frugal underground

Welcome to the eigth Festival of Frugality. There’s plenty here to keep you occupied on a lazy Tuesday, and it’s good enough stuff to make it worth your while even if your Tuesday is more crazy than lazy.

$20 isn’t what it used to be
muse discovers that the “shrinking chocolate bar” effect isn’t limited to candy.

How does FREE wireless internet sound?
From the author, Will Kirby: “This article looks at the growing movement to offer free wireless internet and how to take advantage of it.” I am definitely in favor of that, and the resource Will references found me lots of good options in my area.

The Most Frugal Medicine of All: Your Funny Bone
From the author, Heidi Mapp: “Laughter is even cheaper than an apple a day!” I had to smile myself as Heidi reminded me of the documentary I saw about The Laughter Club.

Easy Curry Chicken and Rice
Jane Dough of Boston Gal’s Open Wallet breaks down the cost of one of her favorite meals, complete with a great recipe and colorful photos.

Dry cleaning silk and wool
From the author, mapgirl: “These are just some tips about how to save money caring for stuff people usually dry clean. It’s a lot cheaper to care for your clothes at home the send them out to a dry cleaner. It’s a practical article about buying silk garments and what temperature water to use for wool.”

Frugal Family Fun
This post is loaded with great ideas for families. Extremely practical.

Money Saving Tip: Don’t Let a 7-year-old Operate Your Digital Camera
From the author, FMF : “A sad, but true, story gained from personal experience.” Ouch.

The real me
From the author, Kay Bell: “What does it cost to check your credit report? Nothing! So do it! That way you won’t end up like Kay, tyring to clean up the mess after someone stole her ID.”

What the heck do you eat?
I’m a big fan of meal planning, and Tracy has a detailed plan that reveals how her family keeps the groceries under $25/week.

Our Frugal Baby, Part II
From the author, Terri W.: “A bare-bones guide to new baby gear necessities for the frugal mom.” This is a remarkably helpful post should you be in a position to use its advice (or know anyone who is). It’s getting bookmarked just in case I ever decide to procreate.

Gadgets That Were A Waste Of Money
From the author, Cercis: “Some of the gadgets I have that I thought would save me money, but never have.” I can sympathize! I love kitchen gadgets and now have way too many that I don’t actually use.

Spend, Spend, Spend
From the author, Frugal Cheap Pants: “My struggle on what I will and will not spend money on.”

How Far We Have Come
From the author, Perky: “The things I’ve changed in the last year to live a more frugal life.” Some good, specific information.

Frugal Exercising
From the author, ~Dawn: “I hate spending money to work out, so here are some of my ways to keep it simple and spend NOTHING!”

Frugality and Index Fund Fees
From the author, jim: “The price of an index fund is in its fees, why pay more when you don’t have to?”

I Love Yard Sales
From the author, Dawn Norton: “Some of the great finds you can get at yard sales.” I’m looking forward to seeing some more yard sale tips from Dawn in the future.

Dream Dinners – Make Your Own Take-Out?
From the author, Jonathan: “I came across a new type of food service that allows you to go there and cook up a bunch of meals using their prepared ingredients and equipment, and you bring it home to your freezer and bake when needed. I decided it might be worth the money and time saved, so I will try it next month.”

Start Investing with Only $100?
JLP takes a look at a way you can start investing with $100. I found the comments on this post to be especially interesting.

Kill-a-Watt
nickel profiles a gadget that might actually save you money. Now I want one!

The Brown Bag Revisited
I love this long-term analysis of “unglamorous” brown-bagging.

Check Those Add-Ons
Adam Graham encourages you to take advantage of the add-on services that you may already have access to for some savings.

Save Big Bucks on Recurring Expenses
Seattle Simplicity recently reduced two major recurring expenses. Can you do the same?

Thanks for reading. Leave a comment and tell everyone which articles were your favorites. Next week’s Festival will be at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity (the festival’s home turf!) so read the rules and get your submission in.

Popularity: 13% [?]

A while ago, I came across a store on eBay that interested me: The Organic Vanilla Bean Company. I added them to my favorite eBay sellers, and that was the extent of our relationship… until now.

In case you don’t know, vanilla beans are expensive. I thought the prices were kind of outrageous until I read about what’s actually involved in raising and harvesting vanilla beans… it involves precise timing and hand pollinating, if that give you any idea, so the cost is reflecting the work involved. I have a single vanilla bean stored in my pantry right now (a cool, dark place, you know). I’m afraid to use it. I keep thinking, “What if I use it and the recipe turns out lousy? I’ll have squandered my one vanilla bean.” Because at $8/bean or whatever, it’s not like I’m going to be buying more on a regular basis.

Last week I received the periodic eBay email featuring “Your Favorite Sellers”… and saw that The Organic Vanilla Bean Company had just listed some beans. I was feeling adventurous, so I thought, what the heck, and bid on one lot. It was a quarter-pound of 6-7″ grade A Tahitian vanilla beans, and the shipping was $3. A quarter-pound of that size is about 30 beans. I decided to bid something so ridiculously low that if I won the auction, it would be clear that God Himself wanted me to have those vanilla beans. So I bid a very random $6.38, and left for the weekend.

Imagine my surprise when I returned and found that I’d been offered a “Second Chance Offer” at my bid price! I didn’t hesitate. 30 vanilla beans for less than $10, shipped? Sign me up!

The point of this entry? Consider buying your gourmet food on eBay. You might save a bundle.

Popularity: 26% [?]

I’m going to be hosting the fabulous Festival of Frugality next Tuesday, so read the rules and get your submission in this week!

Popularity: 11% [?]

Just a quick note to mention that the Carnival of Personal Finance is up over at Savvy Saver. My favorites:

• An unexpected benefit of budgeting @ Fearless Money
• Workforce @ Sitting Pretty
• Generation X … I mean P … I mean … @ MightyBargainHunter.com

Popularity: 10% [?]

There are a limited number of good, free personal finance programs available, and less that are web-based and platform independent (meaning I can recommend them to anyone). So it was with great interest that I read a press release today announcing a new online personal finance budgeting application: MySpendingPlan.com.

A first glance at the site was promising: it’s attractive, simple, and provided some enticing information. Top on my list?

MySpendingPlan.com is budgeting software that uses a modernized version of the “envelope system” that fits today’s lifestyle and home budgets.

I am a big fan of the envelopes concept, just because it’s forward-thinking decision-making rather than after-the-fact “guess that’s where we spent it” reporting. We use envelopes-style budgeting in my household (though my husband insists on referring to it as “funds” and “accounts”). The only software out there that I’m aware of currently promoting this kind of system is Mvelopes, who annoyed me both with their crappy Java interface and their spendy, monthly payment plan. No thanks, I want to save money. So free seemed exciting.
Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 24% [?]

I read somewhere (I think in the Early to Rise newsletter, which I heartily recommend despite the myriad ads) that it’s a good idea to write down your personal (or household) revenue targets for the next 7 years. I don’t remember the specific logic, but I imagine it follows the standard pattern: goals that are written down are more likely to be acheived; if you don’t know what you’re shooting for, you won’t know whether you’re hitting it; if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Okay, yes, I’m slightly mocking, but that’s not to say I don’t believe in it. I’ve had the item “Figure out revenue targets for next 7 years” sitting on my to-do list for an embarrassingly long time, because it seemed daunting. I just did it in 5 minutes (which makes the to-do list residency even more ridiculous).

My revenue targets
2006: $20k
2007: $28k
2008: $39k
2009: $55k
2010: $77k
2011: $108k
2012: $150k

My logic
Some advice that I know came from Early to Rise regarding goal setting is this:

Make your goal specific. If possible, make it quantifiable.
Make your goal realistic. Then cut it in half.
Break it down into pieces.
Establish a timeline.
Allow room for setbacks and distractions.
Identify your support team.
Seek a mentor.
Make your goal (at least a little) public.
Establish a way to reward yourself at the end and on the way.

My first years are pretty conservative. This is for two reasons: first, I’ve only been full-time in business for myself since October. It’s kind of feast-or-famine at the moment, and realistically, it’ll probably be that way for a while. I am trying to establish multiple streams of income and make at least some of them passive, but until they’re really firmly planted, that means a fair amount of time up front, without a lot of money. I’m also trying to be realistic, a la the ETR advice, by cutting in half the amount I think I could make if I work hard.

This year’s amount is also not a matter of whim. I hold back half of what I make to cover taxes, social security, etc. (it’s a little excessive, perhaps, but I don’t like nasty surprises come tax time; besides, it’s in an Emigrant Direct account). $20k is slightly more than $1400 gross income each month. We’ve figured out that if I can consistently contribute $700/month towards the mortgage, we’ll meet our goal of paying off the house by my 30th birthday. So I’m figuring about $800/month post tax, most of which will go to debt.

For the rate of increase, I’m figuring about 40% revenue increase a year. I’m not sure if that’s overly optimistic but I think it’s reasonable, particularly considering the intentional investment of time now to make money later.

I haven’t taken all of the ETR advice yet, but I’ve just accomplished another piece: making it public.

Consider doing this exercise yourself (if you post it on a blog, by all means, trackback or leave a comment linking to your post).

Popularity: 22% [?]