Andy Hough

Book Review: The Frugal Duchess of South Beach

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Any book about frugality is bound to be interesting to me. That being said this book is more than just a collection of tips on frugality. “The Frugal Duchess” manages to combine a frugal tips book and a memoir into one book. Reading about the ordeals her parents went through will remind you how much more difficult life was just a generation or two ago. Many things considered necessities now were luxuries then or in some cases they didn’t even exist. She also includes little vignettes of her own family, I think seeing how someone personally implements frugal measures helps you implement the same measures yourself.

In short I recommend this book. Even if you already know all the frugal tips- and there is probably at least a couple you don’t – this book is worth the read for the personal story and to reinforce your own frugality. You can enter to win a copy of this book by leaving a comment on the giveaway post.

The Frugal Duchess of South Beach Book Giveaway

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Fellow Frugal Blog Network member Sharon Harvey Rosenberg a.k.a. The Frugal Duchess has written a book titled The Frugal Duchess of South Beach: How to Live Well and Save Money…Anywhere!. She is having an online book tour to promote the book and I’m hosting the tour this week.  As part of the promotion I’ll be giving away a copy of her book.  Just leave a comment on this post to enter and I will choose a winner at random on Friday.

I don’t want to list a bunch of rules but please enter just once.  Also since I have to pay shipping costs I’m limiting the contest to those with a US address unless you’re willing to pay the mailing costs.  Any other rules will be at my discretion.  Thanks.

Do It Yourself Car Repair

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One way to keep your automotive costs down is by doing maintenance and simple repairs yourself. I’m not mechanically inclined but I’ve found that with the help of a repair manual I’m able to do simple repairs that save me a lot of money compared to what they would cost to have done at a repair shop. The most popular paper manuals are Chilton and Haynes. If you’re lucky you might be able to find the necessary manual at your local library. I haven’t tried the Alldata online manual but it is recommended by many. The drawback is you have to subscribe to it yearly.

Recently I changed my spark plugs and installed new front brake pads. Changing the spark plugs was very easy yet it would have cost me at least $60 to have them done at a garage. Replacing the brake pads was more difficult but since I saved about $100 doing it myself it was well worth the effort. I spent about $80 doing the two repairs. The cost would have been much less but I had to buy the manual plus some tools. My future repairs will be even cheaper. Using a repair manual and doing your own car repairs can save you some significant money.

Could I Retire Now?

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Last month my alternative income was larger than my expenses.  This is the first time that has happened.  If I could continue to do that I could potentially “retire” now.  It would be more accurate to call it semi-retirement.  I’d still do things to make money I just wouldn’t have a job and I could set my own schedule.

There are several factors that keep me from being able to retire now though.  The first is that last month my income was unusually high and my expenses were unusually low.  In a normal month my expenses will still be higher than my alternative income.  Also, once I’m finished with school I’ll have to start repaying my student loans.  I’ll be on an income-sensitive repayment plan so my payments might not be more than I’m paying towards debt now but there is a chance they will go up.  One more thing is even if I do get to where my alternative income is usually higher than my expenses I need to have a safety net for emergencies and unexpected expenses.  Right now I only have about $3,000 in savings outside retirement accounts.  I don’t consider that anywhere near enough.

For me to be able to retire I need to increase my income so it is consistently more than my expenses.  My expenses are already pretty low so I can’t cut much more there although I do believe I could still lower them more.  I need to focus on increasing my income and saving money outside of retirement accounts and I still have a long way to go on those.  The fact that my income was higher than my expenses last month though makes me feel good about my chances of retiring at 50.

My Bankruptcy Experience

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In 1996 I declared bankruptcy.  That was the culmination of a series of bad financial moves.  I was only about $20,000 in debt which doesn’t seem like that much to me now but at the time seemed like an insurmountable amount.  My credit card companies kept hitting me with late fees,over the limit fees and punitive interest rates so even though I was making monthly payments my debt just kept getting larger.  I don’t blame the credit card companies for my getting into debt but they did help push me into bankruptcy.  I tried to work with them but they wouldn’t cut me any slack.  With the credit card companies offering no flexibility on the repayment terms the situation seemed hopeless. I gave up and declared bankruptcy.

The bankruptcy law has changed since I declared bankruptcy so someone filing today would probably have a different experience.  The lawyer fees and court fees together were about $500.  I’m sure it would cost more now but it was a lot to me at the time and it was a struggle to come up with the amount.  The bankruptcy hearing itself was pretty simple.  None of my creditors showed up.  The judge asked me if I had any assets. I replied that I did not and that was pretty much the extent of it.

The aftermath wasn’t too bad either.  I’m sure my credit was very poor after that but I wasn’t applying for any loans so it didn’t really matter.  I was able to rent an apartment while the bankruptcy was pending.  The apartment management didn’t really care about the bankruptcy.  I was told as long as my rental history was ok then there wouldn’t be a problem.  My rental history was fine because I always considered my rent payments more important than credit card payments.

My credit today is great.  My credit score is 731 and has been in the high 600s/low 700s for several years.  I receive credit offers all the time but right now I have all the credit cards I need. Even before the bankruptcy came off my credit record my credit was better than average.  I didn’t do anything specifically to try to improve my credit but just paying my bills on time seemed to do the trick.

After the bankruptcy I got a secured credit card which I was eventually able to convert to an unsecured card.  I received a lot of offers for secured credit cards after I went bankrupt and most of them offered terrible terms.  If you’re going to get a secured credit card make sure you look carefully at all of the potential fees.  I’m not sure if having the secured card helped rebuild my credit sooner or not.  Not having a credit card at all is also a reasonable strategy to consider if you’ve just declared bankruptcy.

All in all my bankruptcy experience wasn’t that bad. I wouldn’t do it again in the same circumstances though. Hopefully I’ve learned enough since then I won’t be faced with that situation ever again.