Yankee 2.0 : saving

What's your thermostat set at?

Anne Cross — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:14:00 GMT

I've been reading blogs and interviews and things about how different people stay warm and keep costs down in the winter. My heating system normally runs from November 1 -- March 31 (if it dips below 35 outside, I'll turn the system on sooner in October), and I keep my heat set at 62 when I'm home and 55 when I'm not. I wear a scarf in the house, but am pretty comfy (heavy drapes hang from all the doors and windows). How about you? How low do you go?

I fell off the no credit wagon....

Anne Cross — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:37:00 GMT

...but am climbing back on. Well, I've been trying to accomplish a couple of goals in these last few months -- one was not to incur any more consumer debt, and the other was to get some stuff fixed around my house. It turns out that I over did it on the latter, leading me to fail at the former.

I had a flurry of stuff fixed at my house: new storm windows, patching holes in my soffit, sealed some flaking stone on my stoop, got a new garbage disposal, and some burnt out outlets rewired. Nothing especially glamorous, but things that have improved my quality of life. I knew how much money I had, but I kept thinking I'd get a little extra somewhere.... turns out that was not a good way to think. Not only did I not get a little "extra" I also am earning about $20,000 less this semester than I thought I would.

So I took out a cash advance on my credit card for living expenses, since I blew through savings for all that house stuff. Then I had to get my car fixed for $500, and I charged it. So I'm really not in the place financially that I expected to be right now, but I'm very grateful that I have enough money to live FRUGALLY through the end of the year. I'm going to use my unexpected free time to work on a writing project (that I hope to sell one day), and to try to drum up more business for the new year.

It's disappointing, because that other money would have really put me in a great place financially, but I'm really really grateful that I have enough to get by for a while. I learned a good lesson about not counting my chickens before they're hatched...

Should I leave my local bank?

Anne Cross — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:49:00 GMT

A while ago, I posted about an offer I got in the mail that would give me $75.00 if I opened a Bank of America checking account. I planned to do it, and just pocket the $75.00 and go back to my smaller local bank.

I finally got around to doing it today, and I find that bad old Bank of America has a lot to offer, and now I'm thinking about leaving my small local bank and decamping to BoA. I'm ethically conflicted.

My local bank recently went public, so it now answers to shareholders, presumably, more than customers. But, it's still a local bank, with about a dozen local branches. I like to support local businesses! I do! But.... here's what BoA has to offer: a money market savings account giving .85% interest right now (my passbook at the local bank is .025%); that "spare change" thing where they round up your debit purchases to the nearest dollar and put the change into that savings account -- plus they match it 100% for three months, then 50% (or something less) thereafter; and the ability to make transfers between accounts online; no fee for overdraft if it comes from savings (current bank charges $5.00 for that); and my mortgage (which used to be with Countrywide) is now with BoA, when BoA took over the company, so I could see all accounts in one place.

My hesitation.... I really don't like Bank of America. Back when I was a credit card user, I had one with them, and they were awful. I don't like the big bonuses their people got, and I like the idea of a small local bank so much better. But, but, but -- they're offering me serious cash incentives to bank with them.

If my current bank thanked me for being a customer once a year with a nice deposit of even $50.00, I'd stay with them. But I don't see that happening. I'm leaning towards leaving --- anyone have arguments to win me back to the local bank?

Peace of mind for $17.50 per month

Anne Cross — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:43:00 GMT

After lots of hemming and hawing, thinking and weighing, I decided to buy pet insurance for my new cat Jerome. He's young and healthy now, and he's an indoor cat, but most of my pets have had pricey health problems at some point in their lives, so I thought it was probably best for me to get it.

I wrote a post here a few months ago wondering if I should get it or not. I talked to my vet. I talked to other people. I read lots of opinions on the Internet. The case against getting the insurance that made the most sense to me was that if one just put the same amount of money in the bank each month, one would have an emergency fund for the pet, and if the pet never got sick, one could just use that money for other things. But the argument that refutes that is two-fold -- (1) what if the pet gets sick right away, and (2) $200 a year won't cover much.

So I got the insurance and now little Jerome The Cat is covered against accident and illness. The night after I signed up for it, I was awakened by a strange squeaking sound -- it was Jerome boxing with a bat that had flown into the house and he had someone caught out of mid-air. Bat and cat were un-injured and the bat eventually left the house, but I felt that really vindicated my decision to get the insurance. I do feel much more peace of mind.

How to make $75 fast, and the realization that comes with it

Anne Cross — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 22:09:00 GMT

I came across an advertisement recently from Bank of America: open a checking account with them with a minimum depoist of $500, make at least one debit transaction within 30 days of opening the account, and they'll deposit $75.00 into the account, or mail you a check if the account is closed. This is a much better interest rate than I'm getting in my passbook savings or online savings accounts, so I'm going to sign up for it.

I'm so pleased to be in a position to be able to do this -- to have $500 that I can actually live without for a month, and to be able to compare savings rates from separate savings accounts. This is not a position in which I have found myself for quite some time. I lived hand to mouth, paycheck to paycheck (with credit card support between paychecks) for years and years. But in the past 18 months or so, I've really turned my financial life around (with help from tips on Dollar Stretcher and the Dave Ramsey method). But my budgeting and persistance have paid off. Sticking with a weekly spending budget and putting whatever was left over (be it $1.00 or $20.00) into savings has made me feel so much more secure. Gary is doing a poll on what financial independence means, and while I'm nowhere near financially independent (for me, it means paying off my mortgage and student loans and having $20,000 in the bank -- something that is in the future, but not the near future), I am starting to taste it, and I know how much more peace I will fell when it eventually happens.

And that $75 will go straight back into savings to help me reach my own goals of financial independence.

Huge savings on Indian food

Anne Cross — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 23:38:00 GMT

Indian food is my very favorite cuisine. I have been visiting the Indian restaurants in my city since I was about 14 years old. I've been a vegetarian for quite a while, so Indian food is also a great protein source for me, as so much of it is vegetarian. This winter, after being on a waiting wist for a year, I took an Indian cooking workshop. It was GREAT! I learned how to make many of my favorite dishes as well as some new ones. I left with a cute round box of Indian spices as well as a big recipe pamphlet. I've been cooking up a storm since then.

I recently decided to have a big Indian dinner party for some friends and needed to stock up on supplies, so I searched online for "indian grocery store" and found one about 30 minutes away. My eyes were opened! The prices were so low -- bulk rice, lentils, dried beans, nuts (pistachios, cashews, almonds) -- all much less than at grocery stores. And then there were the frozen naans (Indian bread) for $3.00 for four (these cost $3.99 for one at the restaurants), and frozen paneer (Indian cottage cheese at $4.99 for a pound; I know how to make it myself, but it doesn't come out as well).

But the best find were the boxes of "masala" (which, as I learned at the cooking class, just means "sauce"); there are specific masala mixes for specific dishes. These cost $1.49 each, and each box makes about five large batches (each batch has four - six servings). So to make paneer masala, for example (my favorite dish), I would need a fifth of a $1.49 box of masala, a half of a .29 cent can of tomato sauce, an onion (50 cents?) and about half a pound of paneer ($2.50). For a total of $3.50 (plus rice, let's say 50 cents worth -- and call it a grand total of $4.00), I can make around four servings of one of my favorite foods on earth, rather than paying $9.99 (plus tip) at the restaurant for one serving.

The store also had lots of specialty pickles, and chutneys, and mango syrup (for mango lassis -- yummm), not to mention spices used in other cuisines -- cumin, cinnamon, cloves (just to mention the "C" family). And it was so inexpensive!

So frugal friends, I bet the same holds true for other ethnic cuisines. If you're a fan of Mexican, Afghani, Chinese or Vietnamese food, check and see if you can find a grocer that specializes in that food in your area. The savings can be dramatic, and you'll get to meet some people from the country whose food you love!

Inexpensive cat toys

Anne Cross — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 10:13:00 GMT

My ~~cat~~ animal companion, Jerome, loves to play with things on sticks or string. But not anything on a stick or a string. I've tried making tin foil balls and wrapping a piece of string around it -- no dice. His ferocious hunter instinct is only roused by toys with feathery bits or little strips of fabric on a stick.Ugh.

I'm somewhat ashamed to admit this on the Dollar Stretcher blog, but I have given in and paid $3.49 (plus tax) for a stick with feathers on it at the pet store. Jerome loved it -- he demonstrated his love by tearing it to shreds in a week. Double ugh. Not wanting to have to buy him one of these every week, I've been scouring dollar stores for toys (with success, but sometimes he just turns up his nose as if to say, "why on earth would I play with that?"). But yesterday I picked up a feathery artificial stem (fake flower) at a craft store for a flower arrangement for my home. It was on clearance for 30 cents.

Jerome spotted it immediately; his razor sharp predator instincts protecting the household from this feathered menace. Ah ha! For 10 -- 30 cents, I can get prey that will stimulate his little pea brain and won't make me feel like a chump for forking over almost four bucks for the same thing. Priceless.

What I'm doing differently

Anne Cross — Tue, 19 May 2009 11:11:00 GMT

There have been so many stories in the news, on blogs -- everyhwere -- about what people are doing differently in the midst of this "economic downturn," and lots of speculation about what habits will last and what will disappear once the economy recovers.

I started living within my means over a year ago, and made many of the changes talked about in the news. I cancelled my cable, got rid of the Internet at home, went to cheap-o telephone service, cancelled my beloved artisan bottled water delivery, put all my electronics on power strips, and eventually paid off my credit cards (such a good feeling with all the news about increased fees for good customers). These are (I hope, I hope, I hope) life habits that I will always maintain.

But I'm still looking for ways to stretch my dollars. I'm going to greatly expand my vegetable garden this summer (we had frost last night, so I won't be planting until after Memorial Day, just like all the old Yankees advise) and do itas much by swapping as possible. I have set myself a $20 limit for plants this season. I'm sewing more to mend things that I might have turned into rags before (mostly pillowcases and socks).The home-made cleaning and health and beauty products are a huge savings, and I continue to research recipes for things I can make myself. I always look for free first, second hand next, and buying new as a last resort.

And I'm using coupons more. There aren't usually that many coupons I can use, but there are usually a few (some weeks go by with nothing in the Sunday paper for me), and when there's a coupon for batteries or toilet paper or some other common staple, I make sure to cut it out and file it in my little coupon file. The grocery stores around here have started putting triple coupon or $1.00 double coupon promotions on, so I make use of those and am building up a stock of those products. Plus, eggs and frozen pizzas sometimes appear in coupons. And I'm looking on manufacturers web sites for coupons for items I use. And I NEVER use a coupon for something I wouldn't have bought anyway unless it is free.

Lastly, I've started entering sweepstakes. I'm sure more and more people are joining me, so the odds are poor, but somebody's got to win, right? I always check my receipts for sweepstakes opportunities (CVS, Home Depot), and enter online. Parade magazine and Cooking Pleasures magazine also have ongoing sweepstakes, where you can log in every day and enter. It takes less than five minutes a day, and I could really put either a paring knife or $50,000 to good use.

I wonder what other frugalistas are doing differently in the "downturn"?

Frugal vacations

Anne Cross — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:58:00 GMT

The semester is winding down, and while I still have summer work at my other job, my schedule opens up considerably once I stop teaching. However, my income also drops considerably over the summer. I've been putting a little something into savings each week to put towards my trips, and I plan to do a fair bit of travelling, and hope to keep it as thrifty as possible -- here are some of my ideas:

Philadelphia is someplace I've always wanted to go -- and thought it would be fun to see if I could limit my museums to those that have free admission. I'm also planning to stay at the home of a fellow Servas member (this is a wonderful organization -- I'm a host and a traveler -- it's a great way to meet people around the world). While Servas hosts are supposed to provide at least one meal for their guests, I'm also going to look into dining at college dining halls. The train will cost about $110 to get there, and I hope to go for about three days. I'd love to keep my spending under $200 total, so I'll track all my expenses and see how I do.

Day trips -- I LOVE house museums. So I'm going to find those that are nearby and see if they have any discounted admission days, or if they have reciprocal memberships or educator discounts. I'll plan my trips around those days and bring a nice bagged lunch and book with me and find a public park nearby to have a nice al fresco picnic as part of my outing.

Visiting friends -- I have some friends in NYC and some with rural or water-based summer homes (it's nice to have rich pals!); staying with friends is always nice, and instead of offering to take everyone out to dinner ($$$$), I'll offer to make a meal at home for the folks I visit (I'll ask in advance). But I'll research an interesting (and inexpensive) nearby restaurant in advance, in case going out is the only option.

Professional development trip -- I'll be spending two weeks in Italy, thanks to the Italian ministry of education, which is heavily subsidizing a professional development trip for Italian teachers (like me!). The cost is very very low and includes three meals a day (and a room in a dorm), plus I can write off the cost as professional development.

Hosting -- I hope to have some international Servas guests come to my house. I'll make meals for them and show them around my little town. THis is almost like traveling without leaving home -- we'll get to learn a lot about each other.

I'm looking forward to a frugal summer of travel and think it will be a really fun "extra" to keep track of all my travel costs!

Slow banking?

Anne Cross — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 23:06:00 GMT

Last night, 60 Minutes had a segment about how insecure the information is that we send across the Internet. The segment suggested that 30% of all computers in the US are infected with "malware" designed to steal our personal information.

I love technology, and feel it has made my life easier in many ways. I was an early adopter of online banking (I've been paying bills online for more than 10 years now), and loved saving the cost of a stamp to pay my bills. When I was in a tight economic spot, I also liked being able to pay my bills at the last minute when I needed to.

But now, at least for now, I'm pretty okay financially (who knows what tomorrow holds for any of us), and I definitely have a much different approach to paying bills.

So I'm thinking of getting rid of online banking in the interest of security. I have never been the subject of identity theft (thank goodness), and my office computer is a mac (less prone to viruses), but I have certainly used wi-fi and multiple computers to check my balances, and I even have used online banking on my cellphone.

The story really scared me. For the moment, I have decided to take the remote banking application off of my cellphone, and to use only my office computer (a Mac desktop with firewall and a wired DSL connection) to access my bank accounts. But I am definitely considering going back to an all-paper banking system. It seems in many ways like a step back, but if it keeps my little earnings safe, it would be worth it.

I also set up an online-only savings account last year (currently earning 2.15% as opposed to my local bank's passbook rate of .05%). I have always felt wary about this account, even though it is FDIC insured, it just seems so remote and anonymous. I'm now considering closing it and moving the little money I've saved in it to my more tangible passbook account.

Does anyone out there have ideas or experiences they'd like to share about "slow banking"?