No Debt Plan

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I saw this over at the HotCouponWorld forums this morning. You can get at least one bag of Chex mix at Walgreens for free. Here’s how to do it:

1. Go to Coupons.com, install the coupon printer software (free, easy).

2. On page one or two of Coupons.com, print off the $1 off a bag of Chex mix coupon.

3. Go to Walgreens, which is running a $0.99 sale on Chex mix this week (until 5/31, if I remember correctly).

4. Hand over coupon, pay nothing for Chex mix.

The only hiccups you might run into is the coupon is worth more than the Chex mix. Some users have reported that they have to mark down the coupon because it is worth more than the Chex mix. This may require an assistant manager or something like that.

My coupon beeped this morning when they rang up my purchase. I was also buying some razor blades ($25 for 12; definitely going to straight razor soon…), and the cashier just entered in a manual manufacturer’s coupon and wrote on the coupon. Either way, I got a $1 off of my purchase and ended up with free Chex mix.

It’s only worth $3, but it’s $3 nonetheless. Keeping the frugal mentality rolling.

I wrote on Thursday that my wife was getting pinkslipped. Well they had to tell her if she was by close of business on Friday, and she didn’t hear anything. So we are assuming we are in the clear.

It doesn’t come as much of a surprise. My wife teaches and is shared by two schools. If you let her go and don’t hire anyone else, is another teacher going to teach 3 or 4 schools? I doubt it.

So! Stressful as it was, we’re hoping this has passed. Hopefully the state will pass the education budget as soon as possible so all of the Alabama teachers that were laid off will be rehired immediately.

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day. We’ll be back to regularly scheduled programming tomorrow.

I have been bad about not getting my articles out at my typical 7am time. Sorry about that! We’ve been rather busy the past few days. We’ve had the whole “my wife may be getting fired” issue to worry about, and we’re taking a mini-vacation this Memorial Day weekend.

This is a point I am going to consistently hit on while writing this blog. Don’t forget to live. Yes, saving money and not overspending is very important in life. But don’t become a hermit. What good is that pile of money if you have no friends or family to enjoy it with?  Enjoy life as it comes, but make smart choices.

The problem with many people is they want to live today like it is their last day, all of the time. That’s all well and good until your last day is sixty years from now, you get laid off, and you have no money set aside. It’s a very fine balance. So don’t get me wrong — keep it up. Run through the No Debt Plan, save for retirement. But don’t turn down every opportunity to enjoy life.

For example, my work partner and our wives went to the SEC Baseball Tournament last night to see Ole Miss and Kentucky play. Granted, our company paid for it as a relationship building event, but it was fun. It cost gas to get there and we could have said “eh, no thanks”, but we didn’t do that. We had a lot of fun even though we only stayed through the top of the 5th inning. (It was getting late and we had been there 2.5 hours already).

Another example — we’re taking a mini-vacation this weekend. Some married friends are all getting together at someone’s aunt’s lake house (for free). Cost? Gas and food. Both of those could be significant costs, but we had planned to go to the beach instead. The beach would run $150+ per night in lodging on top of further gas costs (more distance) and more food costs (eating out vs. cooking). So we’re getting to enjoy ourselves, relax, take the puppy with us, see our friends… and it is somewhat frugal. We’ve got the money saved up for the trip already, too.

It should be a lot of fun. But I need to run — laundry and packing call!

This is not a test of the budgetary system.

This is not a test of the emergency fund.

This is real. My wife is getting pink slipped.

What’s going on?

Good old fashioned, down and dirty, idiotic politics. The State Legislature failed to pass an education budget Tuesday. They just decided they couldn’t agree on a budget so instead of compromising like they are paid to do, they voted not to vote on it.

Result? Hundreds of non-tenured teachers in the state of Alabama will be getting pink slips by the end of this week (schools have to fire teachers before the end of the school year).

My wife is finishing up her first year of teaching so she is definitely non-tenured.

Everyone in all of the boards of educations as well as the governor are asking teachers to hang in there and not go looking for another job out of state (Georgia, Mississippi, and Tennessee being the obvious candidates). Oh yea, sure. We’ll wait for politics to run its course and not look for another job. The legislature failed to do the job it is paid to do the first time, so naturally we can trust them to do it the second time.

We’re kind of in a predicament because we bought a house last year, love the area, and are not looking to move to another state. But Alabama risks losing a lot of good, new, young teachers. You would think a majority of non-tenured teachers are in their first 3 years of teaching, be young, and be more mobile in where they can live/work. Great move legislature!

I hate politics

Let me get this straight. Hang in there with me, but let me get this straight. The legislature… is voted into office by the people to represent the people. Their job is to set balanced budgets and keep the state running.

And they can’t seem to do it. Why? Special interest groups. Apparently the budget for education was cut 3% for K-12 schools and 12% for the universities. The universities were not happy about this, hired expensive lobbyists, and fought tooth and nail over an extra $25 million. That’s it. So the legislature could have said okay, we’re definitely going to give K-12 this amount of money, and definitely going to give the universities this amount of money. We’re still debating on the extra $25 million. But that would have been smart. We can’t have that.

Here is the tentative plan for fixing this mess. School systems start pink slipping hundreds of teachers because they aren’t sure what the budget is going to be. They ask those teachers to hold on and not go looking for another job. “We promise you’ll be back!” (Riggght…) The governor will call a special session and bring the legislature back in. Why not do it today? Well, there is “bad blood” between the two sides and he wants it die down. So rather than fixing the issue this week, let’s let is drag out and have people fired. Excellent idea, governor.

Facts / Rumors about the Legislature

Here are some things I have heard about our legislature which I haven’t had time to back up with real articles, but nonetheless:

• The legislature voted themselves a 62% raise last year. Apparently it did a lot of good providing incentive for them to get work done. You know, you got a 62% raise you might work a little bit harder. Or not.
• When the governor calls a special session, the legislature gets paid for an extra day of work. Regardless of the fact that they didn’t do their jobs the last time they came in and should be forced to come in… they will get paid. Again.
• Rumor has it that they are in the legislative offices 3 days per week, and the day starts at 10am. Whew, a rough life.
• The legislature spent 2 months debating on whether or not Macon county should be able to get a bingo hall, and less than a 1 week discussing the education budget (and 174 other bills at the end of the session).
• A rundown of the story can be found on AL.com.

Again I can’t confirm whether or not all of the above are true, but it would not surprise me at all.

What are we going to do?

Well that remains to be seen. I believe if she got pinkslipped then they will still honor her contract and pay her through August. That buys us some time. We also have our emergency fund funded with about 2 months worth of living expenses. That emergency fund would last longer than two months because we wouldn’t (knock on wood) both be out of a job, so it slows the bleeding.

My wife seems rather content that there isn’t anything we should really do, so why worry? She believes the state will work out the budget, and if she got a pink slip she would be hired right back. I just don’t like trusting the word of politicians (or school superintendents, whose words are based off of politicians’ claims).

It’s weird. Growing up I heard stories on the news about local/state governments shutting down because the legislature couldn’t pass a budget for a few days. That just sounds insane to me. And now we’re experiencing a part of it.

We may not contribute to our Roth IRA at the beginning of next month and instead stick that money in the emergency fund. We’ll see what happens. My wife is the music teacher for two schools (K-2, 3rd-5th). We may get lucky and she won’t get a pink slip. We are not counting on it.

(Photo by Marvin Kuo)

I’ve got a confession to make. With all my talk of cutting down debt, using extra income to save, and overall being frugal… I pine for a Blackberry phone.

Technology = Life is Easier

I tell myself it would make things easier. It’s technology, so it must make everything easier, right? I could work faster at work (or while away at work). I could respond to blog comments and advertiser requests faster.

I could sync my calendar, tasks, and calendar and have it with me at all times.

Plus it would sooth the gadget geek within me.

I am trying to resist, but the Blackberry Curve (above) is so tempting.

The Cost is Tremendous

Our current cell phone plan is with Verizon for $69.99 per month, 700 shared minutes. We hardly go over 450 minutes in a given month. When we first got married we combined accounts and were unsure of how many minutes we would use together. In the past, many of our calls were to each other on separate wireless carriers so we used a lot of minutes. Turns out we guessed too high and have been paying for too many minutes since then.

I’ve compared the different costs associated with switching to a Blackberry phone, a new phone for my wife, and Blackberry service for the main wireless carriers in the United States.

As you can see, having Blackberry service is very expensive. I guess that’s why corporations pay for it for their salespeople.

Overview: Verizon has by far the best network, at least in my opinion. But you pay a premium for that network. The total monthly cost for two phones, one Blackberry with unlimited service, and text messaging for the two of us is $135 per month. Verizon also has the highest up front costs due to the high cost of the Blackberry though Verizon.

AT&T would have the 2nd best network, and the 2nd highest cost. T-Mobile, 3rd best network, 3rd highest cost.

Sprint is a different situation. This isn’t the standard Sprint offer — this is the sought after SERO program (Sprint Employee Referral Offer). 500 minutes, unlimited web, data, and texting, no Blackberry service, for $30 per month. We would get two individual plans, so I doubled the monthly cost. Again, this isn’t BB service, but it does include unlimited web, data, and texting. Adding Blackberry service brings the $30/month plan up to $69.99/month. If I had that and my wife had a regular SERO plan our monthly cost (before fees) would be $99.99. Still the cheapest of the bunch. Perhaps it is cheapest because Sprint’s network coverage is the worst and their customer service is terrible. I wouldn’t know, but customers have been leaving in droves all year. Rumors have it that Sprint is going to be bought sometime in the near future. You get what you pay for.

So it seems for now, Blackberry service will just be a dream for me. I can’t justify adding $50-70 on top of our current cost of $70. I would be adding probably $25 onto the cost if I got Sprint service, but then it’s Sprint and that just makes me nervous. This is the perfect example of lifestyle inflation. I don’t need a Blackberry. I want one. As I mentioned I could sync my calendar, tasks, and contacts. The only kicker is I don’t use Outlook at home and I spend 95% of my hours at work in front of a computer with all of that stuff right in front of me.

I can’t justify the cost — for now. That may change in the future.

Who out there has a Blackberry? What do you pay? Is it worth it to you?

(Photo by kk+, and no she didn’t turn 6!)

Yesterday was my wife’s birthday. Hooray Birthdays!

We had a talk about a week before her birthday about our budget and being frugal. She reminded me that she is an absolute birthday fanatic. Seems normal, right? So why mention this? Well… I’m not rah-rah excited about birthdays. They just aren’t my thing when it’s my turn. So to make sure that I understood, she wanted to remind me that not only is she super excited when her birthday comes around, but to definitely celebrate it.

We’ve discussed being superfrugal in the past. I told you to take your spouse on a date. Don’t forget how to do that. She wanted to remind me that even though we are on a budget and whatnot, I do have spendable money and she would appreciate a celebration of some sort.

Now let me be clear this wasn’t an ultimatium of “give me the biggest birthday bash ever!” It was just a gentle reminder of … hey, you don’t celebrate birthdays all out, and I would appreciate it if we did something.

Thus last night we celebrated with a trip to our favorite bar-b-que restaurant, and a double doozie cookie cake. Oh yes. It was fantastic.

On top of that we’re going to celebrate this Saturday as well. Having a birthday in the middle of the week is not as managable as it was back when we didn’t have jobs, a dog, and I wasn’t in my MBA program!

So just another reminder to all of you: don’t let superfrugality hurt your relationship. Manage your finances effectively. Budget appropriately. But don’t not spend any money on anything. (Unless you are spending more than you earn… then you’ve got to cut everywhere).

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. With inflation increasing, gas and energy prices skyrocketing, and your pay not moving an inch every dime you can save on just about anything is a grand savings.

You can find all sorts of deals online. Just take a look at eBay and Craigslist. People are selling stuff out of their closets and basements for (usually) bargain prices. I have had great success with Craigslist. I bought my car on Craigslist from a private seller. When I left Birmingham after an internship the summer before I graduated, I sold an old, disgusting loveseat on Craigslist. The loveseat had a broken spring, kind of smelled, and was ugly. I bought a $75 slipcover for my use during the summer and listed it on Craigslist for $50. It sold and the woman brought cash. I figured I got a steal by cutting my losses to $25. To top it off my then girlfriend was more than pleased to see it go!

But those sites require you to have money. There are other ways to grab some deals… and in the following two cases you can grab items for absolutely free.

FreeCycle

I had heard of FreeCycle in the past. For the uninitiated, straight from their webpage:

Welcome! The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 4,362 groups with 5,099,000 members across the globe. It’s a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It’s all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer (them’s good people). Membership is free. To sign up, find your community by entering it into the search box above or by clicking on “Browse Groups” above the search box. Have fun!

The FreeCycle webpage doesn’t actually do all that much. It just links you to your local freecycle group which is done all on Yahoo Groups. I guess as a grassroots organization it is easier to use a free service like Yahoo than running everyone on the group’s local server.

With FreeCycle, there are three different terms you will see on listings: offer, wanted, and taken. As you might imagine, offer means someone is offering the item to be picked up. Wanted is an item someone is looking to get for free. Taken means someone had offered an item, and it has now been taken (so don’t waste your time contacting the offer-er).

A look at my local FreeCycle group, here are some of the most recent listings:

• Offer: Shopping bag full of wire coathangers
• Wanted: Vanity Table and Chair
• Offer: Freezer (needs some repair)
• Taken: Two identical Graco Car seats

The two identical car seats sounds like a great deal — if you could verify they had not be damaged. The coat hangers… hey, someone might need them. If you’re handy you could get a freezer for free — just haul it away yourself.

Clever Dude recently snagged a Garmin for free on FreeCycle! Unbelievable. This is the exception, not the rule.

Rehash Clothes

Rehashclothes.com is a relatively new player in the “get stuff for free” arena. Here’s how they describe themselves:

By Rehashing, you can shop for clothes without spending a penny, all while helping the environment. Oh, and did we mention it’s free?

So you wear that new dress three times before you get tired of it. Rehash it to someone else and grab another dress from a different user.

I haven’t read of anyone using it, but it seems to be coming along just fine.

So, where do you go to get the best deals on “stuff”? Would you trust someone to send you clean clothes?

I’ve been aware of Skype for quite some time. It’s a very interesting idea — making phone calls from your computer to land line phones and cell phones.

However, I never truly paid it any mind. It requires a Skype phone, and you have to sign up for service. I’m in the target demographic — 20-30 somethings — but I have a cell phone. Why would I pay for another phone and another service?

Wait, did you just say $2.95/month unlimited calling in the US and Canada? Woah. Now I’m paying attention.

Again, let me restate I doubt I would use the service. But it sounds like a darn good deal.

Compare to…

• Vonage $24.99 per month
• Typical phone service $15-20 per month plus long distance charges
• Cell phone (roughly 10 cents per minute)

…then $2.95 per month (roughly $36 per year) and you get unlimited calls within the US and Canada. If you do a lot of desk work or call from your home phone a lot, that seems like a stellar deal.

Maybe I’m missing something. You tell me. Skype — too good to be true or simply awesome deal?

Update: Comments from the Readers

Some readers have pointed out that Skype to Skype calls are absolutely free if both users have Skype and a microphone for a computer. So if everyone was using Skype, you wouldn’t even have to pay the $3/month charge. However, $3/month for unlimited calling to non-Skype users is still a great deal.

The weather has warmed up around here, and we’re enjoying temperatures in the 80s and 90s. Nothing soothes on a hot day like a few scoops of ice cream in a waffle cone.

But, why pay $3 per cone when you can buy a half-gallon for $5 or $6? You could buy two ice cream cones or enjoy a whole quart of ice cream. That seems like simple math to me.

Granted, a trip to Bruster’s Ice Cream Shop or Cold Stone Creamery can be a fun date. I’m not discounting that. I just think it can be expensive.

Then again, at Bruster’s the amount of ice cream they give you might be a quart!

Nonetheless it is much more frugal to eat ice cream at home. You may miss the waffle cone, but you get more bang for your buck with the half-gallon bucket.

Two Added Bonuses to Eating Ice Cream at Home

You can control the portion size. Smaller portions means your container lasts longer and eating less ice cream each serving is a slightly healthier option (hey, it’s still ice cream).

Additionally, when you purchase ice cream at the grocery store you can see the nutritional facts. Ice cream isn’t the best thing for you, but maybe you choose a brand with less fat. Every little bit counts.

So let’s have it — who here loves ice cream? What’s your favorite flavor? Leave a comment!

I personally love chocolate chip cookie dough, especially from Bruster’s because they have actual huge chunks of cookie dough in it. Back in the day Baskin Robbin’s had a flavor called Double Chocolate Fudge or something like that. It was very dark brown and extremely rich… but so good. I haven’t seen it in a while.

(Photo above by Tom Coates.)

(Photo by ToastyKen)

I got my first Walgreens EasySaver gift card in the mail last week. I decided to try the EasySaver plan a try after reading about the program at BeingFrugal.

My first purchase was a 6 oz. tube of Aquafresh toothpaste. The transaction ended up where my toothpaste paid me 17 cents to buy it even after tax. Not bad, right?

The giftcard with the 10% bonus came in the mail, full of $3.84 worth of spending goodness. The new month kicked in with a new list of items that you can get for free after rebate. Most of them were not of any interest to me, but there was an Oral-B toothbrush for free after rebate at a cost of $4.49.

Here’s how the transaction will play out:

• Toothbrush cost: $4.49
• Tax (5%): $0.22
• Total: $4.71
• Use Gift Card ($3.84): $0.87 paid with AMEX card
• Rebate w/10% bonus to gift card: $4.49 x 1.10 = $4.94
• Rebate minus cost: $4.94 - 4.71 = $0.23

Again, it doesn’t seem like much and I did have to invest an additional 87 cents to get the toothbrush. This brings my total investment to the cost of the toothpaste and toothbrush, or $3.66 plus 0.87. Total investment thus far is $4.53, and for that money I’ve gotten a toothbrush and toothpaste. On top of that, I’ll end up with $4.94 in money to spend at Walgreens on the next item.

It’s only one item a month that I am currently buying. Next month there may be nothing of interest to me to buy, and that’s fine. As I mentioned last time, this isn’t going to make me rich. But the mentality to go out and find a deal on simple every day items will add up over time.