Money Saving Post- The Humble Homeowner

Welcome to the last week of my Money Saving series! I hope you learned a lot in the past month on ways I as well as some of my fellow bloggers save money in our lives! This week Amanda from We & Serendipity is featured! I love learning about her daily adventures on her blog and all of the fun things she and her husband participate in! She has a great heart and is one of the sweetest girls I know! I hope you enjoy her money saving tips!  


Hello! My name is Amanda. I blog over at We&Serendipity.  Alia asked me to guest post about saving money, and I couldn’t help but to instantly write down a few small things I do that end up saving me money in the long run.

I compiled a list. I get asked a lot about our budget, and how we stay in the budget. The thing is…we don’t really have a set budget. Our lives are extremely busy and there isn’t really a “schedule.” My husband is also self-employed, so the paychecks are always different. We could have a $2,000 week or we could have a $400 week. It always depends.

First, I thought about the little things I do to save money on groceries and other purchases.
 

1.       Do it yourself. 

Do you know how many things are cheaper if you just do it yourself? For an example: I am currently signed up for a gym membership paying $22/month. Though I don’t have every machine at the gym, I have a lot of it. If I dropped $200 dollars, I could have enough to work out every muscle in my body. I could run outside and be set. In my opinion, you can teach yourself more than what personal trainers can. Another example? Car washes. If I didn’t have an obsession with the car wash and get intrigued by those awesome little scrub brushes here and there, I would wash my car myself. You must also consider convenience. With some things, it might be A LOT easier on our schedules to just purchase it. But may we not get lazy, people!

2.       Couponing & Price Matching. 

I will be the first to say that I hate couponing. It takes way too much time, people get WAY crazy (especially in the state of Utah), and sometimes, the product you’re wanting to purchase with a coupon won’t even be there. However, there are some fabulous apps out there that are extremely convenient and great for people with time-crunch schedules. The two below are particularly apps I adore.

• Checkout 51 (app): This is my fave. It is fairly new; therefore, there aren’t a TON of products on it. But I find myself buying at least one item on the list every time I am at the grocery store. It’s easy peasy! Download the app. Sign up. Take a photo of your receipt. Add the products you purchased. Get cash back! It’s so easy and great! I’ve even got my sister hooked on it.

• RetailMeNot (app): This app is a great one. One tip is to be sure to check the success rate. That will save you a lot of time. When you’re shopping online, most websites will have a place for a ‘promo code.’ If you search RetailmeNot for that particular stores promo codes, there will usually be one pop up. I don’t think I’ve ever purchased anything online without using at least one promo code. Whether it be free shipping, or 15% off, you will save some moolah.

 

3.       Remember my philosophy. 
“If you’re wanting to purchase something you want and not need, don’t buy it unless it’s on sale.”

Next, I thought about where I put the money I receive.

Mr. Schroeder’s (that’s my husband in case you didn’t know that) business gest paid on a weekly basis. At first, paying the business, then paying us, and everything in between was SUCH a thinking process. But once you get a process down that works for you, it is so convenient.
 

1.       Count up all of your bills for the month and then divide it by how many times you get your paycheck. 

As far as bills go, this is what we have been doing throughout our marriage. It has worked pretty well. Like I mentioned before, we get paid once a week. Let’s say that we get paid weekly. Then, we add up all of our bills. From our mortgage payment, to the average amount of utilities, to car payments, life insurance, everything! Then…divide that by 4. If you get paid twice a month, you would divide all of your bills by 2. Catching my drift? If our bills equaled to be $2,500, we would divide $2,500 by 4. That equals $625. Therefore, $625 out of every pay check should come out. This has worked WONDERS for us! Some weeks, we don’t really have much money left. Other weeks, we have a lot of money left and we can save more!

2.       Put the important things first. 

Some people say this is common sense, but I would disagree I have a friend who will shop shop shop. Then, the first thing she’ll do when she gets her paycheck is pay her credit card off. Mr. Schroeder and I will put the important things first. For an example, since we are self-employed, we have to set a certain amount of taxes aside. We also pay 10% of our earnings to our church. That being said, if we pay ourselves $1,000 on Week 1, we will set aside 25% of that to put in taxes, and 10% of it in tithing. This is the BEST way to save money, too! If you’re wanting to begin saving more money, set aside a certain percentage every time WITHOUT fail.

3.       Have more than 1 Savings Account.

This was a really great decision that Trevor and I recently made to have together. There are so many things we are saving for. Whether it be a vacation, a baby, a vehicle, or our future home, there is always something to save for. We opened 3 savings accounts. If something is a little lower on the priority list, and money is tight for the month, we might skip putting money in that particular account once or twice. The best thing you can do is set goals, set aside a percentage, and follow through.

I’m sorry for the novel; however, I hope that at least one of you can benefit from one of my techniques! Be sure to stop by We&Serendipity sometime! I always love new readers.

Pennies and Parenting

I am so excited for Lauren to be taking over the blog today! She is a phenomenal blogger and person. I actually encountered her older blog Kisses from the Mrs. and fell in love with her newlywed adventures. With the birth of her daughter, her blog evolved to become The Best of F Words and I fell in love with that as well. Lauren is amazing and has the power to really capture your attention while she is telling her story in her blog posts.  She is a great mother and both her daughter and husband are so lucky to have her in their lives! I will now turn the blog over to Lauren!


I feel blessed to say that when I was growing up I never really thought about money. If I wanted to go to a horseback riding camp for the summer or take violin lessons after school, I didn't worry about the financial implications. Granted, I'm sure there definitely were financial implications - I don't want it to seem like my family was abounding in excessive wealth. But my parents didn't let me in on any stress they may have felt as they provided a comfortable life for me.

I'm sure I'll never know what sacrifices they made to keep me oblivious in my younger years. And yet, as I got older, my mother and father gave me the opportunity to become more financially aware as certain finances become my own responsibility. So, by the time I graduated college, I was completely financially independent from my parents.

This was a huge blessing for me as I began my adult life! And then, when Chris and I were married, I realized this financial responsibility was a bigger blessing than I ever thought it was. We were able to have adult conversations about our finances and were comfortable in our situation as Chris was going through school, we bought a home, we moved across country, and the list goes on. 

But now that we are parents, I'm realizing just how much effort my parents really must have made to give me a comfortable upbringing in which I was oblivious to financial matters. Because, goodness, children are expensive. The birthing process alone cost us more than I ever imagined. And Chris and I pride ourselves on the fact that we aren't excessive in our purchasing of baby items but our basic necessities - car seat and stroller, diapers, day care - took and continue to take a huge toll on our finances. 

Thankfully, we've been able to use a few strategies to keep our heads above water while still providing all things that are needful for our child. First and foremost, we research and compare costs on just about everything under the sun. And truth be told, cheaper isn't always better - we look at costs versus longevity of the item, the quality of the product, and so forth - BUT sometimes it is. I have no problem saying that many of the things we have for our baby (especially clothing) is second hand. Then, we plan far in advance so we can prepare ourselves for any big expenses and adjust accordingly. After purchases are made, we keep track of our receipts and keep a spreadsheet with all of our expenses so we can see exactly where our money is going. 

All of this takes work, it takes effort. Sometimes it is stressful; usually, it is time consuming. But it is worth it. Why? Because I'm optimistic that if we hold true to those strategies Brielle will be able to grow up knowing that the world is her oyster without having the worry of being a financial burden. I want her to know that Chris and I will provide great opportunities and give freely and open doors for her and I don't want her to stress over just exactly how we do that. And then, when the time is right, we can introduce her to financial responsibility so she can do the same for her children. 

Matters of money shouldn't be on a child's mind. In order to make that happen, a parent's mind should definitely be focused on matters of money.

Do you have children? How do you plan to provide a comfortable life style for them? If you don't yet have kids, have you thought about how you will pay for their needs (and their wants!)? Do you think this tactic we have in place is a good one? I've heard some parents argue that children should work for everything they get so they are responsible and aren't spoiled; I can understand that perspective but I personally think kids only get to be kids for a few short sweet years, they have the rest of their lives to work! Am I silly to think that? I'd love to hear how you save money with kids or plan to save money when you have them!

With love,

http://thebestfwordsblog.blogspot.com/

Money Saving Strategies-Steering Clear of Pennilessness

Welcome back to my money saving August feature! Today Mercedes is sharing her wisdom on how she saves money in her life. I met her through the blogging community and immediately fell in love with her blog. She is such a sweet person and always gives great advice in her blogs and shares amazing life stories. I highly recommend her blog and would love to have a blogger meet up with her sometime in the future! I will now turn over my blog to Mercedes!

 

To this day it still surprises me but I have always been quite frugal. I remember saving my lunch money, allowance, birthday money, and eventually employment money. Here are a few of the ways I have gone about saving money:

1. When carrying cash I prefer to carry a larger bill (i.e. A twenty versus smaller bills) because spending a buck here or there in the short term doesn't seem as bad as spending a twenty right off the bat. 

2. Carrying cash can new helpful because you can physically see how much you are spending. When you use debit or credit cards you don't instantly see the decrease in your account until you look.

3. If you have credit cards use them sparingly and pay them off. Also set up the text or email alerts that tell you when you account has decreased to a certain amount. There are also text alerts for other account activity that can be very helpful.

4. “Can we go thrift shopping?” You may have heard Macklemore’s hit song “Thrift Shop” whether it is your style of music or not it has a great meaning about not spending outrageous amounts of money on merchandise simply because it's limited edition or name brand. Plus you can find amazing things at thrift stores, I found two Hale Bob dresses ($250 a piece) for $20. I've also found great housewares of great quality that were much cheaper than buying from a chain store.

5. Just like you can bargain shop for clothes and housewares you can go to farmers markets for great deals on food particularly produce. You can also go to a local butcher shop to get better quality meat for cheap while supporting your local economy.

7. If you have an income source work on taking a percentage of it every time you get paid to put into savings. Keep a budget sheet whether you create it in excel or use some kind of software because when you see where you spend your money it can really help change your attitude about saving money.

I am not perfect at saving money and have had countless slip ups but I have learned from those mistakes and these tips are just a few of them. You need to budget and find a balance among your finances if you want to save money.

 

XOXO- Mercedes

 

>

Money Saving Strategies-The Single Girl- Making Ends Meet in Graduate School

Graduate nursing school is filled with many things including studying, going to clinical, and finding some “me” time to keep yourself sane. The underlying matter however is that in order to do things you need to have money to pay tuition, rent, groceries, bills, and all of the other essential items needed to successfully get through school. If your school is a private school like mine, money can really be tight. I have learned a whole lot in the past school year about a thing or two about saving money. I have coined myself the bargain queen because I can always find the best deals on stuff in the market I shop in and have applied this money saving strategies to other areas of my life not just in the market setting! If you're in graduate school then I hope these tips will help you manage your money and allow you to save a dime or two for your future…or your student loans!

1) Shop at farmers market type stores like Sprouts- Try to avoid supermarkets and specialty stores. If you shop at the large chain store you will actually pay more for less items. When I used to shop at big chain supermarkets I would spend a fortune for produce. At Sprouts I can get so many fruits and veggies for a really great price such as 3 sets of green onions for a dollar, a bag of carrots for 97 cents, and other great deals. They also have great deals all throughout the store and I generally get out of the store with a ton of foods for about $25-$50 and this food lasts me 2-4 weeks!  

 

2) Be aware of manager’s specials- Sprouts (again) is excellent about this. Every week I find manger’s specials on meats and fish. I absolutely love manager specials! This is truly the highlight of my market trip it is like an expedition and the specials are my treasure! I can get meat and fish that is close to the sell by date at a reduced price. Where I live salmon is expensive around $14 a pound but I can get it via the manager special for 2-3 dollars and even cheaper than that. This is also found with ground beef/turkey and all sorts of yummy items.

 

3) Save change- Many people think nothing about change however when you actually save change, it quickly builds up and you can use it in case of an emergency when you are low on cash. I make it a habit to save my change and dedicate it to my “student fund” kind of like a piggy bank for school. I set money aside and it is only to be used for school related manners.     

 

4) Try to limit shopping to essential items and pay with cash not a credit card- When I was   younger I loved going to the mall and shopping for clothes, after a year of graduate school when I do shop for clothes I really get uninterested after the first store. I already have so many clothes that shopping for them is pointless to me. I am at a point in my life where I only buy what I need even if it is just a new toothbrush. If you buy things you don’t need then you wasted money especially if you do not have the money to begin with! In order to really do this make a list before you go to any store and stick to it. The beauty of paying with cash is you cannot buy extra items you do not need or can afford.

 

5) Document Every Purchase you make in a month- This step may sound extreme however it really shows how much money you are spending and where it is going. This really allows you to see if you need to cut back on one area of your budget and if you can allocate funds to another area.

 I hope you are able to utilize these money saving tips that I use in your life. Every Saturday from today until the end of August I am going to feature wonderful bloggers that will share their tips on how they save money in their lives!

 

These lovely ladies include:

 

                                                    Amanda from We & Serendipity

 

Lauren from The Best of F Words

 

 

Mercedes from It’s a Harr Life

 

 

 

What do you do to save money feel free to comment below! I would love to hear your thoughts!

What Do You Think? What is the Purpose of Reviews?

As I am studying for my finals this week I have been getting some food cravings which always happens during finals. First I thought I wanted some Thai food but then I decided I wanted to get some Chinese food. In true finals fashion I am feeling lazy so I look what restaurants will deliver to me and I then I naturally go and look at the reviews about the restaurants. I didn’t end up ordering anything but instead I looked at reviews and was shocked about some of the things I read. Despite countless good reviews some places had some reviewers that were trashing the place and had nothing positive to say about the restaurant. I completely understand that sometimes people have bad experiences however from reading these reviews I get the impression that these individuals are not writing to inform others in a helpful manner, rather they are writing to trash the reputation of the restaurant and establishment and to seek some sort of revenge from their bad experience. I honestly do not understand this. Some reviews I saw mentioned that the food was not how the person liked it, or the sauce tasted different from how the person expected it. What people fail to realize is all restaurants do things differently and the cooks cannot read minds. Many people have expectations in their heads about how food should taste because of how they personally prepare it and when this differs from what the person was expected the food becomes disgusting and is wrong. The way you cook may be completely different from how the restaurant cooks however this difference should not define the restaurant and how someone else sees it.

 

The other day a friend came over and we cooked dinner together. We started with a fresh salad with green onions, tomatoes, lettuce, and cucumbers. When I went to take a bite I noticed the cucumbers still had the skin on them, normally I take the skin off so I simply mentioned this to my friend and he acknowledged it and we finished eating the salads. Although this is a simple example this is easily something that can happen in a restaurant. I personally like to peel the skin of the cucumbers but my friend likes to keep it on. This is a totally personal choice however it is nothing to complain and trash a restaurant for. This got me thinking why people write bad reviews over trivial things. I read some reviews and I scratched my head because they no longer become reviews but really just complaint boards that do nothing to actually do with improving the restaurant and instead seem like the only purpose is to trash the place. Our world is so full of individuals that complain and go out of their way to hurt others which really baffles me, I wish we can build each other up as opposed to bringing each other down.  At the bottom of things everyone has a right to their own opinion however just  remember, the restaurant cooks do not go out of their way to provide a negative experience for their guests so why do reviewers go out of their ways to ruin the reputation of these establishments?

What do you think about this topic? I would love to hear any thought about this topic!