Grocery Shopping for May 18th

I always go to the grocery stores on Wednesdays. It's the first day of the sales, and it works really well in my schedule. I usually supplement my coupon grocery shopping with produce shopping as well. You can't really live off pasta and toothpaste alone. It is certainly nice to have more variety of food items as we continue to build our stockpile.
I was really happy with how I did today. The numbers are a little skewed because I bought milk, which is hard to find on sale, and I also bought veggie crumbles, which are a pricier item that I don't buy very frequently. Those two things alone counted for $12.50 of my spending. Here's how I did.

Value: $101.03
Spent: $31.85
Saved: $69.18

Albertsons

2 Ronzoni Pasta - $2.59
Sale Price - $1.00
1 $1/2 Printable MQ
End Price - $0.50 (81%)

4 Ronzoni Pasta - $2.39
Sale Price - $1.00
2 $1/2 Printable MQ
End Price - $0.50 (79%)

2 Flour Tortillas - $2.69
Sale Price - $1.00
End Price - $1.00 (63%)

4 Lawry's Marinade - $3.49
Sale Price - $1.00
4 $0.50/1 MQ
End Price - $0.50 (86%)

4 Kraft Salad Dressing - $3.99
Sale Price - $1.50
2 $1.00/2 MQ
2 $0.55/1 MQ
End Price - $0.73 (82%)

4 Village Candle Votives - $1.49
Sale Price - $0.33
End Price - $0.33 (79%)

Total - $11.33 from $56.11 (75%)


Smiths

1 Colgate Toothpaste - $1.87
Sale Price - $0.88
1 $0.75/1 MQ
End Price - $0.13 (93%)

2 Gallon Milks - $2.89
Sale Price - $2.59
End Price - $2.59 (10%)

4 Carefree Pantiliners - $1.09
Sale Price - $0.99
4 $0.99/1 MQ's
End Price - FREE (100%)

Herbal Essences Conditioner (Clearance Section) - $1.49
Sale Price - $0.25
1 $0.50/1 MQ
End Price - $0.25MM (117%)

12 Yoplait Yogurt - $0.60
Sale Price - $0.44
2 $0.40/6 MQ
End Price - $0.37 (38%)

Pure Protein Bars - $1.28
Sale Price - $1.00
6 $1/2 MQ's
End Price - FREE (100%)

Morningstar Farms Veggie Crumbles - $4.89
Sale Price - $3.49
3 $1/1 MQ's
End Price - $2.49 (49%)

Lady Speed Stick Deoderant
I have to go back to the store for this one because in looking at the receipt, the sale price didn't ring up. Updating that later.
It should have been $1.47 with a $0.50 coupon to make it $0.97, but it looks like it cost me $2.69. Customer service, here I come.

Total - $20.52 from $44.92 (55%)

So all in all a good day. I did go over budget... I had hoped to keep the whole trip under $25. Hopefully I'll do even better next time!

Couponing Tricks Everyone Should Know

In my first month working on couponing, I've learned a lot of things that I never realized about how coupons can be used to save money. Here are some basic tricks that everyone should know when you're using coupons.

Buy One Get One Free Sales:

An item on sale as buy one get one free in the store can have a buy one get one free manufacturers coupon applied so that both items are free.

If an item is buy one get one free, you can still use a coupon for each item. So if you have a $1 off coupon, you can use two to get $2 off the bought item.

Stacking Coupons:

On most items, you can use one store coupon and one manufacturers coupon, potentially stacking them.

Check to see if your store allows you to double coupons. Some stores will double or triple up to the value of a dollar.

Looking for Overage:

Keep an eye out for items that you don't necessarily need, but that you have coupons for over the value of a product. This happens most commonly when medicinal items go on sale. The overage can be used to cover other portions of your bill.

Saving Money in Odd Places

Now that I'm back to my regularly scheduled "holy cow I'm broke" routine, I may randomly throw a few of my money saving tips your way. And this one is for the ladies out there (or the boys, hey, I'm no judge and I love bold guys).

A while ago, I went to my doctor and mentioned that my eyes are sometimes itchy. She recommended that I was more vigilant about removing my eye makeup (I have been known to refer to my mascara as armor). She told me to try using baby shampoo to remove my eye make-up with at night and I tell you something, that woman is an absolute genius. I put just the tiniest dab of baby shampoo which is $3.99 for 20 fl oz on a damp cotton ball, swipe it over my eyelids, then flip over the cotton ball and use the clean side to wipe up any shampoo residue.

It's amazing, fast, no tears is true, and it's amazingly cheap. I think that bottle of shampoo will probably last me for several years. I've been doing this for four months and I've made no noticeable dent at all in the bottle.

On another note, this month I think might be my very first month that I "break even", meaning that my income covers my living expenses (not counting gas and food). Fingers crossed!

All Gone!

So today I made the very last payment on the last little bit of my credit card debt. I am now officially out of consumer debt. The only money I owe is my student loan that is not interest bearing (I owe it to my parents).

This is huge for me. My finances are under control. I'm starting on a new budget on October first that will skyrocket my savings, which will allow me to finally not panic when bad things happen, and hopefully I'll be able to travel home next year. I can also start paying down my student loan significantly. I'm also upping my spending money a little too, because, well I think I've earned it!

I'm still working extra jobs and trying to make some extra money because I like being busy, and because I need to keep building my technical theatre resume. That means working nights and weekends and keeping my regular 9-5 job too. I'm not out of the woods yet, because I'm not out of debt yet, and $25,000 is a huge sum of money that I still have to pay off. But I have three and a half years to do it, I'm not paying interest, and I make enough money that I don't have to struggle with my bills. So here is what really made the difference for me:

I got a roommate. Monthly savings : $480

I cut my grocery bill as low as I could. Monthly Savings : $200

I stopped buying things that I couldn't afford. Monthly savings : $300

I snowballed my debt. This allowed me to pay off thousands of dollars in just over a year.
I purged assets I wasn't using, like my camera, books, clothes. I stopped eating out and drinking out.

I worked my ass off to get where I am and I have to say, I'm really proud. Right now, I'll be out of debt sometime around February 2013 and I plan on making it sooner than that if I can. I'm still going to be blogging about my money stuff and my financial goals. So with that, here are my current savings goals that I'm working on:

Emergency Fund to $3000 (Currently at $235)

Travel Fund to $3600 (Currently at $109)

Medical and Dental Fund to $1000 (Currently at $1)

Car Maintenance Fund to $1000 (Currently at $1)

2009 Roth IRA to $1500 (Currently at $195)

I'm certainly not done yet with my goals, but it feels good to have interest coming in, not going out for a change! Yay me!

And the Beat Goes On...

I admit, I am sad that my updates on here have been infrequent and I know that I'm not the most thrilling read right now. But I do appreciate everyone sticking with me and here's a state of the union update.

Last night we finally moved the last of the things from our old loft. Though it was a great place to live, it ended up costing us an absolute fortune. We got a fair bit credit card happy with decorating it, and we really were living beyond my means.

My new apartment is lovely and I am so happy about it. It's not perfect, but it's much more my style. Now, of course, it is absolutely filled with stuff. I have a lot of unpacking and sorting things out to do.

It's hard. There are things that I want to buy for the new place. I want a smaller microwave. I want a couple more orchids (I collect them), I want to get some plants for the yard, I want a curtain rod and curtains. I also want a new couch, since Andrew will eventually be taking the day bed that I am currently using.

I can't have these things right now. I don't have the money and I have to force myself to wait until I do. Sure, I could throw that stuff on a credit card, but how would that help? I'd just feel guilty.

In looking over my finances, I realized that making those huge student loan payments wouldn't be feasible or logical right now, so I am back on my Snowball. I was able to make another payment on my scooter loan to get that paid down. Now, even if I just went back to the minimums, it will be paid off by December. I think I can actually have it paid in full by June.
I'm sending extra money towards my student loan at this point, and I'll be working on some other strategies to try and make some additional income.

I also got the notice today that the lawsuit against me has officially been settled and that the dismissal papers are on their way to me. I can't explain how happy that makes me. I am so utterly relieved by that. I can't wait to actually get those papers in the mail. I will be baking up a storm in a little bit for my lawyer.

I'm working on very slowly rebuilding my emergency fund. It was completely decimated because of the lawsuit and not having it makes me really really edgy. But, I will persevere and hopefully I can have it back up to a sizable amount by the fall.

In the sidebar of the blog, I've got a list of debts and goals now that I am updating frequently. These are to keep me more accountable towards my goals and because I'm not hiding anything. I know I'm in debt, you know I'm in debt, thats why I have this blog. It's full disclosure time.

With the loft out of the way, I have more time to work on other projects now. I will try and make this one of them.

February Net Worth Update

Well, I only had a 1.91% increase in my Net Worth this month, while I work on getting caught up on some bills and adjusting to my new income level. I am also missing a check from last month that usually lops a big chunk off of my debt. I'm expecting it any day now. It's also the last time I'll receive that check, which is a sad thing. Luckily, my new income level will cover this "loss".

Here is the break down for this month:

Assets

Car Value - $2,730 (No change)

Prosper Loans - $205 ($219)

Cash Savings - $732 ($620)

Roth IRA - $20 (New!)

Debts

Student Loans - $23,781 (No Change)

BOA Credit Card - $4,559 ($4, 704)

Scooter Loan - $1,210 ($1,400)

Net Worth

- $25,863 (-$26,286)

You can see the handy chart in my sidebar that links to my NetWorthIQ profile.

So, having done my budget for the foreseeable future, I'm estimating that I'll be able to pay off my non-student loan debt by the end of September. I'm going to have to really knuckle down and make this happen, but it certainly looks like a possibility.

After that, I'll be heading into Student Loan Mode. I'm very lucky that this is not an interest bearing loan, but I have to have this paid off before I am 30 so I have a limited amount of time to take care of it, and the longer it takes me to get started, the bigger those monthly minimum payments are going to be.

I'm also working on saving more. I'm working on my emergency fund and want to get it to $3,000 as soon as I can. I'm also putting a little of my side income into my travel fund and my IRA. I finally have an IRA! I'm not contributing much to it right now, but I will ramp it up over time. When I get my emergency fund fully funded, I'll be diverting some of those savings to it.

I want to save for a house really badly, but I know that I can't really do that right now. I have to get this debt taken care of. I'll try and bump that up too once I'm not paying interest any where!

I'm predicting that March will be another slow growth month for me. I should be able to do much better than February though. I know I'm getting close to having my scooter loan paid off now and when I can start taking chunks out of that last credit card it is going to feel so unbelievably rewarding.

Savings Rate Drops

I'm a huge fan of ING Direct. I love that I have sub accounts there. I keep my CD and my Roth IRA there.

But recently, my once wonderful savings rate has dropped to 1.85%. It's very disappointing. I know that ING is usually the first to drop rates and the last to raise them, but I've never seen them this low. It's very disappointing. I'm tempted to move my savings over to another company, but I'm so used to ING and it would be a serious pain to move everything.

So I'll stick it out for now and keep plugging away at building my savings. It's a shame that it's going to take me longer to hit my goals. Even though it is small, passive income interest is one of my favorite things. I guess you can't always have everything!

How to Cancel TV without Giving It Up

I have cable TV and internet, and I'm seriously considering giving it up. Yes, I love my CNN, Food Network and Bravo, but I've come to realize that TV is not only a huge time waster for me, but an unnecessary expense. I pay an extra $25 a month on top of internet for my basic cable, but most of the time when I watch TV, I'm doing it through my computer.

This is because I have the double whammy of Internet TV.... Netflix.com and Hulu.com.

Netflix

I pay $9.71 for Netflix and I only get one movie a month. I also only normally watch one movie per month. This is because what I really get out of Netflix is the Instant Queue feature. Netflix has tons of TV shows that have been released on DVD to watch on your instant queue. You can watch as many as you like and they stream directly to your computer. My husband and I have watched the first four seasons of The Office, I've watched the first season of 30 Rock, and there are a bunch of other shows we are hoping to work our way through.

Hulu.com

Hulu is a website that offers many many shows right after they have aired. Some shows only have the last episode, or the last five, but a few have entire seasons worth on there. I watch Private Practice, Grey's Anatomy, Top Chef, Legend of the Seeker and several others. They even have The Daily Show. The best part is that it is completely free.

So when you're looking to squeeze a few more dollars out of your budget, consider making a quick call to your cable company and dropping your TV service. The internet is all you need!

Contemplating Retirement Savings

I know that I am only 25 years old, but I am starting to think about saving for retirement. I think it's the appropriate time to start working on this, especially since I plan to "retire" early. 

I don't know much about retirement savings, and there is no plan through my job. 

I have a few options to consider. Firstly, I could get a Roth IRA. I've been thinking about this a lot, but my concern is that this is something that I would have to manage a little, and with the stock market dipping, it seems that a lot of IRA's have lost value. People seem to not be concerned with this as it will "go back up again", but what if the stock market crashes right before you plan to retire? What is that value disappears. I'm not a fan of investing in the stock market in general because to me, it feels like gambling. 

My next idea is to start a CD ladder and just start socking money away. I'd get a guaranteed rate of return and my money would be pretty safe. I don't get tax benefits, but it seems so much more stable. 

I can understand how people go the 401(k) route or other such programs if a company is matching the money that will be put in there, but I don't get that luxury. 

This is quite a conundrum for me and I really would like to have a plan in place for my 2009 Financial goals. So what do you think? What would you do if you were me? I welcome any and all advice!

October Net Worth Update

We're on month three of an increasing Net Worth. I'm delighted about it. I managed to increase my Net Worth by 1.91% over the course of October. I could have done better in a couple of areas, but I made some really great progress and I'm feeling quite proud.



Here is the breakdown for the month:

Assets

Car Value - $2,480

Prosper Loans - $232 (I am pulling out of Prosper)

Cash Savings - $394


Debts

Student Loans - $2,3821

Credit Cards - $5,547 (AmEx $750, BoA $4,797)

Scooter Loan - $2,445

Net Worth

-$28,707

I may have paid off my car this month, but I was a bit lax and increased my credit card debt by a couple of hundred dollars. I'm a bit disappointed in myself. 

Savings

This month showed a steady increase in savings, though I'm not making nearly the headway that I would like. 

Emergency Fund - 9.9% (7%)

Thailand Fund - 0.8% (0.8%)

Medical Fund - 8.3% (5%)

Auto Fund - 0.0% (0.0%) 

Down Payment Fund - 0.08% (0.08%)

The numbers in Parenthesis indicate last months status. As you can see, I've been stable or increasing all month. I gave my Savings a raise this month by increasing from 5% of my paycheck to 6% of my paycheck. It's not an enormous increase, but every little helps!

I did indeed manage to pay off my car this month. It was a great feeling and not having that $200 payment allowed me to reanalyze everything. I made the decision to quit my extra jobs which will enable me to be less stressed and focus on my writing more. It's already lifted a huge weight off my shoulders. I'm finally in a position where I am earning more money than I need for bills with my regular job. 

This month I'm going to try very hard to pay off my American Express card. It won't fit within my current projected income, so I'll need to try and make a little extra money somehow this month. If I pay it off, I'm down to just three debts.

So, my November goal is to pay off my American Express card!

Want to track my progress? Subscribe to my RSS Feed. 

September Net Worth Update

August Net Worth Update

July Net Worth Update

June Net Worth Update

$25 Gift Certificates for $2 at Restaurant.com Today

Today Restaurant.com has a special where you can buy a $25 Gift Certificate to many restaurants for just $2.

Restaurant.com is a great site that normally offers you $25 gift certificates at participating restaurants for $10. Today, though, they have an 80% off special if you put in the code TREATS at checkout. Offer expires at 11:59pm October 31st.

I just snagged $100 worth of certificates for $8 for restaurants that my husband and I already go to. Certificates are valid for one year, but be sure to check the restaurant terms because most have a minimum purchase requirement.

Thanks to Get Rich Slowly for posting this initially!

Patience is a Virtue

I'm being patient right now. very patient because I have two checks that are "on the way" to me. Once I have received them, I can write and mail the final car payment, and I'll have $200 a month off my minimum payment list.. reducing it by about 47%. I want those checks so badly. I can't wait. I'm so antsy.
It's hard being patient when you are so close that you can practically smell it. It's also difficult because I have absolutely zero control about when these checks will arrive. One is a week overdue and one is two days overdue. I know they will probably both come at the same time and there will be much rejoicing.
I'm also excited because yesterday my husband and I agreed to work on some joint savings, something which we have not done yet. We're putting away money for future travel, and eventually for a house. It's a big step for him since he has never been much of a saver. I'm really proud of him for deciding to do this. I know that this will make me feel very good when I see us working towards a financial goal together.
And so I will remain patient, and I will continue to check my mail obsessively until those checks come!

101 Top Personal Finance Tips - Part 5

Image by Kiki99

Welcome to Part 5 in my series of Top Personal Finance Tips! 

Be sure to subscribe to my RSS feed to get all of the rest!

21. Work Out at Home

There are so many ways to work out at home and cancel your gym membership. One of my favorites is the deck of cards method. I shuffle a deck of cards and draw as many as I have time for, which is usually 10 or 15 cards. For me, red cards are squats and black cards are sit ups. You can pick any, and do suits instead of just colors if you want to add more in. Then I draw a card and whatever number value that card is, thats how many of that exercise I do. I was so happy to hear that other people use the same method as me!

I play Wii Fit as well when I can, but I have attention span issues with it. 

22. Take Advantage of 0% Balance Transfer Offers

Many credit card companies offer limited time 0% balance transfers. If you are carrying credit card debt of more than $1000, these are fantastic opportunities to save money on interest. 

When you use one of these offers, be sure to make a note of when it expires and make sure you make your payments on time or you can invalidate the offer. There is a great list of cards with these transfers available here. The reason I advise moving $1000 of debt or more is that there are usually transfer fees associated with moving the money and often if you move a really small amount it isn't as worth it. 

23. Start an Emergency Fund

I can't stress the importance of creating an emergency fund enough. I put 5-6% of my income into a high yield savings account. I am saving for three months worth of living expenses. The benefit of this is that if something happens, I can pay for it in cash and don't have to charge money to my credit cards. Also, if something happens and I couldn't work, I would not only have breathing room for a couple of months, but I would also be able to make payments on my credit cards and I wouldn't have late payments on penalties. 

24. Switch to Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs

A little change can go a long way. Switching all of your lights to CFL's can save 4-10% on your energy bill. My husband claims that he doesn't like the way the light looks, and I can understand that but I can't honestly tell much of a difference and I think it is worth it. The price of CFL's is going down, and they last longer than regular lights. I highly recommend the change if you can!

25. Get Rid of Your Paper Towel Habit

I'm working on a project here. I knit, and I'm trying to make enough cotton dishcloths to stop using paper towels altogether. I hate buying them, they aren't good for the environment in that they contribute to the cutting down of trees and the encouragement of landfills. Dishcloths are incredibly inexpensive to purchase and tend to last a long time. I would recommend hand knit absorbent cotton ones if you can get them. 

There is a great Etsy store here that is selling them very cheaply and even offers free shipping through December 15th if you don't feel like making your own. 

Check out the other posts in this series:

101 Top Personal Finance Tips - Part 4

101 Top Personal Finance Tips - Part 3
101 Top Personal Finance Tips - Part 2
101 Top Personal Finance Tips - Part 1

Thank Goodness for My Emergency Fund

Image by Grant Matthews

I woke up this morning to head to a meeting and was pulling out of our parking lot when my husband called to let me know that as I pulled out he noticed my tire was flat. He was right, the tire was completely flat, so I cancelled my meeting and he put my donut on for me. 

Off I went to the nearest tire place and they told me that the tire had simply worn out, as had one of my other tires. 

I needed to get both replaced, so we picked out ones with a good warranty, and I swiped by American Express for $209. Normally, this would have me sweating and flipping out, but I was cool as a cucumber because I knew that in my trusty ING Savings Accounts was enough money to cover it. 

I got home and emptied my Auto Fund and then pulled the remaining balance out of my Emergency Fund. When that clears I will pay off the money that I charged to my credit card. Granted I just took a $200 hit to my Networth, but I was able to handle it without going further into debt and without getting stressed. 

So, if you don't have an emergency fund yet, start one! Even putting by $20 a month is a start. 

Free Samples to Save You Money

Image by Chai65

I've had my tush saved by free samples several times. I've run out of toothpaste, cat food, cleaning wipes and many other things and raided my sample stash for something that will tide myself (or my cat) over. 

I greatly enjoy trying new products before I buy them, which is another benefit to being an avid sampler. 

One of the best sites that I have found for finding samples is Absurdly Cool  which is a freebie and sample automated aggregator. It searches the internet for free trials and samples and collects them all in one neat place. A lot of these come from places like WalMart, and usually take six weeks to arrive. 

Another great way to try new things is to join BzzAgent where you sign up to join marketing campaigns for products and you get sent trial products and then write about them. You often get coupons too, which you can keep or pass out to friends or family.

Stores will often give out free samples. Sephora is a great example of this. They have drawers filled with bath and beauty samples and just asking a sales person if they have anything new that you can try will often yield up a variety of small packets. 

Although these samples are usually small and good for just a few uses, you may find that you can get a months worth of shampoo. Sample sizes are also great travel sizes. 

Remember that these little trials of things can be great filler between buying new items if you run out or if you just want to spend a little less at the grocery store next time!

A Huge Financial Step Forward

I'm so excited right now. It's not because I'm in the middle of my first day off in two months (though that is quite quite lovely) and it's not because of the buckets of coffee I'm drinking.

I'm excited because for the first time in what is probably years, my Net Worth has actually increased. 

That's an $800 increase in my previous Net Worth and a good step towards my goal of getting my Net Worth down to -$28,000 by the end of the year. 

It seems working two jobs and being completely frugal has started to pay off. I am so proud of myself right now!

Savings Progress

I'm diligently working on getting all my ING Savings accounts filled up. I have some pretty hefty goals but here is how I'm doing. The number in parenthesis is what I last recorded it at.

Emergency Fund - 10.3% (8.7%)

Thailand Fund - 0.8% (0.8%)

Medical Fund - 2.5% (1.2%)

Auto Fund - 0.5% (0.3%)

Down Payment Fund - 0.08% (0.07%)

I've started doing something a little different here. Instead of splitting 5% of my second job income between the five accounts, I'm putting it all into one. I'll be focusing on my Medical Fund first. This is with the intent of Snowballing my savings just like I Snowball my debt. I still have the other accounts making a tiny bit of interest, but I feel like I'll make more progress this way. The other plan is that when I fully fund one account, the interest that gains will also go into my next step account. The only problem is that this means I'm putting off saving for a down payment and I'm not sure how wise this is. I may reallocate later when I've got more money in all of the accounts. 

As far as my Debt Snowball goes, no progress yet. I'm working on my Medical bills and my American Express right now. And I hope to have my Medical bills paid off by the end of the month and another chunk taken out of my American Express.

But yay me for getting over a giant hurdle and to have things finally heading in the right direction.

Give Your Savings Account a Raise

Photo by mag3737

When working on building substantial savings, many people agree that you should put away a percentage of your earned income.
Personally, I am currently putting 5% of my paycheck away to help meet my savings goals. I am working at building my Emergency Fund first, and then I have a list of other things that I am saving for.
I am about to get a raise at my regular job and with that, I will also be giving my savings account a raise. Not only will I be depositing more because it will be 5% of a bigger number, but I'll also be raising it to 6% and intend to do so every time I get a raise up to a maximum of 10% for now.

Why is this Important?

When you receive a raise, you are getting above the money that you currently have budgeted. It's easy to increase the amount of money that you are saving because even with that added percentage, it is likely that you'll still have a higher disposable income. It won't impact your every day life to put more money away, but it will build your savings much more quickly.

A 1% raise in my what I deposit into my account along with having a higher amount anyway due to my income being increased knocks 47 weeks off how long it will take to hit my Emergency Fund goal, assuming I put no money other than that into my savings.

What Will I Do When I Hit My Goal?

Essentially, when I hit one saving goal I will move on to the next in a Snowball fashion, and there will be more coming on that at a later date. Having reachable goals is an important psychological motivator, which is why I track what percentage of my goal all of my Savings accounts are currently at. I adjust this every time money goes in and it makes me feel as though I'm getting somewhere, even if all I have added is a tenth of a per cent.

Even though I don't save as much money as I would like and I do still have a lot of debt, working on my emergency fund helps me to increase my financial comfort level greatly. I feel like I am securing my future and when bad things happen I am much more prepared.

Weekly Financial Round Up 08/10

Since I managed to get my spending under control I have stopped tracking it weekly. I've also had to start paying for gas in a car and that isn't something I like to put too much thought into since it's a tad depressing. But I would still like to use my Weekly Round Ups as a way to track my savings and debt progress. Kind of like a state of the union address, only weekly and with less made up words. 

Debt Progress

75% of my Second Job paycheck went on my debt snowball. I made a good payment on my BoA card. 

I made a car payment, which was scheduled but still knocks a good amount off my balance.

Savings Progress

5% of my Second Job paycheck went towards my savings and my accounts look like this:

Emergency Fund - 8.7%

Thailand Fund - 0.8%

Medical Fund - 1.2%

Auto Fund - 0.3%

Down Payment Fund - 0.07%

Saving in these account right now will be incredibly slow. 5% of my regular paycheck goes towards my Emergency Fund and then 1% of my Second Job pay check goes into each of the five accounts. 

Here are some past weekly financial round ups.

Saturday Handy Tip : Get a Piggy Bank

When I was a teenager I would always save my change. I had a piggy bank and all coins automatically went into it. When I was about fifteen I finally went to put a coin in it and it wouldn't go. I emptied it out and took that money to buy my first cell phone (pay-as-you-go of course). 

As an adult, I still practice this. There are two piggy banks in my house. One is downstairs and one is upstairs. I put all my change in the one downstairs and my husband sometimes contributes to the one upstairs. When it's full or when I've fallen on harder times, I cash them out and take them to the bank. These coins usually go into my down payment fund. 

This might only add up to a few dollars, but it's hassle free saving that really adds up over time. 

However, be sure that if you do this you count out your change yourself. Banks will happily give you little paper coin rollers. Coinstar machines and other services skim a fee off the top of your money. 

Check out some other Saturday Handy Tips

Power Strip Your TV

Getting the Most out of Citrus

Salad Dressing Hack

Frugal Food - Lunch for Less

Photo by bmann

Buying lunch is the achilles heel of many people on a budget, especially if you have an office job. It is so easy to duck out to a fast food joint with your colleagues, or order chinese food for delivery. 

Bringing your own lunch is definitely recommended, but I always forget to make myself something every day. Recently, though I've started having the same lunch every day and I don't have to spend time in the morning making it. 

I eat an English muffin, toasted and a wedge of Laughing Cow spreadable swiss cheese. The muffins come in a pack of 6 and the wedges come in a pack of eight. 

This costs me approximately $0.70 per lunch session. 

If I want to jazz it up I might add a piece of fruit or a hard boiled egg. True, this is a relatively small lunch, but I'll also drink a nice big glass of water as well and it gives me enough energy to make it through the day. 

I would say this probably saves me anywhere from $10 to $25 weekly, depending on where I would go for lunch. I keep the muffins at my desk and the cheese in our community fridge. English muffins tend to keep for about 8 days or so without any trouble, so I don't have to worry about them going stale. 

What are some of your frugal lunch ideas?

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