I'm so stressed about money! This has been such a difficult year for us, and I think we're both going to need to pick up extra hours at odd jobs to make ends meet for the rest of the year.
Any suggestions? Should I sell my eggs? Sell pies? C'mon, creative readers - any ideas for me?
Showing posts with label budget. Show all posts
Showing posts with label budget. Show all posts
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Wardrobe crisis averted!
Anyone who has seen me recently knows that I'm wasting away to nothing. I realize that most American women would be *thrilled!* to be losing weight in this manner, but I assume that those women have a clothing budget and actually enjoy shopping. Not me. The first part goes without saying in our current situation, and the second part...well...sometimes I love shopping: a fun day out with a sister, mom or girlfriend with good taste and the ability to be brutally honest, no time restrictions, and plenty of lattes and cookies. But most of the time shopping is a nuisance: I'm spending money I don't have on clothes that won't last in stores with no customer service, and I'll probably have to shorten or lenghthen the pants due to my long legs...that's assuming I've found pants that happen to fit my hips, thighs waist and inseam. I really need to take a sewing class and just start making my own clothes.
Don't get me wrong - I don't mean to sound whiny, and if I do, you've probably already stopped reading...
It boils down to the fact that my two pairs of work slacks are baggy and dumpy, so I had nothing to wear in client-facing situations. What to do? I reached out to a friend and humbly asked if she currently had a Goodwill pile through which I could scavenge. This was all okay in the email I sent, and her reply was favorable, but when I arrived at her house to try on h er clothing, I almost started crying I was so embarassed. She was exceptionally graceful and I left with a pair of pants, two skirts, a blouse and two pairs of shoes. I am so glad I asked! She actually suggested that we gather a group of girls together for a clothing-swap party. That's today's money-saving recession-surviving tip: Repurposing items through exchanges with friends and family!
THEN, we were being treated to taco night at another friend's house, and I mentioned my "shopping" experience. This friend is an itsy-bitsy petite person...as she says, I have two feet on her. It wouldn't have crossed my mind that she and I would be the same size in any article of clothing...to illustrate: a few weeks ago she and I went to a yoga class together after a slumber party. I hadn't packed yoga clothes, so I borrowed her maternity clothes! That's the difference in our sizes. At the end of the evening, she produced two professional-looking, high-quality sweaters from her "repurposing" pile. They fit beautifully!
As humbling as it was to ask for such a favor, I feel so happy and proud and grateful that I have these girlfriends.
They are SO invited to come to the gender-segragated commune with goats.
But that's another story altogether...
Don't get me wrong - I don't mean to sound whiny, and if I do, you've probably already stopped reading...
It boils down to the fact that my two pairs of work slacks are baggy and dumpy, so I had nothing to wear in client-facing situations. What to do? I reached out to a friend and humbly asked if she currently had a Goodwill pile through which I could scavenge. This was all okay in the email I sent, and her reply was favorable, but when I arrived at her house to try on h er clothing, I almost started crying I was so embarassed. She was exceptionally graceful and I left with a pair of pants, two skirts, a blouse and two pairs of shoes. I am so glad I asked! She actually suggested that we gather a group of girls together for a clothing-swap party. That's today's money-saving recession-surviving tip: Repurposing items through exchanges with friends and family!
THEN, we were being treated to taco night at another friend's house, and I mentioned my "shopping" experience. This friend is an itsy-bitsy petite person...as she says, I have two feet on her. It wouldn't have crossed my mind that she and I would be the same size in any article of clothing...to illustrate: a few weeks ago she and I went to a yoga class together after a slumber party. I hadn't packed yoga clothes, so I borrowed her maternity clothes! That's the difference in our sizes. At the end of the evening, she produced two professional-looking, high-quality sweaters from her "repurposing" pile. They fit beautifully!
As humbling as it was to ask for such a favor, I feel so happy and proud and grateful that I have these girlfriends.
They are SO invited to come to the gender-segragated commune with goats.
But that's another story altogether...
Monday, February 16, 2009
Grin and Wheel-bearing It
A friend warned me two weeks ago.
She said, and I quote, "Of course, remember that now that you’re in the situation that you’re in, everything you own will break or stop working. "
I'm hopeful that she's not entirely right, but we DID just drop Dan's car off at the dealer to get a new wheel bearing. Before y'all post comments about saving money by not getting one's car serviced at the dealer, I'll let you know that we have some Subie Bucks that are only good at a dealer.
Some people get air miles on their credit cards. Some get cash rewards. Some get gift cards or money put into their savings plan. We get Subie Bucks. Though it feels as though we have to spend $10,000 to earn $100 in Subie Bucks, they actually rack up pretty quickly, and have come in handy more than once. I will lie to myself about how much the Subie Bucks cost me in interest expense and say that today, we are spending $100 less than we would have otherwise.
Oh, the credit card debt burden of our generation...how are we going to solve this? I really believe this is what sets this recession so far apart from any other. I often wonder if our generation has the creativity, resourcefulness and selflessness to get through this time the way our grandparents got through the Recession.
Dan was trying to talk to Popps about not mixing money and friends, and was searching for the right cliche to convey the thought. He asked Popps, "What did you used to say when you were growing up?" Popps replied, "I grew up in the Great Depression! We didn't have any money!"
What are your thoughts on "weathering" the current economic situation? Political, social, fiscal... I'm interested in everyone's thoughts.
She said, and I quote, "Of course, remember that now that you’re in the situation that you’re in, everything you own will break or stop working. "
I'm hopeful that she's not entirely right, but we DID just drop Dan's car off at the dealer to get a new wheel bearing. Before y'all post comments about saving money by not getting one's car serviced at the dealer, I'll let you know that we have some Subie Bucks that are only good at a dealer.
Some people get air miles on their credit cards. Some get cash rewards. Some get gift cards or money put into their savings plan. We get Subie Bucks. Though it feels as though we have to spend $10,000 to earn $100 in Subie Bucks, they actually rack up pretty quickly, and have come in handy more than once. I will lie to myself about how much the Subie Bucks cost me in interest expense and say that today, we are spending $100 less than we would have otherwise.
Oh, the credit card debt burden of our generation...how are we going to solve this? I really believe this is what sets this recession so far apart from any other. I often wonder if our generation has the creativity, resourcefulness and selflessness to get through this time the way our grandparents got through the Recession.
Dan was trying to talk to Popps about not mixing money and friends, and was searching for the right cliche to convey the thought. He asked Popps, "What did you used to say when you were growing up?" Popps replied, "I grew up in the Great Depression! We didn't have any money!"
What are your thoughts on "weathering" the current economic situation? Political, social, fiscal... I'm interested in everyone's thoughts.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
My apologies to Kristin...
...and to the rest of you tired of seeing diaper ads!
One of my ongoing writing topics is going to be money-saving tips. This one is about diapers!
There are lots of schools of thought on diapering. Some look at it strictly from an economic perspective (Target brand or whatever's on sale at Sam's club), some look at it as an environmental issue (cloth diapers only: it's the cheapest route, and there are, like, billions of disposable diapers added to landfills every year. Check out this article )
For us, I kind of wanted to do cloth diapers, but I knew it wasn't feasible for us. Number one, we are always strapped for time. Number two, I wasn't jazzed about cleaning them myself, and I knew Dan was WAY less than jazzed about having the cleaned on the premesis. For those of you who know Dan, you also know what a complete understatement that is. Love that germaphobe of mine. :-) This would necessitate a cloth diaper service, which I knew we couldn't afford.
Therfore, we defaulted to disposables. We used the Pampers Swaddlers for the first month or so - these fit so well! We tried the Target brand, which was surprisingly good. Once Vi grew enough, we switched to Seventh Generation. They are chlorine-free and hypo-allergenic. We switched back to the Pampers for about a week, and Vi developed a horrible diaper rash. It wasn't like the usual diaper rash, but rather, every where the diaper touched her skin turned magenta. It got me thinking...isn't it really toxic to mix chlorine and amonia? What's the ingredient that whitens the diaper materials? And what's the ingredient in urine? Huh. Maybe, just maybe, this isn't good for delicate baby skin. Huh. We switched back to Seventh Generation and quickly started looking for the least expensive way to buy them. Here's what we found.
Babies R Us, in our town, has the cheapest in-store price (not counting any coupons or special sales going on elsewhere.)
Diapers.com offers a discount card. It's about $30 for a one-year membership, and it gets you a discount on the Seventh Generation diapers ONLY. We bought one immediately, and it paid for itself within two months. I've been ordering from Diapers.com for over a year now, and I have to say, I love it. I go online, I reorder a case of diapers and a case of wipes, and in two or three days, they arrive on my doorstep. We've had to make two emergency diaper purchases at the store since we started ordering online. One of the potential pitfalls of ordering a case (four packages) is that the kid might outgrow that size before you've used them all up. This happened to us only once, with about 10 diapers to spare. We just gave them to the daycare center to have as extras for the other kids.
A close friend of mine uses Amazon to buy her diapers. I guess they have a subscription service, where the user signs up for regular deliveries of the diapers (for example, "always ship me a case of diapers once every three weeks). The price was significantly lower than on Diapers.com, but there's the "regular deliveries" piece. I'm not a big fan of having someone else in control of when I place my order - I like to do it myself. But I think we will switch to Amazon for the next month or so because of the savings. I'll just have to do some research on the frequency of my orders with Diapers.com to see what interval I should set up.
There you have it! That's all I know about ordering diapers. I welcome any comments or other suggestions.
Oh, and Kristin, I can't wait to have some Sangria on a nude Meditterranean beach with you, then retire to our villa for some gourmet cuisine which we will prepare using German cutlery, and we will eat it seated at our gorgeous, custom wooden furniture. (See? I takes cares of yous.)
One of my ongoing writing topics is going to be money-saving tips. This one is about diapers!
There are lots of schools of thought on diapering. Some look at it strictly from an economic perspective (Target brand or whatever's on sale at Sam's club), some look at it as an environmental issue (cloth diapers only: it's the cheapest route, and there are, like, billions of disposable diapers added to landfills every year. Check out this article )
For us, I kind of wanted to do cloth diapers, but I knew it wasn't feasible for us. Number one, we are always strapped for time. Number two, I wasn't jazzed about cleaning them myself, and I knew Dan was WAY less than jazzed about having the cleaned on the premesis. For those of you who know Dan, you also know what a complete understatement that is. Love that germaphobe of mine. :-) This would necessitate a cloth diaper service, which I knew we couldn't afford.
Therfore, we defaulted to disposables. We used the Pampers Swaddlers for the first month or so - these fit so well! We tried the Target brand, which was surprisingly good. Once Vi grew enough, we switched to Seventh Generation. They are chlorine-free and hypo-allergenic. We switched back to the Pampers for about a week, and Vi developed a horrible diaper rash. It wasn't like the usual diaper rash, but rather, every where the diaper touched her skin turned magenta. It got me thinking...isn't it really toxic to mix chlorine and amonia? What's the ingredient that whitens the diaper materials? And what's the ingredient in urine? Huh. Maybe, just maybe, this isn't good for delicate baby skin. Huh. We switched back to Seventh Generation and quickly started looking for the least expensive way to buy them. Here's what we found.
Babies R Us, in our town, has the cheapest in-store price (not counting any coupons or special sales going on elsewhere.)
Diapers.com offers a discount card. It's about $30 for a one-year membership, and it gets you a discount on the Seventh Generation diapers ONLY. We bought one immediately, and it paid for itself within two months. I've been ordering from Diapers.com for over a year now, and I have to say, I love it. I go online, I reorder a case of diapers and a case of wipes, and in two or three days, they arrive on my doorstep. We've had to make two emergency diaper purchases at the store since we started ordering online. One of the potential pitfalls of ordering a case (four packages) is that the kid might outgrow that size before you've used them all up. This happened to us only once, with about 10 diapers to spare. We just gave them to the daycare center to have as extras for the other kids.
A close friend of mine uses Amazon to buy her diapers. I guess they have a subscription service, where the user signs up for regular deliveries of the diapers (for example, "always ship me a case of diapers once every three weeks). The price was significantly lower than on Diapers.com, but there's the "regular deliveries" piece. I'm not a big fan of having someone else in control of when I place my order - I like to do it myself. But I think we will switch to Amazon for the next month or so because of the savings. I'll just have to do some research on the frequency of my orders with Diapers.com to see what interval I should set up.
There you have it! That's all I know about ordering diapers. I welcome any comments or other suggestions.
Oh, and Kristin, I can't wait to have some Sangria on a nude Meditterranean beach with you, then retire to our villa for some gourmet cuisine which we will prepare using German cutlery, and we will eat it seated at our gorgeous, custom wooden furniture. (See? I takes cares of yous.)
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Money-saving tips...re-discovered
Dan and I are quickly finding that we get as much - if not more - joy from being resourceful as we did from being, well, spoiled.
Fact is, we were living outside our means for a while. Between my so-called non-traditional undergraduate degree, having a nice wedding, buying a house, my career path, and Dan's taste for toys, we racked up some debt. We have spent this past year changing a lot of our priorities - having a baby will do that to you - and have cut back on our spending quite a bit. One of our vows for 2008 was not to buy any more gifts. There were three or four occasions on which we splurged - my mother's birthday/retirement party, my bonus sister's wedding, Christmas - but overall, we were able to re-gift or make gifts. I didn't realize that most people are totally happy with a batch of brownies or a used book.
If you look back at my posts, you'll see that Dan sold his boat - one of the aforementioned toys - to pay for the installation of our wood-burning stove and three cords of wood. We were able to pay for the chimney, wood at the highest price of the season, and materials for the hearth. Our neighbor built the hearth in exchange for us snow-blowing his driveway for the winter. Dan's dad bought us a tank of oil for Christmas, so we have NO heating costs remaining this winter. That is truly something for which we are thankful.
This week's plan included taking inventory of our pantry, making a menu based on what we already have, and creating a grocery list from that menu for ingredients we were lacking. As I write this, I'm saying "DUH" to myself. This is basic, basic, basic. Duh. The point isn't that I shoulda thunka that before, but that we only spent $44 at the grocery store this week! We'll have to go back for milk in a few days, but $44 is a far cry from what we used to spend.
I must mention that I was rather pleased at some of the items currently in our inventory, including pricey items we won't see again for a while (Seeds of Change Greek Feta dressing) and items we accidently bought in multiples (Peanut Butter, rice, tuna, dried beans).
I know we're not alone in our current situation. What are you and your family doing to cut costs during The Recession?
Fact is, we were living outside our means for a while. Between my so-called non-traditional undergraduate degree, having a nice wedding, buying a house, my career path, and Dan's taste for toys, we racked up some debt. We have spent this past year changing a lot of our priorities - having a baby will do that to you - and have cut back on our spending quite a bit. One of our vows for 2008 was not to buy any more gifts. There were three or four occasions on which we splurged - my mother's birthday/retirement party, my bonus sister's wedding, Christmas - but overall, we were able to re-gift or make gifts. I didn't realize that most people are totally happy with a batch of brownies or a used book.
If you look back at my posts, you'll see that Dan sold his boat - one of the aforementioned toys - to pay for the installation of our wood-burning stove and three cords of wood. We were able to pay for the chimney, wood at the highest price of the season, and materials for the hearth. Our neighbor built the hearth in exchange for us snow-blowing his driveway for the winter. Dan's dad bought us a tank of oil for Christmas, so we have NO heating costs remaining this winter. That is truly something for which we are thankful.
This week's plan included taking inventory of our pantry, making a menu based on what we already have, and creating a grocery list from that menu for ingredients we were lacking. As I write this, I'm saying "DUH" to myself. This is basic, basic, basic. Duh. The point isn't that I shoulda thunka that before, but that we only spent $44 at the grocery store this week! We'll have to go back for milk in a few days, but $44 is a far cry from what we used to spend.
I must mention that I was rather pleased at some of the items currently in our inventory, including pricey items we won't see again for a while (Seeds of Change Greek Feta dressing) and items we accidently bought in multiples (Peanut Butter, rice, tuna, dried beans).
I know we're not alone in our current situation. What are you and your family doing to cut costs during The Recession?
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