Check-Your-Rate Day

Take some time today to see if you can lower any of your bills:

Electric - what are you being charged per kwh?

Cell phone and home phone - are you using all of those features?

Auto insurance - do you need to raise your deductible? Do you have enough in savings to self-insure?

Credit cards - should you do a balance transfer for a lower APR?

Also check on internet service, water usage, gas and oil usage, etc. If you can't lower the bill by changing terms or companies, see what you can do to lower it on your end.

Becoming a 9-5 Family

So we are half way through Week 2 of our new lifestyle, and boy has it been a rollercoaster ride. We are still adjusting to this new schedule that we have never experienced before. Like I said in my earlier post, hubby is home EVERY DAY now. This means we can actually start buying fruit that won't go to waste, and that a whole loaf of bread (sometimes two!) gets eaten without wasting any. It means getting to eat at home every day and packing lunches. Very, very new to me. It seems as if things are getting more expensive right at the time that Murphy is visiting our house. After taking a long, hard look at the bank accounts today, I was slapped with reality and my frugal genes (yes, I have more than one!) kicked into TURBO POWER! or was it TURTLE POWER! ....anyway...

A few posts ago I showed off my 99 cent organic loot. In that lot was a bunch of flour, so I decided that I am done with buying ready-made bread. I actually made a list today and baking bread was on it. I had success thanks to a candy thermometer and the Good Housekeeping Cookbook from the 70s. That thing has never failed me, and if my Mom thinks she is getting it back, well she's just nutty. And because the job market here has been reduced to only two columns of non-nursing jobs, I will be baking all of our bread.

Another thing that I have been doing more of lately is hanging laundry in the house. Thanks to the crazy Arctic air sweeping the nation, I haven't really wanted to be outside handling cold wet clothes. I've been hanging them in open closets and the shower. My Mom started doing this when I was a teenager; we lived in an apartment and running the dryer meant skipping a meal.

I sometimes run the little heater in the bathroom to get things started. I usually leave the clothes overnight and fluff them in the morning.

Sometimes I kick myself for not doing these things all the time, thinking "Just imagine how much we could have saved!", but I've been trying to stay sane about it. I've realized that the ultimate way to be frugal would be living in an eco-village off of the grid somewhere peeing on our plants (I'm not knocking those that do). The rest of us are just doing our best with the mental capacity God gave us that allows for multitasking. Everyday I am trying to do better and realize my own strength,

and that's all I can do, is try. It's all any of us can do.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

A Frugal Bit from Paul Harvey

I'm not sure what Paul Harvey's reasoning was for this piece, but it is definitely applicable to frugality here. Enjoy!

We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse. For my grandchildren, Id like better.
I'd really like for them to know about hand-me down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches.
I really would hope you learn humility by being humiliated and that you learn honesty by being cheated.
I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car. And I hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen.
It would be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your dog put to sleep.
I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.
I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother. And it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared, I hope you let him.
When you see a movie and your little sister wants to tag along, I hope you let her.
I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town were you can do it safely. I
f you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one.
I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.
When you learn how to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.
I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a girl, and you talk back to your mother that you learn what ivory soap tastes like.
May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove, and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.
I dont care if you try a beer once, but I hope you dont like it. And if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize he is not your friend.
I sure hope you make time to sit on the porch with your Grandpa and go fishing with your Uncle.
May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holiday.
These things I wish for you- tough times and disappointments, hard work and happiness. To me its the only way to appreciate life.
Good Day!

Paul Harvey

Switching to Less Pay?!?

Today was my hubby's first day in the police academy. This is the first time that he has been home everyday in the four years that we have been together. It is taking some adjusting to our new found lifestyle, and it made me think about the pros and cons of his old job versus his new job, which is a list that we made before he decided to take it. Before the academy, it was the oilfield. Anyone who knows about that area understands me when I say that it is rough on the body, mind, and relationship. I don't want to lecture anyone on their career and family choices, but this is how we see it:

1. He will be home every day. We will get to see each other, eat dinner together, lean on each other, and stop our marriage over the cell phone! He can go back to college and get on a normal schedule. He won't have to miss big things like birthdays, first steps, and first day of kindergarten.

2. Even though the overall pay is less, he won't have to spend money for travel, doctor's appointments for work-related injuries, and extra wear on the car.

3. Within 14 months, he will be making more than he was at his previous job. In the grand scheme of things, 14 months is not long of a sacrifice to make.

4. This job has a better benefits package.

5. This job does not lay people off!

6. And the point that I am most excited and most nervous about: sometimes you have to get dragged through the mud together and come out on the other side to see what you two are capable of. I think that in the end we will be stronger and have more love for doing it TOGETHER.

So that's my little rant and justification. Keep your fingers crossed!