Twenty Cents for Your Thoughts

This is a chance for all of you out there to roll your eyes at me, because I am about to write about saving 20 cents. Yes that's right, this is a post about saving two thin dimes. However, what interested me in what I am about to write about wasn't the money involved, it was the thought processes. I believe that smaller actions are signs of larger ones, so what this post is actually about is how to make our money really work for us.

Here's the basic story - since I am on my No Spending Challenge for June, I've been trying to cook with items from the pantry. The other night I made some pasta, which ended up with quite a bit of garlic in it. (I love garlic.) It tasted wonderful, but it was fairly potent. I had to work a shift over at the part time job that night, so naturally before leaving the house I brushed my teeth and used mouthwash. It didn't quite cut it though, and driving along, I knew I needed some mints.* Now here's where the 20 cents came in - I knew that there is a concessions at the part time job where they sell mints for $1.00. All the money from it goes to a scholarship fund. I also knew I was going to have to stop at the gas station on my way to work. Maybe I am just old fashioned, but I assumed (incorrectly) that mints would be cheaper at the gas station. Now, here was the slight conundrum - buy mints at the part time job, but have the money go to a good cause, or buy mints at the gas station and save money. It turned out not to be much of a conundrum at all, the least expensive mints I could find at the gas station were $1.20! But here is the interesting thing...

I'm standing at the huge display of candy and gum and looking at my options, and at first, not even looking at the prices. I pick out what I want and then realized it was $1.89. That seemed absolutely ridiculous, so then I concentrated on prices, rather than flavor and brand, and as I said, the least expensive item was the one I knew I could get at the part time job. It was $1.20. The idiotic thing was that I almost bought it anyway! Why?

1. Convenience - It was right there in front of me and easy to purchase. I had money in hand.

2. Embarrassment - I had bought my gas at a pre-pay pump, so to not buy it meant I would have walked in, looked over all the candy, then left without buying anything. There was a moment of "what will people think? " and the gas station had quite a few people at it at the time.

Now let's look at these in a little broader form: Convenience - how often do we make up our minds to buy something, go to the store to purchase it, have it in hand, then realize it isn't as good of a deal as we thought it was, but buy it anyway? I know I've done it. I've bought items at grocery stores because when I walked in I thought it was on sale, only to find out the sale has ended. Instead of waiting for it to go back on sale or find a coupon, I buy it anyway, just because I am there. It has even happened with larger purchases - rather than going down the road and looking for a better deal, I buy something because I am right there in front of it.

You know, there was a time not that long ago that I had a hard time walking out of a store with nothing in my hand. If I went shopping for clothes, I would usually find something. Don't get me wrong, I would usually be pretty frugal about it, whatever I bought would be on sale or clearance and a good deal, but still, I always had something in my hand when I left, even if it was just one small thing. I have a friend of mine who shops completely differently. He shops only a handful of small clothing stores and he watches the merchandise there, knows what he likes and knows when it goes on sale. The first time we went shopping together he looked around, tried on a few things, found things he liked but then... left. I was totally thrown. It turned out he was figuring out what worked so that when it went on sale, he knew right what to get. I'll be honest, I have never been that kind of shopper.

Buying something out of embarrassment is the worst, though. I mean really, how silly can I get? And yet... it happens. I can think of several times when I have made unexpected purchases out of some weird form of guilt and embarrassment - at a restaurant that was more expensive than expected, when I've been cornered by a very savvy salesman, or felt rushed and didn't feel I could take time to really make up my mind. It has been hard for me when buying feels "expected." Of course, the truth is, no one cares! Would all the people in the gas station think I was odd for going in, looking the candy over and then leaving? Would they know that I thought $1.20 mints were too expensive? Of course not! More likely they would think I was looking for a particular brand or flavor and didn't see it. And let's face it, even if they did think I was a complete loon - what is the likelihood I will run into them again?? They aren't friends!

Of course, all of this is easy to think about afterward. In the heat of the moment, it is hard. Emotions are weird, powerful things.

As it turns out, I did leave the gas station and bought the mints at my part time job. I saved money and I knew that $1.00 went to a scholarship fund - not some gas conglomerate. I actually felt good about my purchase. Why can't most of our purchases be that way? I'm not saying that every dollar we spend needs to go to benefit a charity, but why can every time we write a check or hand over that bit of plastic, we know that we are making a smart purchase and feel confident about it? And that is the concept that has been running through my head for the last week - working to make sure that I feel good about my spending. Not just making sure it fits my budget so I can get my nine hundred dollars, but also knowing that I am spending wisely. When I pay my electric bill I want to know I've been working on keeping it down. When I buy groceries I want to make sure that if I am in the store, I am using coupons or looking for sales, and if I am at the Farmer's Market, I am buying from vendors I know and trust. Ideally, I want to look at every single place I lay down my hard earned money and feel good about it.

It's a big thought, using money wisely ...and worth every penny of that 20 cents!




* Normally of course, mints would be off limits during a No Spending Challenge, but seriously, the garlic was wicked! It was an emergency in that I could not jeopardize my job with greeting the public like that!! Otherwise candy is not part of my spending at all.

Photo by: olliehigh

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Frugal Gardening

Guess what? I had my first salad with greens from my square foot garden!

My first of the year grow-it-yourself frugal salad consisted of arugula, lettuce, spinach, watercress, cilantro and basil. I snipped off a few leaves of each... mainly because I didn't have enough of any one plant for a whole salad! I added a red pepper I bought at the farmer's market, a handful of walnuts and some blue cheese. On top I just drizzled a little balsamic vinegar and olive oil. It was delicious!

My garden is coming along quite nicely and I am very excited about it. I can't wait until more produce is ready! Already my watercress is spreading out and growing like gangbusters. The other plants are coming up too. I have quite an expectation of some good crops for the summer, weather permitting, of course....

Currently I have planted:

Watermelons
Cabbage
Cucumbers
Radishes
Carrots
Beets
Brussel Sprouts
Chives
Garlic
Shallots
Peppers: One red bell, one jalapeno
Greens: Lettuce, Spinach, Arugula
Herbs: Basil, Oregano, Mint, Lemon Balm, Lavender

All of this is planted in a fairly small area! The veggies are mostly in my small box garden, the herbs, garlic and shallots are scattered throughout the main garden area, surrounded by flowering perennials and shrubs.

I've been working more in the yard than I ever remember doing, and honestly, it shows. Maybe not to anyone else, but I see the difference. I've also recently acquired some free plants: hens and chicks and tulip bulbs from my mom, lilies from my house painter and a mix of plants from a friend's mom including: wild geraniums, ferns, a rose of Sharon and spiderwort plants. I'm splitting them between my home and the cabin. Just the other night I was out putting the hens and chicks in my front planting bed when one of my neighbors stopped by and said if I needed any more plants to let him know - he has several already split and in buckets that I am welcome to. The next time I see him in his yard I plan on wandering over. One thing I have plenty of is planting space!

So what about you? Are you gardening this summer? What frugal green thumb methods do you have? I'd love to hear what people are going in yards, gardens and containers!


Photo of lettuce seedlings by: dustin_j_williams

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May's Budget in Review

I've been working on my budget for next year and I finally think it is complete! As you may remember, I started my Fighting Foreclosure-Getting Nine Hundred blog at the end of May of last year - which was also the time I sat down with a spreadsheet and created my budget. So, my "fiscal year" currently runs June to June. Before I get into that, I wanted to give a summary of May:

I did quite well on utilities last month. My electric, water and cell phone bills all came in well under budget. The big winner was my auto fuel budget! This is a tricky category for me. Last summer when I started my budget, gas was up to $4.00+ per gallon. I was routinely spending $130.00 or more a month. I was forced to budget $150.00 just to make sure I could get through the month! When gas prices dropped, I was able to drop that category to $100. Since the big drop in prices, I've never come near that $100, but I was hesitant to drop it again because in the back of my mind I was sure fuel prices were going to go up again - it turns out I was right. It isn't up to $4.00 yet, but it has been climbing steadily. During the first part of May I was still able to take advantage of low prices, so I only spent $42.56 for the month. That is a little over April, where I only spent $37.14, but still well under where I needed to be.

Unfortunately my eBay and shipping budgets were not used hardly at all. I say unfortunately because those get used when sales are really moving. Fewer sales means less income. I still managed to sell a few books last month, but from what I hear, book sales are down all over. I guess it is one of those luxury items people are cutting out. There was other bad news as well...

I've mentioned this before - my budgets for home improvement, groceries and that dreaded "Misc" category were all blown! In addition to stocking up on some staples this month, I think my grocery bill was up because I did some entertaining at home. A friend of mine and I spent some time together cooking and I admit, I wasn't very frugal with some of my shopping purchases. That is partially made up by the fact that I came in under my dining out budget, but not completely.

Going over on the home improvement budget was not a surprise to me at all. I've been buying flowers and doing yard work that has required money. My only purchase that I could have planned better was buying an extension cord for up at the cabin. I brought a weed whacker up there to try to get the yard into shape and the extension cord I had wasn't nearly long enough. Because I wasn't about to drive an hour back home just to get another one, I went to a local Farm Supply store and bought one there. It turned out to be fine because there were other items at the store I needed (and didn't already have sitting at home,) and the cord I bought will be perfect for up there, but it is certainly something I cold have planned better.

Income was a bit low. I did get a check as a reimbursement for changing my home insurance, and I made a little money through bank interest, book sales, surveys, and mystery shopping, but it wasn't much. The majority of the income came from other things I had done earlier in the year - like changing my payroll deductions. Since I won't be including those in the future as "earned income" that means my goals are going to be a bit harder to get. More on that tomorrow!


Photo by: romanlily

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June and the No Spending Challenge

I have decided it is time for another Fighting Foreclosure No Spending Challenge. I just keep looking ahead at the summer and there not any extra work available, which means my options for bringing in nine hundred dollars in income in are pretty limited. What's my other option? Well, when you can't earn it, you've got save it instead.

I was pretty successful at my No Spending Challenge when I did it in March. However, there will be some changes for this month and that should make it interesting. Last March I was so busy working and volunteering, that I barely had time to shop - that isn't quite as much of a problem this month! So, since I have lots of time on my hands, I am going to look for other ways to make my budget...

The first thing I am going to do is try going to an envelope system for my two "problem" categories - Groceries and Home Improvement. If I go over on my budget it is almost always in one of these two categories. My grocery budget is $125 and my home improvement budget is $50. I am actually going to double my home improvement budget to $100 this month. I know that probably sounds odd seeing as how I am trying to save money, but one of the key aspects of setting goals for yourself is not to set yourself up for failure. It's June - I am still working on the lawn at the house and the cabin, I have repairs to make, mulch to buy, and other things that will improve the long term value of my property. It is far better for me to give myself a little breathing space than know going in I am going to blow it from the start.

I get paid this Friday. I am going to take $225 out of my checking account and put it into two properly marked envelopes. My goal for the month will be to not only not go over in my spending, but also come in under and have money left. However, if I spend every penny and don't go over in either, I will consider it a success!

For grocery shopping I am going to really work on eating down whatever I already have in the cupboards. This is going to be a good opportunity for me to only purchase the absolute necessities and to clean out any dry goods that have been sitting and waiting to be used. I actually have a pretty well stocked pantry so this shouldn't be too hard. I am also going to try to take advantage of the Farmer's Market. Food is better and usually far less expensive there than at the grocery store.

Much like in March, I am not going to limit my dining out or gift budgets. I have two gifts to buy in June, and already have the money set aside for those. As for dining out, just like in March, my No Spending Challenge is not an excuse to be a hermit. I have a a dining out budget of $100 and will not change this for the Challenge. (Honestly, this shouldn't be a problem - last month when I was over in just about every other category, I came in under by about half in dining out.) I have a couple of folks on my list I would really like to spend time with this month, and if we want to go out and have dinner - that is what I am going to do, by gum!

What I am going to try to limit is all other spending. No dining out alone, no little miscellaneous purchases. I am going to stick to necessities and work hard to keep utility bills in check. I'll also be keeping my eyes open for income opportunities and working to get some eBay and other sales going again. Let's see if I can't surprise myself in June, shall we??



Photo by: Darren Hester

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The Fighting Foreclosure Closet

I've got a number of posts brewing about my monthly goals and budgets, both of which have been a touch tough lately, but I thought I would start out the week with something positive. I wrote about a month ago about trying to find a frugal way to increase my wardrobe for spring. I wanted to write that my efforts have been successful!

As I mentioned in the other post, there wasn't a lot of extra money in the Fighting Foreclosure budget for clothing for spring and summer, but I was having a hard time figuring out what to wear. One of the ways I have fought this problem in the past is by totally cleaning out my closet and then hanging clothing together in outfits. Well, I haven't had time in the last month to do that much work on my closet, but I did find a way to make things work...

The first thing I did was move all the warm sweaters up to the high shelves and get out some of spring and summer clothing I had packed away last fall. Then using a combination of those and other all-season items, I put together 4 work outfits that were all appropriate for spring. Four outfits equals one work week for me, since Fridays are a casual jean day. From then on, my plan was simple - each night when I was getting ready for bed I would put together another outfit or two and add them to the end of the closet rod. I did the same thing when I was putting laundry away - I would hang some items in their regular places, but take others and create outfits and add them to the line up. Within short order I had over 16 outfits (which is one month of clothing) lined up and ready to go. By continuing to do this each evening, I always know I have plenty of clothing for work. Here are the advantages I have found in pre-planning my outfits:

1. I don't have any urge to shop. When spring first hit in early May I so sick of what was in my closet I was ready to go on a shopping frenzy. Instead, by having several weeks worth of clothing at the ready I don't feel the need to shop.

2. I come up with new outfits. When I am tired in the morning, I have a tendency to just grab whatever is comfy, clean and relatively wrinkle free. It tends to be the same old standbys, in the same old combinations, over and over and over. This way I am wearing different things and trying a favorite pair of slacks with a blouse I don't usually wear, for example, and coming up with some great "new looks" with clothing I already own.

3. More time in the morning. I can pretty much "grab and go" in the morning without having to think about what to wear. All I have to chose is shoes and jewelry.

4. Less wear on my clothes. With my old habit of wearing the same things over and over, I'm putting all the wear on a few items while others sit, practically unworn. Now instead of wearing a favorite skirt once a week, I might be wearing it once every 3 weeks - and other lesser worn items are getting used.

5. I like the way I look. Even the old standards get boring and dull after awhile. New clothes - even if it is just rearranging things I already have, makes me feel good about how I look.

6. It soothes several little stresses. Not having money to buy clothing is stressful. Wanting to look professional, but not feeling good about your appearance is stressful. Not having enough time in the morning is stressful. Okay, none of these are big worries, but I am solving them in an easy way and making my life just a little bit less hectic - and besides, it is fun! I love fashion - when I have time for it. I am in a much better frame of mind for being creative in the evening before going to bed than I am in the morning.

I am glad I was able to come up with a solution, because getting nine hundred next month is going to be hard work!



Photo by: ooh_food

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Another Bill... Finally Paid Off

Do you know what I have in my hand, right now? To those of you saying, "Of course not dork, I am staring at my computer screen - how can I know what is in your hand?" To you I say... good point. For the rest of you dying to know what is in my hand, I will give you a hint... it is the last of something big.

I have in my hand my last credit card bill. It is for $114.13. Since I made my own raise back in January and went from paying $75 on my credit card balance to $111.68 each month, this last $114.13 is budgeted in, no problem. I will make my last payment on June 7th. What an incredible relief that will be! In some ways it is even better than paying off my car, though the car payment was more money. Now that I have paid off my car, I have something in return... a car. It is sitting out in the driveway right now. I can't say that of my credit card though. I used it to get by during the process of my divorce. That's not something I really want to hang on to, you know? Now I feel like the slate is about to be wiped clean...

Admittedly, this will not be my last credit card statement ever. I still use a credit card for all my gas purchases, which I diligently pay off each month, and I have read all the same blog articles you have about keeping older credit cards active to keep your credit score up. I have a couple cards that I will continue to use once a year or so, but from now on always when I know I will be able to pay the balance at the end of the month. No more ongoing credit card debt for me!!

There are some good reasons to use credit cards. Just this week Mrs. Micah had some on a guest post she hosted on 5 Reasons to Use a Credit Card. However, credit cards aren't for me right now. They have their uses certainly, but I've had too many bad experiences with them to use them in any other way than I mentioned above - occasional, deliberate use, when I'm able to pay off the balance in full.

I am looking forward to next month - no more car loan bills, no more credit card bills - I could get very used to this!



Photo by: bitzcelt

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My Mystery Shopping Paying Off!

I had the most amusing Mystery Shopping trip yesterday. I got an "emergency" email from one of the companies I shop for saying that they needed a mystery shop done that day. Normally they pay $10 with a $1 reimbursement for this particular store, but because of the immediate need, they would pay an extra $5 if I could complete it that day. The last few weeks I've spent the majority of my lunch hour walking, but it was pretty rainy yesterday so I said I would be happy to run over and do the shop then.

The store to be shopped was a local pharmacy* that I have used in the past. The job was to observe the pharmacy, talk to a pharmacist and either make a small purchase or refill a prescription. It just so happened that this store has been running a special on transferring prescriptions, and I had a prescription that needed to be filled...

The special was a coupon that gave you a $10 gift card if you transferred a prescription. So, I did the shop, transferred and filled the prescription and gave them my coupon. In turn, they gave me a coupon for $2.50 off of their store brand items, another $10 transfer coupon for another prescription, and my gift card! This meant that for a half hour mystery shopping trip and another half hour typing up the report, I got the following:

- $15.00 pay for the mystery shopping trip

- $1.00 reimbursement for my purchase

- $10.00 gift card

- A coupon for $2.50

- Another $10.00 gift card offer

Since I plan on using both of the coupons - this means I will get $38.50 for one trip! Normally I think mystery shopping is more of a way to have fun and try new things than a way to make money, but this was certainly a fabulous trip!




* I can't tell you more than that because of mystery shopping privacy rules, in fact, I have deliberately obfuscated some of the details to keep the mystery!

Photo by: Joanna Young

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My Three Financial Do Overs

The author of Your Money Relationship has written an article called Money Genie: I Grant You Three Financial Do Overs. Ah... what I wouldn't do for three financial do overs! Even one would be fabulous! Here's what I'd chose:

#1 Not getting married until my spouse paid off his debt

This might seem like an odd one, since my ex and I had many problems, but one thing we didn't fight about was money. However, I have very good reasons for saying this. We had just come home from one of our pre-marriage counseling meetings with our minister and were sitting in the backyard with a glass of wine when I asked him for the details on his debt situation. That's right - I waited until just a month or two before the big day, well after all the plans were made. Not a smart move on my part. My ex, who seems so together, so business savvy, so in control - was massively underwater in credit card debt. I had to make him tell me the amount twice, since the first time I didn't think I could have heard him correctly. I won't state the exact amount, but it was more than 15 times my own debt!

Everyone gets into debt for different reasons, and his may have been perfectly legit. I won't put him down for getting into a massive amount of debt - it happens. But the fact that he still had it, despite having a fairly successful business, and didn't appear to be working all that hard to pay it off was a sign of some much bigger problems. Those problems were going to be part of the personality clashes that were to occur later in our marriage. It also undermined the amount of trust that I had in the security of our life together...

Had I insisted that debt be paid off, I think things would have turned out differently. The amount of time that it would have taken would have allowed me to rethink the idea of getting married in the first place, and saved both of us a lot of heartache. Either that, or the time working on it together would have brought us closer together and helped us take time and work on some of the other underlying problems. Whatever would have happened would probably be better than what did actually occur. I will say that the one thing I am grateful for is that after learning about his debt situation, I insisted that we keep all our accounts separate. I didn't know it then, but it turned out to be a smart move when it came to our divorce.

Ironically, the author of Master Your Card just had an article about this yesterday called 7 Money Mistakes Newlyweds Make.

#2 Saved More When the Money Was Good

Not that terribly long ago I was doing very, very well financially. The economy was good and I was not only making my regular wages, I was also doing well with company profit sharing. Well, that dried up a couple of years ago. I really wish I had put a lot more of that money aside and built up my emergency fund. I've been working at my job for 10+ years. For 7 of those years we received regular extra bonus checks and bonus money. I also worked a few extra part time jobs for a little extra "mad money." I wish now that I had stashed more of it away when I had the chance!

#3 Learned More About Personal Finance When I Was Younger

The mistakes above and all the ones too small to mention in this post might have all be avoided if I had spent more time learning the basics of personal finance at a younger age. Now I find it really interesting - I wish I had 15 years ago! I did take a finance class in college, but it was too abstract, it didn't seem to relate directly to me. Interestingly, my first job out of college was also in finance - but it was more in the annuity and life insurance side, again, not much real world nuts and bolts education. If I could have just one wish from that money genie, it would be this one.

You may notice that one of the things I don't mention is buying my house. Even though it was bought at the peak of the bubble and is making life rather, ah... exciting for me now, I don't consider it a mistake. I still firmly believe that it was a good investment and will end up appreciating in value well above what I paid for it. It may be that I have to believe this just to keep me fighting, but it isn't just blind faith. It really is a wonderful home and in a fabulous neighborhood. Though I might wish I hadn't bought the house with my ex, that is more about wishing I hadn't married in the first place. Despite all my struggles, the house has proved to be the catalyst for getting that financial education that I mentioned; without having this situation, I might never have delved into the world of personal finance and learned as much as I have. So, the house is many things to me - the college and high school finance classes I should have taken, a place to live (and a great place for entertaining), real life courses in "do it yourself" home improvement, as well as a good investment. It might be expensive, but I honestly believe it will pay off in many ways all be worthwhile in the end.


Photo by: Christian & Cie

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Thoughts At the End of May

I am feeling a little unmotivated to blog this morning. Usually I am fired up and ready to write, but today I seem to acquired a case of writer's block. I am writing anyway to see if I can knock it lose.

I've got several items on my "to-do" list that I want to finish up before the end of May. I've been working on my new budget for June 2009-2010, but I seem to be having a bit of a block with that too. Finally I printed off the entire thing and I have it sitting here waiting with a handful of #2 pencils, my calculator and a legal pad. Computers are wonderful creations, but sometimes I just need to see it on actual paper in front of me so I can scribble all over it. Once I get it all roughed out, then I can program it back into my spreadsheet (and write about it, of course).

The other thing I want to do is work out a plan for my "No Spending" months like I mentioned yesterday...

Going over my budget, I was once again confronted by how much I have gone over my grocery budget for this month. I am over by nearly $100! Some of it was unexpected expenses, some of it was impromptu purchases while I was up at the cabin over the holiday weekend, and some of it was the non-food pharmacy purchases I made. I'm considering next month using the envelope system for both groceries and home improvement - which are my two categories most likely to see overspending. Now that summer is nearly here, I can do a lot of my grocery shopping at the farmer's market and it is easier to use cash there anyway. That might really help with keeping those costs down. In addition, I think I am going to try to clear out the pantries and get creative with what I have in the cupboards. I'm pretty sure if I put my thinking cap on and spend some time with some recipe books I can go quite awhile without shopping.

I think the rest of this week is going to be a lot of contemplation rather than action. I am definitely in a planning stage. After now blogging about it for a year, I want to revisit my finances, my budget, my plans... a little bit of everything. If things are a little quiet here it is just because the wheels in my brain are turning as I try to figure out what lies ahead.



Photo by: De Shark

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Summer Savings and Spending

It looks like I am going to have to start being creative.

I'm already peering ahead at the June calendar and there is not a lot of extra work on the horizon. I have managed to pick up 4 shifts at the part time job, but then work dries up pretty much until September. I got a couple of Mystery Shopping gigs last week, but that work has been pretty quiet too as of late. So, June, July and August are going to be very light as far as extra income.

In an effort to scare up some extra cash, I am putting some more books up for sale. I've been kind of stretching it out to see if my being active in my seller accounts a couple times a week (rather than going in and posting all my books in one big sweep,) influences my sales at all. So far I haven't seen a difference, but it has only been a couple of weeks. I have books that were donated from a friend of mine and a friend's mom, so we'll see how those go. Hopefully that will help a little.

But it looks like I may have to go back to my list...

When I first started "Fighting Foreclosure," I made a fairly substantial list of things I could try and do to earn money. I haven't gone back to it in awhile, I had found a few things that were working for me and pushed those. However, now that I am looking at three months without a lot of extra income coming in, I need to go back and examine the list and see if there are things I can do to help me through this tight period. Some ideas off the top of my head are getting back into eBay/Craig's List sales as well as really working on the garage sale my girlfriends and I are planning for July.

Of course, getting income in is not the only way to get money - not spending it works just as well! So, I am considering another "No Spending Challenge" for at least one month this summer. I did pretty well when I did this in March. I don't have a lot of shopping on the horizon, but I have been spending some money on home improvement projects and flowers and things for the yard. I still have a few plants I would like to pick up for some of my garden beds, so maybe I can set myself a hard and fast limit on that and then do the challenge for everything else? Hmmm... still working that out a little bit, but hey - I've got at least a week to think about it, right?

There is one upside to not having a lot of extra work over the summer though. I have a tiny little cabin up north that constantly calls my name. Not working on the weekends means I can spend more time there! The best part is it is a cheap vacation - all I need to do is throw some groceries in a bag and head up - everything else, including a pair of sandals and a hammock, is already there.



Photo by: Travis Seitler

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It is All A Matter of Knowledge

One of my responsibilities at my day job is testing our company website for customer usability. In other words, I go through the site and make sure that things happen approximately the way they are supposed to happen and that the tools and help text makes sense to the average user. I am not, however, a programmer. You have seen the extent of my programming capability here; I can make things bold, add a link or a page break, but that's about it. So, I take any changes I want made to the site to our programmers, and I have noticed a funny thing happens when I do -

Inevitably when I think something is going to be really complicated, it turns out to be incredibly easy. I approach the tech team with trepidation and they respond with a happy "Sure! No problem!" Of course, the opposite is true as well. I see something that I think will just take a quick fix and the whole tech team groans and tells me what I want is impossible and/or it will take an enormous amount of time and resources to make it happen.

The same thing seems to be true of my home...

At the back of my house is a spot where there used to be a window. Some past homeowner took that window out and added a closet to that corner. They replaced the window with plywood. My ex replaced the plywood with some outdoor paneling, which looked slightly better, but still wasn't perfect. The other night I got to talking about it with my painter. He said he'd be happy to remove the paneling and the old window frame, put in new studs and cover the area with siding so it looked seamless to the rest of the house. When he quoted me the cost, however, I just about fell over. It didn't look like that big of job to me - it was only a window, for heaven's sake, but not only would there be a lot of labor involved, but that cedar siding at $1.00 a foot wasn't helping any either. We decided to just paint the paneling and go back to the window another summer.

While we were chatting about home improvement projects, I mentioned to him that at some point before I relist the house, I was going to need to have a bathroom remodeled. As we were chatting about it, we went in and took a look at the room in question. It looks like a huge job - with tons of tile that has to be pulled off and replaced. He looked it over and said "No sweat - I could finish this two days." Once again, I was floored.

The funny thing is that personal finance can be the same way. When I first decided to tackle getting nine hundred dollars a month it seemed like an impossible task. Now, it isn't so bad. The difference is experience. It comes down to learning and understanding what is really involved. Some goals are difficult and require practice and learning, others take a lot less work than we might expect. Buying stocks seems easy, but it is a quick way to lose your shirt if you aren't paying attention. Building a budget seems like a lot of work, until you've done it. That's why I like personal finance blogs - I get to learn the ins and outs a bit before I jump in with both feet!



Photo of actual home improvement work happening on my house by: Me!

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One Year of Fighting Foreclosure and Getting Nine Hundred

Do you know what today is? It is the one year anniversary of this little blog!

One year ago today I was scared and nervous, but also determined to survive. My divorce court date was on the calendar, but still ahead. I had spent a lot of time in therapy and was still reeling from the emotional roller coaster that happens during times like this. My soon-to-be ex and I had split up what assets there were, and I knew that in less than a month I would be moving back into the "marital home" and taking sole ownership of it. I also knew I couldn't afford it. My paycheck wouldn't cover the bills.

On top of all this I had made the (bold? moronic? brave? foolish?) decision to pay for it all on my own and not take in roommates. I knew I needed time on my own to heal and the idea of living with other people made me extremely uncomfortable. There were only two solutions that I could see - eventually go into foreclosure or come up with the money somehow, someway. As you know, for the last year I've been choosing the latter.

It has been a crazy journey, but I feel like this year has flown by. I have had ups and downs, low months and windfalls, but I am happy to say I haven't had a late payment yet! With the generous love and support from friends and all your wonderful reader comments, I keep finding the strength to keep moving ahead and plugging away...

I don't know that I would have been nearly as successful as I have been if I hadn't started this blog. It has kept me focused and on track. I've used it to hold myself accountable and used it to motivate me to go the extra mile to get that needed nine hundred dollars. I've also learned so much from other bloggers and picked up countless tips and ideas along the way. Friends and family who read this blog have come to my rescue when they've seen things I've been writing about that I need. It has been a Godsend.

I am far from done though. Just because I made it through this first year doesn't mean I can stop - all it means is that I now know it can be done!!

Thank you to all of you who read this, have commented, offered support and encouraged me. I am truly blessed!



Photo by: TW Collins

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Two Musings on Life

Today when I went to open up my budget, I became briefly distracted by another folder on my computer. It lead me to another folder which lead me to another folder that I had entitled "Motivation." In this Motivation folder I've kept a number of bits of writing and so forth that I have found around the web, or were sent to me by friends, that have inspired me in one way or another. One of the items was called "Poem." Before I opened it, I knew it had to be from my friend Catie, as she is a lover of poetry. I was right, I had saved it back in 2004 on her birthday. After reading it again, I decided I would post the poem here and share it with all of you.

Shortly after enjoying the poem, I also stumbled on (by way of Budgets are Sexy) The Wisdom Journal's hilariously true article, I Survived But Just Barely. While technically neither of these are about finance, they are both about life. One made me laugh and one made me smile - and both reminded me to live life fearlessly...

When Death Comes
By: Mary Oliver

When death comes
like the hungry bear in autumn;
when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse

to buy me, and snaps the purse shut;
when death comes
like the measle-pox;

when death comes
like an iceberg between the shoulder blades,

I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering:
what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?

And therefore I look upon everything
as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,
and I look upon time as no more than an idea,
and I consider eternity as another possibility,

and I think of each life as a flower, as common
as a field daisy, and as singular,

and each name a comfortable music in the mouth,
tending, as all music does, toward silence,

and each body a lion of courage, and something
precious to the earth.

When it's over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

When it's over, I don't want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.

I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.

Photo by: mcarrth

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Fighting Foreclosure, How Does Your Garden Grow?

I have written many times here that one of my favorite things to do is to garden. This year I decided to try something new and do a Square Foot Garden. That's it in the photo there.

The idea of a square foot garden is that you grow a large amount of produce in a very small space. It is a four foot square filled with a special mix of soil that helps the plants grow and develop. Currently what you are seeing here is 4 cabbage plants (the bluish green plants on the sides) and 4 cucumber vines (the long dangle-y looking plants in the back), which I raised from seeds my friend Catie gave me. What you are not seeing is the radishes, carrots and beets that are planted but haven't sprouted yet, and the various lettuce and herb seedlings that are in the house (also grown from seeds from Catie) that aren't quite large enough to move outside yet.

I built my gardening frame out of 1" x 6" x 4' boards and painted it blue to match the trim on my house. Under it is a 4'x4' patch of weed protector. The tall stakes you see have fencing stapled around them to keep out the squirrels. I hate squirrels.

Here in Michigan the last frost date in May 15th, and even after that there were warnings of patchy frost. The best I can tell, it is now past (since we are hitting the near 80s during the day) so I felt it was time to plant! I also planted four Brussels sprout plants. They could have gone in the garden box as well, but since they take a lot of space, I decided to put them in other sections of the garden. I also have garlic, shallots, chives, oregano and mint growing nicely already, with more to come...

This is something of an experiment. I have never tried to grow this much in produce before. I've always had an herb and flower garden, but this is more veggies than I have done in the past. I am excited to see how it goes. I won't lie, the soil was a little pricey, though I already had a huge block of moss, one of the key ingredients. What I would like to do is track how well the process goes, how much produce I am able to grow and frankly, how much it costs to do it. I have a farmer's market not far from my house, so does it make sense to do my own gardening or should I just buy from them? Will the satisfaction of growing my own make it all worth while? I'll keep you regularly updated on how it all goes!

If you are interested in learning about Square Foot Gardening, I highly recommend Mel Bartholomew's book. There is a lot of great information on his website, but I find myself referencing the book over and over again at home. Even though the writing is a bit simplistic, he lays out the information well and it is easy to go back to. I am glad I bought it.




What about you? Are you doing any gardening this year?

Photo by: Me!

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My Car is Paid Off!!

Guess what today is?!?!

That's right - today is "Pay off the Car" day!! That's right - today I submitted my very last payment to Honda for my car. Hooray! My little buggy is now officially mine. I can tell you, it feels pretty good. I had been spending about $300 a month on my 5 year car loan and now it gone. Yeeeeessssss!

Now, the smart thing to do would be to take that $300 and just keep clipping right along and put that amount in a nice little savings account so when the time comes for me to get a new (used) car, I would be all set. I'm not going to do that, however, well, at least not yet...

This house painting thing is taking a lot out of me. I have two sides that are almost done, but it has been a significantly larger drain on my extra income than I planned. I had anticipated the labor costs, but the supply costs are getting me. My painter has been great, he has worked with me, showed me exactly what he is buying and why, and is going extra steps to help me keep the costs down. Still, I am not sure I am going to be able to afford the next two sides for a few months. I rather expected that, but I was hoping to possibly just keep going and get the whole thing done at once. No such luck.

So for now, (June, July and August,) the "extra" money from my auto payments are going to my general reserves. That will give me $900 - one month's income. Then hopefully once summer is done, I will be able to start that car fund up. I want to build up a reserve fund for both the purchase of a new (used) car and for unexpected car maintenance. Fortunately, my Honda is a great little car and I have no intention of getting rid of it anytime soon. In fact, as I have mentioned here before, I plan on driving it until it becomes a lawn ornament! I am assuming, at the very least, that will give me another 5 years - if not a whole lot more. So, waiting three months to set up my car fund doesn't worry me too much. I bought my current car brand new, but the next time I think I will go with a good condition, low mileage used car.

If you are wondering about how paying this off will effect my goal of getting nine hundred each month, it really won't - at least not until the house is painted. It is still going to take me quite a bit of work to earn enough to pay for the completion of the work. Not paying the car payment each month will give me a jump start on the nine hundred, but essentially, the goal doesn't change at all.

The great news is that I am now at less than $125 of unsecured consumer debt - and that will be paid off shortly as well! It looks like I am going to have to have a very frugal summer to get the house done, but once that is tackled, fall might be a little easier! (Let's hope!)



Vintage Honda ad photo by: gingerbeardman

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Windshield and Auto Glass Insurance - Is It Worth It?

Do you have Auto Glass Insurance? If so, check out this article on The Canadian Financial Blog about "Insurance You Can Do Without." Why do I bring this up? Because it is something I have been thinking about lately.

A few years ago the auto insurance that I had came with auto glass insurance as part of the package. It turned out to be a good thing - I used that policy more times than I have any other auto policy. I don't know why, but the couple of years I had it I had several windshield nicks, cracks and so forth. I've never had a problem with it otherwise.

My current policy doesn't come with that rider, and at first I was a little concerned about it. I really enjoyed the convenience of being able to just call my agent anytime a stray rock hit my glass, but in time I kind of forgot about it. That was until the other night...

I got in my car and saw a big chip in the windshield, right by the driver's side. My heart sank - that really is really low on the list of things I feel like spending money on right now! As I drove I kept finding that my eyes were straying to the chip. It was a perfect circle, slightly less than the size of a pencil eraser. At a stoplight I started to realize that at the angle I was looking at it, I couldn't tell if that circle was convex or concave - in other words, it could conceivably be a drop of something clear and gelatinous, like tree sap, on my window and not a chip at all. That would make sense, since I didn't remember any rocks hitting my windshield, and based on the size of the chip, I'd remember it. I was hoping, praying, and crossing my fingers that it would just turn out to be some harmless goo and not a dip into my emergency fund in the making.

When I got to my destination the first thing I did was check the windshield and whatever it was - it smeared. It wasn't a chip! Hooray!

Since then I've been considering checking out the cost of insurance. I was not a big fan of the panic this blip of bug guts put me in. Then I read The Canadian Finance Blog's article. While this is in Canadian dollars and I am in the States, it put it nicely in perspective. I already have auto glass insurance... it is called my emergency fund, and unlike an insurance policy, this one pays me interest!



Photo by: thorazine

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Fighting Foreclosure - Getting Nine Hundred

Those of you who are long time readers here at Fighting Foreclosure / Getting Nine Hundred might see a couple tiny new tweaks to the my blog. One of the nifty things we blog authors get is a whole series of tools letting us know how many people are reading our ramblings and what search terms they are using to get here. It is all fairly clever and rather addicting.

What I am finding is that most of you stumbled on me one way or another, usually through someone else's blog. Once you've been here, you come back by using terms like "Fighting Foreclosure" or "Getting Nine Hundred" occasionally combined with "blog" or "blogspot". I am going to be making a few minor tweaks to try to make sure that when you use those types of terms I show up somewhere in the search!

See, when I first started this blog, I made a little mistake...

I wanted to call my blog Fighting Foreclosure to be a little constant reminder of why I am even doing all this. Frankly, I have a deep (and perhaps a bit over-reactive) fear of going through foreclosure or bankruptcy. The idea that I could screw up my credit puts me into a panic attack. My therapist literally had to talk me down once using the simple, but effective, method of saying, "Dawn, if it happens it will not kill you." If it weren't for the fact that I read blogs like Bouncing Back From Bankruptcy, I'm still not sure I would have believed her! Now I am a little more accepting that if it happens, then it does. In the meantime though, I am going to fight with everything I have to keep that from happening.

However, "Fighting Foreclosure" as a url was already taken by another blogger, unfortunately. So, I went with the accurate, though slightly awkward, "GettingNineHundred" since that was the other key piece of my journey. So that has been the url, with FF as the title of the blog, which I have come to realize isn't such a good idea. Having them different makes it harder for readers to come back and find you later. Consistency is the key! (Oh, and if you want to read a bunch of great blogging tips from someone who is far more knowledgeable than me, check out Writing For Your Wealth. They haven't updated in awhile, but the archives are well worth checking out.) I think I should have stuck with "Getting Nine Hundred" as my title and theme, but to be honest. I like "Fighting Foreclosure"!

So, to try to bring these two together in some kind of consistancy I am slightly modifying the name as you see above. I might be making a few other little tweaks and touches here and there to solidify it. If you have any suggestions on the matter, I would love to hear them!



Wonderful photo by: etgeek

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The Sad State of My Grocery Budget

Good news! I was just able to complete a mystery shopping trip on my lunch hour! I love those. This trip paid $10 plus a $1 reimbursement. Now, $10 is only a drop in the "getting nine hundred" bucket, but as I like to say - from pennies, dollars are made.

It's a good thing too, because guess who just flew right over her grocery budget this month??? Yeah, me. Turns out I am not alone, the author of One Caveman's Financial Journey just wrote a post called "How to bust Your Budget in Two Weeks." It turns out, I fell into the exact same trap he did...

Usually I do one giant run to the store once a month and then sometime later in the month do a second much quicker stop for a few smaller staples like milk and yogurt. This month I made a series of smaller stops, and the $40 here and $30 there and $10 over here all added up quickly. Part of the problem was that I went to a couple of places that I didn't consider "grocery stores" in my mind when I was there, but when I sat down to put them in the budget, that was the only place they fit. For example, I spent $40 at the pharmacy picking up some much needed medications and other health items. I didn't think of it as "grocery shopping" at the time. However, when I got to my budget I knew that is usually how I categorize things like that, and I couldn't change it for one month just because I'd be going over. (Normally I wouldn't spend that much on pharmaceutical items all at once but I had some fabulous coupons and it was all for items that I need and use regularly.)

The other killer was going with an out of town friend of mine to a local gourmet grocery. In addition to picking up some items for dinner, we also bought sandwiches for lunch and few other treats. There was another $30 I hadn't been mentally thinking of as grocery shopping. All in all, I am over my grocery budget by about $50. Yuck. The good news is that I have only 11 days to go until the end of the month - the bad news is, is that there is a holiday in there and I am not prepared for it.

The real cause of me going over my budget wasn't just those places I mentioned, though. The real problem was that I didn't update my budget for over a week and those slipped in. Had I been doing my daily updates, I would have realized how close I was and perhaps made some different choices. There is no sense in beating myself up about it though, the point is that I really need to keep on track with this. It only takes me 3 or 4 minutes each day and it really makes a difference to my bottom line.



Photo by: ccarlstead

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Easy Chunky Chickpea and Pasta Soup

A few weeks ago I wrote about making a very tasty 30 minute chickpea and pasta soup. My friend Catie, who regularly comments here, asked me to the post the recipe. I've been meaning to do it for awhile now and this morning I finally jotted it down so I could pass it along to you. This recipe is from Mark Bittman's The Best Recipes in the World which is one of my all time favorite cookbooks. I think most people who love to cook have one or two favorite cookbooks, (my dad always called his his "Cooking Bible".) This is definitely one of mine, and I wrote about it here.

Mark Bittman's Chunky Chickpea and Pasta Soup, page 129

Note: There is also a blended version where the vegetables and chickpeas are processed with an immersion blender. It looks tasty, but since I don't own an immersion blender and hate trying to puree soups in a blender, I went with the chunky version, which also had the benefit of saving on cooking time.

3 Tablespoons olive oil

2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

1 carrot, chopped

1 celery stalk, chopped

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

2 cups cooked* or 1 can chickpeas, drained

1/4 cup small pasta, such as elbow macaroni or broken spaghetti (I used 1/2 cup)

salt and pepper

fresh parsley (optional)

(Click "read more" for the cooking directions)

Put 3 tablespoons of oil in a large saucepan or stockpot over medium high heat. Add garlic, carrot, celery and onion and cook stirring occasionally until very fragrant and vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes. (Note: I pressed, then chopped my garlic before adding to the oil.) Add rosemary and chickpeas and stir well.

Pour in enough water to cover the chickpeas, cover, lower heat, and simmer for 10 minutes. (This was about 3 cups of water for my pan.) Meanwhile, cook pasta in boiling salted water until nearly tender, drain. (I used mini penne pasta, but that is just what I had in the house at the time.)

Just before serving, stir the pasta into the soup and reheat. Season with salt and pepper, garnish with parsley and serve, drizzled with a little extra olive oil.

A couple more notes from me:

This is a fairly flexible recipe. Most of these things are items I keep in the house at all times, however, at the time that I made it, my celery was looking mighty limp, so I made it without. It was still wonderful. The next time I make it I will use the celery if I have it, but I won't sweat it if I don't. I could also see adding cooked chicken.

If you are not going to serve and eat all the soup at once, Mr. Bittman suggests keeping the soup and pasta separated until just before reheating. The idea here, I think, it to keep the pasta from being soggy. I didn't do this. I forgot and added all the pasta at once. It turned out to be fine, but I ate this all in fairly short order. (It makes 4 small - medium size servings or 3 large main course servings.) In the future, I would probably do as he suggested, maybe coating the pasta with a little olive oil first before putting it in a storage container to keep it from sticking together.

Finally, that last step about drizzling olive oil over the top is worth it - yum!



* Buying dried chickpeas and cooking them yourself is not only incredibly frugal but also really tasty! Mr. Bittman has a wonderful recipe in his cookbook for doing them - and they freeze great! That said, I still always keep a few cans in the pantry for quick emergency dishes.


Photo by: Martin Deutsch

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Organizing Your Home and Finances

This weekend I was talking with a friend of mine who had been through some difficult times over the last few months. His mother had been quite ill and he found that he had to care for her, along with some other personal issues. Fortunately things have stabilized for him and he was doing much better. One of the things I thought was interesting was that he specifically mentioned how much better he felt now that he was able to get his house back in order. In fact, he was hiring his niece to come in and clean once every two weeks to help keep him on track.

I'll be honest, at heart I am a fairly lazy person when it comes to cleaning, but I do it, and I do it often, because I firmly believe in the old axiom "a cluttered room equals a cluttered mind." My friend and I, (oh, let's call him Boris,) were talking about how hard it is to clean when you are depressed. Boris said that he would sit there and look around his apartment and want to tidy up, but he didn't have the energy, yet the clutter would make him more depressed, which just made him less likely to clean up - a vicious circle! And let me tell you, I have been there!

When I was first separated from my husband I moved into an apartment so small, I didn't have room for a couch. In fact, when my girlfriends came over we all had to sit on the floor because I only had two chairs, but honestly, it was the best thing for me. The place was so tiny everything had to be in its place. I only had 18" of counter space, so one plate sitting on the counter took up so much room I couldn't cook. It meant that I had to keep the apartment looking good which turned out to also be good for me emotionally. Now that I am in this gigantic house it is so, so easy for clutter to pile up. Sometimes it is because I am busy, other times it's because I am in a bit of a funk like I was last week, but whatever the reason, I have found that untidiness is bad for my mental health. It is always easier for me to think, be happy, and function in a clean house. When my house is messy I get distracted and what's worse - I feel guilty. Let's say I am having an incredibly busy week, I get home and try to unwind for a little while, something I need to do, but the whole time I am not relaxing and not unwinding, because the back of my brain is buzzing with the fact that my house looks like a wreck.

My friend Boris went through the same thing. He was dealing with a lot, physically and emotionally, and needed time and space to deal with it all. What he didn't need was piles of dirty dishes and dust bunnies under the sofa making him feel worse. So, what does all this have to do with personal finance? Well, quite a lot really...

One of the reasons we work hard on organizing our financial plans is so that we don't have to worry anymore. We want to make sure that when emergencies happen we can concentrate on fixing them, not on where we are going to get the cash. A good financial plan means we don't have to feel guilty about our spending or fret about creditors calling. An organized house works in the exact same way. It isn't bogging down our brain with guilt or fear that a friend might want to stop over. An organized home and organized finances means you can stop fretting.

Now, I am not saying that every house should be able to pass your grandmother's white glove test. Goodness knows mine wouldn't! But, I make the bed every morning, I keep things picked up, the dishes are done, the floors get swept. I don't spend hours on it - just a few minutes here and there. As I mentioned, I am essentially lazy when it comes to house cleaning, and I have found it is a whole lot easier to clean up a tidy house than to start from scratch trying to get a messy house clean!

This is ultimately what I hope to achieve with my finances. I want to be able to keep them well maintained. I don't want to have to spend hours and hours on it, I want to just have a few routine tasks that take a few minutes and then I can move on and live my life. I could "solve" my recent financial problems with getting the house painted by throwing the whole thing on credit cards, but without a plan to get them paid off, that would be just like asking a college frat house to throw a weekend long party in my home! I've come a long way and that would mean worse than starting over. I refuse to do that to myself. Even though it seems easier to let things pile up and not deal with them, the truth is, that just makes them all the worse and all the harder to clean up afterward!




Photo by: JulieLane Photography

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