It's Just Change

This is How the World Will End

2010-01-17T10:53:00.000-05:00

From The Elms, a video filmed in 2008 in Haiti:

When the dollar made with blood is spent,
When an enemy can't become a friend.
When the better man won't lend a hand,
Baby, this is how the world will end.
When a day of hope is a rarity,
Or a diplomat hasn't time to see
That a child lost is a true offense,
Baby, this is how the world will end.

CHORUS:
Bring a chair up to the table.
Bring a message to the crowd.
Where's a common trust to deliver us from the wretched and the proud?
Sing a tune about the promise.
Speak on that which we depend.
And if a certain light don't shine again,
Baby, this is how the world will end.

When the poorest kid is fending for himself,
Or the widow cries, but she gets no help.
When we know what's true, but we still pretend,
Baby, this is how the world will end.

I'm still overwhelmed at the loss in Haiti. Friends of mine were just there a couple months ago, and reported back on the abject poverty they saw- before the disaster. Check out their articles on World Next Door both before and since the earthquake, especially Barry's post Heartache.

Our response to this tragedy matters. It' just so big- my heart can't comprehend what just happened, and where to give and help. As a crazy first step, my husband printed out 2 passport applications last night. When volunteers are needed and trips are put together, if God calls us to go, we'll be ready. In the meantime, I'm praying like crazy.

Generational Savings Pitfalls

2010-01-14T15:20:00.000-05:00

The founder of Mint.com (Have I mentioned how much I love Mint.com?) talks about how people are cutting back, and where the biggest spending pitfalls are:

I think it's interesting that the younger generations have a penchant toward spending on food- eating out, and social eating or drinking- while the older generations spend on status symbols. The observation is true of me: while I don't have a coffee habit, I do love to eat at restaurants, and this is a habit I'm trying to break,or at least lessen.

Interesting stuff.

VOTE!

2010-01-14T07:57:00.000-05:00

Hi dear readers! (All four of you) My last post was an entry into a contest at Inexpensively to go to a conference where all the cool blogging kids will be, Blissdom '10. Now I need your help- go over to Inexpensively and vote for my post among all the other great entries. Thanks!

A Blissful, Simple Life

2010-01-08T13:58:00.000-05:00

Every morning, I assemble two lunches. The lunch sack containing a sandwich and chips isn't glamorous, but it saves my husband and I $3,000 a year. (Two $6 fast-food lunches, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year)

In the evening, we snuggle in and watch a TV episode on DVD, or show on Hulu. We can't join the conversation about the latest Office or American Idol, but for over $700 a year for the basic cable channels, I'm OK with being out of the loop.

The cars we drive may have around 100,000 miles on them, but they are paid for. No debt on the cars, no debt on the credit cards, no debt on the school loans- interest on what we owe works against us, and I avoid it like the plague.

In our home, only our desk and our nightstands were bought new- every other piece of furniture was bought second-hand, handed down to us, or hand-made. Our guests are none the wiser.

On the weekends, a home improvement project often consumes our time- whether it's painting or re-flooring or siding or something else on a huge list. We could hire out the work, but my husband enjoys working with his hands and taking care of our home (and he does a great job!).

Rather than vacationing during the summer, we're busy in our yard. The backyard garden provides produce that continues to feed us throughout the year. Green beans, applesauce, herbs, potatoes, pears, peaches, pickles- all these things I haven't had to buy since they were last in season, and probably won't have to for a while.

Why live like this? If I can afford to buy a new car or furniture or processed food, why not go the easier route? Because I believe in living mindfully- Mindful of what we consume. Mindful of being a good steward of what we have. Mindful of being in debt to no one. Mindful of our impact on the earth.

Thanks to this mindfulness, and living below our means, we can ride out the ups and downs of life. When a refrigerator started leaking, we were able to save up and get a new one fairly quickly. When a car was caught in a bad hail storm beyond repair, we were able to incur no debt to replace it. A pipe burst in our home, and the panic was only due to the water pouring out of the hole in the wall, not how we were going to afford a repair. This year, we were able to give more than ever to those less fortunate than ourselves, and that was thrilling. Life is good. Blissful, even.

This is my entry into Inexpensively.com's contest for a Blissdom '10 ticket. I'd love it if you popped over there between the 14th and 20th and gave me a vote. Also, Heather's site is a huge help while working to live this blissful, simple life. Go check it out.

Shopping with Purpose

2010-01-07T14:11:00.001-05:00

Every industry has companies that are environmentally and socially responsible, and others that aren't. Who has time to research all of them, though? I try to keep my eye out for reports of abuses by corporations or good things that they're doing, but it's so hard to keep track! Imagine my excitement when a friend sent me a link to Better World Shopper. They even have a handy book!

Better World Shopper has done the research for me in a large number of industries, and has nice, easy-to-understand lists for each. While I wish there was a drill-down option that would offer an explanation of individual companies and rankings, the list is better than nothing! I like hat, at a glance, I can discover, for example, that our Toyota has a better impact on the world than our Volvo, that my choice to patronize the local BP station isn't so bad, and the pint of Ben & Jerry's on my birthday was a pretty good choice.

The listing of good and bad companies is useful, but maybe even moreso, is the list of the categories where change for the better is most imperative. Choosing a socially-responsible bank, for example, isn't something I ever thought about.

Where do you prioritize your socially- and environmentally-conscious shopping? Are lists like this helpful?

Wanna get angry about Christmas?

2009-12-18T08:37:00.003-05:00

Christian music artist Shaun Groves points out the real reason to get angry about the 'war on Christmas'. (HT Brian McLaren)

I read Shaun Groves post directly after reading Slate's declaration that the cultural war on Christmas is coming to an end. I think Shaun hits the nail on the head- do we want to make sure all the stores say Merry Christmas rather than Season's Greetings to signify that we're shopping like crazy in Christ's name? I almost think we need a new name for the celebration of Jesus' birth, since the holiday 'Christmas' has been hijacked by the mall. It's not like the word 'Christmas' is Biblical or anything, so changing it shouldn't be too big a deal, right?

A new 'war on Christmas' has been brewing the last few years, though- a war on the consumerism of Christmas. There are many movements out there, and the most prominent is the Advent Conspiracy- even TIME covered it this year.

Another, Christmas Change, is similar:

Christmas Change from Kujilana on Vimeo.

For us, we're still doing the typical Christmas presents, toned down from years past. We're giving a couple 'donation presents' (donating to a cause in the name of the gift recipient) to people who I think will "get it". We're giving some 'used' gifts to give very usable items a new home, and we're even regifting for the same reasons. We hand-made our Christmas cards.

What are you doing to keep the consumerism out of Christmas this year?

"Church service" of a different sort

2009-10-27T09:12:00.000-04:00

When I think "church service," I think of the hour on Sunday morning where a bunch of people dress up and gather together to sing, pray, and listen to a sermon before going out to eat for lunch. Church service.

Really, though, what service is being done? Who is being served?

Last weekend, at my church, there were no services, as we think of them, anyway. No sermon, no congregating in a sanctuary, no dressing up.

But service? There was plenty of that.

This weekend was the second annual Weekend of Service, when the church closes its doors and, instead of sitting and singing and doing the typical church-service thing, thousands of church members went out and did service. You know, actually served.

What did they do?

Ran a half-marathon to raise money to battle AIDS

Put together meals for hungry families

Beautified a downtown school's garden

Collected food in local neighborhoods

Sorted clothes to be given to needy families

Painted. Built. Sorted. Organized. Fed. Clothed. Healed. Helped.

What did I do?

Last year, we went with an organization called Rebuilding the Wall and helped demolish parts of a house so it could be rebuilt for a needy family. I discovered that, although Josh does love swinging a sledgehammer, demolition isn't one of my spiritual gifts. This year I wanted to work on something I felt I could use what I'm good at a little more.

We ended up at Third Phase- a women's shelter, food pantry and thrift store. It's the biggest food pantry in our county, and the only emergency shelter. There were lots of volunteers there on Saturday- some to do yardwork, some to sort donations, some to organize the food pantry, some to revamp the thrift store- all sorts of things. We were there to do a very specific task- test electronics that had been donated to the thrift store, to see if they worked and if they could be sold. There were 4 of us testing electronics, and a couple others cleaning the dust and grime off of them. Third Phase has an entire basement room stacked floor-to-ceiling with these donations, so I felt what we were doing was definitely helping out. I chose to start testing microwaves and household electronics, knowing that if I was short on money, these were things that would be necessities. Josh worked on testing computers, mice, keyboards, and TVs.

All through the day, I was being reminded, Do not despise the small things. What we were doing was small, but it mattered. Because we tested, cleaned, and priced the microwaves, a mom working two jobs can still get dinner cooked for her family. Because the computers were evaluated, a father out of work will be able to get his resume put together and printed. A heater I found that DIDN'T work won't be sold and set someone's house on fire. Little things, but they matter. I tend to focus on the big, systemic issues like global poverty, affordable health insurance, clean drinking water... and I forget that the little things that are easier to accomplish do make a difference.

Best news of the week so far? All those small things added up. Everyone who participated in the Weekend of Service brought food for the food pantry, and many projects went to nearby neighborhoods to collect food. All in all, 257,000 pounds of food were collected by the projects for Indianapolis-area food pantries. The hungry will be fed, because lots of people gave a little.
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Part of the crowd, before we left for all the projects:

Gathering at Third Phase:

Newly-organized thrift store:

All my Weekend of Service pictures:

Weekend of Service 09

Why Climate Change Matters

2009-10-15T10:32:00.001-04:00

Climate change is a justice issue.

Does that seem far-fetched? Should "social justice" be confined to feeding the poor and housing the homeless? Or is it bigger than that? On this Blog Action Day focusing on climate change, it's something worth considering. Here's a list of a few climate change issues, and why, in my eyes, they're social justice issues too:

Mountaintop removal: Just a few states away, my neighbors are dealing with poor air quality and contaminated drinking water, not to mention the destruction of their local treasures. When I think about using more electricity in my home, this comes to mind- my actions are affecting the lives of my neighbors. Our neighbors are suffering, and this matters.

Island nations: I used to live on an island in the middle of an ocean, so I get it when leaders from these nations plead with the bigger nations to notice their plight. If the globe warms up just a little, if the ice starts to melt... these people lose their homes, their country. It's not fair that, thanks to those in large countries who live as they please, the smallest countries will suffer. Our neighbors are losing their homes, and this matters.

World hunger: As the climate changes, those that live in already-dry areas will find it even harder to grow food. As the world's temperature rises, growing seasons will change, and precipitation will shift. Areas that are barely able to grow anything right now may become completely barren. All the while, those of us with plenty insist on trucking our food from thousands of miles away- contributing even more to the problem. Our neighbors are going hungry, and this matters.

Water shortages: This is related to the shift in weather and growing seasons- droughts, storms and floods will intensify if nothing is done. Global warming will continue to cause our neighbors in the third world to go without clean drinking water. Our neighbors are thirsty, and this matters.

Climate change isn't something I choose to ignore, because I see climate change issues directly relating to the plight of my neighbor- and loving my neighbor matters.

One Local Thanksgiving

2009-10-12T13:49:00.000-04:00

My sister's hosting Thanksgiving this year. Again. If I ever get a chance to host, however, I want to give a 100-Mile Thanksgiving a try. For this year, I've got a list of food to bring to the family get-together, and I'm going to make sure they're as local as possible.

Pumpkin pie - I grew a huge pumpkin/squash thing last year, and still have puree left over in the freezer. This will be turned into a pumpkin pie. Or two.
Mashed potatoes- The potato crop turned out pretty well this year, and I'm excited to share it, topped with chives, also from the garden.
Green beans- I have these canned and ready, though I haven't gotten tapped to bring the green bean casserole just yet.

Really, this could be a 100% local meal if I got a local turkey and some local greens for a salad, and opened a can of applesauce or pears that I've put up for the winter. Eating local is not as hard as it seems!

Do Something

2009-10-09T15:48:00.000-04:00

I am starting to think “raising awareness” is a fashionable way to “not do work” when it comes to justice issues.

Donald Miller posted that to his twitter stream a while back. It hit home. I thought on it for a while. Then, this week, Curtis posted about the quote.

I'm all about raising awareness, but when I thought about it, I'm not doing much actual work to make justice issues any less of an issue.

That should change.

Stay tuned.

Alternative to the Holiday Madness

2009-09-21T14:21:00.002-04:00

My husband and I started talking about gifts this weekend.

Between now and the end of the year, we've got five family birthdays plus Christmas. Every year, we go back and forth about what to do for gifts. As for me- gifts are not my Love Language, and I'd prefer some sort of experience or something practical to some thing I have to store in my house. We do like getting gifts for our nephews though- but they all have so many toys that we try to find some non-toy thing to get them, and the ideas are running thin. As for our adult siblings and parents, we want to do something, but have trouble thinking up what that something ought to be.

Alternatives to traditional Christmas gifts have popped up over the last few years. These alternatives sometimes save money and sometimes don't, but almost always reduce the environmental impact of the gift and sometimes work toward justice, too!

Buy nothing - This is the most obvious way to save money during the shopping season- just don't shop. This is a hard decision for us to make, because we do like showing others love by giving them gifts, and we're not sure how we'd explain it to people. There's a whole organization that advocates a Buy Nothing Christmas: "Buy Nothing Christmas is a national initiative started by Canadian Mennonites who offer a prophetic "no" to the patterns of over-consumption of middle-class North Americans. They are inviting Christians (and others) all over Canada to join a movement to de-commercialize Christmas and re-design a Christian lifestyle that is richer in meaning, smaller in impact upon the earth, and greater in giving to people less-privileged."
Support a cause in the name of the gift-receiver - I think it'd be fun to find causes that I know are near and dear to my loved ones' hearts, and donate to the cause in their name, rather than buying them stuff. Giving the loved one a choice on how to donate by getting a gift certificate to Kiva, DonorsChoose.org or World Vision would make it more fun, because the recipient could choose what project the gift goes toward. The catch: Some of our family does have the love-language of Gifts, and I'm afraid they wouldn't "get" this donation-gift. They rather have a thing, in hand. Curtis is making his birthday list by asking for donations for a trip to Haiti. Bonus: gifts made this way are tax-deductible!
Do good with a gift - A step from donation-as-a-gift is a gift that also supports a cause. An example of this would be buying a fair-trade toy or purse, or TOMS Shoes as a gift. This would both give the recipient something they can use, and know that, with the purchase, Good is being done by supporting the poor elsewhere.
Buy handmade - Crunchy Chicken is suggesting this strategy- buying all handmade gifts. Why handmade? The handmade items, along with being works of art and more meaningful, weren't made in sweatshops and produced on a mass scale. Depending on where you find them, they may even be "local", cutting down on the miles they had to travel to get to you.
Give the intangible - Like I said, I have a hard time thinking up any more stuff that I want as a gift, taking up space and requiring upkeep. An idea we had this weekend was giving intangible things- experiences rather than objects. Museum tickets. Tickets to a show. A "date night" package. Certificate to a locally-owned restaurant. Experience-gifts don't have to be stored or repaired, don't need batteries or assembly- they just give us time with loved ones, which IS my love language. We're leaning toward this gift-strategy this year, but are on the fence about it. Good thing we have a little time to think about it!

What are some creative money-saving or justice-supporting gift-giving strategies you've come up with? How have they worked?

What are you doing now?

2009-09-18T11:20:00.004-04:00

This is the third part of the Justice In the Burbs series. Four young suburban couples are reading through the book and discussing it weekly. Part 1 covered the Introduction and chapter 1. Part 2 covered chapters 2 & 3. This week, we read chapters 4 & 5.
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The question echoed around the group. "What are you doing now?" as related to social justice. I mean, we all cared. Many of us had been on mission trips galore in our younger years. Now, we're all married, most with young kids, full time jobs, houses... what are we doing to further the cause of justice now? For a while, my husband and I were serving dinner downtown every month, but when the leadership changed, we got out of the loop. A couple of us bought school supplies for low-income schools at the end of the summer. Some of us occasionally fill a Yellow Bag. Most are planing on participating in the Weekend of Service in a month. These are all episodic ways to serve- anyone doing anything regularly?

No.

We all care about the cause of justice- that has been evident as we have discussed this book. Helping the poor and marginalized matters to us, but we don't have a block of time in our schedules regularly devoted to a cause. Why not? Here's some of the answers:

Time - We work 40+ hour weeks, have to keep our own household running, and don't have a spot in our week we see that we can give to a ministry. We're in the suburbs, and many of the ministries are downtown- the travel time to and from the ministry makes the required block of time we need to find even larger.
Kids - There are 5 kids 5 & under in our group, and another on the way. Many "justice missions" aren't toddler-friendly. Should we find babysitting so that we can serve? Or should spouses not be able to serve together, and the already-limited Family Time be cut down even more?
Commitment - Particularly honest group members brought this up. Are we ready to make an ongoing commitment to an unknown organization and unknown people? Can we really promise we'll be there every week/month/whenever? As for me, I hate letting people down, so if I commit to something, and know someone's expecting me to be or do something, I have to do it. Can I handle yet another commitment in my life?
Fear of failure - We'll get to a ministry, and then discover we can't actually change the world, or even a small corner of it. The person whose life we get deeply involved in will continue to make wrong choices, or still can't find a job, and our work will seem for naught. Are we setting ourselves up for failure?
"It'll mess us up" - The suburbs are safe. We have our issues here, but they're typically hidden behind privacy fences and garage doors, and not talked about in polite society. If we get our hands dirty in the poverty and mess that is Social Justice Work, we'll get messed up. We'll see what really goes on in the world. Our heart may break. We may get cynical. We may get- gasp- liberal. Our perspective will change, and our happy suburban bubble will be popped.

So what was our action point of the evening? I'm bringing dessert to our next meeting on Monday. And we all have some thinking to do. Reportedly, the next chapter addresses the Time issue. The one group member who has finished the book has said it's gonna mess us up. Maybe she's right.

TIME gets it

2009-09-13T09:14:00.000-04:00

A story in TIME today is all about why this blog exists- to help us think about the impact of our purchases, and the ethical implications of where our money goes. Here's an excerpt:

America has always been a great laboratory of social innovation, from Ben Franklin's creation of the volunteer fire department and the lending library to the rise of online collectives like Wikipedia and Facebook. Usually it has been an invention, some innovation in commerce — the car, the lightbulb, the television — that has changed how we interact with one another as well as how we think of ourselves. We are again entering a period of social change as Americans are recalibrating our sense of what it means to be a citizen, not just through voting or volunteering but also through commerce: by what we buy. There is a new dimension to civic duty that is growing in America — it's the idea that we can serve not only by spending time in our communities and classrooms but by spending more responsibly. We are starting to put our money where our ideals are.

Read the whole article

I wonder if I can steal that tagline: "Putting our money where our ideals are"?

No-Spend Month: Reflections

2009-09-02T09:31:00.002-04:00

August is over. With it, our purse strings are unlocked and we're "allowed" to spend money again. The month wasn't just an exercise in self control, though. Here's a recap:

Why did we do it?
The goal this month was threefold. The most immediate goal was to find funds to pay a one-time fee for my husband's online classes, which will get him a professional certification he's pursuing so that he may change careers. Starting these classes was a big step of faith, not knowing if there will even be jobs in the industry when he finishes them. He's got a job for now, and so do I, so we're able to wait it out, but we've started to move into the direction we're hoping to go, and that's exciting.

The second reason we tried this challenge was to find out how low we could go. What do we actually need to live? If we had no income, what funds would we need to meet our basic responsibilities? What does our lifestyle cost? You'd think this would be an easy number to come to, just counting up all our bills, but I've found it's hard to pinpoint what is a Need and a Want without actually living it out. Come to find out, in a normal month, we spend 50-100% more than the baseline Needs number we came up with. That was sobering.

The third reason was to make significant progress on our emergency fund, which had been languishing at around the 2-3 month mark while we had been trying to build it up to 6 months of expenses. As I already said, we used this month to more clearly define what "expenses" are.

What did we learn?
We learned that it is possible to eat at home for all our meals. We learned that there's tons of free things to do in the community, if we take the time to look. We learned that we keep a lot of food on hand. We learned that borrowing rather than buying or renting is a valid option, and friends and family are more than willing to offer. We learned that some people "get" what we were doing, and others totally didn't. We appreciated friends that would give us a no-spend option for hanging out, and found others always wanted to do something that involved spending money. We learned that hospitality is inexpensive and oh-so-valuable. We learned we can get by with no cash in our pocket for an entire month, and have self-control over using plastic.

What was the result?

Almost $900 in classes and materials paid for
$0 spend in our budget categories of Home Improvement, Miscellaneous, and Allowances
$33 spent on groceries
$10 spent at restaurants (due to forgotten-at-home lunches)
$70 spent at birthday dinners at restaurants
Had our lowest-spending month (since last November when I started tracking it), by almost $1,000
Added $2,000 to our emergency fund since mid-July

What permanent changes will we make?
My husband has said he wants to stop eating out as much as we were before August. This means more cooking for me, but I agree, what we were doing before was excessive. I learned to use leftovers and plan for leftovers better this month than ever before, and I want to continue to learn to do that. I want to keep looking for free activities to do in the community, because not only is it easy on the pocketbook, it connects us more deeply to our neighbors. Because we're on the cash system, I think sometimes we spend money just because it's there, out of the bank and in our wallet. The cash system keeps us accountable to not spending more than our budgeted amount, but I think we can do better in underspending- maybe leaving some of the cash at home rather than carrying it all in our wallets.

We definitely agreed we'll be trying this experiment again someday- maybe as an annual event? It was motivating to jump-start our savings goals, and eye-opening to see some of our bad habits. Quitting cold-turkey wasn't easy, but it was necessary!
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Go check out others trying this challenge in August- Kacie and Frugal Confessions and Karen, who had a No-Spend summer!

Just Change?

2009-09-02T05:49:00.000-04:00

The Stanford Credit Union has student video submissions letting other students know Every Penny Counts. Great message!

Would you save a penny a day? Would it be worth it?

Why the suburbs?

2009-09-01T10:20:00.000-04:00

The biggest point of discussion this week centered around why we chose to live in the suburbs.

I've lived in various suburbs all my life. I was born in the Atlanta suburbs, did a stint as a kid in the closest thing to a suburban community near Honolulu, and finished out my growing-up years in one of the richest suburban counties in the nation, where I still live today.

This suburban life has made me really jaded toward suburban culture, I admit. Really jaded. Surrounded in high school by 16-year-olds whose parents bought them designer clothes and new cars, and in the neighborhood by families with vacation homes and boats and personal trainers and interior designers- I quickly got sick of the shallowness of it all. Faith was described as an intensely Personal Relationship With Jesus thing, and once people "prayed the prayer", their materialistic lifestyle didn't look any different than their pagan neighbors'. Something seems amiss.

So, why do I still live in this suburban community? My immediate answer is "it's close to work". When I was in an apartment, I could walk to work, and now I'm about 15 minutes away driving. But that's not good enough. I mean, I could have moved 15 minutes south of my suburban office, closer to the city, and had the same commute as I now do living 15 minutes north. We chose to live in the suburbs.

We chose an acre of land rather than the small lots of the city. We chose to have the flexibility and independence of each having a vehicle rather than relying on public transportation. We chose the luxury of having grocery stores and drug stores (and Starbucks) on every corner. We chose to live within bike-riding distance of our sprawling suburban church campus. We had the resources and means to make all of those choices.

Am I comfortable with all those choices? Not entirely, and they're just for this season. The next season of life may take us elsewhere. Others in the discussion like living in the suburbs and enjoy the opportunities that the area provides. Some who grew up in small rural towns voiced concerns about raising their kids in the suburbs- full of great schools and parks and everything a family would want, but missing the Something that a close-knit small town brings. I also voiced concerns with raising our future kids in the suburbs, because I know the culture here better than I'd like, and I'm not sure I want my kids immersed in it.

Some in our group want to read Justice In the Burbs to figure how to incorporate justice into their lives in the suburbs, being unfamiliar with Surburbia and not sure of what that looks like. Me? I'm very familiar with Suburbia, and I'm not sure if it's possible. We all have lots of learning to do!

No-Spend Month Day 31: The end has come

2009-08-31T14:45:00.000-04:00

So, we made it. Tomorrow, No-Spend month is over, and September begins. Throughout this month, we had guests over, gave gifts, spent time (and money) celebrating birthdays, avoided shopping, and, early in the month, spent a little on non-necessities. I was proud to stick to a meal plan all month (for the most part) and eat at home.

Did we have a literal month of no spending? No- there were necessities and things deemed necessities that we spent a total of about $200 on. I'll have more of a recap in a couple days as we process what we learned this month and take stock of our single month of cutting back.

In the meantime, check out Millionaire Mommy Next Door's post today about Wants vs Needs. She uses a baseline of "needs" as absolutely bare-bone bills. For us, this month was our baseline. We talked about it this weekend and looked at our spending this month, and finally found a realistic number on which we could say, if we were living solely off our emergency fund because we were both out of work, what would we need to get by? We now know how much we spend in a month when we're "not spending" (plus a realistic grocery budget, because I couldn't cook out of our pantry & freezer indefinitely!) This helps us set a goal of a 6-month emergency fund, of which we already have 4 months in the bank. How exciting is that?

Having a clearer picture of What We Want vs What We Need has given me insight into how blessed we really are, and how Lifestyle and Culture and Expectations fill the gap between Needs and Wants such that I forget how much extra we do have.

How did your No-Spend or Low-Spend month go? What did you learn?

Finding Jesus

2009-08-30T19:57:00.000-04:00

My husband has music on in the kitchen, while he works on some classwork. He's listening to a CD by Brave Saint Saturn that he's had a long time- I first heard it when we started dating, more than 6 years ago. My favorite song on the CD hits me every time I hear it (I just did hear it coming from the kitchen).

Under Bridges by Brave Saint Saturn

Yesterday while walking
Beneath an overpass
I saw the figure of Jesus
Standing barefoot on broken glass

His beard was graying
Smell of urine filled the air
Asking if I had some change
Anything that I could spare

Emaciated
His shaking fist balled up
Influenza and pneumonia
Begging God to take his cup

So different from his pictures
Breathing air through yellowed tubes
Jesus Christ, dying of AIDS
Can look right through you

And all have hated
Crucified and walked away
Savior of the prostitutes
Drunkards, rapists, and the gays

Under Bridges,
With hands raised
From the ghettos
They praise His name

Broken, crippled
In the dark of night
Raise your voices
To Jesus Christ

Hallelujah

Homelessness. AIDS. Addiction. "Drunkards, rapists, and the gays" Messy stuff and messy people- and yet, in their eyes, we meet Jesus? It seems like a long way to go, and an unsafe way- stepping into uncomfortable places and sitting face-to-face with uncomfortable people- just to meet our Savior. Jesus radically identifies with these people- and I'm sorry to say, I don't.

I've got a long way to go.

No-Spend Month Day 28: I Want

2009-08-28T12:18:00.002-04:00

So, how has Not Buying this month affected my desires?

I wondered if I'd be able to ignore all the Wants that come up as a normal part of our culture (and human nature!). Would the temptation be worse, because everything in stores was Stuff I Can't Have? Would I be able to avoid the Wants by just avoiding the stores? The latter tended to be true, but here has been my experience:

Advertising triggers Wants. This is what advertising aims to do- and it works. I didn't want the MADSEN Cargo Bikes until I saw the ad for it. Or the conflict-free diamonds. Or the chalkboard table. I'm not actually going to buy any of this stuff, promise. I don't watch TV, so that shields me from a great deal of advertising, but it's all around us. Magazines. Websites. Coupons. Sales flyers. It's amazing how much advertising I subject myself to on purpose, really.
Wandering stores triggers Wants. Stores are designed to get visitors to buy, buy, buy. Displays are set up as such. Sale price tags are positioned to catch our eyes. Checkout lines contain easy-to-grab items. Stuff is placed in walking aisles so we have no choice but to look at it as we skirt the display. This month, I made sure to go to stores as rarely as possible and, when I did, go with a very specific list, and stick to it. This is so hard for me to do in grocery stores, especially.
Being unprepared triggers Wants. If I didn't pack a water bottle, I'm more tempted to stop for a soda at a fast food restaurant. If I didn't plan a meal for the evening, I'm more likely to want to go out to eat. If I don't pack sufficiently for a trip, it makes me want to go and buy whatever it is I forgot. Just on Wednesday, I was up canning until way past my bedtime, with the most time spent (it seemed) on peeling the stupid tomatoes. I said over and over, I wish I had a food mill. I didn't go out and buy one, but I kept thinking, I HAVE to put this on my Christmas list. I Want. I Want.

What triggers your Wants? What do you do to avoid Buying Temptation?

No-Spend Month Day 26: The Cupboard is Bare

2009-08-26T10:16:00.000-04:00

This no-grocery-shopping-for-a-month thing can really dwindle food supplies, go figure.

The grocery list is growing for September 1st, and dinner options are becoming narrower. I'm learning to use leftovers like I haven't before, and that's definitely a good thing. We've had a couple "All-Sides" dinners, consisting only of leftover side dishes. Monday, it was baked mac & cheese, baked beans, green beans, and corn on the cob. These meals make for a weird menu, but usually end up being vegetarian, which I know is better for us.

We've had to make a few runs to the store. We were out of Kleenex, and the worst of ragweed season is approaching. I was out of canning jars with a big box of overripe peaches (and even bigger box of tomatoes!) sitting in my kitchen. The tomatoes were free. The tomatoes were free; the peaches were $6 and netted 9 pints canned plus some in the freezer. I should add- our pantry is looking empty except for the canning I've been doing, which is supposed to last us all year. So far, 25 quarts and 12 pints of green beans, 12 pints and 1 quart of pickles, and 9 pints of peaches have been put up. Today, I'm, tackling the tomatoes.

We're already over our gas budget for the month, and my car needs its tank filled pretty badly. A lunch was left at home at the end of last week, as well as Monday, resulting in picking up fast food twice.

Money has been spent this month, but right now our no-spend budget is tracking to save $700 over what we normally spend. I go back and do the math again- can it be true? In just one month? Yep. Wow.

My husband and I will definitely be talking about which of these changes are permanent, once we run numbers at the end of the month and see where we saved money.

One more note: My husband was able to tighten the aforemetioned pipe and a crisis was averted, but we cleared out everything from below the sink just in case it wasn't a permanent fix.

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Two lunches out: $10
Kleenex: $2
Canning jars: $16

Previous total: $129.70
New total: $157.70

What is 'justice'?

2009-08-25T08:37:00.001-04:00

Lately, I've just been talking about the 'saving change' part of It's Just Change during my No-Spend Month, but I'm still thinking plenty about the justice aspect of what I'm doing. This week, my friends and I started a discussion on the book Justice In the Burbs by Will and Lisa Samson.

The first point that came up generated a lot of discussion- what is "justice"?

Growing up, many of us related "justice" to things like the Judicial System and Criminal Justice. In church, when "love and justice" was spoken of, it was comparing the grace of God to the 'justice' of sending people to Hell. So, in that context, how do we understand Social Justice?

In the book, the Samsons explain justice as mercy, compassion, and fairness. When I've tried to explain why I care about social justice to friends in the past, and the term isn't in their vocabulary, I talk about justice as fairness. Someone pointed out in the discussion last night, 'fairness' can be taken many ways. If everyone begins at the same starting-line and works themselves to where they are today, the system is inherently fair & just, and nothing needs to be done. At the other end of the spectrum, at what standard of living is 'fair'? Should everyone own BMWs?

When using the book's definition- mercy, compassion, and fairness- these misconceptions aren't present. "Justice" is a desire for fairness flowing out of a love for others. This makes sense to us, because we see God's desire for this kind of justice through the story of His people. Over and over in the Old Testament, he tells His people to take care of the poor, widows, orphans and aliens among them. Jesus seemed to have a preference for those same marginalized people on his time on earth. The early church shared with each other to see that no one was needy.

Today, who are the "poor, widows, orphans and aliens" among us who need mercy, compassion, and fairness?

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At the end of September, the authors of Justice In the Burbs, Will and Lisa Samson, will be doing a seminar at our church. I look forward to blogging about the book, and then meeting and interacting with the authors! Also, I've reviewed Will's book Enough at my other blog.

No Spend Month Day 22: Emergencies Happen.

2009-08-22T23:11:00.001-04:00

Every time we get on a roll saving up an emergency fund, some Actual Emergency hits, and we deplete it back to where we were before. One of the goals of this month was to seriously cut back on spending so that we could make significant progress on our Emergency Fund goals, So far, so good.

'Emergencies' wouldn't be emergencies if we could see them coming. Replacing an aging appliance isn't an emergency if I knew it was getting old and likely to fail- I could have the foresight to save up for it. Replacing tires on a car due to wear isn't an emergency- I can check the tread and see that I need to start a Tire Fund. Replacing tires due to a nail causing a flat tire, or replacing a newer appliance that dies unexpectedly is an "emergency"- the distinction can be made.

Tonight, I was up past my bedtime finishing canning some green beans, when I drained the sink, and heard rushing water- not through the pipes, but under the sink. Awesome. Water was pouring out of the drain pipe, and I quickly yelled for my husband and plugged the sink again.

Will we need to call a plumber? Hopefully not, but freak things like this are what the Emergency Fund is for. There will probably be a trip to a hardware store tomorrow to find a solution to the leaking pipe, though, but I do want to use my sink again. Someday. Preferably, before the end of our No-Spend Month.
------------------------------

Today's spending:
$7 at the grocery store for milk, 3 loaves of bread, and cereal.
$1.05 at JC Penney for a shirt and a necklace.

Previous total: $121.65
New total: $129.70

No-Spend Month Day 20: Birthday Dinner #2

2009-08-20T09:57:00.003-04:00

Last night, we took my mom & dad out for a nice meal for my mom's birthday. After using a coupon, the total came to $45, quickly pushing our monthly spending over $100. After dinner, we ran to Costco to pick up a 40-lb bag of dog food for $22, since we're scraping the bottom of our last one, and the dog has to eat. He gets very whiny when he hasn't been fed. Even if he hasn't been fed for like an hour. But I digress.

So, does the fact that we spent more than we have in the last three weeks in just an evening mean that the experiment has failed? The experiment is about being faithful to the original goals, not numbers. Unlike many others who have set out on this No-Spend Month, I didn't set a Spending Goal of $X- I just said "No spending, except for necessities". I think we're sticking to that, as we understand it, without bending too many rules. As I said in my last post, gifts of experiences and relationships matter to us, so this night was worth it.

If you're playing along at home, this means that we've spent $70 of the $121 we've spent this month, almost 60%, on "gifts" for friends or family (and slightly more if you take into account the pennies I've spent at CVS for stuff I gave away).

My friend the Queen of Free has a great post today about making small changes in your life and spending for a big result over time. This month has been a big change for us that has ended up being less disruptive than I thought it would be. Will we continue in a No-Spend mindset? My pantry and freezer are looking thin, so we're going to have to go grocery shopping at some point. There are some house projects that will need to be completed with a trip to the hardware store. For the next week or so, though, until September 1st, we're committed to trying to keep this up, and learning from the process.

How's your month going?

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Previous Total: $54.65
New Total: $121.65

No-Spend Month Day 19: Clearing out

2009-08-19T10:58:00.000-04:00

A strange side effect from not spending this month has been the desire to simplify in other areas. I've tried to straighten up the office. I went through my clothes and have a pile to drop off at Goodwill. The clean laundry didn't sit unfolded in the baskets as long as it would in a normal week. I'm keeping the kitchen cleaner. I'm actually wanting to weed in the garden.

All of these things may not seem like "simplifying" at first glance, but the desire to have my surroundings uncluttered is stemming from not doing the opposite- shopping, accumulating, buying.

Last weekend, on a whim, I threw together a care package for my brother-in-law whose headed back to college soon. I picked up a few free things at CVS, then proceeded to check around the house, seeing if we had anything he could use at college.

Popcorn.
Mac & cheese.
Candy bars.
Sticky notes.
Pens.
Scotch tape.
Medicines.
A first aid kit.

All unopened, new in the packaging.

While it was really cool I was able to get a gift together by just looking for stuff around the house, it occurred to me later- how much is enough? When does stockpiling become hoarding? How much extra stuff do I really need to store, "just in case"? Also, how much room would I find in my house if I got rid of stuff I may not ever use?

This No-Spend Month experiment really makes you think.

Another note: Though this care package was a gift I could get from gathering stuff from around the house, I don't want to imply gifts are worth skimping on. Gifts, especially the gift of Experiences and Time, are worth every penny for important relationships in your life. That's why we went to a birthday dinner with friends earlier this month, and that's why we're taking my mom out for her birthday tonight. Relationships matter, even with a silly experiment going on.

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Spent $0.13 at CVS in tax on Sunday.
Also, spent $0.35 at the office on snacks, because I under-packed my lunch yesterday.

Previous Total: $54.17
New Total: $54.65

No-Spend Month Day 17: Costco Conversation

2009-08-17T10:16:00.001-04:00

We had to get milk and block cheese for lunches. Costco (by far!) has the best deal on good cheese, and milk was cheaper than elsewhere, so we went there. At the checkout:

Cashier: "Just these two items?"
Me: "Yep"
Cashier: "Wow, you're a strong person. Most people can't get out of here with so little- especially women!"
Me: It was a quick trip.
Cashier: I guess!

This short conversation highlighted the pitfalls of shopping often and shopping leisurely. Because I had in my mind that were were not spending money this month, and we came in with a very specific list. It was hard not to slow down and look at all the snacks and packages of other food it'd be nice to have. I slowed down a couple times to grab a few samples (Hummus! Chicken nuggets! Kashi granola bars!) but tried my best to stay focused and on-task. A downside of Costco is the fact that an impulse buy will cost you $10 or more, while an impulse buy at a typical grocery store will be $5 or less. Having a list- and sticking to it- is even more important at a warehouse store.

See my warehouse store shopping series part 1, part 2 and part 3

Amazingly, we got out of Costco for $8.77
Add to that a $7 lunch on Friday
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Previous total: $38.40
New Total: $54.17

No-Spend Month Day 14: Payday Routine

2009-08-14T12:56:00.000-04:00

Today our paychecks come in.

When we get our paychecks, they direct-deposit into our checking account, and my husband does his budgeting magic. He transfers some money for non-monthly bills (like car insurance and trash) and accumulating budget categories (like Dog Fund and Gift Fund) to an online checking account for that purpose, leaves money in the brick-and-mortar checking account for monthly budget categories (mortgage, gas, food, electric, etc.), and transfers the rest to a separate Emergency Fund online savings account.

Commercial Break: All our savings accounts are with ING, and we're beyond delighted with them. I've got referral links- which can only each be used once, so email me at itsjustchange-at-gmail to get a link, which will get you $25 in your account and $10 for me. In addition, it will get you anywhere-access to your accounts, a pretty good interest rate, and access to ATMs all over the country. Seriously, I'm a big fan. (I'll write post full of gushing later)

And we're back.

In a normal month, at the end of the pay period, after paying all applicable bills and buying gas and getting cash out for our cash budget categories, our checking account is pretty low. If we spend all our cash and need to use our check card for anything, it's dangerously low. This low balance is buy design- if we left more money than we need in the account, it has the potential to get spent. With just a small buffer beyond our budgeted categories, we can't easily spend beyond our budget. Our credit card and online accounts are accessible, sure, but we have to consciously choose to use them, which makes us pause and think before we do- is this over-budget spending worth it?

All that said, we've just completed the first no-spend pay period, and I'm happy to say our checking account had barely been touched (except for bills). It's nice not having to watch the balance carefully the last two or three days before a paycheck comes in.

The month is almost halfway over!

Today's failure: We BOTH forgot our lunches at home because we had a disrupted morning routine. I'll have a bagel here at the office for lunch, and look forward to dinner. My husband will probably go out for an inexpensive lunch. The lunches that are already conveniently packed and in the fridge will turn into a picnic lunch downtown tomorrow night. A night on the town for nothing? I'll take that!

No-Spend Month Day 11: Dinners with Friends

2009-08-11T12:51:00.002-04:00

Here's the story of two dinners, two great sets of friends, and two different effects on our pocketbook.

Saturday, a friend that lives about an hour away was going to be in the neighborhood, so I invited her family over for dinner. I'm big on hospitality- the act of opening my home, inviting another into my life to see a little of my world, hopefully making them feel at ease and comfortable and loved- this all matters very much to me. Spur-of-the-moment hospitality is a bit more of a challenge, but I try to always be ready for anyone who might stop by, or for any chance to open my home. This month, because I'm sticking close to a meal plan, what I serve to guests is limited to what's in the pantry, fridge, and freezer.

I was trying to come up with what to serve my friend Saturday, and my husband suggested chicken alfredo, mostly because it's one of his favorite meals. I knew that would be quick and easy, and I knew I had the sauce ingredients on hand, so I was set. Until I actually started cooking it. Yes, I had the sauce ingredients on hand, but I didn't have as much fresh fettuccine in the freezer as I thought- and I didn't have a full box of fettuccine in my pantry, either. The solution? Cook fresh pasta and dried pasta together for the grown-ups, and throw some egg noodles on the side for the kids. The kids would probably want the noodles plain, anyway. I baked up some rosemary bread, and made a vegetable tray with carrots, broccoli, and cucumbers from the garden, plus some grape tomatoes I picked up free at the grocery store. I heated up leftover roasted chicken to top the pasta. Dinner is served!

Our guests didn't seem to mind that the noodles didn't all match, or that the chicken was actually leftovers, or that fresh vegetables were a weird side with pasta, or that I had dinner ready a bit before they got to our house, so things weren't piping hot. I remind myself that the point of Hospitality is to have a welcoming home, and that was accomplished. Thankfully, I also had grace-filled guests!

Fast forward from Saturday to Monday. I get a call Monday morning asking if we'd like to join our friend to celebrate her birthday at a local restaurant. We chewed on this decision. We really like the restaurant. But it's our No-Spend month! But we haven't hung out with these friends in a while, and we've been meaning to, and a birthday does only come once a year... We caved, and went to dinner. And had a fabulous time. And ordered water to save some money. All in all, we ended up spending $25 for a very similar meal to what we had Saturday for "free"- rosemary bread, fresh vegetables, chicken alfredo.

Moral of the story? Dinner at home is always cheaper. Friends can visit anywhere. Dinner doesn't have to be perfect. Small sacrifices (because, although $25 is a lot of money for this month, it's small on the scale of things) made to strengthen relationships are worth it.

I sometimes selfishly host dinners rather than go out with friends for the above reason- I know that I can spend about $6 on ingredients for a good-sized group, or I can spend 4 times that on dinner for just my husband & I. Hospitality is (most of the time) less expensive than getting together elsewhere, with the added perk of the intimacy of the home rather than a public place. Hospitality matters- even during a No-Spend Month.
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Previous Total: $13.40
New Total: $38.40

No-Spend Month, Day 10: Not a No-Spend weekend

2009-08-10T09:41:00.005-04:00

Last weekend, I celebrated our first No Spend Weekend, where we didn't spend a penny unnecessarily. This weekend, we did spend a few pennies (Dollars, even!):

39 cents in tax at CVS. I picked up one thing free, and we had to pick up some medicine. The balance was paid with ECBs, but the tax was out of pocket. This burned through about 8 ECBs that I didn't get back.
$2.61 at Dairy Queen. When we started this challenge, I said our weakness is occasionally going out for ice cream... well, Saturday night, we wanted to reconnect after a busy day, and were out running errands, on the way to visit family, and we stopped and shared a Blizzard on our way. This explicitly broke a rule, but, on the upside, Blizzards were $1 off, and the Chocolate Extreme was really good... but that's no excuse.
$2.00 at Kroger. I was picking up some free (really, actually free) things, and my husband said we were out of soda. While I don't put this in the "necessity" category, he does, so we picked up a 12-pack.

Previous total: $8.40

New total: $13.40

No-Spend Month Day 9: What is "free"?

2009-08-09T05:39:00.006-04:00

The definition of free, in the context of cost, is "complimentary: costing nothing; exempt [from paying]: grant relief or an exemption from a rule or requirement to [pay]"

What I'm learning is, "Buy one, get one free" isn't actually free. I have to spend money- buy one- to get the deal. Technically, it's "50% off when you buy 2," but that phrase doesn't go over as well with ad viewers. "Free after mail-in rebate" isn't actually free, either- I have to pay for the item, and my money will be refunded later. While I see lots of great deals out there this month- as I always do, reading fantastic posts by bloggers that keep us lazy deal-hunters informed- I can't chase any of them. Unless they're actually free.

So what have I found that's Actually Free?

Tickets to the US Senior Open from my company
Tickets to see Sandi Patty and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra this coming Tuesday, won from @IndyStateFair
Dryer balls won from Inexpensively
Coupons for free items like Tropicana orange juice and candy and Kroger tomatoes
Community events
Walks in the neighborhood, playing board games at home, re-watching old movies
Food from my garden

When I get anxious or bored at home, I often want to go out just to get out, to do something. Often this means wandering around a Goodwill or bookstore or the mall. The vast majority of the time I won't buy anything, but the fact that my entertainment circulates around retail outlets is somewhat disconcerting. This month, I'm enjoying finding Actual Free things to do- and finding them in abundance!

No-Spend Month Day 7: Lunch

2009-08-07T09:00:00.000-04:00

As I said before, we're pretty good at budgeting, until something throws us off our schedule.

Every morning, I faithfully get up earlier than I actually need to, and make two lunches- one for me, one for my husband. Mine gets toted along with me to work; my husband's gets placed in the fridge for him to grab on his way out the door about an hour later. Yesterday, he ran out the door without his lunch.

To be fair, this isn't an uncommon occurrence. During months when we're not trying to spend no money (like that double-negative? Yeah, me too.), this will happen about once every week and a half. On those days, he'll go out to eat with his coworkers, and eat the lunch I made the next day. No big deal. This time, he felt really bad, because it WAS a big deal to him, because we were trying so hard not spend any extra money this month. I'm trying to be full of grace about this experiment, so I told him to go ahead and go out to lunch so he'd get to eat lunch, and to order water instead of soda so he wouldn't feel as bad :)

Also, as I stated in my "rules"- I'll go shopping for grocery staples when we run out during the month. Well, Aldi is having a fabulous sale on milk ($1 per gallon!) so I ran there and got two gallons, which will last us more than a couple weeks.

Total spending so far:
Lunch: $6
Milk: $1.98
Previous total: $0.42
New total: $8.40

I should add, we've also been spending money to ship items we've sold on eBay, but that money is coming from the sale of the items, not out of the regular budget.

No-Spend Month Day 5: When Plans Go Awry

2009-08-05T09:52:00.000-04:00

Around my house, we're pretty good at budgeting. We set out and decide how much we're going to spend on various categories, and usually approximately "hit the mark". The days we get thrown off our budgeting game, though, are the times things don't go as planned.

One month, a couple years ago, we had a death in the family that was going to require unexpected travel, and cancelling other trip plans we had made for that same weekend. Due to the hurried nature of the trip, we didn't get our cash for our envelopes out of the bank, saying instead we'd just use ATM cards this month. At the end of the month, we were shocked at how much we spent. Yes, there was a trip involved, which means eating out more, and getting back from a trip can always be hectic and normality can take a few days to return, but this was a whole-month problem. Our schedule had been disrupted, our typically-well-followed plans were askewed, and we compensated by spending more.

On a typical work day, I'm home by 4 or 4:30- a full hour or hour-and-a-half before my husband, with plenty of time to get dinner ready. On the few days that I work late and don't get home before him, we often look around the kitchen, see that dinner isn't ready, and go out to eat instead. Last night was one of those days. I was at the office until 6, and my husband had already gotten home. If it were a typical month, he'd let the dog out, feed the dog, and come pick me up for a quick dinner out. Last night was different. There was a whole chicken roasting in the crockpot, and he heated up some green beans, then brought dinner to me at the office, where we had a strangely-romantic dinner in the breakroom.

This is what No-Spend Month is doing for us- making us "think different". When our plans get thrown off, the default answer is to spend money to compensate. With a little creativity, we don't have to.

No-Spend Month: Day 3

2009-08-03T09:00:00.000-04:00

It's Monday morning, and I'm proud to say we just completed our first no-spend weekend.

A typical weekend for us would be this: Get up Saturday morning, go out to run errands (BUY STUFF), pick up lunch while we're out, get some things done around the house, go to church at 4:30, and out to dinner afterwards. Sundays, we'll work on house projects (which involves a trip to the hardware store), go to Costco or go grocery shopping, often eating lunch out. By the evening, we're usually settled in at home and have a light dinner, but the damage to our checking account has been done.

So how was this weekend different? We didn't go to run errands Saturday morning. Instead, we stayed home, and ate a brunch at about 9:30. We both worked on yard projects before it got hot- my husband mowed while I worked in the garden. We sold a computer on craigslist, so he went to meet the buyer for that while I worked on canning some of the green beans I harvested. I made sure we ate a late lunch/really early dinner before we went to church around 4 so we wouldn't be hungry and wanting to pick something up afterwards. When we got home, we curled up with some popcorn & watched a movie.

Sunday was booked solid with free events, so it wasn't as hard to avoid spending money. After stopping by CVS to pick up some free deals (Confession: I spent 42 cents in tax on otherwise free items) I had free tickets to the US Senior Open happening nearby, and we checked that out in the morning. When we got home, we had a snack to hold us over, and headed to a family reunion, where we were for the rest of the day. We did have to buy a tank of gas on the way home (Gas is considered a "necessity" according to our rules).

Could we do this no-spend weekend every weekend? Perhaps. I suppose we'll try for the next month and see how it goes!

Total spending for August: 42 cents

No Spend Month: Before I even begin...

2009-07-31T14:43:00.000-04:00

One of the goals of my No-Spend month is to see how much money I can "find" in our budget. The month hasn't even started yet, and unusual "found money" has popped up all over!

I got paid for my last 3 months of overtime work
My raise kicked in on the paycheck at the end of July
Our mortgage payment went down due to lower property taxes
My husband started selling parts from 3 extra computers we have sitting around on eBay and craigslist

Without even trying, one of the goals- to save up for classes that my husband needs to take- has been achieved. Because we've already reached the goal, I wonder what the purpose of the month ahead of us is. We're still going to give it a try and see what we end up with, because I know the "purging" will be good for us.

The next goal: Finish up a 3-month emergency fund.

Back-to-School Bounty

2009-07-30T22:04:00.000-04:00

A couple weeks ago, I wrote on Inexpensively about buying school supplies to donate to needy students.

We signed up to fill 2 backpacks at church for the Back-to-School Blast, one for a middle-schooler and another for a high-schooler. All the items in the picture were obtained from CVS and Meijer, shopping back to school sales. All in all, I spent $2 on the assignment notebook, $1 on the flashcards, $1 on 20 spiral notebooks, 40 cents on the pencil case, and about 50 cents in the folders. Everything else was free.

Five dollars. I filled two backpacks for $5*, and have a big pile of notebooks and binders and pens and pencils, as well as many other supplies, to give to my sister-in-law who teaches at a low-income school.

It doesn't take much to make a difference in someone else's life, and it pays to find ways to save money on both things for yourself and things to give.

* There are a few things that were on the school supply list that I wasn't able to find on sale. I spent another $3 on a calculator, $3 on 2 colored pencil packs, and $14 on two alarm clocks, one for each backpack. The backpacks were bought as part of the program for $10, so the total cost of each backpack filled with supplies was about $20- totally worth it for the opportunity for an at-risk kid to be able to learn!

The No-Spend Experiment: Coming Soon!

2009-07-28T22:21:00.001-04:00

It all starts on Saturday. August first through the thirty-first. Thirty-one days of nothing.

Amy's done it.
So has Kim. And Mary. And Crunchy Chicken. And Molly. And all sorts of other people.
MSN Money talked about it. So did Bankrate.com and Reader's Digest.

But can WE do it?

What's the project? Not spending money for a month. Sounds straightforward enough. Everyone makes rules that work for them. Here are mine.

Regular bills will still get paid. We're not going to cancel any phone or internet service for just a month. Bills include: Electric, Mortgage, Cell phone, Internet. I think that's it.

"Staples" and necessities can still be bought. If I run out of milk or flour or sugar or toothpaste, I'll go to the store and get more. Trying to work around not having a staple on hand is more difficult than it's worth. I want to succeed. I just realized I'll probably need to buy dog food before the month is put. That falls under the 'Necessity' category. Gas is also a necessity- we won't be carpooling to work, so we'll probably spend our normal amount in that category.

Grocery spending will be kept at an absolute minimum. I made a meal list for the whole month, and took stock of what I'd need to make all those meals. I already had most of the ingredients on hand, but spent $40 at Aldi and $10 at Meijer to round out the list last weekend. Theoretically, I'm set for the month, but I know something will come up.

Other than necessities, no spending. House projects that require supplies will be put on hold. No new clothes purchases, or new tools, or gadgets. No eating out! Not even for ice cream runs! Hardest for me, I'm going to set aside deal-hunting and couponing for a month. If I can get something free, I'll do it, sure (and I do have $13 in ECBs that will need to be used!) but I won't go out & buy something (with money) just because it's on sale. Not in August.

So can we do this? I have no idea. I think it will be interesting to see what the minimum amount of money we can live on is, with our current responsibilities (the house, dog, commuting to jobs, etc). I think it will be eye-opening to go cold-turkey from some of our current habits- perusing Goodwills for impulse buys, eating out 2-3 times a week, running to the store to pick up what we need, almost-weekly house projects. I think finding free things to do around town will be fun! My friend the Queen of Free will surely be a help in this! I'll try to post every couple days on the new challenges and progress.

I think the project will also show us how blessed we are- how much room there actually is in our budget, how much more we could, or should, be giving to others. With the project planned, before I've even started, I've already felt blessed-like-crazy.

Life, Inc book review

2009-07-22T10:35:00.001-04:00

My friend David interviewed me a while back while putting together a review for Life Inc.: How the World Became a Corporation and How to Take It Back by Douglas Rushkoff and it was published today on the Frontpage Magazine website.

The book sounds like something right up my alley. The review is for a conservative publication that's wary of Rushkoff and attacks on corporations, but, as David points out, the book isn't about being anti-captalism, it's about reconnecting with our communities. Here's some of what I had to say:

“When we need to buy other things- whether it's a piece of furniture, electronics, or clothes- we prefer to buy local. Many times, this means checking whether we can get the item outside of the typical retail outlets first- does anyone on Freecycle have one to offer? Is anything posted on Craigslist? Do any of the many Goodwills in the area have something that will work? Are our friends getting rid of something we need? This approach bypasses corporations altogether, connects us more deeply to our community and its resources, and typically gets us a pretty good deal on whatever it is we're looking for. If we spend money on the thing we're looking for, it goes directly to our neighbors, without any corporation taking a cut.”

Read the whole review to learn more about the book, and see the rest of my input!

The downside to the industrial food system

2009-07-21T13:06:00.000-04:00

As a kid, Anamaniacs was probably my favorite cartoon. The songs on their show were clever, catchy, and somewhat educational. The one that sticks in my memory is the Countries of the World song, during a phase where I was into the school's Geography Bee and even had a world map as a shower curtain. Yeah, I was a dork. Still am.

Anyway, this is a song I didn't remember but came across today:

Did you catch what they said at the beginning? There were a couple interesting phrases: "Modern food technology has the answer!" and "We got coupons!".

"Modern food technology has the answer!"
We'd like to think that the food we eat is wholesome, natural and straight from the farm or some warm, homey kitchen. As it is, much of what is sold in the grocery store is more aptly described as "modern technology" than as "food"! The barely-pronounceable chemicals listed in the song are very real- and in most everything we eat when we buy packaged or processed food.

"We got coupons!"
There are two sides to this. Many national food brands put coupons in the paper each week- and most the time, these coupons are for highly processed "food products" that are convenient, but not wholesome. This is not always the case. Coupons for dairy and produce products are out there. Organics companies are starting to offer coupons, too. The two lessons from this are:

Not all coupons are for bad stuff
Just because you have a coupon for something doesn't mean you should buy it.

Thinking about our food choices matters. Filling our bodies with whole foods rather than processed "modern food technology" will not only save the land from getting doused with chemicals and having its resources used to process and transport what we eat, it will save us medical bills down the road.

Living Inexpensively- and Justly!

2009-07-16T12:39:00.000-04:00

My friend Heather has been working behind the scenes for months, and just last week finally launched Inexpensively, a site sharing deals and coupons locally and nationally. I especially like the local aspect to it- bloggers from specific states are sharing deals from those states- from their neighborhood. It makes the whole, big, national site feel a little smaller when I see my hometown zoo or grocery store featured.

And- EVEN BETTER- the site isn't just about saving money for your own family. When Heather started her previous site, FeedIndy.com, it was originally purposed to help people find deals so they can share with food pantries while still staying on-budget. Inexpensively has continued that same idea, and has an area labelled "Sharing" that will motivate readers to share with those in need. I love the concept, as I've written about before. It doesn't have to be an expensive undertaking, to help others.

Oh, and I should mention, I'm guest posting at Inexpensively today, and hope to in the future, in the Sharing category. Today we're talking about saving money on school supplies, to fill backpacks for kids that wouldn't otherwise have the tools to learn. I'm excited to fill a backpack for a middle schooler and a high schooler- so far I'm about half-done with the school supply lists and have spent about 80 cents, total, on supplies. Helping the less fortunate is affordable, and worth it. Check it out!

Eating seasonally out of season

2009-07-07T08:16:00.000-04:00

I've mentioned before the cost associated with eating foods out of season- a watermelon in the winter is shipped from a different hemisphere, vastly increasing the carbon footprint of that snack. So what are we to do when nothing is growing? Eat dried leaves? Not at all!

I made a local, seasonal pumpkin pie this weekend that got rave reviews- and I'm nowhere near any pumpkins ready to harvest. How is this possible? Last year, when I did harvest a pumpkin, I cut it up, roasted it, pureed it, and stuck it in my freezer. The pumpkin puree was grown locally (my backyard!) and frozen in time (literally). When I thawed it out, it hadn't traveled anywhere, though there was energy expended to keep it usable all this time (the electricity the freezer used).

Eating foods out of season always requires some kind of energy expenditure- whether it is flying tomatoes in from China or running a freezer or boiling a pot of water. My favorite way to preserve food is to can it- I like the convenience and the consistency from a jar. Freezing is way easier than canning, though, and is better for some foods. Dehydrating is a preservation strategy I haven't tried, but many people enjoy.

Mostly, I like that my garden produce can stretch across the year, and I can grow enough to feed my family for months after the garden has stopped producing. It would be awesome to reach a point where all of our vegetables for the year are grown and preserved on our property, but we're not there- yet. Last year, I got from summer through the winter without buying potatoes or green beans- our most-used vegetables. This year, we'll see if I can make it even further.

Do you grow your own food or buy it locally? What do you do to preserve the harvest?

Cheap Shoes for...?

2009-06-19T15:20:00.000-04:00

via Pundit Kitchen HT Ashley

In a conversation with a friend today, we were discussing being aware of hurts in the world, and she made a comment that stuck with me: "It hurts to care." She went on: "Sometimes I want to not get involved because I don't like seeing the dark underbelly of what sin can do to people."

I agree. It hurts to care. It's hard to keep track of the ethical and moral and social justice and environmental problems in the world, and weigh them against each other, choosing the least-bad products and companies and people and organizations to support. It hurts because it takes time and thought, but it also hurts our hearts to know others are hurting even worse- often because of the things I and my neighbors and my countrymen support.

Because I know that, whether I care or turn a blind eye, my purchases are supporting something- good or bad- I choose to support something good. Sometimes that "something good" is my neighbor nearby, when I buy their used goods, saving perfectly usable stuff from a landfill. Sometimes the "something good" is the earth, as I choose to buy food that hasn't traveled as far, or was grown without harmful chemicals. Sometimes it means choosing the best of no-good-option- shopping at the megastore that pays their employees just a little better, or gets less of their stuff from China.

Regardless, it hurts to care.

Adventures in Car Ownership, part two

2009-06-14T10:08:00.021-04:00

I wrote about the first part of the hail-damage adventure, and our options in Adventures in Car Ownership, part one. Here's the conclusion of the matter:

Wednesday was a whirlwind day. We got the check, then talked about our options. We were really hesitant to fix the damage for a car we're not in love with, especially considering the cost of fixing it is such a high percentage of the value of the car. Driving the damaged car and saving the money would make sense for a time, but selling/trading in a hail-damaged car would be bad enough- it would decline even further in value as those dent spots started to rust.

We decided to see what dealers would offer us for trade-in for the damaged car, to see what range we would be considering when buying a car. Our first stop was CarMax, who will buy your car even if you don't buy a car from them. This would give us a reference number for the other dealers, and a back-up if the other dealers' offers were lower. Next we went in search of a new-to-us car with similar miles to our current one, with a price in the ballpark of the insurance check + our deductible (which we're going to have to spend anyway) + the hail-damaged Civic's trade-in value.

We've had our eye on a station-wagon-like vehicle for a long while. I like the more car-like aspects to it, and the fact it's not an SUV. I like to be SOMEWHAT environmentally conscious. It will be a long time, if ever, that my husband is caught in a minivan, and he wants a 4-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive vehicle for winter driving. These requirements left us with a short list of possibilities: a Subaru Forester or Outback, a Volvo station wagon, or further down on the list, a small SUV with AWD. My husband's a car guy, so he had thought about this and researched it for a long time.

We went to a couple dealers, saw a few small SUVs but no Subarus or Volvos, until we finally found a car my husband saw online. The Volvo wagon had comparable miles to our Civic was priced right, and the dealer offered $1000 more than CarMax did for our trade-in. We bought it.

All in all, we didn't take into account sales tax when figuring out what would make us "break even" in the price formula, but didn't end up spending too much. We're happy with the deal we got, and this car should serve our family for years to come. I was taken aback with the speed at which everything happened- I'm not one for "spontaneous" anything- but, even if we had waited, the end result would have been the same. It's a good car. I like it. A lot.

Adventures in Car Ownership

2009-06-12T10:13:00.000-04:00

When I wrote my previous post about a car emergency fund, I had no idea how quickly it would be put to use. Here's what happened:

There was a hailstorm during my husband's afternoon commute last week that dented the car, an '04 Honda Civic with 65,000 miles, all over. When we finally were able to get to the insurance company's appraisers on Wednesday, they agreed- by their estimate, there were dents on every body panel. The hood, top, and trunk of the car would need to be replaced. The rest of the dents would need to be popped out. The cost of these major repairs? $5,500. They gave us a check for that amount, minus our deductible.

Here's the thing. Our car, according the Kelley Blue Book, is worth about $8,000 if we tried to sell it. From my understanding, the insurance company totals the car if the damage is 70% of the value. So what would have been our magic number? $5,600. Just $100 short of their estimate. Go figure. But I digress.

So, we have a $5,000 check and a hail-damaged car. What to do? The choices we have:

Fix it. The obvious one. But, do we really want to put cosmetic work into a car we're not absolutely in love with, to the tune of 70% of its value? Also, some of the dents would be popped out rather than the pieces being totally replaced, and those could rust more easily in the future.
Don't fix it, and keep it. So, we'd be driving a hail-damaged car, and we'd have $5,000 in the bank towards the next one. The car was mechanically very sound, so it should be fine, as long as we can get over the weird stares.
Get a new(-to-us) car. This isn't in the plan for about 3 years, but, as we said, we're not in love with this car. We've already discovered it's difficult to fit some car seats in, which is a concern as our family grows. (Not growing yet, but we're talking the future here.) Also, we don't have a car that can carry both people and stuff- the truck carries stuff, but only two people. The cars carry 4 people comfortably, but we can't take 4 people (or two people and a dog) camping at all.

We have a small car emergency fund saved up. With option 1, we'll end up spending the insurance deductible plus the check to fix the car. With option 2, we'd save the check, probably putting it in the "Replacement" fund. With option 3, we would be shopping for a car with a price at or below the insurance check + our deductible + the trade-in value of our damaged car.

Which would you do?

A Case for the Car Maintenance Fund

2009-06-03T15:46:00.000-04:00

Kacie at Sense to Save posted recently about considering whether to have a specific Car Maintenance Fund, or to rely on an existing emergency fund for unexpected vehicle expenses. We've gone from one opinion to the other over the last six months. Let me tell you why.

Last October, we had to put tires on one of our cars. The tires were worn and we wanted them to have better tread for the winter. It was time. We were happy with the service and price we got at Costco, but the bill came out to about $525.
As our luck would have it, less than a week later, the other car with mostly-worn tires (not in dire need of being replaced, but getting there) got a flat. Rather than have one new tire and 3 old ones, we replaced them all. Again, we were happy with Costco's service, and the bill was about $525.
Our garage (apparently?) has narrow openings. My husband has run into the sides of the garage, knocking off a mirror, twice so far, and one other time injuring a bumper. All of the times, he was pulling out a car I parked- I guess I park closer to the wall than he does! He's a good driver, promise. He was able to fix all of these himself, but the bill for all of them together for parts has probably been close to $100.
We knew we needed the timing belt replaced on the older of our two cars, but when smoke started spewing out the tailpipe, there was something else wrong. The engine needed to be rebuilt, plus the timing belt replaced. To make sure it was done right, we went to the dealer. The bill: $2,300
A couple weeks ago, our third vehicle (the "farm truck") had its brakes go out. My husband replaced the master cylinder, but couldn't replace the brake lines with his equipment. We took it to our mechanic. The bill: about $300
According to Mint, over the last 6 months, we've had other maintenance-type costs totaling $500. This would include random replacement parts and oil changes for our 3 vehicles. I feel like I'm forgetting something major, but I can't figure out what it is.

This last brake problem with the truck was the last straw. We need to stop depleting our emergency fund. Yes, we've had the money on hand every time. Yes, the emergency fund has served its purpose. No, nothing has gone on the credit card, and we're still debt-free. Watching the emergency fund get depleted over and over is discouraging, though.

Starting last month, we started funding a Car Maintenance/Replacement Fund. This will cover 'emergencies' related to cars in the future, and eventually will allow us to buy a new car. And we have lost no time in this.

There was a hail storm last night. We now have a car covered in hail dents. The insurance company has been notified, and our deductible is $500. I'm taking it in to get a quote right now. And I'll continue to be thankful we gave some forethought to this 'emergency' and have money in the bank to cover the deductible!

What do you do in regards to car repairs? Do you have an emergency fund, put the repairs on the credit card, or have some other strategy?

Slow Children

2009-06-01T10:42:00.000-04:00

Slow Children at Play by Cecilia Woloch

All the quick children have gone inside, called
by their mothers to hurry-up-wash-your-hands
honey-dinner's-getting-cold, just-wait-till-your-father-gets-home--
and only the slow children out on the lawns, marking off
paths between fireflies, making soft little sounds with their mouths, ohs
that glow and go out and glow. And their slow mothers flickering,
pale in the dusk, watching them turn in the gentle air, watching them
twirling, their arms spread wide, thinking, These are my children, thinking,
Where is their dinner? Where has their father gone?

I came across this poem a few weeks ago and it got me thinking. Maybe we need slow children and slow mothers and a slower lifestyle, for the sake of our community.

Ministry Spotlight: World Next Door

2009-05-27T22:15:00.000-04:00

All around the world, things are happening. The marginalized, poor, and forgotten are suffering in anonymity. In our comfy home here in the West, in the suburbs, we see none of it. But what if we did?

My friend since high school, Barry, has a heart for these poor, marginalized and forgotten people. He's had the opportunity to spend significant amounts of time with them- in India, in Kenya, in the Ukraine, and even just down the road in Indianapolis. And, now? He wants to tell you their stories.

Enter World Next Door. World Next Door is a group of journalists and photographers that will publish articles and blog posts online recounting their stories of where God is working around the world. These stories will get back to those of us comfortable in our suburban bubble- and pop that bubble, or at least make our world a little bigger. And if we know what is going on around the world, it gives us the opportunity to care.

Want to find out more or get involved? Start reading the brand-spanking-new blog. Attend the rockin' launch party. Volunteer. Follow @worldnextdoor on Twitter. See Barry's interview on Amy's blog. Stay informed. Because "these people"? They are our neighbors.

Mary Poppins Wisdom

2009-05-23T08:02:00.000-04:00

Seriously, I promise not to just keep posting videos here, but this one came to my attention, and I was surprised how much truth was in it:

When we watch Mary Poppins as kids, we're pulled into a fantasy story full of flying nannies and carousels that come alive. The fact that the workaholic dad is a banker is besides the point, and this song, as a kid, went over my head, full of big words I didn't understand.

But now? Wow. Some highlights:

Giving our money to banks for "safekeeping" doesn't mean it stays in the vaults. As the bankers point out, it goes to fund ships and tea farms and all sort of non-banking related things. Investing, whether it's an interest-earning savings account or bonds and stocks for retirement, necessarily means you're owning and contributing to something other than the bank, something bigger and largely unknown.
Money choices are wrapped up in emotions. Good salespeople know this. The bankers say the boy will achieve a sense of "stature" and "conquest"- emotional, rather than logical words. So much of what we do about our money is driven by fear, pride, or some other emotion. Advertisers know this, and play on it in every advertisement. Be aware.
Money choices always support something. It's not always obvious, but when we give our money- whether it's buying a shirt at the mall, or opening a savings account- we're promoting or upholding something- whether it's child labor or local food or, in this boy's case, dams, railways, and shipping. Thinking beyond the immediate thing we're paying for can help us decide what exactly it is we want to support.
Banks are core to our economic system. Today, we say "Duh" to that- look what happened to the economy when the banks got in trouble! I don't think it was always obvious. The bank owner says "While stand the banks of England, England stands. When fall the banks of England, England falls."- has that been true of nations during this crisis?
Charity isn't logical. Giving the tuppence "to the birds" is a compassionate act that will bring the boy joy, but doesn't make sense in the adult world of interest-earning propositions. In the end, he had to stay determined to do what he views as right and good.

What other wisdom from this song did you miss as a kid?

Lost generation?

2009-05-19T19:16:00.000-04:00

Yes, I found it via an email forward. Yes, I hate email forwards.

But, still, cool.

Meeting our food

2009-05-11T21:15:00.000-04:00

Lately, a lot of lip service has been paid to "knowing where our food comes from". Some of this trend stems from the food recalls on green beans, spinach, peppers, tomatoes, peanut butter, and seemingly everything in between. In theory, if we know where our food comes from- whether it's down the street or across the country- we're safer.

While that point is arguable, I think it is important to know where our food comes from for a different reason. The closer I am acquainted with my food, the more I will appreciate it. The closer I am acquainted with my food, the higher the chance I'm eating food from whole ingredients rather than processed ones. I'm more acquainted, for example, with the Alfredo sauce I'm going to make tonight for dinner from scratch than the powdered mix that comes in the Hamburger Helper box. Although many health-conscious people would be appalled at the butter and cream on my pasta, I'm more comfortable it because I know what's in it: butter, cream, and Parmesan. That's it. What's in Hamburger Helper? No idea. Are there chemicals, preservatives, and unpronounceable additives for color and flavor that I'd rather not ingest? Without a doubt. The further I am removed from my food, the less I know about it, and the higher the probability that it contains something undesirable.

The most closely I can become acquainted with my food is by growing it myself. In this way, I can not only know where it comes from, I can control what goes into it- and can make sure it is pesticide- and herbicide-free. In my mind, gardening organically in my backyard is WAY more enjoyable and less expensive than looking for those same products marked Organic in the grocery store.

The next best thing to getting growing my own is actually knowing who did grow my food. By shopping at farmers markets or sharing produce with friends, I can meet the grower and be assured the food is safe. This weekend, I had a whole new experience with "getting acquainted" with my food- I looked my food in the eye!

Meet the Chickens:

These are meat chickens, just a month and a half old- still "peep"ing instead of clucking. They've had a very happy month-and-a-half though- starting in a warm safe house, then getting the chance to scratch at the ground and eat grass and bugs and just be chicken-y in general. They look pretty happy, no?

The egg chickens just a little ways away are the same age:

Note the serious size difference. There you have it- selective breeding at work! The full-grown egg-laying ladies are a year old and gorgeous, wandering around on their own because they know how to find their way back to the coop at night.

Back to those meat chickens.

I was there on Saturday, "Harvesting Day." I started out on babysitting duty, and ended up on "tear the guts out of the chickens" duty. Awesome, huh?

I'll spare the gory details, but do want to highlight this cool invention, the Chicken Plucker:

Our friend's dad built the contraption off of plans he found on a blog (can't find the link right now.) The drum with the rubber fingers spins around and beats the dead chicken until most all the feathers come off. By all of the guys' accounts who did the chicken processing last year, plucking by hand was the absolute worst part. This device made the whole process go MUCH quicker. Unfortunately, my part of the assembly line was still a very manual, very slimy process.

So, I came face-to-face with my food. Will I think differently about it now? I think I'm just glad to know that the chickens sacrificed for our meals were very happy, very healthy chickens that, as Joe Salatin would say, "only had one bad day" in their short life. I think more when I eat meat, knowing it had to come from somewhere. As my friend said, "Every carnivore should experience this once." McNuggets are too far removed from Real Food for me to remember where they start.

Becoming acquainted with our food matters.

World Fair Trade Day!

2009-05-08T10:51:00.000-04:00

Saturday, May 9th is World Fair Trade Day! The fair trade store in Indianapolis Global Gifts has specials going on:

take our fair trade quiz and save 20% on a single item.
take our blind fair trade chocolate taste test and discover the amazing difference of fair trade.
enjoy live music and drumming from 11:30-1:30 at Mass Ave and 2:30 - 4:30 at 86th & Ditch.

I have guests in town this weekend, and they may be interested in going- I know they love fair trade chocolate!

Other places I've seen fair-trade items being sold in the area include Whole Foods and the Lightsource Bookstore.

If you go, or plan on celebrating in another way, let us know in the comments!

Money Saving Idea!

2009-05-07T08:30:00.000-04:00

From Dilbert!

Buy Handmade

2009-05-04T14:21:00.000-04:00

Buying fair trade items isn't always easy. When products come from the other side of the world, it's hard to trust whether the artisan or factory worker was paid a living wage to make the item. And, the particular item I'm looking for may or may not be offered as fair-trade. What am I to do?

A closer-to-home alternative is buying handmade, via Etsy or local craft fairs. By buying from artisans who are setting their own price, they are getting paid what they view as "fair" and you are getting a quality, one-of-a-kind product. Lately, I've been in the market for a specific gift, and I'm astounded by what's out there. I can get something much more beautiful, unique and special than anything I could find at the mall, for about the same price. I know, when I buy handmade, that I'm supporting someone who is talented and is passionate about what they do, rather than a corporate structure and mass-production.

The Importance of Tracking

2009-05-01T10:34:00.000-04:00

Budgets are hard.

Some people say that budgets just don't work for them, and throw the whole idea out. Others insist, to be responsible, every single penny must be accounted for. As for me, I'm a budgeter. I like to know where my money's going and approximately how much I have to spend in a variety of categories. I'm not as legalistic as some about it, and I appreciate that my husband and I see eye-to-eye on the matter.

Budget or no, an important first step when working to get out of debt (and stay out) is to track your spending. If you don't know where your money's going, you have no idea what needs to be fixed! For the last six months, I've given a free online tool called Mint.com a try.

Mint is different than other services I've seen because of how automated it is. There is no time-consuming saving-of-receipts and manually-entering-data. Mint is able to connect with your bank, credit card, investment and loan companies electronically and download account activity each time you log on. The downside to this feature (for me) is the fact that I'm giving all my most important passwords to one database, one company- one place for them all to be discovered if it is ever hacked. This took me a while to get over, and I didn't sign up for the service. When my husband decided he wanted to try it, I relented- and I was very, very pleased with the site!

Why I like it:

Allows me to see, in one list, all my accounts- my brick-and-mortar bank, my online bank, my mortgage, my credit card, my investment accounts, even Paypal!
I don't need to log into 6 different websites to track all of these accounts (because, seriously, that's what it would take)
Pulling my expenditures from all of these together gives me a full picture of where I am financially.
Categorizations gives me an idea of what I spend on groceries, home improvement, etc each month, letting me know how reasonable my budget is.
Graphs are pretty. Seriously, though- the graphs showing how my investments are doing or how much I'm spending in different categories give me an at-a-glance idea of my financial health.
Recently added: the ability to add "assets" like the value of cars and houses into the "Net Worth" calculation.
There's also a feature that allows you to compare your spending in any category to those in your city (or whatever city). I take this with a grain of salt since I'm not sure others tag their purchases as carefully as I do.

Overall, Mint has helped my husband and I stay to the same page and both watch our finances carefully, with minimal hassle.Since we've been using it for six months, we'll hopefully sit down this weekend and crunch some numbers, to see what we really spend in our budget categories, and adjust accordingly. In my mind, budgets are living documents rather than rigid ones, and can and should be adjusted to reflect reality. Tools like Mint are useful in tracking how 'reality' is matching my budget on paper.

Not Dabbling In Normal

2009-04-26T22:21:00.002-04:00

Just a heads up- I have a guest post up at Not Dabbling In Normal discussing the Normality of the Suburbs. Check it out, and weigh in over there!

Get Outside!

2009-04-25T14:13:00.001-04:00

Around here, yesterday and today have been beautiful! Spring is totally my favorite season. While the weather is still too unpredictable to get a camping trip scheduled in Indiana, you can enjoy the state parks for free next Sunday!

Free Gate Admission on Sunday May 3

Entrance gate fees at all state park and reservoir properties will be waived on Sunday, May 3, a special way to say “welcome back” to spring and summer. Visit any such property for a day hike or bike ride, stop by a state park inn for lunch, take in a program with the interpretive naturalist (where available) or just go for scenic drive. While there, be sure to buy your annual pass, pool pass or lake permit. All other fees and charges for camping, lodging, shelters and supplies will be in effect May 3. About 66 percent of our operating budget is provided through gate, camping and program fees, and other revenue but this is a small welcome-back gift to get you in the spirit of the season and encourage you to return to some of the state's treasures again and again.

Maybe I'll take my dog for his first State Park visit!

I got this tip in an Indiana DNR email but can't find it on their site....

Free Appetizer at Champps!

2009-04-24T08:56:00.000-04:00

I like free food! And Champps is a fun place to eat, with a huge menu. I usually go for the gyro, because they're one of the few places that serve a good one. With this coupon, though, I'll probably get an appetizer as my meal, and Josh will get a normal entree, and we'll eat out for just over $10! Sounds good to me!

Go here to print the coupon!

Comic Truth

2009-04-20T11:44:00.000-04:00

From FBorFW

Would soldiers with nothing to do really be so bad? I mean, surely they could find something to do.
They could take up farming.

They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.

Every man will sit under his own vine
and under his own fig tree,
and no one will make them afraid,
for the LORD Almighty has spoken.
Micah 4:3-4

CVS deals this week

2009-04-20T10:26:00.003-04:00

This week I stocked up on over-the-counter medicine (and some other things) for the local food pantry. Here's what I came up with at CVS:

1 Crest Pro Health toothpaste: $2.88
6 Tylenol Gelcaps & Extra-Strength vials*: .99 each
1 Bayer Crystals: $2
1 Edge shave gel: $2.89

Used 3 $1/1 and $3/2 coupons to make the Tylenol free
* I asked, and these little round cylinders were deemed "not trial-sized". The coupons exclude trial size

Used a coupon pulled from a shelf coupon pad on the Bayer for $1/1
Used a .75/1 Crest coupon

Paid: $6.02
Got back: $6.89 in ECBs

Did you pick up any good deals this week?

Spotlight: TOMS Shoes

2009-04-17T10:13:00.000-04:00

Yes, this is a commercial, but it's highlighting a real, effective organization- TOMS Shoes. TOMS sells simple canvas shoes, and, for each pair sold, gives a pair to someone who doesn't have shoes in the third world.

I mean, of the choices- do you buy shoes made by kids in third world sweatshops, or buy fair-trade shoes AND give third world kids a pair?

Simple idea, serious cause.

What's "Normal"?

2009-04-16T09:36:00.000-04:00

I had a conversation with my husband last night about our frugal endeavors.

We're both "Savers," but, in every relationship, there's a Saver and a Spender. On a Spender-Saver scale where zero is "Spends Everything" and 100 is "Scrooge"- he's an 80 and I'm a 98- so he's the "Spender". Ha!

Anyway, I read all these frugal blogs and see how we could be eating for $30 a week and turning the heat off & bundling up in the house and all these other things... and I see all these ways we're spending money unnecessarily. He, on the other hand, sees his friends who bought more house than they can afford, are dealing with car loans, living paycheck-to-paycheck, and thinks we're doing great! I grew up with parents who paid off their house when I was in junior high and always bought new cars cash, so I have a high bar set as the "norm." He's seen his parents cut corners to make ends meet, and still deal with health-related credit card debt, so his idea of "doing great" is living well under our means, with an emergency fund.

The issue at hand: I always feel bad (and often voice it) when we go out to eat. Whatever meal we get when we eat out I know I could make at home (maybe not as well!) for about 1/6th the cost. My husband says that this is our only form of entertainment (we very rarely go to, rent, or buy a movie, pay for a concert, or anything entertainment-wise) so it's worth the splurge. Sigh. He's probably right.

This week, while we were talking to an elderly friend, she expressed so much surprise that we were debt-free, had paid off our school loans, and used cash-only as much as possible. I later asked my husband- are we so unusual? Apparently so. I thought I was struggling to be "normal" and stay above water, when what we're doing- living below our means and debt-free- is the exception rather than the rule. I've had a very good, apparently atypical, example set for me, so my view is skewed.

Still, I don't want to be "normal." My husband is right, though, I probably can stop trying to compete with all the Ultimate Frugalistas on the Internet. We can settle into whatever is a comfortable place for us, for now.

Easter and Justice

2009-04-10T09:36:00.000-04:00

Or, How big is the Gospel?

Anyone who has been around churches for even a short time in their life knows the basic story of Easter, "Jesus died and rose again to defeat sin and reconcile individuals to God." In American Christianity, this is the Gospel we hear, the personal-salvation good news. But is the Gospel bigger than personal salvation?

Part of the Gospel- the Good News for the world- is bringing God's Kingdom into the here and now. By working towards God's purposes in the world, we give others a glimpse of God's love and desire for all to be made new. We give them a glimpse of "God's will being done in the here-and-now as it is in Heaven"- and the Good that is God's Will is something that makes sense to people who may scoff at the typical presentation of the Gospel.

Jesus was the ultimate God-breaking-into-the-world, but, today, what does God's Kingdom breaking into this world look like?

Justice for the Poor
Food for the Hungry
End to Oppressive Systems
Healing for the Sick
Peace for People Groups
Care for Creation

The Good News for the world isn't only God reconciling hearts to Himself, it's God reconciling the whole world- people groups, culture, creation, world systems- to Himself, and we can be a part of that work. That's why I care so deeply about all the justice issues on this blog- I see it as furthering God's work in the world. What I do with my time and my money matters in the bigger picture, and therefore, also in the day-to-day.

Have a wonderful Easter as you reflect on what Jesus did to make reconciliation possible!

Am I Crazy?

2009-04-07T09:14:00.000-04:00

Don't answer that. Well, at least not right away.

Yesterday, during lunch with my coworkers in the breakroom, the TV was tuned to a new channel- Planet Green. The show that was playing was poorly named, called Stuff Happens. I grew up with Bill Nye being the popular TV Science Guru, so to see him doing something similar was great. (To be honest, I preferred grandfatherly Mr Wizard to the more-exciting Bill Nye, but Mr Wizard was on at 6am on Nickelodeon, so Bill Nye was more accessible to the masses)

Anyway, the show was about the environmental impact of just normal stuff- food, clothes, transportation, etc. I was loving it. Someone on TV was saying what I have been trying to- it's worth thinking about where our stuff comes from! He even used the phrase "Vote with your wallet"! I was so excited about the premise!

My coworkers, however, weren't as excited. While it's a pretty common lunchtime activity to make fun of whatever is on TV, they were particularly rough on this show. "This show is all about killing our fun!" "Yeah right, like everyone could eat locally" "Well, maybe this could happen if everyone had their own plot of arable land" "Why should we care where our eggs come from?" "Is this sponsored by PETA?"

The whole time, I wanted to argue back, explain that we could eat locally and sustainably if we wanted to- and it doesn't take that much land. It does matter where our eggs come from. If we thought about this stuff, we'd be healthier and so would our environment. I didn't- I kept my mouth shut and listened to their objections.

One segment of the show was about cashmere goats- how their wool is so sought after that the mountains of China are being over-grazed to keep up with demand, turning the area into a desert with awful dust storms. The suggested substitution is the more sustainable alpaca wool. In my eyes, this was great information! Now I can make an informed choice about which really-nice sweater to choose, if it's something I'm looking to buy. To me, it's valid to think about my purchasing choices, taking the full impact of the product I'm supporting into account. I didn't realize that this was a crazy, out-there notion. Based on the reaction of my coworkers to the premise of this show, it is.

Do you think I'm crazy for caring? How much do you care about your purchases' impact?

Why garden?

2009-04-03T08:17:00.000-04:00

It's good for you

"Eat your veggies" isn't just what frustrated parents say to their stubborn kids at the dinnertable- it's good advice. Very few Americans get the proper serving of fruits and vegetables, and we have the obesity epidemic to show for it. Eating well will also lower health costs in the long run, so its the frugal thing to do!

It's good for the earth

Eating locally, seasonally, and organically is good for the earth, period. Ten percent of the nation's energy resources goes towards the food industry- whether it's the petroleum-based fertilizers spread in the field, the transporting and refrigeration of produce, or the energy-intense processing of processed foods. When we eat industrial food, it's full of oil.

Eating what is available in your area when it is available- and growing that food in your backyard- cuts out practically all of the energy consumption. Nothing has to be trucked anywhere, nothing is overprocessed, and you're getting fruits and vegetables that are fresher than anything you'll find in the grocery store.

It's good for the poor

This is one we don't think about. Many grocery stores have left low-income neighborhoods, leaving just gas stations and convenience stores to sell food to local residents who rely on public transportation. These smaller stores have convenience foods, but no fresh fruits or vegetables. Also, when a person has a limited amount of money to spend on food, they must find the cheapest way to get calories. A New York Times article addressed this in a 2007 article:

"Calorie for calorie, junk foods not only cost less than fruits and vegetables, but junk food prices also are less likely to rise as a result of inflation...“If you have $3 to feed yourself, your choices gravitate toward foods which give you the most calories per dollar. Not only are the empty calories cheaper, but the healthy foods are becoming more and more expensive. Vegetables and fruits are rapidly becoming luxury goods."

Doesn't it seems contradictory to think that people that are the most food-insecure also have a high rate of obesity? The fact that our food system is set up to make high-calorie junk food cheap explains this dichotomy. If we garden, grow more than we could eat, and give it to food pantries or groups in low-income areas, the poor will be fed. Because they will be eating healthier, their health costs will go down, perhaps breaking their cycle of poverty. Urban gardens by inner-city groups are also a cool response to this situation.

We can garden for ourselves, for the earth, and for social justice. Gardening matters.

Thursday Question: Recycling

2009-03-26T08:51:00.000-04:00

Over at Just Wallpaper, Curtis asks:
Do you recycle? If so, why do you recycle and what specifically do you recycle? (I’m a recycling newbie)
If not, how come?

I have a huge confession: I don't recycle at home.

I recycle at work. I recycle at church. I compost. I don't waste food. We produce very little trash, to the point we only put our big trash can out by the road once every three or four weeks- we've even considered doing away with trash service altogether because of this.

But recycling? Because the amount of trash we produce is so low, number of recyclables would be even lower, so what's the point? Though, now that I think about it- I wonder how much of what we throw away is recyclable, and if we would have any trash at all if I actually made the effort to separate things out...?

Honestly, I'm not even sure if there's a recycling service that picks up by our house, since we're not in a subdivision. If I could motivate myself, I'd collect recyclables and take them to a city recycling center, which, from my understanding, is free to drop off. I should research what that entails. If I started collecting recyclables and discovered we had next-to-no trash, recycling may give us the opportunity to get rid of the trash service. At under $300 a year, it's not a lot, but it's something!

I've also heard of sharing recycling bins with your neighbor, if they're friendly and cooperative. They (or you) leave your recycling bin at the curb, and both households fill it and contribute to the cost of the pick up. Anyone remember the days when recycling centers PAID people to bring in cans?

I'll consider what it would take to start recycling at home and get back to you on my progress!

Reader Question: Justice on the Job

2009-03-20T08:48:00.000-04:00

My friend Beth said:

Here's a justice-question for ya: What if the most probable job your husband can get is researching to build a robot that would take over human jobs in a car manufacturing plant? It would initially GIVE a job, but then take away. It would also, however, help keep the car manufacturers afloat in troubled economic times, ensuring the rest of the jobs not eliminated by the robot.

To give a little background, Beth's husband is a brilliant doctoral student of physics engineering. A Rocket Scientist, really. He practically has super powers. The choice he has to make is: Will he use them for Good or Evil?

Just kidding! We all have the power to do Good or Bad with all our choices, not just Rocket Scientists. An employment choice is a big one- because, when I choose a job, it's what I'm working toward and supporting day in and day out, not just one purchase here or there. I speak from personal experience when I say, if you have moral qualms with what you're doing at your job, it makes it very, very hard to do it well.

I had an internship working to write software that bill collectors use when they call and harass people about unpaid bills. As the summer wore on, although I'm opposed to debt, I learned about how people can be bankrupt by just a few bad decisions, or by a health issue totally out of their control. Most of our clients were health-related, and the people being affected by my work were ones who were probably doing the best they could, but couldn't make ends meet to pay for this huge unplanned bill (I'll probably address The Plight of the Uninsured later.That's another post) Anyway, after those few months, I decided I couldn't work toward the end goal of the product with good conscience, and I turned down the job offer that came later, even with nothing else lined up.

This was a very personal value call on my part- I have good friends that worked for this same company with no problem. It's a matter of perspective.

So, back to the question at hand- what should the Rocket Scientist do? As it was for me, it's a value judgement he'll have to make. Does he see the work as supporting the car companies by making their processes more efficient, helping the company stay afloat and keeping the cost of their product down for the average person? Or does he see it as scheming to get as many people off the payroll as possible, automating away jobs and ruining entire towns? The way the end goal of the project is stated in the workplace may have a lot to do with it. Yes, in my job, I work to make processes more efficient so that those who use the software can get more done more quickly- which is technically preventing the need for new hirings- but in my mind, I'm making the end-user's day better and happier, because they're doing their job without fighting with the computer, too. It's in my perspective.

Do you see value in what you do day-in and day-out? How do you balance the Needs of Your Business with Social Justice?

In The Club, part 3

2009-03-19T15:55:00.000-04:00

So far, I've covered the advantages and disadvantages of warehouse-club shopping, and now I finish this series with the question: Which warehouse club to join?

If you've weighed the ups and downs of warehouse clubs, and have decided to take the plunge- where to jump in? The two big clubs I'll be focusing on here are Costco and Sam's Club (owned by Walmart). Each has comparable prices and membership fees. Why would one be better than the other?

The New York Times addressed this question specifically, in the 2005 article How Costco Became the Anti-Walmart

According to the article, Costco pays its employees an average of $17.50 an hour- 42% higher than its rival. "Costco's health plan makes those at many other retailers look Scroogish." When my husband worked around retail stores, he talked to the employees about how they ALL had their resumes in at Costco, in hopes to eventually get hired there.

The CEO Jim Sinegal, scoffs at critics who say that this generousity is bad business.

"He rejects Wall Street's assumption that to succeed in discount retailing, companies must pay poorly and skimp on benefits, or must ratchet up prices to meet Wall Street's profit demands.

"Good wages and benefits are why Costco has extremely low rates of turnover and theft by employees, he said. And Costco's customers, who are more affluent than other warehouse store shoppers, stay loyal because they like that low prices do not come at the workers' expense. "This is not altruistic," he said. "This is good business."

On the other hand, Walmart (and Sam's Club) has the opposite reputation. Workers aren't paid a living wage. I have a personal friend who was employed by Walmart for a time, and was purposely kept from getting enough hours to qualify for benefits. From my understanding, this is not uncommon. Manufacturers of 85% of Walmart's products are overseas, often in sweatshops. US corporations, on average, donate just over 1% of their earnings to charity. Not exactly a tithe, but Walmart doesn't even meet that, giving away less than 0.4%.

Where do I shop? Given two comparable choices, I will always opt for the one that matches my values more closely. I'm excited to shop at Costco because I know it treats its employees well. I don't know where all their products come from, obviously, but I check what I can. I appreciate the philosophy articulated in the New York Times article, and I've heard nothing similar coming from the Waltons. As much as I am able, I'll avoid Sam's & Walmart altogether.

Update on the Car

2009-03-17T14:35:00.000-04:00

I was holding out hope that the diagnosis would be something totally different than what we feared, but, alas. The bill for fixing the car will be half of "private party value" and 70% of "trade in value". A rule of thumb suggests the cutoff point for repairs is half of the car's value. So we're at the line where some would say to go one way, some the other.

We've got the money in the emergency fund to fix the car. The price of another, comparable car, minus whatever we'd get for trade-in for this one, would be more than the cost to fix this one. The decision remains.

Just so I don't get too off-topic- Is there a justice lesson in all of this? What questions should we be considering?
- Is it part of our disposable culture to consider replacing before repairing?
- Is it good to give people jobs in this economy by opting to have service done?
- Should we "do without" to cut down on our carbon footprint, and insurance and registration bills?

What would you do?
-----------------------------------------
UPDATE: It has been decided. We'll fix the car. The engine will be rebuilt, and then the emergency fund will be rebuilt and then we'll start a car fund, because we see the importance of it, even with two "reliable" cars. Lesson learned.

Transportation Troubles

2009-03-16T09:37:00.002-04:00

Just a few days ago, my husband expressed excitement at our growing emergency fund. This may sound weird- but we set milestones for ourselves. "Save For a House Down Payment", "Pay Off The Student Loans", and "Save for a Once-In-A-Lifetime Vacation" are three that we've set, kept at, and accomplished over the last 2-3 years. Next up is "Create a 6-Month Emergency Fund" followed by "Pay Down Mortgage". I admit, we set pretty boring goals, but we're excited for them- that's what counts, right?

Anyway, so, finally, our Emergency Fund was growing at a decent rate. It seems inevitable, though, that as soon as we have this cushion, that something will happen to deplete it. In this case, it is the car.

We have two solid cars- a Honda and a Toyota, a 2004 & 2000 with average miles. We haven't been saving a car replacement fund because we were sure each of these would last us many more years. Until last night.

Last night, we were headed on a date night in the 2000 Toyota when the car started with a bad noise and a plume of white smoke out the tailpipe. A smell of oil was evident, and my car-savvy husband quickly made a preliminary diagnosis- the car is leaking and burning oil. The smoke, smell, and wetness near a valve supported this hypothesis. We took the car to the dealership this morning to get an expert opinion, but even the guy we dropped it off with, when my husband described the symptoms, came to the same conclusion. "Burning Oil" is a death sentence for a car- or, at least, a very, very expensive repair.

We've discussed how much we want to spend on the repair, about half of what the car is worth if we were to sell it on our own. If the number comes in later today higher than that, we have some decisions to make. Here are the options:

Fix it. Put money into a car that ought to be reliable, to the tune of more than half of what it is worth.
Buy an "in the meantime" car. Spend one to two thousand on a car that will function as transportation, but not much else, while we save up a car fund and buy the car that we really want and need.
Replace this car. Spend more like seven or eight thousand and replace the car we have with something that has comparable miles and is a comparable age, but is a model we can foresee meeting our needs for a few years in the future. To pay for this car, we'll either need to:

Deplete our emergency fund to a level we're not totally comfortable with in this economy, or
Take out a 1- or 2-year car loan and pay it off as quickly as possible.

Get by with one car. I haven't mentioned it, but we do have a third vehicle- an old truck that we use to tote stuff for home and yard projects. It's older but is working just fine, so my husband could drive this to work, and I drive the Honda, until we have a sufficient car fund saved to buy the car we want. The truck will use more gas on the long drive to my husband's job, but it's what we have for now.

We haven't really considered #1 or #2. I prefer #4, but my husband cares more about cars, so "making do" with one isn't his first choice. He's open to #3.2. I'm pretty averse to car loans, and I'm enjoying being totally debt free right now, besides the mortgage. I'd even prefer #3.1 to a car loan. I realize this is all pretty premature, since we don't even have word from the repair shop on the problem, but we like to plan. A lot.

Can you think of any other options? What would you do?

Corporate Giving: Does it matter?

2009-03-13T10:35:00.000-04:00

Every company claims to "give back to the community."

From getting their logo on kids' sport team jerseys to being a high-profile sponsor of major philanthropy projects, organizations big and small "give". Should we take into account the Good that a company is doing when deciding whether to shop there?

Slate had a recent article about Amazon.com and how we really don't hear anything of their giving. A look at their "Giving" page highlights how their technology can help nonprofits, and how their employees and customers are giving, but really doesn't discuss corporate giving at all. The Slate article researched any example of Amazon.com corporate giving, to no avail.

So, should this matter? Should we care if the companies we support with our dollars are doing anything good with them? Should I prefer one online retailer over another because of the charity they are participating in?

Just some thoughts for the weekend.

"Stranger in the House"

2009-03-11T08:29:00.001-04:00

I really don't like email forwards.

Seriously, I usually immediately archive them and don't even read them. If they're particularly offensive or ignorant, I'll send a reply-all message with a Snopes article refuting it. This is my not-so-subtle hint to not send them anymore ;-)

My dad sent me one a week or so ago, though, that I LOVE. Here it is in its entirety.

A few years after I was born, my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small Texas town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around from then on.

As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my family.. In my young mind, he had a special niche. My parents were complementary instructors: Mom taught me good from evil, and Dad taught me to obey. But the stranger...he was our storyteller. He would keep us spellbound for hours on end with..... Adventures, mysteries and comedies.

If I wanted to know anything about politics, history or science, he always knew the answers about the past, understood the present and even seemed able to predict the future! He took my family to the first major league ball game. He made me laugh, and he made me cry. The stranger
never stopped talking, but Dad didn't seem to mind.

Sometimes, Mom would get up quietly while the rest of us were shushing each other to listen to what he had to say, and she would go to the kitchen for peace and quiet. (I wonder now if she ever prayed for the stranger to leave.)

Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, but the stranger never felt obligated to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our home... Not from us, our friends or any visitors. Our longtime visitor, however, got away with four-letter words that burned my
ears and made my dad squirm and my mother blush. My Dad didn't permit the liberal use of alcohol. But the stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular Basis. He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly and pipes distinguished. He talked freely (much too freely!) about sex. His
comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing.

I now know that my early concepts about relation ships were influenced strongly by the stranger. Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked... And NEVER asked to leave.

More than fifty years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. He has blended right in and is not nearly as fascinating as he was at first. Still, if you could walk into my parents' den today, you would still find him sitting over in his corner, waiting for someone to
listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures.

His name? We just call him 'TV.'

He has a wife now....We call her 'Computer.'

If you didn't guess, I'm pretty anti-TV- for a whole host of reasons, many related to justice or frugality. Maybe I'll get into that later.

For now- how does the Stranger fit into your home life? Your schedule? Your relationships?

On "Opportunity Cost"

2009-03-05T09:22:00.001-05:00

I'm back!

I just took a more-than-10,000-mile round trip, and the jet lag is finally wearing off! Since getting back, I've been thinking about the implications of our vacation. We went to Hawaii- a huge, once-in-a-lifetime vacation by most people's standards. For us, it was our "big trip" before we have kids, knowing that a trip like it won't happen again for a very, very long time. We waited until we were out of debt before we even started to save up for it. While we were there, we budgeted carefully, didn't really splurge on anything, and nothing went on the credit card. Only one attraction we visited cost anything at all, and it was $20. Looking back on what we ended up spending, we were hundreds of dollars under what we budgeted, and that "extra money" is going towards paying extra on the mortgage and building a 6-month emergency fund. All very responsible, right?

Then, I think of what else could have been done with the vacation funds. If we had forgone the vacation all together, lives could have been saved. The money budgeted for it could have bought medicine for many children suffering from AIDS, education for girls with no other future, or food for hungry families down the street. When I start to think of the opportunity cost of my choices, it gets overwhelming.

The opportunity cost of any aspect of my lifestyle choice is the same, though. If I go out to eat & spend $30 rather than the $5 it would cost at home, that's $25 that could have cared for an orphan, or bought a needy family 2 chickens. If I buy jeans at the mall for $40 rather than at the secondhand store for $4, that's $36 that could have done more good than it did for me- upgrading my pants.

So where's the line, for you? What's 'responsible'? Should we maintain a comfortable lifestyle and give a little, or take a knock on our own lifestyle for the sake of our neighbors'? Is 'opportunity cost' something that should even be taken into account?

In all honesty (because I'm all about honesty), if we hadn't taken the vacation, the money budgeted for it wouldn't have ended up buying AIDS medicines or farm animals for Africa. It probably would have gone toward completing our emergency fund, so we could stat paying down the mortgage more quickly. These are selfish choices, for my own security and comfort, and ones I am still wrestling with. Being "responsible" in an American-dream sense of the word is in conflict with "social responsibility" and responsibility to the "least of these." Balance is hard. And I'm not even sure "balance" is what is demanded of us- nothing about Jesus' teaching was balanced- "Sell everything and give to the poor." "Take nothing but your cloak & walking stick" "The widow is blessed for giving her last 2 coins"

Sorry, I don't have any answers. I'm still searching for where God wants us to be, and how he wants us to be stewards of His resources. How do you weigh the opportunity cost of your spending choices?

Traveling!

2009-02-23T10:51:00.000-05:00

I'm gonna be away until next Tuesday- I may pop in now & then to say hi via mobile blogging, but I haven't been on top of things enough to get any posts scheduled.

(If anyone wants to guest post this week, let me know at my Gmail address, itsjustchange, & I'll get back to you. A guest post would be super-exciting.)

On Obtaining a Pet

2009-02-20T10:57:00.001-05:00

Pet's aren't cheap.

There, I said it. If your bottom-line goal is to save the most money, a pet won't do it for you. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, there are legitimate reasons for wanting a pet- as for me, I'm a serious dog lover, and have wanted one of my very own since I was a kid. But I waited. I wanted to be a responsible dog owner- and end up with the right dog. Here's some things to take into consideration:

Do I have means to take good care of a pet?
I'm not just talking about money. Do I have room for the pet to be able to get the exercise he needs to be physically healthy? Do I have time to spend with the pet (if it needs it- Fish, not so much) so it can be well socialized and "emotionally" healthy? Do I have space in the budget to care for the pet should it get sick? Am I willing to feed and care for the pet with its best interest in mind, rather than my convenience?

We waited until we were sure we had room for a bigger dog, because we knew we wanted a large breed. I held out getting a dog until we had a house and a yard- to be fair to our future dog & his health. When we got our dog, he was being fed the cheapest food in the store, but I did my research and settled on a good, nutritious food that was more expensive but not out of the budget. I knew our time constraints- we worked full time so couldn't housetrain a puppy very well, so I knew we needed to find an older dog. When we did get the dog, I spent a significant amount of time on training, as an "investment" for the future.

Where will I get the pet?
For some pets, like rodents and fish, you may think your only option is the pet store. Before defaulting to a pet store, so look to see if any are being put up for adoption on craigslist or Petfinder. You'll be surprised what's out there.

For a dog or cat, you'll have more options- but do your research. Know where pet-store puppies come from, and refuse to support puppy mills that overbreed their dogs in less-than-humane conditions. (Personally, I refuse to even shop for supplies at pet stores that sell puppies, to avoid "voting with my dollar" and giving them any business at all) If you know you want a dog you can take to dog shows, look into a reputable breeder by visiting the American Kennel Club site. Again, do your research, ask the right questions , and expect to spend hundreds of dollars.

But what if you don't demand a dog with a regal bloodline, and just want a home companion and frisbee partner? This is where most pet owners fall. Search Petfinder for the right match in a local shelter, or keep watch on your local craigslist or Freecycle group (some local Freecycles don't allow pet postings). Doing this will give an otherwise-unwanted dog (or cat) a loving home- yours! If enough people get pets from shelters rather than commercial breeding, pets will end up better-cared-for, and pet owners will be better informed.

We got our dog by watching craigslist for the breed we had decided upon. We ended up getting the dog plus supplies for free from a couple that no longer had time or room for him. He needed socialization and serious training, but the work paid off. Had we bought him as a puppy, we would have spent hundreds of dollars at a breeder, because he is obviously purebred. As it is, some owner in his past did spend the money, then decided he didn't want him. We were our dog's third home in his year-and-a-half of life, and we'll be his Forever Home!

In a way, caring for a pet- whether it be a hermit crab or a hamster or a horse- is caring for God's creation, albeit a small corner of it. Supporting responsible breeding and pet care is a way to honor the animal life that God created.

Good Deals at the Drugstore

2009-02-18T08:27:00.000-05:00

I had a long conversation with friends Monday night on the greatness that is CVS. I got one friend onto the deals, and now he (yes, he) is a fanatic. I'm delighted. We sat & tried to convince other friends of the benefits of not paying for shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant, and many over-the-counter medicines. What's so great about CVS, you may ask? Here's a high level run-down.

CVS has a program called Extra Care Bucks (ECB), where they run deals in their weekly flyer. These deals will involve, say, buying a $3 tube of toothpaste, then getting $3 in ECBs back. ECBs can be spent like a gift card to CVS, on almost anything in the store. That's great, right? You spend $3, and get your money back to spend on something else!

But it gets better.

You see, if, for that tube of toothpaste, you have a $1 Off coupon, you only will spend $2 to buy the toothpaste, and will get $3 back. CVS just paid you $1 to take the toothpaste from them. That $3 ECB can be used to buy, say, the $4.50 shampoo that you have a $1.50 Off coupon for, and gives you back $4 in ECBs. So, in the end, you spent $2 out of your pocket, and have toothpaste, shampoo, and $4 to spend. Do you see where this is going?

These ECBs can be "rolled" indefinitely- provided you're able to use them before their expiration date about a month from when you get them. CVS offers both monthly deals and weekly deals, and by keeping up with the ads, you'll be able to quickly stock your medicine cabinet and toiletry supply.

But, as I said, these can be rolled indefinitely, so one you're stocked up, what to do with all that shampoo and toothpaste?

Here's what I do:

Food pantries need more than just food. CVS' ECB deals make it easy to donate to local food pantries by buying the loss leaders every week and rolling your ECBs for next time. Typically, you'll have a small out of pocket expense to start- like the $2 in the example above- and end up with a full bag of supplies to pass on to those in need- with money left to spend for next week!

Everyone wins.

In the Club, part 2

2009-02-17T07:39:00.005-05:00

In part 1 of this series "In the Club," I talked about the benefits of warehouse-club shopping. Like everything, though, there are downsides as well. Not everything in the Warehouse Club World is perfect!

Impulse buys - An impulse buy at a grocery store may set you back two to five dollars, a cost that the grocery budget can typically absorb. A impulse buy at a warehouse store will cost $10 at least, and easily more. The larger packages come with higher prices. It's critical to take a list when shopping the warehouse club, and stick to it!
Price Comparison - When trying to figure out if the deal at the warehouse club is a good one, it's not as straightforward as comparing the price to what you'd pay at the grocery store. More math is involved- and you didn't believe your teacher when she said you'd use Math again! The larger packages must be divided into a "unit price" - per item in the box or per ounce or pound - to be easily compared to the prices we're used to seeing at grocery stores. A price book can aid in this comparison.
Generic Brands - While some products on the shelves have store-brand equivalents, most of what I see at warehouse clubs is name-brand and high-quality. This is great if you'd buy the name-brand product at the grocery store anyway, but if you'd spring for the generic, you won't find the same cost savings, even with buying in bulk.
Using It Up - Large packages are convenient when you use lots of an item, or the items can be kept indefinitely, but not-so-great for small families and perishables. Because there's just two of us for now, we can buy a year's worth of soap and not worry about it going bad, but we can't buy the huge cans of tomato sauce, or half-gallons of salsa. We'd not be able to use even half of the container before it would go bad! Some items are sold in normal-sized packages, bundled together we are able to buy these packages. With a household of two, there's a limited number of things we can buy and reasonably expect to use up before they go bad.
Bulk packages - these things can be big. Apartment life was not conducive to shopping at a warehouse club. To take advantage of buying in bulk, you have to have room to store these huge packages. Sometimes, this just isn't practical.

There are certainly more downsides to joining a warehouse club- what has kept you from signing up?

Loving My Neighbor

2009-02-13T07:22:00.001-05:00

Too often, I'm too disconnected from the stuff that I buy. I don't think about the materials that go into it, the people along the way that harvested, shaped, or created those materials, or the time put into the object. I just know I need this doohickey, and know that the price is right.

What if I did pay attention to where my stuff comes from? What if I cared?

Some stuff comes from down the street, maybe from the farmer's market, made or harvested by neighbors or members of my community. They charge a price that they think is fair for the stuff they sell. That's cool. I'll buy it because I know where it comes from, know how it was made, and know who made it. I want to support my neighbors. It's easy.

Then there's stuff at the store. Stuff marked "Made in China." I don't know who made it. I don't know where they live. I don't know if the price being charged will pay those people a wage they can live on. I don't know if the stuff was made with safe materials or in safe working conditions or is safe for the environment. But the people who made this stuff? They are still my neighbors.

What to do about this dilemma? How can I love my neighbor with my wallet? Locally, it's easy. I know them, I know what they need, I know what they're selling and how it's made. For the stuff I want to buy, but my "neighbors" far away made it, it's harder. Here's some tips I've found:

Buy Local - If I source items locally, it's more likely I'll know where they came from, how they were made, and whether the conditions were safe and environmentally friendly. Also, the items didn't need to be transported as far, saving on gas.
Buy Fair Trade - "Fair Trade" is the name given to companies and organization who promise to pay the makers of their products a fair, living wage for their area. Fair Trade products are often also made in a sustainable way, taking into account social and environmental impacts. By buying certified fair trade items, I can support my neighbor by supporting businesses that pay my neighbor enough to live on, and take care of my neighbor's environment and working conditions. See the kitchn's Fair Trade Valentine's tips
Buy Used - If I can't find the item certified fair trade, can I find it used? By buying used, I am keeping items out of landfills and avoiding sending my money to corporations who don't pay their workers fairly. Someone's already bought it once, new, so there's no reason a still-usable item should go to waste.
Buy Sustainable - Given the choice between wood and plastic, choose wood, the renewable resource. Given the choice between wood and bamboo, spring for the bamboo- which renews even faster than the wood. If I buy more sustainable or organic products, I am loving ALL my neighbors by keeping fumes from the air and chemicals from the earth.
Buy from responsible employers. This goes along, sort-of, with the Fair Trade point. Not only should the makers of the products be paid a fair wage, the employees of the retailers should be paid a living wage as well. I choose to shop at retailers who are known for treating their employees- my neighbors- well, and avoid those who don't.

How can I afford this? Well, to be honest, I don't. I'm taking baby steps. I buy used items as often as it practical. I buy local, organic food as often as I can. Fair trade isn't available in as many products, but I was super excited to get a fair-trade purse (made by World of Good ) for Christmas and a fair-trade wallet (made by Maya Traditions ) for my birthday. I prefer bamboo kitchen utensils. I avoid buying plastic toys. Little things, added up, will result in a whole-lifestyle change.

Baby steps.

Inching toward loving my neighbor better.

Homemade Butter

2009-02-12T07:55:00.002-05:00

Or, What to do with leftover heavy cream

For our wedding, we registered for an ice cream maker. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time, and brides and grooms can get a little carried away with the scanner thingy at Target. Anyway, so we ended up with one, and I've found that it is used more infrequently than I'd like to admit. The primary reason it's not used very often is that the ice cream recipes all require heavy cream, something I don't have on hand very often. When I do have it on hand, after making ice cream, the extra heavy cream just languishes in the refrigerator, until I decide to make alfredo sauce or throw it out.

This weekend, I found another great use for the extra heavy cream! Butter!

When my husband woke up Saturday morning and I told him I had made butter, he gave me a groggy, confused look. "Without a churn?" Yes, we do have a churn, but it is really old and just decorative. I wouldn't dare put actually food I'm planning to eat in it. So how to make butter, at home, without a churn? Easier than you might think!

Homemade butter
1/2 C to 1 C heavy cream
1 pint jar with lid
Arm strength

Pour the cream into the jar & tighten the lid. Shake, Shake, and shake some more. You'll hear sloshing. Eventually the sloshing will stop. If you open the jar & take a look now, you have whipped cream coating the jar. Close the jar again. Keep shaking. The silence of shaking the whipped cream will turn into a thud-thud-thud noise. Keep shaking until the sides of the jar are clear again, and you can see the clump of butter in the buttermilk (see photo). At this point, you can pour off the buttermilk (save it for biscuits!) and you have butter!

For salted butter, add salt sometime in the middle of this process.

Enjoy the toast! And the knowledge of what's ACTUALLY in your butter!

This is part of a Notebook Experiment from one of Amy's Notebook entries once-upon-a-time ago. Thanks to SouleMama for the inspiration!

In The Club, Part 1

2009-02-10T11:22:00.002-05:00

When you walk into the building, the sheer size can be overwhelming. They don't call them warehouse clubs for nothing. These buildings are slightly-user-friendly warehouses, for sure. Why join one of these "clubs"? Is it worth it?

I'm going to start a short posting series on my view of warehouse clubs- the benefits, the drawbacks, and which one to choose. Here, I'll start with how I got started with a warehouse club and the benefits we've found.

My mom joined the warehouse club for unknown reasons while I was in college. By the time she joined, my parents were empty-nesters or at least almost-empty-nesters, and I failed to see the logic in the move. When I graduated, got married, and ended up living nearby, she renewed her membership and offered to put my name on the account. Each account could have 2 cards and two names on it, and because my dad never went to the store without my mom, he had no use for a card. I got a card, and now my husband and I could go together

Money saving tip: If only one spouse is likely to use the membership, consider joining in this fashion with another family. The membership fee will end up being $25 per family if split between two households, which is very reasonable and justifiable.

When we started visiting the warehouse club, we were amazed at the large packages and quality merchandise. At the time, though, we were living in a 1-bedroom apartment, and didn't have room to store a year's worth of toilet paper, ten pounds of chicken breasts, or a gallon-container of spaghetti sauce. We barely had room for the stuff we had! What good would a warehouse club be to a couple in an apartment? We were skeptical... and then we wandered into the pharmacy.

The pharmacy is mostly unremarkable- it has many of the brand-name, over-the-counter medicines you'd expect anywhere- but it also has generic medicines labeled with the store's brand. Again, this would be expected- but the cost savings with these generics was outstanding. The cost of my husband's daily allergy medicine- about $1 a pill, or more than $350 a year- had a generic at the warehouse club's pharmacy for $13 for 300 pills. For a year's supply of pills, we paid less than what we were paying for 2 weeks' worth elsewhere. This purchase alone justified the warehouse club membership, if we bought nothing else. And so we are still members- but it doesn't stop there!

Once we moved out of the apartment and had a little more room to store things (and once we got a chest freezer) we found there are more benefits to being "in the club":

Toilet paper, soap, and other consumables: It's just downright convenient to buy these in big packages, knowing we'll use them up eventually. Also, I found that many of these were cheaper per-unit.
Cheese: This is a weird one, I know, but we go through a lot of shredded & sliced cheese, apparently, since I was always running out. Now, when I buy the shredded cheese in 5lb bags and freeze them, I always have cheese on hand. Also, per ounce, this shredded cheese is way less expensive than even Aldi's selection. How do I know? I made a Price Book. More on that later.
Quality - The warehouse club has higher-quality food than what I see, on average at the grocery store. There is a really wide selection of organic products and produce as well, at affordable prices.
Gas savings, part 1: The gas station at the warehouse club usually has gas about 5 cents per gallon cheaper than anywhere else in the area.
Gas savings, part 2: Bigger packages means fewer shopping trips means A) few impulse buys (good for the wallet) and B) less gas spent going to and from the store to pick up essentials (good for the wallet AND good for the earth).
Packaging: While some of the larger packages are composed of individually-wrapped items, making for no less packaging than buying in small quantities, most are truly larger packages. Less plastic and energy is used to package 1 5-lb bag of cheese than 5 1-lb bags of cheese I'd find at the supermarket. Also, no plastic bags are handed out at the register, and signage and displays are kept to a minimum, reducing waste production.
Services: In addition to the pharmacy, other services are offered. Just 2 weeks ago, my husband got a new pair of glasses (without vision insurance) at a substantially lower price than at the optometrist. We've gotten 2 sets of tires installed in their car care department. Other advertised services include Travel, Jewelry, Carpet, Car Purchasing, and Insurance.

There are certainly more benefits -What have you found to be the best part about being a part of a warehouse club?

DIY: Invisible Fence

2009-02-09T12:20:00.003-05:00

I got this question in my email today in response to a request on Freecycle for an Invisible Fence sign for our yard:

I was hoping you could share your do it yourself experience with me. That is our top priority for projects this spring.

I, of course, was delighted to share our experience!

For us, the invisible fence was our top project to get done before this winter to avoid having to walk the dog in the snow!

We were lucky to get the installation kit off of craigslist for much less than it was being sold for in stores. Even if you do get the kit in the store, the whole do-it-yourself project will be less expensive than having the service install it for you!

Planning where the fence would go, figuring out how to get it across the driveway, and finding a climate controlled place for the base unit were probably some of the hardest parts about the project. Once you have a rough idea of where you want the wire loop to be, you lay out the wire and test the configuration with the collar to see that the range is what you expected. We used a garden edger we borrowed to dig the shallow trench for the wire once we figured out where it would go. The "hard work" is getting down on hands and knees and stuffing the wire into the trench. We bought white flags at Menards and marked the edge of the fence range. Training was straightforward, though I may have been less diligent than the instructions say. Our dog did break the fence a few times to chase our neighbor's car in their driveway, but he finally got the idea & hasn't done that for months. Just yesterday we pulled up the rest of the flags (we were supposed to pull them up a long while ago)

Some considerations:
We had to make sure the wire was nowhere near where we would be digging in the future (ie our garden). If we cut through it in the future, it would be a pain to re-lay the wire.
I think my husband had to use a electric saw to get the wire buried across our gravel driveway. With a concrete driveway, I think you have to lay it in one of the seams, but I'm not sure how that works.
We also had to be aware how close the wire got to the house- the signal will come through the wall and shock the dog in the house near windows, if the wire is too close.

Hope this helps! Probably way too much information, but good luck with the project! For us, it was worth it.

A Couponing Amateur

2009-02-03T11:24:00.002-05:00

I'm still getting the hang of this couponing thing.

I don't subscribe to the paper, so I get the coupon inserts about a week late from my parents' subscription. I dutifully clip everything but the items I'm absolutely sure I'd never buy or want on hand(hair coloring, diapers, cat food, etc). I file it away in a coupon binder I was given- a small, wallet-sized plastic folder. I split the coupons into categories:

Refrigerated/Frozen food
Pantry food
Cereal/Junk food
Cleaning & Paper products
Hygiene
Medicine
Make-up and Oral products
Everything else (dog food/treats, light bulbs, batteries, etc)

The categories are totally arbitrary, but they keep the number of coupons in any given category down to a manageable number. If the pile in any category gets to be too much, I make another arbitrary category to split it - for example, once-upon-a-time, "Toiletries" encompassed the Hygiene, Medicine, Make-up & Teeth categories. The group was unwieldy to sift through, so I split it up. Recently, I've considered pulling the ridiculous number of Pillsbury coupons out into their own category.

Couponing, for me right now, is interesting but not essential. I know that I could get 80-85% of my groceries at Aldi and pay about the price I'm getting at Kroger with a coupon. Why bother, then?

Drugstore deals - Thanks to CVS' ECB program, using coupons at their store in conjunction with sales results in medicine and toiletries that are free or almost free, which I can't find anywhere else. I'm not a CVS addict, and I don't buy what we won't use, unless I can donate it to the local food pantry and it's free.
Proximity - There are 2 Krogers within 2 miles of my house (and 3 CVS's) The only Aldis are 20 minutes away, at least. If I don't have a major shopping trip to make, but do need a few things, coupons sweeten the deal at the typical supermarket.
One-stop shopping - I love Aldi, I do, but, like I said, I can just get 80-85% of my shopping done there, which means I need to stop somewhere else, or possibly a couple other places. Kroger and/or Meijer will have everything on my list, almost certainly - AND they'll double my coupons.

The last bullet brings up a good point- coupon policies. Every store (And sometimes even different branches of the same chain!) has a different policy. One CVS in the area will accept expired coupons up to one week late. Meijers and Krogers and Marshes will double the value of the coupon up to a 50 cent value. Most places, you can use 1 coupon from the manufacturer and 1 coupon issued by the store per item. Admittedly, I don't know all the rules- I get murky about, when a coupon says "$1 off 3 items" can I use 2 more coupons for those 3 items? Like I said, I'm an amateur.

Does this have anything to do with justice?

Only sort-of. Thanks to the time I've spent clipping coupons, I've filled bags and bags and bags for food pantries out of my household grocery budget, that I wouldn't have been able to otherwise. I haven't tried it yet, but expired coupons can be mailed to help out families who shop on military bases overseas, where the commissaries accept coupons expired up to 6 months. Using coupons for organic foods makes these products more affordable, so we can include these products that are healthier for the Earth and healthier for us into our grocery budget.

Dabbling in coupons works for me!

How do you use coupons? What tips would you give this amateur?

Alternative Accomodations

2009-01-29T13:16:00.025-05:00

We're taking the vacation of a lifetime in a month, and it's not cheap. Most of our vacations involve road trips and stopping to see sights along the way- typically drive-able day trips. Thanks to a cousin's destination wedding in Hawaii, however, we're taking the plunge and actually flying somewhere. I used to live in Hawaii, but can you believe my husband's never even been on a plane? This should be interesting.

We started by checking the typical travel sites for hotel deals... but everything was astronomical to us Midwesterners. Around here, a nice hotel is $100 a night, and everything we were finding in Hawaii was way more- the hotels with the worst reviews hovered around $100 a night. Then an idea occurred to us- we would rather support small, local business than international hotel chains anyway, so why not investigate bed and breakfasts?

We find a bed and breakfast on each of the islands we'll be staying on, and are super-excited about them. Our hosts seem friendly and ready to help, and I feel better knowing I'm not getting cookie-cutter treatment, but I'm staying in a more personalized place. Besides- I think hotel beds are gross.

Surprisingly, though bed and breakfasts are lower-volume than hotels, their prices were significantly below hotel prices, even with online or even employee-family discounts (I have connections!). As a bonus for me who grew up in Hawaii, we'll be staying away from the "touristy" areas and I'll be able to show my husband more of the local scene. From this experience, whenever we travel, near or far, we'll be looking for the local, "grassroots" accommodations, for both cost savings and better service!

Snowed In

2009-01-28T09:33:00.015-05:00

Last night, with the inches of snow we got yesterday, our evening was found to be unusually empty.

Because of the length of time it took me to get home from work, I considered calling my husband on his way home & asking him to pick up take-out on his way, because I wasn't going to have as much time to cook as usual. Instead, I decided to do a simple dinner and forgo eating out, saving $15-$20.

Piano lessons were canceled, so we unexpectedly had free time, and talked about renting a movie. Instead, we watched movies we already owned, and saved a trip out as well as $1-$5 renting a movie.

I forget sometimes that staying in can be just as enjoyable as being busy and being out. I have to force myself to stay put, and when I do, I appreciate the stillness.

"Staying put" works for me !

Free Soda!

2009-01-27T09:07:00.007-05:00

The first 2 million people who sign up here get a free Diet Dr Pepper! I like that there's an option between a 20 oz & 2-liter.

This appears similar to the free Dr Pepper a few months back, and I surely enjoyed that coupon! The coupon will be mailed, rather than being printable.

Saving Stuff From Landfills AND Saving Money

2009-01-26T11:20:00.001-05:00

When looking for a good deal on a large-ish purchase, what's the best way to go about it?

Sure, sales flyers are useful and can contain deals, but when shopping at the big retailers, our dollars go to who-knows-where, in support of mass-production, and waste. What are the alternatives?

Find it free
Freecycle is a website with local groups that offer things- almost anything- for free. Subscribing to one of these groups or checking their website periodically can help you score everything from clothes to appliances for just the cost of driving to pick it up. The benefits of Freecycle are many:

Items are sourced locally, so transporting them a shorter distance saves gas. Items at retailers have often been shipped from overseas.
Items are FREE, obviously saving money.
Items are saved from landfills by finding a new home for a still-useful object.
Freecycle encourages sharing and decluttering, simplifying our homes and connecting us to the community

I've had good luck getting stuff off Freecycle- not necessarily stuff I'm looking for Right Now, but instead things I have an ongoing need for. I have a feeling this will be true when we have kids too- kids clothing & toys & supplies are some of the most common Offers on Freecycle.

Find it local

Freecycle is always free and local, but is often the luck of the draw as to whether the thing you need is available when you need it. The next-best option, in my book, is Craigslist. Like Freecycle, people post stuff they're getting rid of, but it's much easier to navigate and the stuff is for sale rather than for free. In my experience, I've been able to find what I need in a reasonable amount of time, and for a very reasonable price. I like that, like Freecycle, Craigslist allows me to give old items new homes and deal locally. Both services connect me to my community, allow me to avoid paying shipping, and don't come with the packaging and overhead that buying retail usually entails.

Washing for pennies

2009-01-23T14:55:00.001-05:00

Part of saving money around the house often means making or doing things yourself, rather than paying for a processed version of the product or paying someone else to do the work. This applies to a whole host of things: cooking at home rather than eating out, making from scratch instead of from frozen meals, doing your own home repair, doing your own yard work... the list goes on. Before starting to read money-saving blogs, however, I never thought of replacing my store-bought laundry detergent with a homemade version!

Since I started doing my own laundry, in college, I've not really known what brand to buy. I didn't think about it too much, and defaulted to whatever I saw at home that I didn't think I would have an adverse reaction to. Fast forward 5 years, and I'm tired of buying laundry detergent.

Liquid laundry detergent:
To make this, you'll have to some hunting at your local supermarket. In the laundry aisle, pick up three ingredients:
Borax (probably Mule Team brand)
Washing Soda (probably Arm & Hammer brand- and be sure to get WASHING soda, not BAKING soda)
Laundry Bar Soap (I use Fels-Naptha. Zote brand is mentioned in other recipes)

These ingredients will be good for many, many gallons of laundry detergent, so you'll be set for a while.

Use:
1/2 cup Washing Soda
1/2 cup Borax
1/3 bar soap (grated- use a food processor or box grater to accomplish this)

Heat 6 cups of water on the stove. Add the grated bar soap and stir until melted. Then add the washing soda and borax. Stir until powder is dissolved, then remove from heat.

In a 5 gallon bucket, pour 4 cups of hot water and add the heated soap mixture. Top pail with cold water and stir well with a wooden paint stirrer. Let sit for at least 24 hours. The mixture may separate- stir then add to smaller, more manageable containers than the 5-gallon bucket. As you can see, I've used vegetable oil bottles, milk gallons, and any plastic container that's easy to pour.

Shake container before using and use 1/3-1/2 cup per load.

I haven't done a cost savings breakdown, but others around the web come up with 1 cent or less per load, vastly better than store-bought alternatives. We've been using this soap for about a year and have been happy with our clean clothes!

It's Just Change

2009-01-22T08:44:00.002-05:00

See a penny on the sidewalk? Why pick it up? It's just change.

A penny saved is a penny earned.

Why use coupons? They're unwieldy, and besides, what are you saving? It's just change.

Change adds up.

I have a bad habit of eating out and not thinking before making purchases, but I can do better. I mean, what is there to be afraid of? It's just change.

I can handle change.

Organic, local food and fair-trade coffee are more expensive, but I'm willing to spend the extra dollars because it's just change.

I want to think about where my dollars go.

When we all think about where our money's going, both in a frugality sense and in a social-justice sense, our lives will change- and the change we will see- it's just change.

Change in the world

Change in my life

Change in my pocketbook

Change for good

Change for justice

Change for just us