I saved $1000 on a new refrigerator!

It was actually very easy. I kept the one I had :)

Let me explain...

The fridge we have is, well, it has character. Which is just a fancy way of saying that it's old. And it's the truth, BUT, it still works fine. But its lacking in the fashionable department. The new house we are buying (EXCITING!!!!) has all black appliances. So our white fridge would stick out for more than one reason. We began pricing some and HOLY COW! How do people afford new appliances? So then I decided to go the used route. That is how we bought our washer and dryer a few years back. I got a wonderful deal on them and they are still working and look GREAT! But even a used fridge was outrageous.

So I did some searching and thanks to Pinterest I decided to paint mine! My husband was skeptical at first and I was too, but it was worth a shot. We spent less than $30 bucks on supplies and if it didn't work then we had only invested 30 bucks in the old thing. And if it did work then CONGRATS to us because we just saved a boat load of money!!

I think it turned out great... what do you think?!?! Now I can buy a new dining room table instead of a new fridge :) And that is WAY more exciting!!!

TADA! :)

52 Week Money Challenge

You have probably heard of this before, but if you haven't, this post is for YOU!

Very simple, very fun, not hard to do but has GREAT results.

1st week-set aside $1.00

2nd week-set aside $2.00

3rd week-set aside $3.00

and so on and so forth until the FINAL week when you are setting aside $52.00

At the end of a year you will have $1378.00 set aside. Not a TON of money, but what a great way to START saving. Put a name on that jar. VACATION. CLOTHES. NEW COUCH! name it and claim it! This is going to be fun! You can start at anytime during the year. I am just now on week 4 and I haven't missed any of those dollars! But this time next year you will be JEALOUS if you haven't done it!

Happy Friday, ya'll! 

What is it worth to you?

Here is the BOTTOM LINE... What is THIS worth to you? This big pile of money, that is... how much is it worth? What are YOU willing to do to have this?

Through other bloggers, readers of my blogs, and friends, I have to come learn that although I may think it's nuts, not everyone is ALL about saving money! :) and that is A-OK with me. To each his own. It is what it is.

If a new car and new clothes is worth more than having the money, then by all means--BUY IT! It comes down to each individual.

There was a time in my life when having STUFF meant more than having money. Not anymore, thankfully. For MY family, it's better for us that we aren't consumed with STUFF. Don't get me wrong--we HAVE STUFF! Lots of it. Too much. And we spend money on things we shouldn't. But we are seeing the "BIGGER PICTURE" as it pertains to our family. And to US, having a big pile of money means more than a fancy car, huge house and tons of STUFF.

Just because you do NOT feel that way does not make you wrong, nor does it make ME right. It makes us who we are.

Just like with anything, I try not to force MY beliefs onto anyone. Everyone likes different things. From different styles of worship in church, to different opinions on politics. I don't try to force-feed my frugality on anyone. Through my friends, family and fellow bloggers I have learned that I have a group of support that is with me on this journey to financial freedom and I have some that aren't. and that is perfectly fine.

So the question comes down to... what is it worth to you? What are your goals? What does your financial future look like? And if it looks differently than me... that is just fine! :)

Simple ways to simplify your life

Occasionally I find myself looking around and feeling overwhelmed by stuff! Do you ever feel this way? There are times that i'm cleaning house and think to myself how QUICK this would take if we had less stuff. And I am already TRYING to live on less. I want a simple life. I am ok with a simple life. But some things tend to make me crazy!

PLASTIC BAGS. This weekend I finally went through and did some purging. I was tired of these plastic bags attacking me when I opened the cabinet. This is nuts. No one needs THIS many plastic sacks.

My SPAM folder. I have no clue how I get so much spam. Fortunately it all goes to SPAM but I get this tight feeling in my chest when I see that I have 219 messages in my spam box. SO, I took the time to go through and click "unsubscribe" at the bottom of EACH email. I have no clue why I am unsubscribing to something I never subscribed to, but at last it seemed true... and I took the time to handle that. 

PAPER. I have no clue how there are ANY trees left in the world because I feel like they are ALL in my house. Between my school and Ava's school, and bills and junk mail... it seems that paper is everywhere! I am working on getting THAT organized. 

My stock pile room. Somehow I have lost the organization that I once had in that room. I would go to the store and buy something and then come home and see I already had it. That makes me nuts. I tended to that.

These are just some recent examples but we ALL have things in our lives that would be much more simpler if they were tended to. Here are a few ways to simplify your life:

1. clean out your car every night! I am so guilty of NOT doing this. And then every morning I sigh and try to find the bottom of the clutter so I can grab the ONE notebook I need for class. By spending 3 minutes after getting home and cleaning out your car this can make your mornings seem SIMPLER. And isn't this something we would ALL enjoy?

2. Clean out your inbox. If you have read it and don't need it... delete it. Or move it to a folder. Don't keep your email a mess. Because when you DO need that ONE email, it will be easier to find and will cut our stress.

3. Dump the plastic. Keeping more than 10 bags is probably overkill. Dump them. Recycle them. Do something besides keeping them piling up in your house!

4. Put stuff in the SAME spot. This has eliminated stresses for me. I NOW put my keys and sunglasses in the same spot every day. This has saved many a mornings running around like crazy searching for keys.

5. If you don't use it-dump it! Pretty simple.

6. (Some will call this overkill but...) Keep a list of what you HAVE in your closet. Make one. Try it. This will eliminate shopping when you need nothing and this will make mornings easier. When you see a list of what you have it just HELPS.

7. See #6 and do this for anything and everything. 

8. Do the laundry RIGHT after the dryer dings. Don't let it pile up. This will only cause stress and LOTS of work at once. 

9. Plan meals. Plan your day. Plan plan PLAN! Doing this doesn't mean you can't change the plan. It does not mean that you aren't fun or spontaneous (Even though some people will think this). It just keeps you organized and therefore simplifies things. 

Sure wish I had a #10 but at the moment I do not. :)

What do you do to simplify your life? What should we add to this list? 

comment or email me at cararoxanne02@aol.com

Saving money on just about anything

Isn't that what it's all about when it comes to your finances? Do you often ask yourself "HOW CAN I SAVE MONEY?" I know for a long time I did that, and sometimes I still do. It's OK to have to stop and reevaluate what you are doing to see if you can cut back on some expenses. Just recently I have had to do that and I have once again gotten motivated and am ready to save even MORE! It's like a new diet or a new work out plan... you know you NEED to do it, but you don't really want to. BUT, once you start seeing results then you are fired up and ready to do more. Same thing with money. Not always easy or fun, but once you start seeing the $aving$, you will want to do MORE!

I recently saved money the following ways:

1. Dish. I started examining our bill and thought to myself "This is nuts"!!!! We basically watch the main channels (4,7,11) for our news and TV shows and then other than that everything we are watching is RERUNS. I love TV Land, and Nick at Nite but let's face it... we own half of the shows on DVD already! We were also paying for a second dish with 2 dvr boxes in two rooms that we rarely used. So I called to see if I could cancel the 2nd dish with the 2 dvr's we dont use and they said SURE! Shaved 17 dollars off our bill just like that! Then I have spent time evaluating the packages offered by DISH and it looks like we are about to save an additional 23 dollars a month when I downgrade our package. As long as you don't cancel your membership with them then you can make all the changes you want and still be within your "contract". handy piece of info. I didnt think I could do that.

2. Clothes shopping. I am not extreme. I have seen the show "Extreme Cheapskates" and Dear Lord Please NEVER let me be like that!!!" BUT, there is nothing wrong with asking for a deal. I recently found a super cute dress and it had the tiniest of rips in it, but hey--it was worth asking. And I saved an additional 15%! Not too shabby!  Don't hesitate to ask. Also, some places will offer up a discount just for asking. Just an FYI, if you ever shop at Shoe Carnival and they are not currently advertising a "Buy one Get One 1/2 off sale" just ASK. They will honor that ANYTIME if you simply ASK. There are savings right in front of you!

3. Electricity bill. I HATE paying this bill. I DESPISE it with everything in me. It seems ridiculous to pay THAT much just to have electricity, but alas it is a necessity. :) Turn off lights. Turn the heat down when you leave the house. Unplug things. Don't leave fans going if you aren't home. Close doors that you don't use so the heat isn't trying to warm those. Shut off vents! We have done that in two rooms that we rarely go in. What's the point in heating them? Close your blinds and curtains at night to help your house stay warmer and this will allow you to turn your heat down!

4. Call your cell phone carrier. They now have (at least Verizon does) a way to run a little test to see the average minutes/texts/data that you use. I did this and was shocked to learn that I was paying for FAR more than we ever use. $17 dollars saved just by making a phone call.

5. Grocery store. I'm still in the middle of an experiment with our local stores--trying to see which one is REALLLLY the best deal. Avoid Walmart for meat. Go to a GROCERY store. Ask the butcher if he has any markdowns he's about to put out OR ask when would be a good time to come back and get some deals. Ask him what he's marking down. They love talking to customers. They hack meat all day for goodness sakes... they enjoy the break! THIS can save you some serious cash.

Alright, of course there are more things but here are some reminders for you. What can you add to the list? Comment or email me at cararoxanne02@aol.com to let me hear YOUR tips!

I've said it before...

Weekends are budget BUSTERS! I know they are rolling around EVERY single week, but somehow they always sneak up on me and BUST my BUDGET!

It makes me so mad at myself because this is LACK of preparation on my part. From time to time we ALL fall off the wagon, so here's to getting back on track!

Here are some practical ways to not let the weekend bust your budget:

1. PLAN FOR IT! You know it's coming... plan for it. If you already have plans set in stone you are LESS likely to get off track and spend money you hadn't planned on spending.

2. Make a list of free things to do in your area! Museums, library, nature walks, local parks.. anything that you ALREADY have a pass to get into. My family has already paid for passes to Jump City, Mid America Science Museum AND Magic Springs. Plus we go to the library a lot. There should be NO reason why I blow my budget on the weekends.

3. Plan for non-free activities. If you know there is a moving coming up that you are going to want to go see, BUDGET for it. Set aside the money for the cost of tickets, popcorn and drinks. If you are planning a weekend get away trip... don't wait til THAT weekend to simply charge it all... save a long the way!

4. Have friends over, enjoy a weekend at your house, spring clean, get out decorations, come up with a craft you and your kids can do that ONLY involve things that you already have in your possession.

Make it fun... you will be GLAD you saved the money!

How do you get through a "slump"?

Everybody has them...we all have slumps. Job slumps, relationship slumps, and of course those dreaded financial slumps.

Any kind of "slump" is a bummer, let's just call a spade a spade. But there is something about financial slumps that really get us down.

Maybe you only pay your insurance twice a year and its coming up and all of a sudden you feel broke.
Maybe you are looking at the amount of money you will spend on daycare this summer and are feeling broke and "slumpish".
Maybe you just realized that your perfect budget is not so perfect and you are actually under every month.

Either way, we ALL have financial slumps. How do we get through them? What happens when you realize that you don't have extra money to spend? What happens when you realize that the next few months may be super tight?

Here are just a few things that I suggest:

1. Take this time to clean. I know it sounds odd, but if I know i cannot spend any money it forces me to take pride in what I already have. Wash your car, empty our drawers, make your house sparkle. Put together new outfits, organize your children's toys, dust the fans. I really DO know how silly it sounds... but i promise, it will give you something to do to take your mind off your money troubles, your house will thank you, AND you will find yourself being more grateful. When you are forced to look at things you already have and not dream of things that you WANT, you become grateful that you are so blessed.

2. Take this time to PURGE! Sell your dvd's, list books on ebay, have a yard sale, write a paid for blog, pawn your old earrings, sell some cd's... take this time to get rid of things AND make some money!!!

3. Take this time to look for work. Get a part time job. Babysit. Clean houses. Mow lawns. Rake leaves. Clean swimming pools. Get crafty and sell stuff on etsy.

4. Take this time to be grateful. Above all, when we get in slumps we tend to be down in the dumps and very woe is me. Well, that needs to change. God has blessed you with so much and just because things are tight right now doesn't mean you aren't so fortunate.

Keep your chin up! God's gonna pull you through this slump if you let him!

Dave Ramsey says...

BUY TERM LIFE INSURANCE!!!

Not whole life. Which SO many people have. And that's fine. It's your deal. It's your money. Dave Ramsey says that buying term (which is SOOOO much cheaper) is better. He says that you should NOT look at life insurance as a "retirement policy".

Ex: I just purchased a sizeable amount of insurance at $10.24 a month for 30 years. So if I die in the next 30 years that sizeable money will go to the people i have listed on my policy. If I had purchased this same amount in WHOLE Life insurance it would have cost me $112.84 a MONTH... and if I'm still alive at 68 I could take it out.

but let's do the math... It would cost me $55,000 over the 40 years I would be paying on this insurance. OR... i could put $55,000 in an IRA at what I am currently drawing and end up taking out TRIPLE the amount whenever i'm ready for it!

So... be smart. Do not look at life insurance as retirement money. Look at it as a way to protect your family if something were to happen to you.

Be smart.

Look into ZANDER insurance today. This is a great company, and hey--it's Dave Ramsey and Cara Matthews approved. :)

Today is about saving money!

Today is saving money day!!!!

FIRST, I saved more money on my car insurance. i got to looking at EVERY detail on the bill and realized there were some discounts missing. SO, I made THAT phone call, faxed THAT info, and saved $700 a year for taking MY time to do THAT !WAHOO!!

THEN I headed over to Verizon.com. Really? I had NEVER EVER checked my "usage" on their website. WOW, was I getting ripped off. Since most of the people I know have verizon, and same goes for my husband, we were only using 390 of our 1400 minutes EVERY month for the past year!! HOLY COWZERS!!! What was I thinking... i am literally sick at my stomach at the thought of the money I have thrown out the window and at Verizon's doorstep. Ugh... makes me so mad at ME! SO, I got on the phone immediately and changed my plan. I saved $45 bucks a month. That is $540.00 per YEAR! WHOA BABY!

Now I am blogging AND waiting for the dish network guy to chat back with me. I am going to make some changes there too... if i don't WATCH the channel, i'm doing my best to get rid of it!

Let's save some money guys--don't let people TAKE your money without your consent and if you are NOT checking bills, that is EXACTLY What you are doing!

Say no to debt. say no to over charges. Say no to watching your money run away from you!! CATCH IT WHILE YOU CAN!

Dave Ramsey would be proud!

Well folks.. I sold my car! I've had it listed on Craigslist for a while and finally got a serious person that wanted to see it. She met me yesterday and drove it, and called me this morning with her final offer and I took it!

So... the Honda is going bye bye. :( Kinda sad, BUT... i'm trying to make Dave Ramsey proud.

Dave Ramsey says "SELL YOUR CAR". I've heard him say that for years and kinda let that go in one ear and out the other. I just figured it was a way of life to have a car payment. AND to have a spouse that had a car payment too. Then about a year ago I started really feeling guilty about having a car payment. yes, I HAVE to have transportation. My husband and I can NOT be a one car family. Some families can and that is TERRIFIC, but we simply can't. There is NO logical way that would ever work for us. So I began praying about it. I knew that by selling my car I would be 100% debt free. I would owe nobody NOTHING and I knew that would be a terrific feeling.

My dream car is a car that I won't be able to afford for quite some time, but how much QUICKER I could own my dream car (AND pay cash for it) if I sold mine. I have been faithfully paying on mine double and triple time over the past year. Finally I am WAY over what I owe. So I knew then that I could sell it, get a profit, and then turn around and pay cash for something==so that is EXACTLY what I am going to do.

The car I am buying is by no means by dream car, BUT, it's going to be a good one. (I pray.) It's a 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer. It has 86k miles on it which is significantly less than my Honda, but it is an older car. Dave Ramsey says to "buy a beater." Well, I can't exactly buy a beater, but i can buy something nice, decent, clean, and in good shape that will get me where I need to go WITHOUT having a car payment.

another thing... I will see my insurance go down significantly. Insurance on my Honda is a lot because its FULLY loaded. There isn't one more thing that could go in this car. It has it ALL. Plus I won't have to carry as much coverage.

So, today I am getting ready to bid farewell to the Honda. I'm sad because i have liked that car JUST fine, but I am more excited about selling my car, living debt free, and watching my savings grow more and more!

I understand that i'm just 27 years old, but the future is scary. Nobody knows when there jobs will be cut, when prices of gas, food, etc, will rise even more than they are now, and i don't think I will be fortunate enough to retire with social security. So, i have to handle these things on my own.

To some this will seem extreme and i'm okay with that. To others it will seem awesome. To me it just seemed like the right thing to do, the smart financial decision I needed to make, AND I felt God's hand in this situation.

So goodbye Honda, and hello Mitsubishi. :) At LEAST it's still foreign. :)

I'm VERY happy!!

ATTENTION LADIES AND GENTLEMEN...

YOU ARE ENTERING A DEBT FREE ZONE!

I mean FO REAL! I just paid off all of my debt. **EXCEPT** my car. And THAT will be paid off THIS year.

I have worked very diligently to save every dime I could so that I can pay off my debt. SIGH--it is SUCH a good feeling.

Now granted, i am trying very VERY hard to not get down because I REALLLLY want my car paid off too. I mean who doesn't? I am so close, but not there yet. Slowly but surely i am getting there. I just want it to be DONE, ya know? But... I do think that we have to celebrate small victories.

So here i am sitting at my computer doing my happy dance. My VERY happy, debt free, dance!

So far this year...

I have done really well at saving money. I have put an extra $900 in savings (when i soooo wanted to go out and spend it on something, just to say i did), I have done very well on my grocery store budget (still trying to remain around $100 a month) and have spent WAY too much on entertainment... :(

Ok, so I did very good in some areas and two thumbs down in others.

LET me explain...

i love going to the movies. I mean absolutely lOVe it. Ava loves going, my hubs loves going, its just something that we all enjoy. But it is SO expensive. I do my best to go only at matinees, only when I have a discount tickets and of course only with the discount refreshments. BUT, it is still pricy. So the first week of the new year I enjoyed movies a little TOO much, but it was worth it. Not that life is "back to normal" with school, work, etc we won't get to go as much.

SOMETIMES--you have to chill. You have to tell yourself it's OK that you splurged. It's ok that you spent more than you meant to. It's okay that you went all out for the family--that is what it's all about.

I have to remind myself that I don't have to save ALL the time... just most the time. :)

So how are you feeling now that we are 13 days into the new year, new month? You feeling good about things????

Interesting article...

I found this article on Yahoo! this morning and I found it to be VERY intersting. Click HERE to read about different shoppers. It was kinda funny :)

Which one are you?!

I personally have been guilty of being all of them at one time or another.

I buy things that I know I don't need, then take them back out of guilt. I buy one for me, and save the free one for a friend. I stayed up late before Black Friday to get deals, and carefully mapped out my plan for Black Friday (which only consisted of 2 items.)

WHICH ONE ARE YOU?

I keep asking because it's healthy to KNOW! Just like it's important to have a budget and to stick to it, it's important to know what kind of shopper you are and what your "Triggers" are for buying more and MORE and MORE!

WHICH ONE ARE YOU? Take the time to figure it out before the new year starts. :)

(Kinda graphic if you think about it... but SO true. This is the time to save money. In this tough economic time with so much uncertainty, this is the time to SAVE, not SHOP.)

BUDGET BLOWN!

I'm so mad that I am writing this blog in black, bold, big letters. I blew my budget for the month. And I don't have anything super fabulous to show for it!

I blew my budget because of LACK OF PLANNING! I am so irritated at myself. :(

We live in the county and we have to PAY for trash pick up which is so dumb, but we do. Well we have had problems with that bill since we moved into our old place last July. We moved in and had lived there 2 days when we got a bill for the past 90 days and it was for $90 dollars. It's around 30 bucks a month. I called and was like "WAIT A SEC... I can't owe for the past 90 days if I have lived here for 2." She tried to explain that the trash pick up doesn't necessarily follow the person but the location. Well, I have two letters to say to that and the first letter is B. That is not even right. So they prorated it whatever and it was lower. But not enough lower. So i told her that I would pay what I felt was right. I would pay my 30 bucks a month starting from the day I moved in. And that's what I have done. But because of that we have been behind. They had been tacking on late fees and i'd still call and gripe about it.... the bill was NEVER the same amount and the dates of service were always screwy. so I just kept sending in my money and never thought much about it.

now it's time to pay taxes. you can't pay taxes if you have a deliquent trash bill. I shouldn't have one, but I do. So i said fine i'll come pay it. It was $176.99. I had her pull up every single bill, every single check I had sent and because I never paid that first 90 dollars they said I owed, plus the fees, plus the month in there that I forgot to pay... that is what I owed. I couldn't refuse to pay it because I couldn't pay my taxes until it was taken care of.

So yesterday i paid $180 in trash bills and $100 in taxes. i am so mad. Not happy about that at all.

I may never get over this....

Christmas update!

I have only 7 presents left to buy! I'm so excited!! I LOVE Christmas, and I LOVE getting it done early and saving so much money! I know to some it seems extreme since there are people in the world that still have Christmas lights UP at this moment from last year, but I say leave em up! It's Arkansas afterall, and it's gonna roll around here again before too long! :)

What kind of progress have you made on Christmas so far? Have you decided if you will draw names? Have you set a budget for each person? Have you decided to try something new this year?

I have so much going right now that I honestly can't remember if I have posted or not about our "recycled" Christmas for this year. We have decided to only buy used things. OR, at it can be brand new if it was bought at a re-sale shop. Sometimes you DO run into those great buys that still have the tags on them but they are for a fraction of the cost! That counts :) I'm so excited! It's been so fun! I have enjoyed shopping for nice, gently used, items that will make up our family Christmas! Unfortunately we got on the ball too late so the only ones this affects are those that LIVE in my house, but I plan to branch out next year if it comes off successful.

This makes it a challenge. It makes it a challenge to find great items without breaking the bank. Oh and our budget is $50 bucks a person. So for $50 bucks I have to provide a Christmas for my husband and then I get $50 bucks for my daughter. Now SHE has already racked up because I get awesome deals at consignment events such as Rhea Lana and Duck Duck Goose. In FACT, I got her 2 brand new toys for $3 bucks a piece back in the spring and I am holding onto those for dear life. She will LOVE them!

Keep the savings fun. Make it a game. Create a challenge out of it. Even make a reward for who saves the most? You GOTTA keep it fun!

So what about you... any fun stories you can share?

Stock pile pictures

I by NO means have some gigantic stock pile... but I do pretty well I think. :)

Here are the pics of my recently re-organized stock pile! If you are wanting to do this as well I will be happy to share my tips!

I keep a list in the room of how many of everything I have. That way I ALWAYS know what I have on hand. It makes it easy to run out to the room and look at what I have while i'm making my shopping lists.

I keep it simple. I buy the things that I can get for less than $2.00. If I get them super cheap I will buy as many as I can. But my limit is always 5 at a time. :) Just keeps things simple. If you can get it free though and you actually USE it... i'd be stocking up!!!!

Save Money on Electricity

One of my favorite blogs to read is Living Well, Spending Less.
I encourage you to take a look! It's a GREAT blog!

She's doing a series on getting your finances in order and today's was on basically saving in everyday things. Groceries, utilities, gas for your car, etc. She had a link posted from Smart Money and I encourage you to read it.

In this Arkansas heat (and i'm sure other states are having it too) it's helpful to know these things. Enjoy!

Here is the link!

One of these they mentioned is closing the blinds. It sounds SO silly, I know. But we do this AND we put backing up in our bedrooms under the blinds so it REALLY helps keep the house cooler. Very much worth trying!

FREE FLOSS!

This happens on occasion, so stock up while you can!


Go to http://www.coupons.com/ and find the REACH FLOSS $1.00 off coupon. You can print it twice.

Floss is .97 cents at Walmart so there ya go--its FREE :)

GET IT WHILE YOU CAN!

CHRISTMAS BELLS ARE RINNNNGGGGINGGGG!!!!

I love Christmas. I love that time of year and I REALLLLY love getting it all done early :)

Today I found an AWESOME website. Click HERE to check it out!

I have printed out all of the sheets I could need. Gift planning, budget, meal planning, etc.

I hope that YOU find it as exciting as I did :) Get to shopping folks! The deals are happening NOW!

THERE IS ONLY 158 days TIL CHRISTMAS IS HERE :) :)

ALL YOU!

I LOVE All You magazine. I also subscribed to their emails so i'm constantly getting helpful tips in my inbox. :)

I am ALL about getting rid of unnecessary payments, unnecessary items in your life and house... but I WILL say that subscribing to ALL YOU magazine has seriously saved me more money than the magazine cost! PLUS there are lots of helpful hints in the magazine. It's so worth the $1.66 an issue.

So while you are de-cluttering your life and getting rid of unneccessary things, consider keeping OR adding ALL YOU magazine to your life.

Here's today's link... enjoy! :)