Festival of Frugality #89 Picks
The latest Festival of Frugality is being hosted at Filam Personal Finance. I hadn’t seen this blog before but KRG did a great job of hosting. Here are some of my picks.
The CFO presents Money saving tip: Bust open a 12-volt battery posted at Chief Family Officer. I never knew this. I’ve avoided buying items that needed button-cell batteries in the past due to the expense but now they are a viable option.
David presents An $8.00 Bottle Of Soap That Cleans Your Entire House…Including You. posted at My Two Dollars. I’m familiar with Dr. Bronner’s from my long-distance backpacking trips but I never thought of using it at home.
Grace present Thrift or Theft posted at GRACEful Retirement. Most of the things she mentions are just theft. I do sometimes watch an extra movie at the theater. The management doesn’t seem to care but I realize it is unethical.
Maybe I’m a Nomad
My lease on my current apartment ends in October and I have already given notice of my intent to move out. I like my current apartment ok but I just feel a need to move. I don’t like to be in any one place for too long. Moving out may be a bad decision because it will be difficult to find a similar place for the same or less rent. I’ll probably go down to a studio from my current one bedroom. I really don’t need much space. The other drawback of moving out is that I’ll have to sign a new lease. I’d like to be able to just pick up and leave whenever I feel like it. Since I still have a year of school left and don’t have much money saved that isn’t really an option anyway. For now moving to a new apartment will be the closest to traveling that I get.
Budgeting and the 60% Solution
The 60% solution is a budgeting method I’ve seen mentioned on a couple of blogs. The basic concept is to limit your committed expenses to 60% or less of your total income. Then commit 10% each to retirement savings, long-term savings, short-term savings for irregular expenses, and fun money. Looking at my budget for last month my committed expenses are quite easily under the 60% limit. I don’t actually follow the 10% guidelines for what to do with the rest of my money but as the article indicates once you have your committed expenses at 60% it is simple to save money.
Since I have a lot of debt to repay I don’t think the 10% guidelines work too well for me. Right now I just put as much extra money as I can towards debt. Since I’m frugal I don’t worry that I’ll waste my money without specific guidelines on where to spend it. I use Pear Budget to do my budget and it works fine for my simple needs. I use it more as a way to track my income and expenses than as an actual budget.
What’s Happening Now
No, I’m not talking about the sequel to the 70’s TV program “What’s Happening” featuring Rerun and his friends. I’m just updating a few things that have happened since I last posted.
I got a ticket on Friday which will cost me $126. If I go through diversion to keep the ticket off my record it will be an additional $20. I plan on doing that since I haven’t had a ticket in the last 10 years and I would like to keep my MVR spotless. I probably could have avoided this ticket if I would have just agreed with the officer and not argued with him but I thought the officer was wrong and still do. I’m not sure if being right is worth $146 though.
I’ve decided to go ahead and pay off my credit card even though it is at 0%. My balance is down to $424 and I think I should be able to pay it off next month. The ticket and some other extra expenses I have next month will make it tight to have enough money to pay off the card though. If I can’t get the card paid off next month it isn’t a big deal since the card will be at 0% until January.
I bought clothing for the first time this year yesterday. I bought a couple pairs of swim trunks to double as running shorts at Target. They were on clearance and the total for both of them was right at $12 with tax.
My Emergency Fund is Tempting Me
Now that I have my emergency fund established I am tempted to spend it on non-emergencies. My credit card debt is down to $724 and I could eliminate it if I tapped my emergency fund. That isn’t what the emergency fund is for though and since the credit card debt is at 0% and my emergency fund is earning 5.05% it wouldn’t make sense to pay off the debt.
I do however have a private student loan that has 11.75% interest. That loan balance is almost $2,000 so I couldn’t pay it off with my emergency fund but it would certainly help me pay it off faster. It does seem somewhat illogical to keep money in savings at 5.05% when you are paying 11.75% but I like knowing that I have the emergency fund available. I’m considering being even more illogical and paying off my credit card before the private student loan simply because I can pay off the credit card faster and have one less debt. As long as I am making progress I’m not going to be overly concerned with whether I’m doing the thing that makes the absolute best financial sense.
Festival of Frugality 88 Picks
The latest Festival of Frugality is up at The Happy Rock. I didn’t have a submission this week but there are plenty of great posts to choose from. Here are some of my favorites.
I’m Frugal, So Why Can’t I Save More Money? by Silicon Valley Blogger. This is something I’ve often wondered about but I’m starting to make progress.
The Difference Between Being Frugal and Being Cheap by Carlon Haas. This question has been addressed many times but it is always interesting to see a new perspective.
12 Things I Will Never Spend A Dime On by Golbguru. I doubt I’ll ever spend any money on these items either.
Visit the Festival of Frugality to see all the posts.
The Confidence to be Frugal
A recent post at Make Love,Not Debt told of a scenario where Him walked out of a restaurant after realizing the prices were higher than he wanted to spend. He noted being rather uncomfortable doing so. I used to be the same way. I would worry that other people would think I was cheap or otherwise think less of me due to my frugal habits. I’ve come to realize thought that frugal is what I am and I have no shame in being who I am and doing what is right for me to do. I can’t control what other people think of me and I’m not going to worry about it.
Three Questions That Can Change Your Spending Habits
The personal finance book that has had the most influence on me is “Your Money or Your Life” by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin. If I had faithfully followed all the steps in the book from the time I first read it I could be retired by now.
Still Out of Law School
The Re-Admission committee met yesterday and decided not to let me return to law school this semester. The good news is I haven’t been dismissed from law school and have a chance to return next semester. There are some things they want to see me do before I will be readmitted. In the meantime I’ll continue working and try to improve my financial situation before returning to school.
Looking for a New GPT Site
Kira of PennyFoolish is closing her GPT site Cashduck. This bummed me out for a couple of reasons. First, I was beginning to build up a lot of referrals there that looked like they could lead to steady, passive income. Secondly, I’m thinking of starting my own GPT site and have already bought the software. If Kira couldn’t make money with Cashduck I’m doubtful whether my site could make money. I’d like to get some recommendations of other GPT sites that people have found to be reliable. If I don’t start my own site I’ll be promoting a new GPT site if I find one I like.
eHealthInsurance - FREE Instant Quotes!
Subscribe via RSS
