Being Artistic

When we bought the new bunk beds for Porgie and Izzy's room, I decided to change the room's theme. Both of my kids are currently obsessed with dinosaurs, so naturally I decided to head in that direction. I bought these adorable quilts from Bed, Bath, and Beyond...
I know the bedding seems a little boyish, but Porgie loved the design. Then I started looking at art for the walls. Although they had matching dinosaur pictures, the prints were over $20 a piece (and the were really small). Since I spent more on the bedding than I care to admit, I didn't want to spend hundreds of dollars on some goofy pictures of dinosaurs. So, being the determined pregnant woman that I am, I decided to make my own, frugal artwork...




I spent less than $20 on the entire project! Although I am usually super critical of my artwork, I actually really like these paintings. They are simple, cute, and they match the bedding. I was so impressed with my handiwork, that I decided to paint some new canvases for the baby's fishy themed room too...



Both bedrooms look great. I am awesome!

Frugal holidays

As you know, for the past year John and I have been working hard to pay off debt and save more money. Christmas time is no exception. John comes from a large family. He is the last of 6 children. All of his brothers and sisters are married and all of them have children. The list of people to buy for is insanely long. I think the thing that bothers me most is that John isn't very close to any of his siblings. We spend all this money on people he doesn't even talk to. It is frustrating.

The last time we went back to Kentucky for Christmas, we gave everyone a gift card. Talk about EXPENSIVE! This year I decided that we were going to have a frugal Christmas. All of his brothers and sisters will be receiving crocheted top hand towels (crocheted by me, of course). Some of John's nieces have already started families, so those nieces will also be receiving hand towels. All of the kids/teenagers will get a regular present (ordered from Amazon with my Swagbucks money).

My side of the family is a little trickier. I am much closer with my family than John is to his, so in general I tend to put a lot more effort into my gifts. I know that this is unfair, so this year I am sticking to the towel hand gift for all of my aunts and uncles too. However, I do plan on buying something nice for my mother, grandmother, and my favoritest cousin (who is more like a sister). I am hoping that I'll have enough Swagbucks money left over to buy their gifts too.

So that is my attempt at a frugal Christmas this year. My kids aren't getting anything from me, which sounds mean, but really they won't even notice. John and I have already agreed to forgo buying each other gifts this year. The trip to KY definitely still has the potential to be expensive (putting the dog in the boarding kennel, buying gas for our LOOOOONG road trip, the inevitable dinning out, etc), but I feel like I am minimizing the costs as much as possible.

Money Talk

November and December are going to be very expensive months for us. We have Izzy's birthday coming up, we need to have our carpets cleaned, Porgie's dance recital costume payment is due, everyone needs a haircut, we need to have the dog vaccinated, my car battery needs to be replaced (don't even get me started on the collision stuff), we still have Christmas presents to buy, and finally, we need to have professional family photos taken. I know that we don't technically NEED to do even half of the stuff on my list, but these are things I WANT to do before the holidays. Christmas has a way of sucking my bank account dry every damn year.

The good news is that I do not plan on buying my children or husband any presents. They are going to get so much stuff from my family (my mother always gives too much), that anymore would just be overkill. Also, I still have a little over $200 in my Amazon account from Swagbucks! So, that is definitely going to help too.

I haven't talked about Swagbucks for a while, but I am still enjoying the program. Basically, you get points for using their search engine. You can cash in your points for prizes (I always buy $5 Amazon gift cards). I have to admit, when Swagbucks changed over to their new point system, I was disappointed. It suddenly seemed a lot harder to earn as many prizes. But they have added lots of new features (like swagbucksTV, daily polls, surveys, and videos), so it probably all evens out. But it feels like a lot more work, so I have definitely lost some of my enthusiasm. However, free money is hard to refuse, so I have continued to use the program. I average about 2 $5 gift cards per month, which equals $120 per year. Not too bad.

I am not exactly sure how much money I have earned through Swagbucks, but I have bought quite a few things on Amazon during the past year and I haven't paid a penny for any of them. Additionally, I still have $200 in my account, so I can't complain. It is definitely worth the small amount of effort I put into earning my points.

I got really big into survey sites for a while too, but it just seemed like I never qualified for any freaking surveys, so I kind of gave that up. A few people sent me links to other search and earn sites, but I just can't convince myself to sign up. Maybe I'll feel up to it this winter when I am trapped inside my house for months and months.

I don't really know where I am going with this post. I guess I just wanted you to know that Christmas is expensive, but the internet makes it easy to earn free gift cards. The end.

Miss frugual breeches

Carrie left a comment on Friday's post about me using the GPS on my cell phone. I don't have a cell phone. I know it is hard to believe, but I manage to function just fine without talking to my friends all day or obsessively texting people. The main reason that I don't have a cell phone is the cost. We have a home phone, and my husband's work pays for his cell phone, so getting myself a cell phone just feel frivolous and goofy.

Not having a cell phone often makes me feel like an odd ball. People always say things like, "YOU DON'T HAVE A CELL PHONE?! I couldn't live with my cell phone!" Ummm...really? I think talking on the phone is overrated. Additionally, I have grown to hate how other people seem to always be distracted by their damn phones. JUST PUT IT AWAY! Geez people. And my number one pet peeve is spouses who call each other constantly. My friend Karla's husband calls her no less than 20 times in the course of an hour. If John called me that much, I would probably divorce him.

Other times, I really wish I had a cell phone. For example, the farm we visited for apple picking is about 40 minutes from my house. To get there, I have to drive through a HUGE state forest. There are no businesses or houses for miles and miles. Everytime I drive on that stretch of road I get nervous. What would I do if my van broke down? It definitely wouldn't be safe to walk with the kids on that winding country road. How long would I have to wait before a police officer happened to drive by? In those instances, I really want a cell phone, and I curse my frugality.

But despite my irrational fears, I think I will continue to go without a cell phone for now.

How did that happen?

Last Friday we received our electric bill. Gulp. Our bill was over $300. I am sick to my stomach about this HUGE bill. We have never had a utility bill that high before. It has been exceptionally hot this summer, but I still think our bill is ridiculous. The part that really pisses me off is that I have been going out of my way to make sure that our electric bill isn't too high.

In previous summers, I always set the thermostat to 73 degrees. This year I moved that number up to 79 degrees. I thought I would see a big difference in our bill. Not so much. I also have been keeping all of the blinds drawn during the day to block out the sun and heat. I thought living like a hermit would save us money. Not so much. And finally, I have been super strict about keeping the doors closed. I am constantly yelling at the kids for standing in the doorway, letting hot air into our house. I thought this would help us keep down reduce our bill. Ummm...not so much.

So, I am kind of pissed off at the electric company right now. Short of unplugging everything in my house and turning off the A/C, I am not sure what else I can do. Any suggestions?

Crooks

Want to hear a "funny" story? Well, we paid off our Chase credit card last month. It felt so damn good to send in that last payment. Yesterday we received a statement from Chase for $1.50. The charge was labeled as a "Minimum Interest Charge." What? We were charged $1.50 for...nothing. We have had no balance on our card for the entire month. Additionally, we closed our account! How in the hell does a company charge you fees AFTER you closed your account? John called and they reversed the charge, but it is the principle of the whole thing.

In summary, credit card companies are evil. They will bleed you dry if you let them. I will never do business with Chase again. EVER. And I recommend you do the same.

MONEY

Because the universe hates me, I received a statement on Friday letting me know that our car insurance is increasing by $15 per month. GREAT. I have my husband to thank for this one. He got a ticket last year, which triggered the rate increase. It really pisses me off, because the ticket was for a minor traffic violation. He didn't wreck his car or kill anybody or drive around intoxicated. He got a flipping driving ticket. So, now I am in the process of getting auto insurance quotes.

It feels like every time we turn around, someone wants more money from us. It is disappointing and frustrating and discouraging. But we are forging ahead with our debt reduction plans and are trying to cut other expenses. My husband has recently started mowing the lawn again. For the past two years, we have hired a lawn service to mow our yard. It was $25 a week, so we are saving $100 per month! I tried to convince John to get rid of cable, but he is being really stubborn about this one. We really don't watch much TV. Actually, I don't watch any television (except for How I Met Your Mother, but it isn't on right now). John only watches a few news shows. So despite the fact that cable is a huge waste of our money, we are still paying the Comcast bill.

Other than trying to cut down on the amount I spend at Target every week (gulp!), I can't really think of any other ways to save money right now. So, our next step is to build up an emergency fund, and then to start aggressively paying down a home equity line of credit we currently have. Paying off debt is oddly addictive, and I am kind of excited to start this next adventure.

Summer of 2010 is an ASSHOLE

We paid off our credit cards, but somehow it feels like we have even less money than before. How is that possible? Well, all of these darn unexpected expenses keep popping up. I already told you about the broken camera and the tree falling over in our front yard. Yesterday we received another financial blow. Our mortgage company severely underestimated our escrow payments for the year. There is a shortage of nearly $900. Fuckity, fuck, FUCK!

I have to say, being credit card debt free is turning out to be a HUGE pain in the ass. All of this bad shit just keeps happening. And my husband has been Mr. Crabby McWhiny Pants about the whole situation, which really isn't helping matters. I guess I should be thanking my lucky stars that we don't have any additional credit card bills, because then we would be in serious trouble.

I know we are only 3 weeks into summer, but I am soooo ready for the Fall. It is a million degrees outside, my electric bill was over $200 this month, and bad shit keeps happening. Summer can fuck off.

money and stuff

I have made up my mind on the camera issue. We are going to buy a Canon Rebel XS. It is insanely expensive, and I am worried that I will never learn how to use it correctly, but I really want a nice camera. And since we have paid off our credit card debt (!!!!), I plan on buying the camera at the end of next month. I have read a million reviews, and they all seem to be pretty positive. So, I am excited! However, I also think I need a point and shoot camera to leave in my purse. I am pretty sure John won't go along with that plan, so I guess I am going to have to get used to lugging around a bigger camera.

Can you believe we paid off all our credit card debt? We are finally in a position to start SAVING money instead of always PAYING money to credit card companies. I am shocked at how quickly we accomplished this goal. I am not going to lie, the past six months have sucked. We never had extra money. I was always fretting about the amount of money in our checking account. Some months we would get down to $20. But, it was all worth it. The only extra bill we have now is for my orthodontic work. Next up, we plan to pay off a home equity line of credit. According to my calculations, we should have the loan paid off in roughly 3 years. So, 3 more years of scrimping and saving every penny (ugh).

On a completely unrelated subject, can you believe this freaking oil spill? What in the hell is everyone doing about the problem? Is oil going to spill into the Gulf FOREVER? I thought Americans were creative, resourceful people. Why are we twiddling our thumbs like dumb-asses?

Deals to be had

I went shopping yesterday. I should probably feel guilty about my budget indiscretion, but oddly enough, I don't. I managed to snag some truly AWESOME deals, so it actually felt like I was being thrifty!

We stopped by Old Navy first. I was actually planning on buying the kids a couple new pairs of pajamas. However, I never made it back to the kids section. The Old Navy by me (and maybe by you too?) has a HUGE selection of jeans on clearance. Most of the jeans are marked down to between $10-$12. On top of that, all clearance clothes are an additional 30% off! I got three pairs of jeans for $18! Now, I just have to maintain my weight until the fall when I can actually wear them (easier said than done).

We also stopped by Target. They had a ton of girl's shirts and shorts marked down to $2.80 a piece! Holy crap! It is a good thing my husband just got paid, because I ended up buying Porgie 2 pairs of shorts, 3 shirts, and 1 pair of capris. I bought all of them in a 5t for next summer, because she already has a ton of clothes for this summer. While picking out Porgies clothes, I came to a startling realization. The baby section in Target only goes up to 5t. Next year I'll be shopping on the clearance racks in the big kids section. That makes me a little teary eyed.

In summary, there are lots of good clearance rack deals right now. If you have a little extra money, I recommend that you go shopping. NOW!

Saving dough

I have been a wee bit cranky lately. Little things have been getting under my skin - like how OTHER people spend their money. What the hell? I shouldn't care about other people's finances. But for some strange reason, watching people spend money really pisses me off. Especially people who spend frivolously. Those people are the WORST. All of this tension is probably stemming from the fact that I only have $150 dollars in my bank account. And that $150 needs to last until the 15th. Ugh.

So, we are thisclose to having our credit card debt paid off. We are so close I can taste it. But paying off our credit cards does not equal more spending money. We plan on taking this cash, and paying it toward a loan we have on our house. And when the loan is repaid, we are going to start paying all of that extra cash toward our mortgage. Basically, we plan on never having money ever again.

On one level, this plan makes me giddy with excitement. We could actually be completely debt free by the time our kids head off to college! WOW! That is awesome. But on the other hand, I am already sick of living paycheck to paycheck. I want to have a little extra spending money. And maybe a new outfit or two.

I know that we will have more in the long run by living frugally now, so I am trying to make the most of our current situation. Here are a list of thing we currently do to save money...
1. We never eat out. Okay, maybe we eat out occasionally - but never more than twice a month.
2. We no longer buy paper towels (they are wasteful and expensive).
3. We have set our central air to 79 degrees (in the past, we set it at 72 degrees).
4. I pack a lunch for my husband everyday.
5. I buy gently used toys for my kids off of Craig's list (stay tuned for pictures of Porgie's AMAZING used birthday gift).
6. I clip coupons.
7. I used Swagbucks and Opinion Outpost to earn a little extra spending cash.
8. I have been baking my own bread/pizza dough/desserts. There is so much stuff you can make at home for a fraction of the cost.

I am sure there is more, but that is all I can think of right now. Our hard work is paying off, because by the end of July, we will have paid off a huge debt in just 7 months. I am proud of us and our thriftiness! And apparently, I expect you to be thrifty now too. Don't let me catch you spending money on goofy shit. I'll give you the evil eye, while calling you names under my breath.

I am not crazy!

I think I made myself sound like a nutcase yesterday. But there was more to the guilt than I mentioned in the post. I am also feeling guilty because I just got braces, and we now have to shell out an extra $200 per month to pay for them. Gah. Also, I had to put a down payment on my braces, so I nearly depleted our pathetic savings account. So my transgressions at the mall pushed me over the edge. Really, I am not as insane as you think I am. Okay, maybe I am that insane. Just nod your head and act like I am normal.

To redeem myself for my overspending, I refused to turn on the furnace Tuesday night even though it was unusually cold. I woke up on Wednesday morning to this...
Let me tell you, 58 degrees is super cold. Please do not attempt this experiment in your home. Brrrrr...

Guilt

I have been soooo good with money for the past few months. I have been keeping track of every penny that we spend. I haven't turned on the furnace in a month to save money. We never eat out anymore. Basically, I only spend money on the essentials.

So let's talk about the ballet pictures. When the dance studio sent home the form for pictures, I was shocked at the prices. All of the packages were outrageous. I decided to skip the pictures at the dance studio and to instead have them taken at Sears (because I had a coupon). Of course Porgie's pictures were adorable, and I couldn't pick just one pose.I ended up spending way more on my Sears photos than I would have at the dance studio. Gah. The guilt I feel over this purchase is overwhelming.

To make matters worse, I also stopped by Macy's to purchase some summer clothes for myself (I had a gift card leftover from my birthday). I usually have trouble finding cute (and reasonably priced) clothes at Macy's. But not on Monday. I found the cutest capri pants and an adorable summer shirt. I ended up going $8 over the gift card balance. That small amount coupled with the huge photo purchase is killing me. I have apologized 100 times to John (and of course, he doesn't even understand why I keep apologizing).

So, I have been bad with money this week. And I feel guilty.

Numbers

I have been thinking about numbers lately. Lots of numbers. I think about the number of months until we have our credit card debit paid off. I think about how much money we should be saving for retirement. I think about how much money we will need to remodel our kitchen. These numbers can be very overwhelming. But because of our new frugal life style (A.K.A. living in poverty), I feel like we are much closer to these goals than we were a year ago.

When we first embarked on this journey to be debt free, I was very skeptical. I thought this was a phase that would pass, and we would be right back to our old spending habits. However, I think being frugal has began to permanently sink into my brain. I am constantly scouring the internet for coupons. I preach to my friends about buying used cars/used clothes/used toys. And I love trying to develop super cheap and super tasty meals.

Much to my surprise, being frugal is oddly addictive. It is like I am playing a little game with myself. I often challenge myself to go without money for a week. Sometimes two. This forces us to be creative at meal times, to use every last drop of toothpaste/hand soap/dish liquid, to find free activities for the kids, and to conserve gas by driving less/walking more. When I am successfully able to not spend money for a week or two, I feel a genuine sense of accomplishment.

This living-debt-free-adventure has definitely been an eye opener. I don't want to struggle to make ends meet for the rest of my life. So although it is a challenge, we are going to continue on this path indefinitely.

ATTENTION OLD NAVY SHOPPERS!

I stumbled across one of these deals last November by accident, and it was AWESOME! Because I love you guys, I thought I would share this information. On April 16th, the first 50 customers at each Old Navy store will get 50% off, plus a free tote, when they use their Old Navy card. EVERYTHING IN THE STORE IS 50% OFF! However, crazy people arrive super early and wait outside the store. So, you will probably need to arrive at least 10 minutes early if you want to be one of the first 50 customers. I would love to participate, but alas I am poor. No frivolous spending here is Cakerwakerville:(

How do I earn more Swagbucks?

It is time for another Swagbucks post. As of today, I have earn $130 in Amazon gift cards. I think it is safe to say that Christmas is going to be FREE this year. I know that some of you have signed up and are really enjoying the program. And other people have signed up, but then abandoned the program. Today I wanted to share a few tips and secrets with you, so that you can earn the maximum amount of swagbucks possible, with the least amount of effort.

The easiest way to earn swagbucks is through basic internet searches. If you use their search engine everyday, you are guaranteed to get at least 10 swagbucks. Some days you will be rewarded with even more. I have been using their search engine for 5 months, and I have been rewarded with swagbucks EVERY SINGLE DAY. You won't win on every search, but if you search at least a few times per day, you will receive something. So let's do a little math. 10 swagbucks per day for searching x 30 days = At least 300 points in a month. Not too bad.

In addition to earning swagbucks through searches, they release one or two swag codes per day too. Now to get these codes, you have to keep your eyes peeled. However, there are lots of sites that do most of the searching for you, like this one. If you get all the swag codes released, you will earn at least 10 more swagbucks per day. Let's do some more math. 10 swagbucks per day for codes x 30 days - At least 300 points in a month. Once again, not too bad.

Now lets add everything up. 300 + 300 = 600 points per month. 600 x 12 months = 7,200 points per year. $5 Amazon gift cards are the best deal for your points, and they cost 450 points. 7,200/450 = 16 $5 gift card (that is $80 in Amazon gift cards per year!).

So basically you can earn the bare minimum in terms of points and still earn $80 in free gift cards in one year. Other ways to earn money include completing special offers (some are as easy as watching videos), shopping through their site (I did this once and received points. However it took a month for the points to be credited to my account), and referring friends.

Referring friends is without a doubt the fastest way to rack up points. You will get a swagbuck for every swagbuck your referral earns through INTERNET SEARCHES. Swagcodes and special offers don't earn you points through referrals. So to get points from your referrals, they have to do internet searches. Unfortunately referral points are capped at 1000, and after your referral reaches that number, you will no longer receive points from that person.

Swagbucks might sound complicated, but it is actually really easy once you figure out how to navigate their site and earn points. It doesn't make sense to NOT join. If you are going to be searching the internet anyways, why not earn some extra money in the process? Go sign up!

P.S. If you made it all the way to the end of this post CONGRATULATIONS! My mother is coming to visit this week. I have lots to do to get ready for her arrival, so I am taking a week off from blogging. I'll probably be around commenting, but I won't be posting. See you next week!

I hate surprises

You know, life is full of annoying little surprises. These surprises, without fail, throw my budget completely off kilter. This past week has been full of unpleasant surprises.

1. SURPRISE! It turns out that I ran over a nail and one of my back tires was flat ($25).
2. SURPRISE! I went shopping at Target because I needed milk. After wandering around the store collecting things I didn't really need, I discovered that they were out of milk ($36).
3. SURPRISE! I went to A.C. Moore because I had a 40% off coupon. When I got to the register with my yarn, I realized that I left the coupon at home ($12).
4. SURPRISE! My last dentist appointment wasn't covered by my insurance ($77).
5. SURPRISE! This winter has been very destructive. After weeks of ice and snow, we have finally thawed out. And my beloved garden gnome, who we affectionately nicknamed Gnome Chomsky, was crushed by the weight of the snow ($18).

This budget shit is REALLY freaking hard. We should have all of our credit card debt paid off by July, but sometimes 4 months feels like an eternity. I want to have extra money NOW. I am so sick of talking about money and thinking about money and worrying about money. I am counting down the days until we are credit card debt free.

P.S. I won a small battle with my health insurance company. I appealed $300 worth of medical claims from November and December, and somehow, my insurance company agreed to pay these bills. YAY me!

Selfish

Although I don't quite understand how, we are once again in a very tough situation financially. Apparently, the beginning of the month is a bad time for us. The mortgage is due. Our credit card bills are due. The cable bill is due. Dance school tuition is due. Ever since we upped the amount we are paying monthly on our BIG credit card, we seem to have no money to spare.

So, once again we are skipping the grocery store next week. Which is fine, but it worries me. My husband is working so hard to pay off our debit, while I am in the process of accumulating a TON of debt. Dental work is expensive shit. After insurance, my dental surgery still cost us nearly $300. And unfortunately, that one procedure used up my entire maximum for my insurance (we have a $1,000 maximum). So, for the remainder of this year I have no more dental insurance. Gah.

Honestly, I have never worried about money this much before. In the past, taking on new debt didn't phase me. But now it does. I am constantly thinking about investing for retirement and starting college funds and saving for home improvement projects. Having this dental work done, although I know that it will do wonders for my self esteem, feels like I am frivolously wasting money on vanity. I hate that I am going to be placing such a huge financial burden on my family. Especially since we seem to be barely making ends meet as it is.

But it is now or never. I've already waited too long. So I guess I am going to take this leap, even if it isn't in the best interest of my family. And that my friends, is a tough pill to swallow.

Unclaimed property

I was reading a blog one day, and the author mentioned that she received money from her state's unclaimed property division. She checked their website, and discovered that a company she used to work for was sued, and she (along with all the other employees) was awarded money in the settlement.

Inspired, I checked KY and NJ unclaimed property websites, and lo and behold, I have unclaimed money sitting in the Kentucky state treasury. And John does too! Yippee. We both contacted the treasury. I have $220 in unclaimed money. John has $15. I know that is was our money to begin with, but it kind of feels like we just found $235. I am already planning frivolous ways to spend the money.

I have submitted all the necessary paperwork to prove that I am who I claim to be, and I am eagerly awaiting my $220. I highly recommend that you do some research into this issue as well. You might have loads of money laying around, just waiting to be claimed.

Gettin' paid

It's payday bitches! Mama is going shopping!

In case you are wondering, I totally ruined the budget. Despite my best efforts, I had to make a few purchases this week. First, I had to buy more underwear for the kids. Then I had to buy cat food and cat litter. And finally, I had to put gas in my van. These three little purchases totaled almost $100. Isn't that insane?

Today is the day I have been looking forward to for weeks - PAYDAY! I never want to fret about buying groceries or underwear or gas EVER AGAIN. I am going to be clipping my coupons and shopping responsibly for the rest of the month. I want February to be better than January.

And in case you are wondering, Porgie and Izzy pooped (in their diapers).

Score: Kids - 1 Mommy - 0