The Four Walls

I know many of you reading are regulars and for the most part I think you are all still employed. However, if there is anyone out there who has lost their employment, or has reduced hours I want you to know about the four walls that can keep you fed and in your home for as long as possible.

The Four Walls is part of Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. There are six additional baby steps, but first you must take care of your four walls before you pay anyone else.

These four walls are:

1) Food, you must use any money you have to first provide food for you and your family each time you are paid, or receive money.

2) Utilities, you want to pay your electricity, gas and water bills, so these basic services are not turned off. Television subscriptions and internet service are not considered must have utilities. If you are behind in making payments you should attempt to get caught up if possible. At a minimum be speaking with the utility service to make sure you are meeting the minimum payments that will keep services going. They may be able to work with you on a payment plan.

3) Rent or Mortgage, you want to continue making payments in full if possible to make sure you are not evicted or foreclosed on. Catch up if possible, but also contact landlord or mortgage company to see what options are available to you. They need to know that you have had reduced hours or are now unemployed. Generally, the more honest you are the better.

4) Transportation, fuel to put in your car, the car payment and insurance. You would much rather have a default judgement on your credit card than have your transportation repossessed and you cannot get to work. You may have to at some point make sure your vehicle(s) are not more than you can afford.

This is not all encompassing for every situation, but it's a place to start when you are in overwhelm with your bills. Unemployment is hard. You may have to try other types of jobs, find a side hustle, sell some of your belongings, but make these happen first. All other debt can be handled once you get a handle on these most basic necessities.

And you can get more information about Dave Ramsey's and his financial advice by doing a search online, there's a website, books, a radio show and YouTube clips of his show. I'm cheering for you!

Is anyone in this situation or know anyone who is? What questions do you have? What advice would you give?

The End of Saving Advice, Starting Over

I've been blogging at a site called Saving Advice for over 11 years. The site was suddenly taken down, or as the owner said in an email, all blogs and forums were deleted! Yikes. Obviously, this is very disappointing to have information I have written wiped off the internet completely.

Of course, all of our banking information and accounts have no connection to the writing, but I did use that blog to document our goals. At first I thought I had no information to recreate our current goal balances, but as my luck would have it, the history on my phone calculator has my September 1 calculations! So excited!!

On the first of every month, I record the interest we earned from our savings accounts, as well as our progress on our Big Goal, to save $200,000 towards our next home. And in the last four months or so, I have also been tracking our progress on paying ourselves back for a $3000 down payment on our daughter's car. I had been putting these into separate posts on Saving Advice. For this month, I will post all of the progress in one post since I am restarting this blog.

September 2019 Interest Earned
FNBO $63.39
NFCU $120.39
USAA $0.02
Total Interest $183.80

The original down payment on our daughter's car was $3000. As of the end of August, we the balance we had left to pay ourselves back was $1,880.55.

This month I found several extra funds to apply to this payback:
US Bank $14.60
Chase Freedom $2.54
Amex Rewards $55.66
Amazon Gift cards $48
Pinecone Survey $3
eBay Sales $18.40
Tuna Class Action $2.38
Hair Care Class Action $11.79
Total Towards Payback $156.37
New Car Down Payment Balance $1,724.18

It was a slow month accumulating extra funds to apply to this goal. The truth is some months are easier than others in finding extra money. It was also expensive this month buying airline tickets and few extra purchases at home. I'm very thankful we do have extra funds to put towards our goals each month!

The original Big Goal balance at the end of August was $69,945.35. Our year to date balance was $6,959.90. We are currently applying $175 twice per month towards this goal in addition to the interest earned on our savings.

September Big Goal additions
Paycheck 9/1 $175.00
Paycheck 9/15 $175.00
Total Interest $183.80
Total $533.80
New YTD Big Goal Total $7,493.70
New Big Goal Total $70,479.15

So excited to have exceeded the $70K mark! We are now 35.2% complete on our $200,000 goal.

Thanks for reading! And if you are here from Saving Advice, comment down below and let me know where you are blogging now, so I can follow you!

Frugal Housewarming Gift

I have a friend that lives in my hometown that is about to move to another state 12 hours away. She is leaving her entire extended family to move with her husband and two of her three children. I know it is emotional for her.

I will be visiting her next week and wanted to have something to bring to her to help with the moving adjustment. I did some looking on Pinterest and found lots of great ideas. Some of them included dinner in a basket, or wine glasses, or new kitchen towels. All of those are nice ideas, but they were not right for this friend in this situation. And some of those can get pricey!!

I opted for a sentimental gift that cost me nothing out of pocket because I had everything on hand to make this frugal gift. I needed a frame, a blue piece of paper, a pencil, a heart shaped cookie cutter and a glue stick. Any ideas what I making?

I made this Pinterest inspired art of her hometown map cut in the shape of a heart and mounted in a table top frame. The truth is it may not match her decor, but I think the idea behind it will be felt. She could also make her own, or re-frame this one to fit if she chooses. Again this cost me no money at all because I had a frame and map I was willing to give up to make this gift a reality.

I think if one really wanted to bring a gift to a housewarming party that anything homemade, such as cookies, a salad, or even a full meal would be appreciated. It is stressful and tiring to move! The situation with my friend doesn't warrant seeing her in her new home for awhile, so this is the best I can do since I will be seeing her after her home has been packed but before she leaves for the new state.

Have you received a housewarming gift that you especially liked? Do you have a gift you always give to those moving into a new home? Have you actually been inspired to do something from things you have seen on Pinterest?

Frugal Computer Maintenance

I did a little computer maintenance last night that I consider frugal.

My Dell Inspiron 1545 was getting pretty hot and I could tell the fan was running quite a bit. I discovered that this is caused by the vent getting blocked. I found a You Tube Video that explained how to open my computer and pull out the cooling assembly, so that I could get all the cat fur dust out. I have done this in the past so I did have the thermal compound on hand, as well as a can of air. I did have to go buy rubbing alcohol since I had recently discarded ours. The new bottle was $2.54 at Target.

I was able to complete this little maintenance task in about 10 minutes. And now my computer is running much cooler and likely using less energy running the fan to cool it! According to the man in the video, I likely saved $25 to $50 by doing this task myself.

Do you use YouTube for any home, computer or car maintenance tasks?  Do you do it for frugal reasons?

No Shopping Means Less

I am behind on getting to the grocery store. I really need to go to get groceries. I almost went today, because I was sure I would need to get something to eat for dinner tonight.

As it turns out I remembered that we had everything we needed to eat breakfast for dinner. And I don't mean cereal! A couple of us had eggs, toast and turkey bacon. And the other two had pancakes with syrup. No money spent and it was a filling meal. And the dishes are put away in the dishwasher, which I will run tonight!

I will likely get to the store tomorrow, but if I can find something for us to eat in the freezer or cupboard, I might be able to stretch it one more day. There sure isn't anything wrong with eating what we have on hand. I also don't mind that we might not all eat the same thing for a night or two. It keeps the food from going to waste!

My only spending today was for two half hour flute lessons: $40.

Do you eat breakfast for dinner? Do you try to delay going to the store by scrounging for things you can make without going?

Frugal Saturday Task

I did laundry today. I washed clothes for three people in two loads, lights and darks. I always use cold water to save the energy and cost of heating the water. I have found that I really don't have any issues only using cold water. I currently use traditional mid grade detergent, not the least expensive and not the most expensive. I know that I bought the current detergent on a sale at Target. 

I have recently stopped using using dryer sheets. In the past I would rip them in half to save and make them last longer. However, I heard about how the chemicals on those sheets stay in our clothes and then rub against our skin. Yuck, I don't like that idea at all. It turns out, I have not noticed any difference by not using them! Interesting. I call that another frugal move. One less thing I need to buy with our hard earned money.

The day wasn't entirely frugal though. The girls and I ate out at Subway today, primarily as a treat for summer, but also because there really wasn't much food to eat in the house. I ended up at the store to purchase dinner, which was cheese tortellini, salad and croissants. We had the lettuce, tomatoes, pasta sauce and dressing. I did need to buy the pasta, bread and a cucumber. That was today's only spending.

Do you use dryer sheets or fabric softener? Did you do anything frugal on your Saturday? 

I Was Frugal Today

Oh, I did spend money today. I was not planning on it. In fact, I was expecting to run errands and actually return things today. This would have put more money back into my pocket. Unfortunately, a child stayed home sick. The money was spent on a smoothie and lotioned tissues.  I had no coupon for either item. Boo.

I did make lunch at home today. I even lured my husband home to eat lunch when I told him what I made. I used a canned of black beans, about a 1/4c of red onion, 1/4 c of feta cheese, 1 T olive oil and 1 1/2 T balsamic vinegar to make a little salad. We like to eat this with chips or put in a tortilla. Today, I added a small tomato that I knew should be used soon. I just recently threw out three of a similar size that were moldy. Ick! Anyway, I had it all on hand and it was quick to put together.

I cleaned today, since I was home with the sick child. I first stripped the girls beds of sheets to be washed, but I stopped before I started because I realized I could probably add more to the washer. So I headed off with my micro fiber cloths to clean the bathroom. I used a little bit of glass cleaner with the cloths too. I have found I can use far less when I use micro fiber cloths. Once done in there, I thew all the clothes I used in with the sheets. I made sure to grab the wash cloths and towels from the kitchen as well.

I'm also helping another child get ready for an art fair. We realized we needed to put some cardboard in some frames we purchased to display and sell the art. I found paper board mailers that I was able to cut into nine 8x10 backing pieces for these frames. Free! We also want to have a way to transport the frames without scratching or breaking to the art fair, as well as providing a safe way for customers to get them home. I have a large bag of thin Styrofoam material that we kept when we bought our dining room table. Again free to us! I try not to save a lot of packaging for shipping, but if I know I have an event on the horizon I will make an effort to keep some. In the two cases above, it was a good choice.

What did you do that was frugal today?