Taming the Want Monster

I found this great blog post over at the Minimalist Mom that really spoke to me.  We really are bombarded by a ton of ads within a given day thus causing us to want more "stuff."  But is the "stuff" what makes us happy?  I'd be willing to argue that it's not.

In addition to the suggestions she mentions to tame the Want Monster, I know I evaluate my purchases based on whether or not I can justify long term use of an object.  If I'm only going to use it for a short bit of time, it's probably not worth spending money on.  There must be an alternative.  I also don't make impulse purchases.  I always give myself a few days (sometimes weeks or months) before I buy something.  I like to really think about whether I need it or not.  Most of the time, I find out that I don't need something and thus I avoid spending money on it period.

We are not defunct of "stuff." We still have some "stuff" that we didn't necessarily need in our house.  I don't think a few "luxuries" are bad.  The Want Monster has won when you are overrun with "stuff" and you don't even use most of it.  If you find yourself constantly cleaning out and getting rid of "stuff" and some of that stuff was seldom used, minimizing the Want Monster's claim on your life might be for you. :)

Transparency

My husband and I were discussing finances and how we spend money the other day.  I realized during our discussion just how fortunate we are to have found each other and the fact that we have such similar views on finances.  Not everyone is so fortunate.  Conversations with friends and acquaintances have brought to light that not everyone is great with money and moreover, they aren't effectively spending it (or saving it).   So it got me thinking that maybe I would lay out what we as a family deem worthy to spend money on or, perhaps, what we don't spend money on:

Cars

I will never buy a brand new car again.  Crazy, right?  The usual rationale behind buying a new car is reliability and the fact that it is covered by a warranty.  While this is great, we find that the depreciation we end up paying for in the car is not worth it.  We recently purchased a 2000 Honda Odyssey EX from a not so close family member.  It was in near perfect condition inside and out and only had 68,000 miles on it.  We paid $7000.  It came with all the records and has been maintained with all milestone maintenance performed and my husband knows enough about cars to know that the car was in amazing condition.  It was a no-brainer.  We're not worried about needing a warranty.   My husband can fix just about anything that would go wrong with it.  Honda engines last forever and even if small things like windows stop going down or whatever eventually stop working, it doesn't affect the driveability of the car.  Why pay for all that depreciation when we'll get several years use out of it at a much smaller price tag?  It definitely serves the same purpose as a new car.  If you can knowingly spot a quality, well-maintained vehicle, and you can do your own maintenance, then buy a used car and save some money.

Groceries
I don't buy much that isn't around the perimeter of the grocery store (all the major food groups).  As a result, we avoid the high priced processed stuff in the middle of the store.  I only buy pasta sauce and pasta on sale (less than $1 with or without coupons).  I only buy crackers and cereal on sale or with coupons.  I make most of my own baked goods so I only require some flour and a few things down the baking aisle every once in a while and they are all less than $2 a bag.  Stocking up is a must when stuff is on sale.

Red meat is almost always expensive so I don't buy any of that.  I only buy ground beef on sale or when they offer it for reduced for quick sale.  I buy chicken breast only when it's less than $2 a pound.  As a result, I save money on meat and we still eat very healthy at home.

I definitely shop the bread thrift store and I buy reduced items at the grocery store and the farmer's market.  The bread I throw in the freezer and pull it out when I need it.  The reduced produce I use in meals for the week or freeze what I can't use in time (if possible).

Clothes
I don't have to have the latest and greatest fashions.  I'm a mom so I wear what's comfortable and classic so I don't have to keep up with trends.  I haven't bought myself new clothes since last Fall.  (Sorry if this is sacrilege to some, but everything in my closet fits and I can't justify new stuff).  My husband only gets new stuff when what he has is so faded that I can't take it anymore.

For the kids, I shop the off-season and guesstimate what size they'll be.  I'm currently done shopping through next spring.  And I never buy my children anything on the full price rack.  I also don't buy designer because let's face it, they're boys and they tend to ruin clothes quickly.  Why spend more money on clothes that I will feel terrible about them ruining?

Entertainment
I'm all about spending money for memberships to museums!  My kids love them!  They're educational! I'm giving to a non-profit that uses the money to upkeep their collections.  A lot of times you get access to special events (many at no extra cost to you).  You can't go wrong!

I don't typically see movies in a theatre.  Only on Moms Night Out (and we hit up the $5 wednesdays) or if there is something I have to see (Dark Knight Rising...yes, please).  I never get refreshments while I'm there.  I eat before or after I go (no sneaking in snacks for me...healthier to boot!)

We don't rent movies.  I get anything I want to see at the library.  Or there is an array of stuff on Amazon Prime (which we have at a discount because my husband's a student).  I don't have to see the latest and greatest movie to be entertained.

I don't have cable.  We used to before we had kids and found ourselves not watching most of the channels.  Frankly, I like that we don't watch tv that much since most of it tends to be mindless anyway.  Anything I want to watch on cable I can usually watch online anyway.

We get outside as much as we can.  And guess what?  That's almost always free.  Stroll around the park trails, hit up a state park (nominal fee), or hit up an arboretum or conservatory and you get to enjoy nature at its finest.

Vacations are great but you don't have to spend a ton of money to get a break from your routine.  I don't have to fly to Tahiti to hang out at the beach.  There are great vacation options that don't require you buy airfare or spend a ton of money on hotels.

If you are going to travel farther away, research and find your best deal.  It's possible to do a big trip on a budget.  Research restaurants and food before you go.  You can find stuff that's in your price range and already know where it is so you aren't starving and just grabbing food at the closest place.  Cutting costs is easy when you don't need to bring home really expensive gifts or souvenirs.

Other Stuff
I research, research, research before I buy any big ticket items.  I want to ensure that I get the best quality for the price and something that will last for a long time.  If you have to replace something of lesser quality that is cheaper, then you almost always end up dishing out more money than if you have spent your money on the quality piece in the first place.

I'm a big believer in DIY.  If you can make it yourself, exactly the way you want it, for less money--it's a no brainer!  Yes, there is a time investment you have to consider but if you were going to spend that time watching YouTube or the television, then aren't you spending your time more wisely anyway?

Well, that's it.  That's how we spend our money for the most part.  In the past it's served us well because my husband's salary was more than enough for us to live on with extra left over each month which I squirreled away in a small savings account or our retirement accounts.  Now that we make much less than my husband did in the military, there's just less money to put in savings accounts and retirement.  Our way of living really didn't change much.  Hope this was helpful.

Reducing your Impact and Your Grocery Bill

I recently paid attention to the number of paper towels my family uses in a given day. It was A LOT! I used paper towels to wipe down counters, use as napkins, and wipe down my kids, etc. My husband was using them as tissues. It was getting out of control. We could go through a roll of paper towels in two days! That's a lot of wasted trees and money...

So, I remedied the situation. I make sure we use our dish cloths much more frequently for tasks like wiping down the counter. Increased cloth napkin usage (since I'm clearly doing laundry anyway...) and the introduction of terry washcloths to wipe down the kids have helped reduce our paper towel usage. I'm proud to say we have been on the same roll of paper towels for 3 days or more now. I also found a good tutorial for making your own "Unpaper towels." As soon as I get a sewing machine, I'll be making my own with the hope that I can eliminate paper towels from my grocery list for good.

I encourage you to take a look at what you are consuming in your house regularly. How can you reduce your usage? Will it save you money? I'd be willing to bet that it could.

A Change in the Tide...

As I've been writing this blog, I have been writing from the perspective of a stay-at-home Navy officer's wife where my husband pulls in a paycheck of an O-3 plus bonuses for being in the submarine community. My husband and I decided recently to resign his commission and he's going back to school to get his Ph.D. As a result, we will be taking a pay cut where will be making maybe half of what he makes now in a given month. So, we are having to adjust how we live to minimize our costs when we move to another state and he begins his program.

I've decided that I'm going to chronicle our challenges and money saving ideas and lifestyle changes here on this blog. I will continue to post other money saving ideas I come upon as I have been doing.

I think I should outline our new situation first to give perspective. We are a family of 4 with a golden retriever. Our two boys are 4 months and 2 years old. We will be moving from Virginia to the state of Michigan for my husband to complete his program. We will be living off of a Graduate Research Student stipend and the housing allowance that my husband receives from the GI BIll. This works out to about half of what we make per month currently. I will write about the challenges we encounter and our solutions as we embark on our new journey here. Hopefully, these posts prove to be useful to others who may be in a similar financial situation as ourselves.

New direction?

I've been trying some new things out this week and I've discovered some great ideas and lifestyle changes that will help you save money and feel great. Once I get a good handle on it all, I will be making some posts. Consider this post a teaser for what is to come...

Cable Television

I know that I will probably get some flack for this post, however, I think I may have a valid point that could be appealing to some. What does cable TV cost these days? I think I saw a commercial for Dish Network for like 39.99 a month. I think that's the cheapest I have seen....Anyways, what if you cut cable TV out of your life? I mean, you can watch just about any show on the internet these days and those you can't you could always rent from Netflix, right? So think about it, forty bucks a month times twelve is 480. You could be saving yourself almost 500 dollars a year without it!

You can still get TV channels by buying an antenna and with HD they come in pretty good. We get 11 channels including all the major non-cable networks. I find myself filling in the time that I would have been channel surfing with other endeavors and spending more quality time with my son. Learn a language, start a blog :), read a book instead. There are countless possibilities of how you could spend your time. Any other suggestions?

College Textbooks

There are 3 things you can do with college textbooks after the semester is over.

1) keep them
2) sell them back to the college bookstore
3) put them on half.com and try to sell them yourself

I recommend doing #3 if you have no intention of keeping a certain textbook. Now, this may not be beneficial if you have a lot of science textbooks because let's face it, a new edition comes out like every 2 months...However, books for your "fluff" classes like that copy of Shakespeare's Hamlet or that random anthropology book that was written in the '30's could be useful to someone else. I found that the college bookstore was only willing to give you pittance on a book you sold back (like a few dollars or so.) Creating an account on Half.com allows you to set the price of your book competitively to match those that are selling on the site. You could actually end up getting almost what you paid for the book if demand is high enough. I've sold a number of books on Half.com and even though you know you paid for those books at some point, it's nice to see the half.com transaction deposit after the selling period ends. Sometimes I forget I sold things so when I go to budget and make sure there is enough money to pay bills, there's the added bonus of money I forgot existed. :)

When you need to buy textbooks, I always checked Half.com first to see if the price was better than my college bookstore. Most of the time it was (despite the fact that I also had to pay shipping). Buying used books also saves you money. If you don't care whether or not someone has highlighted in the book then why not save some dough?