Reader Questions

A friend of mine emailed a couple questions recently and I thought it might be helpful to post the answers for all to see. Feel free to email me any other "reader questions" you have and I'll do my best to answer them!

1. How do you budget for things like Christmas (or items that aren't necessarily in the normal monthly budget)?

Answer:

We put $100 away for gifts each month. That includes birthdays/anniversaries/Christmas/bdayparties. Before DR, we ad to wait until Jason's big paycheck on Dec. 10 to do any shopping (4 holidays in November!), but this year we have $600 waiting in our "gift fund" already! Makes it easier to shop sales. However, that's not to say that we'll just blow the whole $600 just because we have it. That's an important part of budgeting too. Last year, we didn't start saving until October for Christmas and STILL saved $800 in time (the bulk from that 12/10 check).

2. Along those same lines, what about items that only come up once a year (car registration as one example)? Do you split them up into 12 monthly amounts and then just put that money somewhere (savings account, cash it out for an envelope)?

Answer:

You're asking about "sinking funds". Divide those yearly/bi-yearly payments into what it would cost per month, and put it into your savings acct. We use Quicken to keep track of how much we have in our various sinking fund accounts, but in reality, it's all (including the Emergency Fund) in one savings account. You could also keep track of spending an deposits for those on paper. Just make sure you remember to, and reconcile your total amount to your account balance! When we need money from our sinking funds, we just transfer it ASAP, since our budget equals zero each month.

3. Any grocery shopping tips? I am not a huge couponer, I just don't feel like I have the time for it. I do cut the coupons out of the Safeway weekly since I do most of my shopping there and I'll use those if they are applicable to what I need that week.

Answer:

I've taken a BIG step back in couponing since The Big Kid is back in school, and usually just do what you do. However, if I see an awesome deal on some sort of meat (30-50% off, cheap per pound, BOGO, etc.) I stock up. Then on my "scrimp" weeks, I just shop in my freezer and only have to buy fresh veggies, dairy, and a couple dry goods to make meals. I also double cook some recipes and freeze second portions, which is good for busy days and it's cost effective. On months that have 5 weeks, I usually struggle to make it on my $400/mo, but this last month had 5 weeks and I had $30 left at the end of the month!! I'm also hosting Thanksgiving this month and have already bought all of my supplies except green beans and am still within my normal budget! It's nice to be able to provide the whole meal when I offer to host :)

"Go Big, Or Go Home"

When we first decided to become debt free, we weren't ready to be "Gazelle Intense". We liked our nice life we had built ourselves, even if we couldn't afford it and shouldn't have had all the "toys" in the first place. My philosophy, prior to Dave, was "go big or go home". In other words, if we were borrowing money for a new tv/ nice car/ vacation/ dinner out/ camping trailer, why not borrow lots of it and have the best?

We ended up with lots of nice toys, but a big ol' debt.

We bought a brand spankin' new Acura TSX, in November 2005. All the bells and whistles were a MUST, and back then, we thought in terms of "how much overtime?", as in, "Oh, we can get the payments to $556.45/month? That's one shift of OT! SOLD!"

Little did I know, as we signed away our lives (a common cliche when you go heavily into debt, but does one stop to think about what it really means?), that I would get pregnant one month later and we had just committed to Frugal Mister missing one day a month for SIX YEARS with his family! That cliche takes on a while new meaning when you think of it in those terms!

So, we had agreed to not sell the Acura when we started this whole crazy thing. Then something happened. We got smart ;)

We are so tired of thinking in "HMOT" terms. The sooner we can be done with the OT, the sooner we get our lives back!

We *finally* sold the Acura to a long time family friend, and bought her '03 Civic in return! It was an even trade, but we got rid of that UGLY car payment!!

We do the budget tonight and I can't wait to see how that $556.45 builds steam on our Debt Snowball! And to think we will NEVER have a car payment again is an INCREDIBLE feeling! Our friend pays only $117/month for a LUXURY car! I am so happy for both of our good fortunes in buying and selling of great used cars :)

I have also come to realize I don't have to abandon my old philosophy, "GBOGH". I just need to apply it differently.

My Little Pony Madness!

I got word that MLPs were on sale at Toys R Us Buy One, Get One today ONLY, so armed with some MFQs (manufacturers coupons) I headed to the nearest store. I called before going and was told they honor MFQs, but I doubled checked when I walked in. I had 3 BOGO MFQs that I used in 3 seperate transactions. Total OOP (out of pocket) was $.51 for two ponies! A TOTAL of $1.53 for SIX ponies!

I am going to have one very happy 3 year old come Easter Morning!


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Heard Around Town

If you haven't guessed, I'm pretty jazzed on saving money. I get a thrill getting an awesome deal and am always on the hunt for coupons!

A couple of days ago, while checking out at Safeway using the new self checkout kiosks, a Safeway employee was helping a man use the system. She reached for the Catalina Coupons (those things that spit out as you checkout), and said "don't forget your coupons!"

The guy laughed and said "I don't need those. I'm a guy".

Huh. Apparently money only grows on trees if you are a guy. We get Aunt Flow, and they get money trees.

The Safeway employee offered me the coupons (good ones at that!!) which I gladly accepted. I said to the man, "these are as good as cash on the products you normally buy, you know that, right?"

Again, he just laughed. I can't help but hope he thinks twice when throwing the coupons out next time. And if he doesn't, I hope I'm there to catch them again! (what?? I already said they were good ones!!)

After that encounter, I went on to pay just $.74/product for hair care stuff using coupons and sale shopping.



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Frugal Missus Takes Over The World

Ok, so I may have exaggerated a tad... I'm just taking over the blog, because as you may have noticed, Frugal Mister doesn't do a whole heckuva lot of updating. I'm just tired of trying to think of new and exciting "Frugal Missus..." blog titles.

So, to them, Frugal Missus Bids Adieu (to the kitchy blog titles, NOT the blog!)


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Check Out Michael Angelo's

Check Out Michael Angelo's

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Frugal Missus Shops and Saves

Check out my recent trip to the $.99 Store!





- 3 boxes of Fiber One Apple Cinnamon muffins
- 2 beautiful containers of strawberries
- 2 Gallo Salamis
- 2lbs whole carrots
- 3 plump red tomatoes
- 2 tubes of Banana Boat Children's Sunblock, SPF 50

Grand Total = $11.84 (corrected price)

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