Musings by Melissa

Every once in awhile money gets a bit tight.  Usually it hits right about now.  Between paying the property taxes and prepaying our propane for the coming year, ouch!  Those are two BIG bills that are due at the same time, and in another month or so all of our insurance is due.

We do our best to set aside some money every month to pay for these bills as they come due.  So, while the bills will get paid, things will be a bit tight for awhile.  But I’d rather have things be a bit tight than to fall into the payday advance loan trap.

We have friends who fell into that trap.  They didn’t know how to budget, and so every month they fell a bit more behind and a bit more behind.  Enter: payday advance loans!  Eek!  With these loans, they thought they had the money, and they lived like it, but alas, by the time payday actually rolled around, most of the money was gone already.

This was a big trap, and they couldn’t dig their way out of it.  They had to ask their parents for money to bail them out. 

Did they learn their lesson?  Oh, how I wish I could say yes, but to my knowledge, they haven’t paid their parents back, and they are still spiraling into the cesspool of debt. 

As Dave Ramsey says, “Today I live like noone else (by living frugally), so that tomorrow I can live like noone else (by being debt free and enjoying life).

Discounts are something that most people are looking for, especially in this economy.  While some say the economy is improving, the prices of gas and food continue to rise, further reducing the monies that most people have to spend on the “extras.

We rarely spend money on entertainment.  We prefer to entertain ourselves with bike rides, hikes, geocaching, books, hobbies, etc.  But occasionally we do like to splurge a bit.  Movies are something in which we rarely partake, not only because the prices are a bit high– especially when paying for five tickets, but also because most of the movies in the theaters today don’t reflect the values that our family holds dear.

However, we have recently discovered the “classics.”  A couple theaters in town show classic movies at reduced rates.  ($4.00!)  Some of the classics they have shown include: Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Jurassic Park, and Top Gun.  So, if you’re looking for some entertaining, you may want to check with your local theater to see if they have any such special events.

Budgets are things that come and go around our house.  Oh, it’s nice to know where all our money goes, but it’s not like we’re going overboard, buying expensive stuff that we don’t need when we’re not on the written budget.

But we thought we’d try it for a few months just to make sure things are pretty much where they should be.  Maybe we need to do a bit of comparison shopping for auto insurance or check out the different term life insurance rates.  Perhaps we’re spending too much on our electric bill in comparison with our other bills.  A budget lets us know which areas are getting a bit more of their fair share.

The way I like to keep track of spending is by using “SimpleD Budget.”  It was a free download we got a couple years ago.  We plug our budget into it, and then when we make a purchase, we enter that purchase in the correct category, and it keeps track of what we’ve spent, where we spent it, and how much we have left to spend.

Oh, I’m sure Quicken and some of the other programs on the market do the same thing, but this is simple.  I like simple! 

So, if you’re in the market for simple budgeting software, you may want to give this a try.  You could be pleasantly surprised with what “free” can get you!

Well, gas is once again over the $3 a gallon mark.  Ugh!  We put a lot of miles on our vehicles.  Wayne works about 25 miles from home.  And our church is about 15 or so.  That’s five trips to work a week, and at least three trips to church a week.  That’s a lot of money in gas.

Argh!

Well, Wayne can’t give up working because of the rising costs of gas.  And we certainly don’t want to stop going to our church!  So, in our mind those are fixed expenses.  Where else do we go that we could cut back on?  Hmmm…

Well, once summer hits we can ride our bikes to the library.  (I’ve just got something against riding my bike when the temp is below freezing!  Brrr!!!  The grocery store isn’t that far either.  I’ve thought about watching for a bob revolution se stroller at garage sales.  Or better yet, one of those stroller things that hook behind a bike.  I never had one when I had little kids, but it would come in handy for carting groceries home!

And I’d get some exercise at the same time.  Now that’d be a bonus!  Or I could just plan ahead and get my groceries on my way home from church on Wednesday night.  Hmm…  Planning ahead!  LOL!

I love having a teen in the house… most of the time!  ~smile~  I love all my kids, but different stages have different problems.  I remember researching which teething gel worked the best, and now they’re loosing all their teeth!  Now I find myself doing research on new acne treatments.  I’m always one to try to see if something we have onhand will work, rather than just run out and buy something new.  So, when I read that zinc oxide works well on acne, I thought, “Let’s try it!”

So, our oldest has been using zinc oxide on his acne, and I must admit it has cleared up considerably!  Yahoo!  No cost to us because we already had it on hand!  And it’s working!  What could be finer?

One way in which I’ve saved us quite a bit of money over the years is to cut our boys’ hair.  Our daughter wears hers long, so all she needs from time to time is just a quick trim to get rid of the split ends.

When Wayne and I were first married, we invested in a pair of electric clippers.  They weren’t anything fancy, but I think the clippers with the attachments was only $10.  We figured if we used it once, it would pay for itself.  It lasted about 15 years, and Wayne hasn’t had a “real” haircut since.  I did take Carl to a barber once, but we were on vacation and he needed it!  (And of course, I didn’t bring my clippers with us on vacation!)

I can’t even begin to guess how much we’ve saved over the years by cutting the boys’ hair.  I cut it maybe every-other month.  At what?  I don’t even know what a men’s haircut costs these days… $10?!?  So, every other month I save about $30.  (I have three men in my life!)  That’s $180 a year.  Of course, our sons weren’t alive 18 years ago, but still, cutting your own hair makes sense.

If you haven’t tried it and are nervous about it, pay much closer attention the next time your man goes to the barber.  Ask a few questions.  Or check out a book from the library.  Read the directions that come with your clipper.  I haven’t looked, but I bet there are some videos on how to cut hair on you-tube.  Plenty of resources exist to make sure you know what you’re doing.

Having said that, I haven’t attempted to cut my own hair.  I think cutting womens’ hair (unless they just wear it long) is a bit trickier, and I’ll leave that to the salon tech.  But hey, I’ve got $180 a year to splurge, right?!?  ~grin~

In this day of tight budgets, it really pays to shop around.  Especially for things you buy from the same company year after year.

For example, one of my aunts pubishes a magazine about Cats and Dogs.  It’s an interesting magazine, focusing a lot on ways to prevent pet overpopulation.  (Spay/Neuter your pet!)  When my aunt started her magazine she looked all over for a good, yet inexpensive, printer.  She wasn’t interested in catalog printing.  She didn’t want the expensive glossy pages.  She found was she was looking for, and was happy.  But a couple years later, she did some comparison shopping, and she found a better deal elsewhere.  It really paid for her to look around.

Similarly, if you haven’t shopped around for car/home/life insurance, you might be missing out on some savings.  Be sure when you comparison shop to compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges.  If your exsisting auto policy is for full coverage, don’t compare it to a non- full coverage policy. 

 Sometimes it takes a bit of patience to find a deal, but in the long run, it’s worth it.  If it takes you four hours to save a hundred dollars on your car insurance bill, that’s like making $25 an hour for those four hours!  Yahoo!

Someone I know is always looking for opportunities to work at home.  It’s her desire to be able to stay home with her kids, but at this point she can’t afford it. 

Well, I can understand that.  I am blessed to be able to stay home with our kids.  But making that decision a reality wasn’t easy either.  We go without a lot of things that most people take for granted.  Cable, unlimited cell phone plans, eatting out, new cars, etc.  Those things just aren’t important to us.  Not as important as being able to raise our kids.  Now, we do splurge on certain things and those things we save up for ahead of time.  (Like my up-coming Kenya trip!)

But back to my friend.  She seems to go from one work at home “scheme” to the next in her quest to stay home with her kids.  One week she’s trying to sell something, and the next week she’s telling me about a great source she found for life insurance leads.  Honestly, I can’t name all the different things she’s tried over the years, but it still comes down to one thing, I’m not sure she wants it badly enough.  When I visit her home it’s full of expensive ready-to-heat-and-eat meals.  Expensive junk food and cereals line her shelves as the cable TV blares.

In my mind, if staying home were her number one goal, she’d cut those things so she’d have more money to pay off her bills to make staying home a definite possibility.  I know cutting out one thing, or even two or three, won’t give her the freedom to stay home, but it’s the mindset.  It’s being willing to do without that will allow her the opportunity to live out her dream.

It’s been a long time since I’ve listened to Dave Ramsey.  I guess I’m too busy living life to listen, but I’m sure what he’s saying is still right-on.  I used to listen to him a lot when my kids were younger.  I could listen while they were napping and I was folding laundry or doing dishes.  But naptime is definitely a thing of the past unless someone is sick. 

I’ve often turned many people to his words of wisdom.  (Ah, if only I could turn Congress to adopt Dave’s plan!  What a better world this would be!)  Wayne and I were doing Dave’s babysteps before we had ever heard of Dave Ramsey.  We knew I would stay at home with our kids if it was at all possible, and in order for it to be possible, we knew that we couldn’t have big bills.  So, as soon as possible we knocked off my student loans.  (I think we had those paid off within six months to a year of when we were married, but I could be off a bit on that.)  Other than that our only debt has been our house.  If we needed a vehicle, we used the money we had saved for it.  If we needed a washer and dryer, we found one in our price range.  My first washer was an old ringer-washer.  But let me tell you, it washed clothes, and the price was right!  ~grin~

One thing we did learn from listening to Dave was regarding life insurance.  We had purchased whole life policies for both of us.  But after listening to Dave, we knew we needed to switch that to term life.  The rates were much better.  And the difference in rates we could invest in our own savings plan, not a mandatory one that our estate would never see!  We never considered mortgage life insurance because we always figured if one of us needed our mortgage paid off, we would use part of our term life policy to pay it off.  There was no need for additional insurance just for that.

So, yes, while much of what Dave teaches is, indeed, common sense, we did learn some things.  Definitely enough to make it worth our while to listen to him.  If you have never listened to him, I suggest tuning in to his show.  You may just learn a thing or two…

We moved into this house almost five years ago.  It’s hard to believe it’s been that long already!  When we moved in, there were some things we needed to chance right away.  The former owners had cats, and whenever I went into a room that had carpet, I struggled to breathe.  (Even after a good steam-cleaning.)  This was not a good thing, so we had the carpets replaced. 

But there were some other things that weren’t quite as necessary as breathing.  Like the floor in the kitchen/dining area.  It was old linoleum.  Over the years it had become quite porous.  It had absolutely no shine left to it.  I could spend all day scrubbing it on my hands and knees, (A mop wouldn’t get in all the holes and cracks.) spend a small fortune sealing it, and within two days I’d never know I had even worked on it.  It always looked filthy, no matter how hard I tried to keep it clean. 

This is a big area, and new flooring was definitely in the budget.  I spent some time thinking about it, and someone suggested painting it.  After doing a bit of research, I decided that was the route I was going to take.  I waited until Wayne was off on a week-long fishing trip, and I got right to work.

First, I cleaned it really well … again.  Then I painted it with primer that I had tinted a blueish gray.  I used quite a bit of primer because I also used it to fill in a lot of the cracks and little holes.  Once that dried, I took some of that blue painters tape, and I put that on the floor like a huge tic-tac-toe board.  Where I put the tape would be the “grout lines.” 

Once the tape was in place, I painted the whole thing a light mauve.  (I guess that’s what I’d call it, but I’m not really good at knowing the names of colors besides your basic Crayola 8-pack!)  Once that dried, I rag-rolled a darker mauve over top of that. 

Once all that was dry, I very carefully removed the tape.  Then I painted where the tape was with a sealer because that wasn’t paint there.  It was just gray-tinted primer. 

I worked at night after I had put the kids to bed so they wouldn’t be stepping in wet paint.  And by morning it was dry enough for them to walk on.  Obviously, we tried to avoid walking there to keep it clean.

When Wayne came home from fish camp, he couldn’t help but notice the new floor right away.  I think he was a little upset at first because he thought I had paid someone to install a new floor.  But once he realized the whole thing was under $100, he was thrilled.  It looks great.

It’s been just over four years since I painted it, and I’m very pleased with how it’s wearing.  If you look closely, you’ll see it wearing where the dining room chairs scuff back and forth across the floor.  But we eat almost every meal at that table, and we spend some of our days sitting at it while doing our homeschooling stuff.   So, it gets a LOT of use.  If those scuff marks bothered me, I could go downstairs, get the primer and paint, and re-do it.  But I’m not bothered by it … yet.  ~smile~

Now, to come up with a good way to spruce up our garage flooring … but that may have to wait until the next fishing trip!