Frugal Living

I've been thinking a lot about ways that we as a family can live more frugally. Let's face it, what we make is enough to pay the bills (and we are so grateful for that) but it leaves very little money left over for anything else. Sure if we didn't incur credit card debt during our lovely unemployment, have a car payment, and student loans we would have extra money. You know to get your hair cut, buy a new pair of nylon's when your only pair rips, and buy a new pair of running shoes when yours is falling apart at the seams. Oh and to save money to someday have a house with a yard. And be able to go on vacation somewhere nice with your honey. That would be nice. So I asked myself, if we could only make (x amount of money) for the rest of our lives, how could I make this work? Most of all, we want to be able to build up a savings and be able to start a 401k plan. All in all, plan for the future.

There are a few things we are already doing to curb spending. We set up a budget of course and although we've been good at sticking with it (for the most part) some unforeseen things have come up that have bled us dry.

Janen and I hardly (or sometimes) never go anywhere during the week with the car. We've been able to save money on gas, but when an invitation to go more than 10 minutes from our home comes, we've accepted and have suffered from gas expenses as a result. So we've decided that it was best for us to decline some invitations and only drive out of town (other than neighboring towns) only once a month. This was a hard decision because I have friends that I love, still in Provo, but you do what you gotta do. So if you ask me to come down and see you and I say that I can't, please know that I love you and wish that I could come down all the time.

Another way, we have decided to cut costs is by cutting our cellphone bill in half. Our verizon plan expired in October and we got on a month to month plan with some other company. I guess I never realized how much I talked to my friends on the phone until my minutes were limited and running out very fast. We decided that my phone would only be used for emergencies and to communicate with James when needed so it has very little minutes and texts per month. So if you call me and I don't answer, it's cause I don't have the minutes to talk to you. I most likely won't call you back right now because like I said, we are trying to cut costs and I refuse to buy more minutes. That would just defeat the whole purpose. BUT, we are looking into getting a magic jack soon, which will allow me to talk on a home phone whenever I want and however long I want, for super cheap. Cause I really have been missing being able to talk to family and friends and this has been a hard sacrifice for me. I am very grateful for Facebook and email though because it allows me to stay in contact with you. So please know, that I love you and I'm not trying to snub you or appear to be a bad friend. It is what it is.

These are just a couple of the things we are doing to cut costs and put more money into our savings. I feel the need to post this because I am afraid that some people have already been offended by our choices. So I wanted to let everyone know, that I don't mean to blow you off or make you feel like I don't care about our friendship because I do. Please understand that I have to do what is best for my family and our finances. And living paycheck to paycheck is not ideal living for us and until we get a raise or pay off our debt, there are going to have to be some sacrifices of pleasures that we've been used to enjoying in the past. I hope that you understand.

P.S. Some of you know that I have been learning a lot about cloth diapers in order to helps us save money. I have read so many positive things about it, both from friends and online reviews that I am convinced this is something we are going to go forward with. (unless we win a year's supply of diapers, which I doubt will happen).I am excited to get our tax return so I can purchase a bunch in bulk and get started!!

P.P.S I've always wanted to get into couponing for house-hold items, but feel so overwhelmed by the whole process. The cutting coupons is fine and I don't even mind organizing them, but the ad searching and going to 5 different stores and some of the lingo just overwhelms me. For example, how the heck do you know that if you buy 2 toilet paper packages that you'll get a coupon for next time? Does that come from experience or is that found out in your research? I don't want a website link or anything like that. What I want is to be able to shadow someone, visit someone and ask a ton of questions or be able to have an email war back and forth with someone that can be thorough in their explanations to me and patient with me as I ask stupid questions. So who wants to help me out? Any takers? I'm serious.