A Fiscal Fast

   Last night, we stumbled on a new show on TLC called Extreme Cheapskates. This episode featured Jeff Yeager, author of The Cheapskate Next Door and The Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map to True Riches. First of all, this man is extreme. I mean he rides his bicycle around town from gas stations to restaurants to laundry mats looking for spare change on the floor and in seat cushions. Most of the things he does to save money, I personal would not do. However, he did present a challenge that I would like to try called the Fiscal Fast.

   In his books, he outlines the fiscal fast, which is a 7 day spending freeze for your household budget. You cannot buy a single thing for a week. And NO stockpiling beforehand. The fast serves three main purposes. 1- It will help you save money. Don't rush out the following week and spend what you saved b/c that defeats the purpose. Instead, put it in savings or pay off some debt. 2- It will give you a new appreciation for how you spend (or waste) your money on a weekly basis. 3- It will remind you of all the great things in life that don't have anything to do with money. 

   While you're on a fiscal fast, use up the food in your pantry. Canned goods, pastas and sauces, cereals, etc. Use up the items in your fridge that are nearing an expiration date. All the condiments in the door that are almost gone - use them to season/marinade/flavor your cooking. The spending freeze includes gas and necessities too so make sure your gas tank is full and keep your "errand running" to a minimum during the fast. Make sure you have toilet paper, dog food, medication and things that you will absolutely need for the week but DON'T STOCKPILE! Do things at home for free entertainment like play board games or have a Wii tournament. Do a craft project with supplies you already have. Give yourself a home mani/pedi. Ride your bike wherever you need to go if possible AND ride your bike for something to do. Take it to a nearby park and ride the trails. Pick up that book you've been meaning to start and dive in. There are a lot of things to do after work and on the weekends that don't cost money. This is your chance to rediscover those things.

  We are accepting this challenge starting tomorrow. Do it with us and comment on the blog about your experience! 

Dining In

   We don't go out to eat that often for two reasons: It can be expensive, and I don't personally care for chain restaurants and the taste of commercial food. I believe with a good cookbook, culinary creativity, and some effort, you can make a delicious, first-class meal at home for half the cost and much more fun. Lately, I have been trying to recreate meals from some of our favorite restaurants.
   Recently I gave my best attempt at duplicating Harry's Seafood and Grill's chicken Baton Rouge. It's a grilled chicken breast covered in roasted red pepper sauce and melted goat cheese and I also made the sweet corn grits side dish. I NAILED it! It was awesome and I was really proud of myself. It would have cost us $40 (or more) to eat at Harry's but we ate at home for about $15 instead.

   Last night was my dad's birthday. We wanted to treat him to his favorite dinner - which would be something on the Sonny's menu - but dinner for 4 even at Sonny's could be pricey. And I knew cooking at home would make it special for him. So Ian and I prepared BBQ baby back ribs, which Ian slow cooked in the oven for 3 hours the night before and then grilled before dinner time, BBQ chicken, potato salad, baked beans and corn bread. For dessert I made a chocolate cheesecake with malted milk ball crust. The crust was my idea but I got the recipe for the cheesecake from my chocolate Pampered Chef cookbook. We feasted like kings :) Everything came out really delicious and we had plenty of left overs for lunch for a few days (bonus savings if you can get multiple meals from your cooking/leftovers). A meal for 4 at Sonny's probably would have run us somewhere around $60-$70. The cheesecake that I made, honestly could be comparable with the ones from the Cheesecake Factory. The cheapest chocolate cheesecake on their menu is $47 (for the whole cake). Thats over $100 for a birthday dinner for 4. However, by recreating all these yummy dishes at home, we made our feast for about $50.

   Cooking at home is almost always cheaper than dining out. There are many ways to get creative in the kitchen - using cookbooks, watch cooking shows, attend a cooking class or invite friends over to brainstorm new menus. The internet has millions of blogs and websites with great recipes for free. Print them, clip them from magazines! Get cooking!

  **These are a few of my favorite cookbooks. Hit the discount section at Barnes and Nobles or try Amazon.com for great deals on famous cookbooks.

    

  

Coffee Costing You Lots?

   If you are a coffee person and you're "outsourcing" for your caffeine fix, you're tossing a lot of money down the drain that could be in your piggy bank. Whether it's one cup in the morning and the occasional afternoon pick-me-up, or if you drink it all day long - slightly unhealthy by the way - there is much to be saved by changing your coffee intake habits.

   Let's say you stop at McDonald's or Dunkin Donuts each morning for a regular cup of Joe. That's roughly $1.50/day = $7.50/week = $30/month = $360/year (based on a M-F schedule) just for your daily cup of coffee! If you like foofoo coffee, like me - caramel latte or frapachino something or other - then you're looking at $2-3 per drink, roughly $600/year. If you're a Starbucks coffee drinker, you're looking at even more.

   Do I recommend boycotting coffee shops? No, of course not. But I do recommend brewing your own coffee at home before you leave for work, or brewing it at the office for your daily coffee fix. The occasional cup of gourmet coffee is a splurge everyone needs to decide if they can afford individaully. A 40 oz. tub of ground coffee will run you about $12.50 and last about 2 months. That's maybe $75 a year in coffee - a gigantic savings!

   If you decide you'd like to start brewing your own coffee, or you already do at home but you'd like to start at work, don't run out and by a $40 coffee pot. Check out your local thrift store's appliance section and pick one up for a couple dollars (you might want to find an electrical outlet in the store and plug it in to be sure the warmer plate works before you make the purchase). There are dozens of flavored creamers or even flavored coffees on the market that will give you the same gourmet taste that Starbucks delivers but for a fraction of the price.
   **Bonus: Invest in a good reusable/travel coffee cup like a Tervis Tumbler instead of using disposable cups to save even more money!

Date Night on a Dime

Fun doesn’t have to equal lots of dollars. Here are 15 date night ideas for a tight budget that I found on the Nest.com.

1. Go to the movies for cheap. There are ways to do movie dates on a budget: Find second-run theaters. They cost about $2 per person per show. Or go to a matinee of a current movie. Ocala even has a drive-in theater and you can bring your own snacks/drinks/dinner picnic!
2. Make it a lunch date. Order from the lunch menu -- it's cheaper than dinner and the portions aren't that much smaller.
3. Go to a cooking class. Go to Williams-Sonoma and attend one of their cooking demos. You'll have some new recipes to try instead of going to a restaurant, so you'll save even more money.
4. Rethink tool time. Cooking stores aren't the only places with free how-tos: Hardware stores like Lowe's and The Home Depot have DIY seminars. You can both learn to fix things, and it's fun and free!
5. Make a reservation -- for dessert. Cook dinner at home and then head to an ice cream shop for dessert. Drive around or go for a walk for good conversation time. Valentine's Day is coming up and the Melting Pot is a really popular choice but also very expensive. Consider just doing dessert there for your special occasion.

6. Have a Wii night. You've already invested in a Wii, now use it for date night. Have date-night Wii tourneys and make some interesting bets to spice things up. Anything goes, from doing dishes to sexual favors. **We also like to play dirty word Scrabble. You can play words that get you fired up for later :)
7. Hit the links. A really fun date is going to the golf course and playing just nine holes. I did that recently with my husband. Even if you guys aren't good, it's still fun.
8. Volunteer together. For a feel-great date: Volunteer together somewhere. Serve at a local food pantry or help Habitat for Humanity build something. It's a great bonding experience and is practically free.
9. Step up to the plate. Take a bat and a ball to a local school or community park and play around. Get into it with knee-high socks, baseball hats or even your favorite team's jersey. **Ian and I played on a team for a softball charity event I organized last year. It was a lot of fun!
10. Get crafty with your home improvements. Decorate and date! **This might work for some - BEWARE household projects can be stressful on a couple so remember to take it easy and don't be critical of each other during this process.
11. Go on a field trip. Soak up culture free of charge: Our neighborhood library has free passes to local museums. You can check out the passes like a library book.
12. Read all about it. If you look in any local paper, you can usually find an entertainment section full of cheap activities in the next few days. Stick to your own neighborhood so you won't have to use extra gas or waste travel time. **Speaking of reading, read a book together! We are going to hike the Appalachian Trail this year and we received a book about the trail for Christmas. We plan on reading it together :)
13. Pack a picnic in the park. Pack a picnic basket: blanket, bottle of wine, cheese, fruit, etc. Head down to a lake or park and enjoy. **We did this on our honeymoon by a lake and actually fell asleep on our picnic blanket. It was very romantic.
14. Take a staycation. You don't even have to leave the city limits: There is a lot to do in your hometown, I'm sure. **Marion County has a horse racetrack, canyon ziplining, cave diving/"splunking", antique stores, hiking trails, rivers for tubing and canoing, the possibilities are endless!
15. Have a theme night. Schedule a theme dinner and movie night at home. Create a menu based on the movie you're watching. For example - the movie Sabrina and cook a French dish from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking! **Ian just got me this cookbook so this is definately on my list for theme night!

Brown Bagging It

   Okay, so maybe I don't bring my lunch in a brown paper bag (which is wasteful by the way), but I do bring my lunch to work on most days, in my pretty Vera Bradley lunch box. If you're not already in the habit of packing a lunch, it can be a difficult habit to get into. First you have to keep lunch-friendly items in your fridge and pantry that are easy to grab in the morning. You also have to take into account the few minutes it will take in the morning to throw your lunch together. If you don't, you'll be late for work.

   If you're currently going out to get lunch every day or even a few days of the work week, you could be wasting a lot of money. Let's name a few places that we would likely eat lunch at - Panera, Boston Market, McCallisters, Crispers, Moe's or even Wendy's. The average lunch meal with a beverage at these places will run you about $8. That's $40/week = $160/month = $2,000/year! If anyone who was eating out for lunch everyday made a commitment to bring their lunch to work this year, you'd be 1/5 of the way to our savings goal just by changing your lunch habits!

   I'm personally making this commitment. In the past I've brought my lunch 2-3 days a week. But this year, I'll be "brown bagging it" everyday. And a bonus to packing your lunch is you can manage the healthy choices you put in your bag. Choose veggies and fruits for snacks and whole/multi grain bread for sandwiches. You can save time by making and packaging some things in advance. (see photo)

   Brown bag lunch ideas: dinner leftovers, tuna/egg salad and crackers, PB&J, soups, sandwiches, salads, pretzels, fruits, veggies, nuts, granola, yogurt, pudding/jello cups and oatmeal.

Budget Basics

   Now that we've jump started our savings, let's lay some ground work. The first thing anyone should do when trying to save money is make a budget. Your budget should include your total income, as well as all debt, bills, monthly expenses, etc. Hopefully - fingers crossed - when you put this on paper, your income should be greater than your necessary expenses. If it's not, take a good look at your budget and see if there's anything you can cut from your expenses.
   If your income is greater than your expenses, however much that is should be your monthly goal for savings. Don't forget to give yourself a little cushion for things like lunch once a week, dinner with a friend, renting a movie, the things in your life that aren't necessary but you don't want to give up. For example, our household monthly budget includes a few hundred bucks that we call "flex money". Date night is important to us. Even if it's just sushi once a month or having a drink downtown.
   If you have a job that affords you any kind of additional pay on top of your base salary, like overtime or commission or even an annual raise, this additional monies should go straight to your savings account. For example, Ian is a salesman and works on commission. If his average paycheck is X, and that is what we've budgeted ourselves to live on, then anything over X should be saved. It definaetly takes discipline on payday because it's really easy to say "Well, we just got paid so let's go to dinner. And a movie. And Gander Mountain." But what we should do on payday is look at our direct deposit and immediately transfer anything more than X right to the savings account.
   If your income is barely covering your expenses, have no fear! You can still save money this year. There are hundreds of ways to save money. Stay tuned for tips on trimming your monthly expenses.

Jump Start Your Savings

   Happy New Year everyone! I hope you rang in the New Year in a good way with your loved ones. We sure did! We attended a BBQ at our friends’ house for the eve and then Ian went to the Gator Bowl with his parents and brother. Now that we are officially in 2012, let’s get down to business and save some money, shall we?  

   To kick start our savings plan, we have to make some changes. Now, whether these changes are small or drastic, every bit is significant to the long-term goal. We started by making a change to our car insurance. First of all, we pay our car insurance bi-annually. Almost every insurance company offers a savings when paying bi-annually vs. monthly. It can be over $200 a year in savings so look into that if you’re not already doing it.  We received our 6-month premium bill from Geico last month and it was for $770 – which is $35 more than the last 6 months. So, I went online to get a quote from 3 or 4 other companies. I made sure to select the exact same coverage so the comparison premium would be fare. At least 2 other companies quoted me a premium for $100 less than Geico. To be completely fare, I called Geico and told them I was looking to lower our bill and asked if there were any other savings opportunities available for us at this time. I’ve been with Geico for 8 years and didn’t want to switch if I didn’t absolutely have to. The lady on the phone assured me I was taking advantage of every opportunity already and that there was no way I could lower my bill. So, that settled it. Before my insurance lapsed, I called Progressive and gave them my quote number. Our new premium is $625. That is a savings of $145. We did receive a one-time discount of $50 to sign our documents online. But even without that discount in the next renewal, it’s still a $95 savings – which is $190 a year!

   So what does that mean right now? If I had made the payment to Geico, we would be out of pocket $770 today. But instead, we are only out of pocket $625. I will take the $145 we saved and put it into our savings account TODAY!