal and try something new.

Many restaurants also offer special deals like reduced-price appetizers or entrees on certain weeknights. If your favorite restaurant offers specials like this, try to schedule your meals out on these nights.

Fill out comment cards and mail them in.

At the end of the meal your bill often comes with a comment card or survey. I always fill these out and mail them in. In return, I often receive coupons for money off or free appetizers just for giving my opinion. They even pay the postage.

Use gift cards.

If you’re enrolled at MyPoints, there are a ton of restaurants that offer gift cards for points. (If you’re not already enrolled, email me for a referral link!)

Another option is Restaurant.com. They offer “gift certificates” for restaurants at a reduced rate (usually $10 for a $25 gift certificate). They sometimes offer promotions for even more money off, and you can often get $25 gift certificates for as little as $2.

What’s the catch? You have to spend a certain amount on your meal to redeem the gift certificate. You might pay $2 for a $25 gift certificate, but your total bill has to be $35 not including taxes, tip, or alcohol in order to redeem the gift certificate. You’re still getting a $35 meal for $12. Not too bad! Check the site to see if any restaurants in your area offer gift certificates through Restaurant.com.