No Debt Plan

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(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.

I think most people buy more clothes than they can possibly use. So you wore the same shirt to work two weeks ago… who cares?

Then again, some people push the limits of frugality and let clothes become worn down and tattered. That is pushing it too far, looks unprofessional, and can seriously damage your career.

We all need to buy additional clothes at some point. With a little forethought and planning, you can get incredible deals online and in stores by simply waiting:

• In spring and summer, buy winter clothing.
• In autumn and winter, buy summer clothing.

It’s April 17th. If there are any sweaters or winter coats left at the store, now is a great time to buy.

It’s a simple idea, no doubt. Timing is critical for this strategy to work. If you wait too long into a new season, you may not be able to find things in your size or style. If you go too early, the heavy discounts may not be applied just yet. It may be too late to find a decent winter coat in stores these days. Maybe you can find something online instead.

Some things are discounted throughout the year at seemingly random times or simply don’t get put on a severe discount. Men’s dress shirts would be an example. There isn’t a typical “dress shirt season” as there is winter coats. For these items, just doing your research and buying when a deal comes around seems to be the best option.

What about you? Do you just buy clothes whenever you feel like it, or do you plan ahead?

In the personal finance world, we’re all about dollars and cents. Stretching every dollar, saving every penny.

Yet, sometimes life isn’t all about how much profit you can wring out of every dollar.

When I graduated college, I had a ratty, ugly, smelly love seat I took with me to my first real world apartment. We threw a slipcover over it and made due. At the same time, my Mom had taken a job about 3 hours from home. My parents were living in an apartment. They went outside one day to discover someone had been evicted… someone with nice furniture! The guy cleaning out the apartment told them they could take whatever they wanted because the person wasn’t coming back. Literally, there was a stack of nice stuff sitting on the curb. (You’d think they could’ve called the Salvation Army or something?)

My Dad called me and said there was a matching love seat and couch, a microwave, and some other knick knacks. What do you think I said? “Well what are you waiting for? Grab the love seat!”, of course!

So, bless them, my dear parents went down stairs, grabbed this relatively heavy love seat and hauled it upstairs to their apartment. I made a trip home a few weekends later to get it and it was in near perfect condition.

Fast forward several years, and we buy a new house. The love seat doesn’t exactly fill up the living room, so we bought a new enormous couch off of Craigslist for a very inexpensive price. We put the love seat in the office, and made that work. But it took up a lot of space, and my wife really needs her own space (i.e. a desk) for her school things. We tried to sell it on Craigslist for profit, but didn’t get any bites.

We recently had some friends relocate back to the area on a tight budget. They are both starting new jobs and cash is tight. My wife thought we might offer the love seat to them. Stuck in my personal finance mentality, I wanted to sell it to them. Even though we got it for practically free — the cost of a U-Haul rental and a tank of gas — I wanted to make a profit off the love seat.

Greed. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing — but this was unnecessary. Remember, these are our friends. To say the least, this was over the line. So we gave it to them, and they were really appreciative. They came by and got it few weekends back. And now we’ve got a nice open space already stacked with “stuff”.

Let this be a lesson to all: personal finance is important. Truly, I believe that. Sometimes you’ve got to step back and take a look at the big picture. Accumulating money shouldn’t be the #1 end all thing in your life. I can’t tell you what should be number one, that’s for you to decide, but don’t let it be money.

Happy Sunday.

Lynnea at beingfrugal.net put up an article yesterday about getting items for free (after rebate) at Walgreens and Rite-Aid.

I had heard about programs from CVS in the past where these bloggers are getting $30 worth of useful items for $5 or something like that, plus $5 CVS cash back. Something along those lines. Unfortunately, there isn’t really a CVS in my area. There is a Walgreen’s on the way home, but I’ve never really bothered to go in unless I was picking up a prescription.

But thanks to Lynnea, I discovered Walgreen’s currently has the following items for free after rebate (until April 26):

• Aquafresh toothpaste (5.6 or 6.0 oz.) up to $3.49
• Colgate 360 toothbrush up to $3.99
• Soyjoy bar 1.06 oz. up to $1.39
• Just for Men Touch of Gray up to $8.29
• Tums QuikPak, 24 doses up to $4.49
• jane, Be Pure Mineral Blush or Kabuki Brush up to $4.99
• Wal-Zyr 24 hour allergy relief, 10 mg., 5 tablets up to $3.99
• Wal-itin 10 mg., 30 tablets up to $6.99

You can get all of the above for free after rebate. So I went down to Walgreen’s after work, bought some Aquafresh (6 ounces because hey, if we’re getting something for free let’s maximize it), and paid $3.66 including tax.

Walgreen’s also has a new program in Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Tennessee and Wisconsin where you can claim your rebates online. That’s a very random assortment of states, but I’m lucky enough to live in one of them. I came home, hopped on the website, registered, and put in my rebate number at the top of the receipt. It was instantly recognized.

You have two options to get your rebate: a check or Walgreen’s gift card. If you choose the gift card you get an additional 10% back. Why wouldn’t you do this? I have no idea. You also have to send all of your rebates in at the same time, meaning I can’t send in my request today and then go back later to get the toothbrush. I thought about waiting, but there isn’t anything else really that we need.

I put my request in this morning for a Walgreen’s gift card. I should end up with $3.49 + .34 = $3.83. Even after paying tax, I’ll “earn” 17 cents. Better than free toothpaste. You’ve got to love that.

Of course my wife laughed at me when I told her about it, but I think this shows the mentality I have towards frugality. She even said, “You are more patient than men. You’re willing to wait a few weeks to get 30 cents.” Exactly! Listen, this isn’t a life altering event. We’re not going to retire off of free toothpaste. But a consistent mentality that helps you find deals like this? That will take you somewhere.

Tomorrow I’ll tell you about our first mistake as homeowners, so come back!

Several years ago I started tracking my gasoline expenses in a paper logbook that I keep in my glove box. I got the tip from a car enthusiast forum as a way to keep a heads up for car issues. I fill it out every time I fill up my gas tank.The logbook tracks:

• The date
• Total miles on odometer
• Total miles on the previous tank of gas
• Price (per gallon)
• Total cost
• Number of gallons

Pretty basic, but it holds a lot of data. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you know I love spreadsheets. So, you guessed it, I put the data into a spreadsheet. The idea is you can calculate your miles per gallon for the previous tank of gas. If your miles per gallon drops significantly (and your driving habits don’t change), you have a car issue of some kind. It’s a simple tool to help you catch something before it becomes a big problem (maybe your fuel filter needs to be swapped out). Don’t play the poker gamble that you’ll hit the the straight flush with your gas mileage. Don’t assume it’s been the same as when you first got your car. Tracking your mileage can keep you from getting surprised.

I now have data for the past six years — since 2002. There are some interesting trends within the data. Of course, gas prices have risen dramatically. The lowest recorded gas price per gallon I have is from February 2002 at $1.06. Ugh. Gas in our area is now at $3.09 and with oil above $100 barrel may hit $4 this summer.

From 2002 to present, I have averaged 26.255 miles per gallon. Not too shabby. You can tell where I am doing a lot of city driving versus going on long trips with hours on the highway. Sometime in the future I’ll throw up some of the charts that go along with the data.

Do you track your gas mileage in any way?

I’m not above cutting coupons to save some money. I haven’t discovered many consistently good coupon sites. One I have enjoyed is Coupons.com. You have to install their special coupon printer software (no big deal), and off you go. I recently printed off 6 different coupons for things we use on a regular basis.

The only thing about all coupons is they are going to be for name brand items. Sometimes the retail price of the item minus the coupon is still more than an equivalent generic or house brand. If the house brand is just as good, why not use that?

Also, I know there are a ton of manufacturer’s coupons floating around out there. I haven’t found one site that works to print them all. Coupons.com usually has about 6-8 pages of coupons, each with probably 6-8 per page.

I did find GroceryCoupons.net the other day, but can’t get the site to work. I can view all of the coupons, but it says you have to login to checkout. Well, I’d love to login, but I can’t find how to register. I think I would have found it by now, but if you successfully use the site please let me know!

And if you know of any other large sites that don’t charge for sending you coupons, let me know.