Bill Update

After strenuous negotiations and too many hours on the phone we managed to reduce our phone bill by $10 per line per month. This means that our bill will be reduced by $20/month, the other two lines belong to Mom and Jacob. In addition they doubled the data limit on our internet line for no additional cost. After having to deal with T-Mobile's customer service department for 2 hours this afternoon I must say I'm not impressed with their service, however, I think it was worth the aggravation in the long run. Just as a helpful hint: anyone who would like advice on how to talk effectively with a telemarketer needs to talk to Micah. He had some really good tips. We've got two more bills left to negotiate-rent, and credit card interest rate. I'm less hopeful for these two but we'll take a stab at it. Or rather Doug will.

This is me

Ohhh Yeaahhh

No this is not an insurance commercial, but we did just cut our auto insurance bill in half by changing providers. We have just discovered that by doing a little research, and putting in a little effort, several of the monthly bills we took for granted in the past can be reduced. You don't just have to live with these things...what a revelation! FYI if you currently use Geico as an auto insurer they are not the cheapest reputable company around. On a funny note, when they called me to try and get me to stay with their company not only could they not offer me a cheaper price, they informed me that I should be paying more. Needless to say I didn't find that particularly motivating. Next bill to tackle: phone and internet. I'll keep you updated.

Status

All,

Lest you think that we have completely fallen of the wagon compact wise I just wanted to update.


We managed to make it through the summer of doom in terms of cash flow. We paid for Mimi's school completely out of pocket this year which is long series of huge blessings. We are working on some serious credit card debt, sort of clueless about this stuff unfortunately, but getting a very effective education.

One thing we have started to do recently is reasses some of the descisions we made ages ago, like how many cars we are going to have, the insurance we will use and how we are structuring our debt. So far we have decide to get rid of my car and buy a bike, which I will use to get to work when Mimi needs the car. We are also getting rid of another car (we had three!) essentially to make up for the money that we put into it.

The car that I have been driving for the last several years, very reliable, even under extreme neglect, pictured to the right, needs small repairs occasionally but usually very inexpensive.

We were actually given a car that was 10 years newer, but still 12 years old ;), that ended up needing alomost $1000 dollars worth of work right off the bat. Then when we got it fixed it broke down almost the next day!!! Then the dealership told me I needed a new computer, just another measly $1057 dollars. So I did what I always do when faced with disaster, I went into denial, I interrogated the mechanic, the salesmen, the original mechanic, random parts salesmen in Florida, every body. This is how it worked out. Originally of the $1057 only $200 was actual parts. The rest was labor that only the dealership could provide, so of course they were bilking me. But I determined that
A. reprogramming the computer isn't required (the labor that only the dealer could provide) on this year of car
B. I can save 300 dollars by installing it myself.

So $1057-(money saved by not just throwing money at the problem) =  $118 out of pocket

Mimi and I have also been leaning very heavily on the automatic bread machine lately which has turned me into a bread snob. We have been making bread by hand for years but it takes so much effort, the bread machine is a good compromise.

I must admit that though in many ways we are still "not buying it" we have given in on a few occasions and even went back to fast food for a while. These spells usually are accompanied by willful ignorance of our finances and, no surprise, usually end when it is impossible to deny there is a problem any longer. So we do a budge,t vow to never pass under the golden arches again and leave our credit cards at home.

-Doug

My New Favorite Store

Thanks to my Mom, I recently discovered an unimaginably cheap grocery store which is also simultaneously not a scary place to shop. My favorite buy = 1 lb. strawberries for $.99. Doug's favorite buy = 1 package of ramen for $.05. These were sales but the everyday prices are about as cheap as (or cheaper than) the sale prices at the store I usually go to. This makes it possible for me to stock up on food storage while also sticking to my food budget. I'm hooked for life.

Whoa!

Check out this homemade toothpaste recipe. I didn't even know this was possible. Since I rarely buy toothpaste for more than a dollar a tube I don't know if this would be cheaper for me, but I thought it was blog worthy. Just fyi, if you want to try this you need to get the liquid glycerin which they sell at CVS or Rite Aid (look in the cosmetics section), not the solid kind they use for soap.

Valentine's Day

So how did we do for Valentine's Day? I'd say pretty good.

We had a great time AND we spent less than 15 dollars.

I didn't have the supplies to make cards so instead I made little heart bags 

(which I had everything on hand for) and attached notes to them. They got filled with homemade mini chocolate covered pretzels and hung in various spots around the house for Doug to find.

In the evening went on a family V-Day expedition:

 flying kites and a picnic in the park at sunset. 

We did spend around 7 dollars on new kites but I don't really feel guilty since we used a gift card to buy them (nice rationalizing, right?)

It was cold, but beautiful out and surprisingly stress-relieving.

After that we put the baby to sleep at Grandma and Grandpa's house so that Doug and I could go out alone, which hardly ever happens. 

We had planned on going star-gazing but it was too cloudy 

so we just went to Valley Forge Park and talked.

Sounds simple but it was one of the most wonderful evenings I've had in awhile.

No News is Good News

I haven't posted in three weeks, but this is mostly because things have been going well. I stayed within my strict food budget in January and this month I have even been able to stock up on food storage while staying within the budget. Additionally, in the last two months we have put a significant amount of money towards our credit card debt (I won't tell you how much because it's kind of embarrassing that we would even owe that much). So HOORAY us.

In other news I got these in the mail yesterday from my wonderful brother and sister-in-law, Miah and Missy:

Yay! Cloth napkins! Can I just say what a perfect gift this is for us. Our stash of paper napkins in the pantry is dwindling and it was highly questionable as to whether they would last us to the end of the year. 

Stay tuned for Valentine's Day on the cheap...