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Shared May 2, 2012 comment

Do you live in or near Joplin, MO? I’d love to meet you this Saturday!

Published: by Crystal Paine on May 2, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I’ll be speaking to the Joplin Mothers of Preschoolers this Saturday (May 5, 2012) and they’ve graciously said that I can open this free event up to my local readers, too.

So, if you live in or near Joplin, MO, and are free on Saturday morning, I’d love to have the chance to meet you.

I’ll be speaking from 9:30-10:30 a.m. and my topic will be, “I’d Throw in the Towel — If Only I Could Find a Clean One.” I’ll be sharing some of the tips, tricks, and lessons I’ve learned the hard way as a mom of young children.

The workshop is geared for Christian moms of young children who are feeling weary, exhausted, or just in need of some practical encouragement in how to juggle things without feeling overwhelmed and burnt out. However, no matter what stage or season of life you’re in, you’re more than welcome to come!

Joplin, MO Workshop Details

When: Saturday, May 5, 2012, at 9:30 a.m.

Where: College Heights Christian Church, 4311 E Newman Road, Joplin, MO — we will be meeting in the atrium outside of the worship center.

Cost: Free (Please note: There will be no childcare available.)

RSVP: So that we can make sure and have plenty of handouts, freebies, donuts & coffee for everyone, could you do me a favor and email me at [email protected] by Friday at noon if you are planning to attend and whether you’ll be coming by yourself or with a friend? Thanks so much!

Any questions? Feel free to email me.

Shared May 2, 2012 comment

Reader Tip: Don’t Spend Your $5 Bills

Published: by Crystal Paine on May 2, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Julie emailed in the following tip:

My husband has always been a cash user, and only uses other forms of payment when necessary. As for myself, I still have a debit card, but I try to use cash for most of my purchases.

Using cash has allowed us to implement a simple savings plan (my husband’s brilliant idea) that has helped us purchase a number of big ticket items in our household, including our computer, camera, and dining table.

What is this savings plan you ask? It’s simple… don’t spend your $5 bills.

I realize a five-dollar bill seems like a rather large bill to just stop using, but when you’re using the cash system, you may find that you don’t notice it as much. (Except for the occasional time you have to break a $20 and get three $5’s in return, and — oh yes! — it happens.) When this does happen, just close your eyes, put those $5 bills in your jar and move on. Before you know it, you’ll be able to purchase that item you’ve been waiting for!

If you just can’t force yourself to give up those $5 bills (or you’re in a financial position where every penny matters), start out with $1 bills or even quarters. Instead of spending them, stick them in a jar and save them. Before long, they will really start to add up!

For more money-saving tips, check out Julie’s blog, MeagerMom.com.

Shared May 2, 2012 comment

Ask the Readers: Is a Vita-Mix worth the money?

Published: by Crystal Paine on May 2, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Today’s question is from Amber:

Is a Vita-Mix blender worth the money? If you have a Vita-Mix, what do you use it for? -Amber

Do you have a question you’d like to ask Money Saving Mom® readers? Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.

Shared May 2, 2012 comment

How We Trimmed Our Budget By 50%

Published: by Crystal Paine on May 2, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Guest post from Tiffany of Don’t Waste the Crumbs

There is a lot to do when you first get married: decide where to live, determine who has the better sofa, create a budget… wait, a budget??

Creating a budget was not high on our priority list when my husband and I first got married. And to be honest, we had no clue how to (or a desire to) create one.

We spent our first year of marriage in “bliss,” buying whatever we wanted without a second thought. We each had two new cars, bought a new house (with a mortgage) and put all the “necessities” for a new home on credit cards.

When I became pregnant, we decided that I would stay at home and reality hit — hard. We had to figure out how to live on half our income, while adding a baby (and their own related expenses) to the mix.

How were we going to make it work? After sitting down together to discuss our expenses, we created a budget and a new budget-oriented motto:

If it doesn’t come in, it can’t go out.

We immediately started trimming our expenses every corner we could:

We cut our dining budget to $80. Monthly Savings = $520
We traded in our large sedan for an efficient commuter car. Monthly Savings = $280
We “fixed” the gas budget to allow one tank of gas for the family car and the bare minimum for my husband’s commute. Monthly Savings = $100
We cut our monthly grocery budget to $400. Monthly Savings = $200
We combined our cell phone service and reduced our plan to the minimum available. Monthly Savings = $90
We traded in our SUV for an efficient family sedan. Monthly Savings = $100
We traded in our local cable package for basic satellite service. Monthly Savings = $50
We reduced our internet speed to the slowest available. Monthly Savings = $40
We traded in our “standard issue” trash and recycle bins for largest recycle (free) and smallest trash bin. Monthly Savings = $20

These changes allowed us to live on one income!

While our needs were being met each month, we weren’t able to save or put more than the minimum payment on our credit cards. Shortly after our son was born, I started a business online designing wooden letters for baby nurseries. I didn’t make much money, but it was enough to double our credit card payments each month, putting us one step closer to paying them off.

For months we continued to work on our budget, cutting what wasn’t absolutely necessary and saving every penny we could. I started clipping coupons, played the drug store game, followed frugal blogs such as MoneySavingMom.com, and continued to create and sell wooden letters.

We sold our house and moved across the country in order for my husband to take a job that allowed for greater growth and advancement. Over 20 months, we slowly made progress towards paying off our debt – first a small credit card balance, then my husband’s commuter car. It was hard to be motivated at times, but as Crystal says, slow progress is still progress.

Sweet victory came one month before our second child was born: we paid off the family car and became officially 100% debt free. The icing on the cake? We had enough cash saved to cover six months’ of living expenses!

Creating a budget early in our marriage completely changed our lives, how we view money, and in turn, how we live.

My first child is now 4 1/2 years old and despite job promotions and increased income, we never stopped our “bare minimum” budget. In fact, we’ve cut it even more in some places as we’ve learned to better utilize our resources.

Being debt free has given us true bliss — it’s allowed us to live within our means, be intentional with our spending, and give to others in need.

Tiffany is a full-time mom who teaches part-time and blogs at Don’t Waste the Crumbs, sharing ideas on kids, food, frugality and making the most out of the small pieces of life.

Shared May 2, 2012 comment

Yesterday’s Target Shopping Trip

Published: by Crystal Paine on May 2, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

The children and I went to Target after they finished all their homeschool projects and chores yesterday. Target is one of their very favorite places to go and they are always looking for paid chores to do throughout the week so that they can have money to spend when we go to Target. 🙂

Here’s what I bought:

1 Neutrogena Lip Balm — $2.49, used $2/1 Neutrogena cosmetics coupon = $0.49 after coupon

2 Reach Floss — $0.97 each, used 2 $1/1 Reach coupons = free after coupons

2 packages of GE lightbulbs — $2.79 each, used 2 $2/1 coupons = $0.79 each after coupons (our store didn’t carry the lightbulbs that would have been free after coupons)

2 packages of Barilla pasta — on sale for $1.16 each, used 2 $1/1 Barilla coupons = $0.16 each after coupons

4 bananas (for Freezer-Friendly Banana Bread) — $0.91

Total with tax: $3.48

WANT TO SAVE $100 FAST?!Join the FREE 14-Day Savings Challenge!

Click here to sign up!

Shared May 1, 2012 comment

Last night’s Dillon’s shopping trip

Published: by Crystal Paine on May 1, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Our whole family headed out to Dillon’s last night after dinner. I was planning to go by myself, but all of the children wanted to tag along, so Jesse graciously came, too, so that we could get through the store more quickly (something about three children and grocery shopping doesn’t usually equate a quick shopping trip!).

Here’s what we bought:

Comfort Baby Puffs — used free coupon

2 Silk single-serve milks — $1.25 each, used 2 $1.50/1 Silk coupons = free plus overage after coupons

1 gallon milk — $2.98

2 family-size bottles of Suave — $1.55 each, used 2 $0.50/1 Suave coupons (doubled) = $0.55 each after coupons

2 bottles of Gold Peak tea (not shown) — $1.29 each, used 2 $0.75/1 coupons (“doubled” to $1 off) = $0.29 each after coupons

1 Dawn dish detergent — $1, used $0.25/1 coupon (doubled) = $0.50 after coupon

1 box of Kashi cereal — $2.99, used $2/1 Kashi coupon from Recyclebank = $0.99 after coupon

Annies’ Deluxe Mac & Cheese — used free coupon

Cheddar cheese (16-oz.) — $2.99

2 Rosarita Refried Beans — $1, used $1/2 coupon = $0.50 each after coupon

Total with tax after coupons: $8.54

Shared May 1, 2012 comment

10 goals for this week

Published: by Crystal Paine on May 1, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Last week’s goals:

Family/Mothering Goals

~~1. Read five chapters each of Quest for Truth:Taken and Thomas A Edison: Young Inventor aloud to the children.~~

2. Start one-on-one homeschooling times with each of the children {I’ve been doing this with Kathrynne, but not consistently with Kaitlynn and Silas, so I re-did our daily routine this weekend so that I could start meeting one-one-one with each child every day.}

~~3. Go on an overnight date with Jesse.~~

Personal Goals

4. Finish reading The Three R’s. ~~Start another book.~~

~~5. Run at least five times.~~

6. Finish listening to Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality.

7. Write and send two handwritten notes.

Home Management

~~8. Follow my Spring Cleaning plan & blog about it every weekday.~~

~~9. Make Homemade Pop Tarts.~~

Business Goals

10. Go through my “To Answer” email file (that’s been quite neglected in recent weeks!) and answer all emails.{I made some headway on this, but didn’t quite get all through it.}

This week’s goals:

Family/Mothering Goals

1. Read five chapters each of Quest for Truth:Taken and Thomas A Edison: Young Inventor aloud to the children.

2. Start reading a book individually with each child.

3. Write a love note to Jesse.

4. Family trip to Joplin, MO.

Personal Goals

5. Finish reading The Three R’s, Remembering You, and Read for the Heart.

6. Run at least five times.

7. Start listening to The Little Big Things

8. Write and send two handwritten notes.

Home Management

9. Follow my Freezer Cooking plan and blog about it.

Business Goals

10. Prep for my speaking engagement in Joplin, MO on Saturday.

How did you do on last week’s goals? What are your goals for this week? I’d love to have you share your progress on last week’s goals and your goals for this coming week in the comments. Of, if you’ve blogged about it, leave your direct link below. Let’s cheer each other on to live purposeful and productive lives!

You can download a free customizable weekly goal-planning sheet here.

Shared May 1, 2012 comment

This week’s menu

Published: by Crystal Paine on May 1, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

Breakfasts

Granola bars
Cereal
Strawberry Pineapple Smoothies, oatmeal
Scrambled eggs, fruit salad
Waffles, scrambled eggs, fruit
Egg-in-hole, fruit
Granola, yogurt, and berry parfaits

Lunches

Waffles, scrambled eggs, fruit
Snack-y lunch
Leftovers
PB&J, carrot sticks, apples, granola bars
Hard-boiled eggs, toast, fruit
Beans and rice, veggies
Lunch out

Snacks

Fruit/veggies
Chewy Granola Bars
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

Dinners

Build Your Own Haystacks
Homemade pizza, tossed salad, fruit salad
Chicken and veggie stirfry, muffins, fruit, veggies
Potato Veggie & Beef Hash, Easy Whole Wheat Bread, fruit salad
Steak, sweet potatoes, fruit salad, steamed veggies
Dinner with extended family x 2

What’s on your menu this week? Share details and/or your link to your menu plan in the comments.

Shared May 1, 2012 comment

Do It Yourself: Painted Terracotta Pots with Chalkboard Labels

Published: by Crystal Paine on May 1, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

HalcyonHomestead.com shows you how to make painted terracotta pots with chalkboard labels.

Do you have a fun and frugal DIY idea to share? I’d love to hear about it! Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.

Shared May 1, 2012 comment

4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Week #1 Breakfast Freezer Foods Plan + Shopping List

Published: by Crystal Paine on May 1, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Are you ready to get busy filling your freezer? My goal with this challenge is to erase your fears of freezer cooking and to show you that — no matter what stage or season in life you’re in — you can find a way to make it work for you.

In the process, I hope you fall in love with freezer cooking, if you haven’t already. It’s been a huge sanity-saver to me so I can’t help but be a big advocate of it. 🙂

Here’s this week’s list of Breakfast Foods I’ll be making to stick in the freezer along with a grocery list (let me know if you see any mistakes on amounts needed):

Freezer-Friendly Breakfast Recipes

Tuesday — 2 loaves of Our Family’s Favorite Banana Bread
Wednesday — 2 dozen Cinnamon Rolls (I’m using this bread dough recipe and this filling/topping recipe.)
Thursday — Triple batch of Whole-Wheat Waffles
Friday — Double batch of Freezer-Friendly Baked Oatmeal
Monday — One batch of Homemade Baking Mix

Grocery List

(I rounded up on the amounts needed, just to be safe. You probably have many of these items already on hand. You’ll want to double-check that you have the correct amounts, though.)

1 dozen eggs
6-8 ripe bananas
One package of butter (4 sticks)
20 cups of freshly-ground flour or two 5-lb. bags of whole wheat, all-purpose, or a mixture of both flours
1 package of brown sugar or raw sugar
1 bag of sugar (You’ll need at least three cups — can substitute raw sugar)
1 bag or box of powdered sugar
Cream of tarter
Powdered milk (you’ll need 1 1/4 cups)
1 canister oats (regular or quick oats)
Oil (any kind — you’ll need at least one cup)
Coconut oil (you’ll need around 2 1/2 cups)
Milk (you’ll need at least 2 cups)
Baking soda
Baking powder (make sure you have at least 1 cup)
Salt
Vanilla
Cinnamon

Freezer Storage Items Needed

Foil
Plastic Wrap
10-12 large ziptop freezer bags
2-4 glass or aluminum pans (to freeze Freezer-Friendly Baked Oatmeal in)
1 airtight lidded tub (to store Homemade Baking Mix in, if you don’t want to use freezer bags)
Something to label packages with (marker to write on bags, labels, and/or tape)

Click on the “Print This” tab at the top of the list to generate a printer-friendly list. (If you’re reading via email or a feed reader, you may need to click through to the post to print the list.)

Before you head to the store, make sure to clean out and organize your freezer and check that you have enough storage space for these items in it.

OVER-SPENDING EVERY SINGLE MONTH?Grab these FREE Budgeting Sheets!

Click here to download!

Eating PB&J Sandwiches can change your finances...and your LIFE! Short-term sacrifices can be difficult, but SO worth it in the long run!

Shared Apr 30, 2012 comment

If you want something badly enough, you can usually find a way

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 30, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Two weeks ago, I wrote a post on surviving on a $30 per week grocery budget. Many of you found the post helpful and inspiring. But a handful of people really disliked the post.

In the blogging world, that’s totally to be expected. You can’t please and inspire everyone all the time and I’ve learned and grown a lot as a person and a writer from the constructive criticism I’ve received as a blogger.

However, what I found interesting was that most of the people who didn’t like the post got hung up on the fact that I was suggesting you eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch every day for a week.

The grocery list and menu I shared was meant to serve as an example that you can eat on $30 per week and still set aside a little extra toward your stockpile so that, within a few weeks, you can have more wiggle room and variety in your diet. I wanted to show that it can be done — if you’re willing to get creative and you’re willing to make short-term sacrifices.

Truthfully, Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches Are Not All That Bad

While eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every day for a week might sound outrageous to some, it’s actually not all that bad. In fact, one of the many little things we did to stay out of debt while my husband was in law school was to eat lots and lots of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

We didn’t eat peanut butter and jelly every single day of the year, but choosing to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on a very regular basis over Subway or Sonic — or even turkey and cheese sandwiches — was a simple thing we could do to help inch us in the direction we were aiming for.

How Motivated Are You to Get Where You Want to Be?

Where do you want to be financially in a year from now? What about five years from now? What simple short-term sacrifices can you make to help you get there?

If eating peanut butter and jelly every other day isn’t your thing, consider what short-term sacrifices might work for your family. When Jessica and her family were working really hard to get out of debt, they set their thermostat up a number of degrees in the summer in order to save money. Jessica was pregnant at the time and I’m not quite sure how she managed, but their family was highly motivated so they made a lot of sacrifices — including sweating out a hot Kansas summer — so that they could get out of debt much more quickly.

When There’s a Will, There’s Usually a Way

If you want to get out of debt, stay out debt, save more, or give more, it’s likely going to mean making some sacrifices — especially in the short-term. You can’t change your financial situation unless you also change the way you’re doing something.

But you have to be willing to change, willing to cut back, willing to give things up, willing to eat less than gourmet meals, or willing to not have the latest and greatest gadget or gizmo. How willing you are to make changes is directly dependent upon how motivated you are to get where you want to go.

If you want something badly enough, you can usually find a way. It won’t always be easy, fun, or glamorous to make short-term sacrifices, but it will be every bit worth it.

What simple, short-term sacrifices is your family making to get where you want to be financially? I’d love to hear!

Shared Apr 30, 2012 comment

May’s Challenge: 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 30, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

In May, we’ll be filling our freezers together in the 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer Challenge.

Whether you’re a freezer cooking newbie or an experienced pro, I hope you’ll find inspiration, ideas, and maybe just the extra motivation you need to get some freezer cooking done in order to save time, money, and your sanity!

I’ll be cooking or baking something every weekday for my freezer and I’ll be blogging about what I cook or bake each evening along with a link-up for you to share any freezer cooking or baking ahead you did that day.

I’ll be sharing my weekly plan and recipes at the beginning of the week so that you can follow along and cook what I cook, if you’d like. We’ll be tackling breakfasts the first week, lunches the second week, dinners the third week, and snacks and desserts the fourth week.

If you’d rather create your own plan, that’s wonderful, too! Just do what works best for you.

And if you don’t have any time to do extra cooking, than you can just read along and get some new recipe ideas. Or, you can skip these posts altogether. 🙂

Come back tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. and I’ll share the list of recipes I plan to tackle this week.

Shared Apr 30, 2012 comment

2012 Goals: April Update

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 30, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

How are you doing on your goals for 2012? I’m excited about the progress I made in April…

Personal
Read through the Bible in a year. {I’ve been keeping up with this faithfully.}
Read through the 24 books on my 2012 booklist. {I’m almost finished with April’s books and have read quite a few other books!}
Listen to 12 audiobooks. {I just finished April’s audiobook and am starting on May’s!}
Run in at least one 5K race. {Finished the Couch to 5K program and am now working on getting my time down. Hoping to sign up for a race soon.}
Complete the Couch to 10K program.
Tackle 12 Do-It-Yourself Projects. {I made homemade poptarts last week!}
Focus on one habit per month. {I made some good headway on my morning and evening routines in April?!}
Learn to use my new DSLR camera (huge surprise Christmas present from Jesse!!) & improve my photography skills.
Take at least one photo a day and put together a page every week for my Project Life album. {I’m behind on putting my album together, but I’ve been doing good about taking lots of pictures!}
Memorize Colossians using the plan and free download here. {I’m almost caught up with this.}

Marriage
Go on the Love Like You Mean It Cruise. {Done–read my recap here.}
Go on two Marriage Retreats (Went to Cincinnati together in April).
Have monthly date nights. {We had one date in April.}
Read four books together. {Jesse read Rekindling the Romance in April and we talked about it since I had just read it in March. We also read parts of One of Us Must Be Crazy… And I’m Pretty Sure It’s You together!}
Read at least 3 books on marriage. {I’ve read two so far this year.}

Children/Homeschooling
Continue regular dates/outings with each of the children individually. {I went on at least one outing with each child individually in April.}
Continue Grace and Truth memory book. {The children finished memorizing the Lord’s Prayer plus two other verses and one verse of a hymn this month.}
Ice-skating lessons for all three children. {The children finished up their second round of classes and we enrolled them in a third round since they are enjoying it so much!}
Swimming lessons for all three children.
Finish second grade, begin third grade with Kathrynne. {We should finish this in May!}
Finish kindergarten, begin first grade with Kaitlynn. {We should finish this in May!}
Start preschool with Silas. {Started this in April.}
Go on at least one field trip every month. {We went on one field trip in April.}
Go on at least one family vacation.
Finish at least 15 read-aloud books. {We’ve finished nine read-alouds so far this year.}

Ministry/Friendships/Extended Family
Write at least two handwritten notes every month to encourage someone. {I wrote & mailed two handwritten notes this month.}
Continue being involved in our local church, homeschool group, young couple’s group, and blogging accountability group. {Ongoing}
Continue with weekly get-togethers with both sides of our extended family. {Ongoing}

Business/Blogging
Continue to take Sundays off from blogging/business work. {Ongoing}
Continue keeping strict Office Hours for the business/blogging time each day. {Still plugging away on this!}
Switch to a paperless planning system. {This is going well for me, though I’ve decided I’m probably never going to be 100% paperless for all things.}
Follow my weekly blogging plan. {I didn’t do this perfectly in April, but I did pretty well most days.}
Plan blog posts out at least a month in advance. {I made some great progress in this area in April!}
Write and schedule blog posts at least a week in advance. {Making some headway with this, though I’m far from where I want to be!}

Financial
Continue to tithe 10% of our income. {Ongoing}
Give generously to needs in our community and around the world, as God prompts us. {Ongoing}
Pay cash for a new-to-us vehicle to replace our family’s van. {We’re still looking and haven’t found anything we love in our price range yet!}
Finish saving for and purchase a rental property with cash. {Thanks to finding out we set aside too much for taxes this year in our tax savings account (we got burned last year when we had to pay more than we expected, so we set aside quite a bit more than we thought we’d have to pay this year), we ended up with a lot of extra money in our tax savings account after paying our taxes. So we’ve almost fully funded our rental property savings goal amount and are beginning our search for rental property — woot! We’re still investigating our options right now and we’ve not completely settled on what we want to invest in, so we may decide we need to save quite a bit more depending upon what we find now that we’re starting to look. I’ll keep you posted!}

How Are You Doing on Your Goals for 2012?

If you’ve posted goals for 2012, I’d love for you to post an update on how things are going and share your link in the comments. If you don’t have a blog, feel free to just leave your update as a comment. Let’s encourage one another to live lives of intention and purpose!

Shared Apr 30, 2012 comment

How to Stay Motivated When Paying off Debt

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 30, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Guest post from Kacie of Sense To Save

When you’re in the process of getting out of debt, sometimes it can be a challenge to stay motivated until it’s all paid off.

If you are feeling a lack of motivation, here are a few tricks to help:

Tally your debt totals.

List all credit card balances, car loans, student loans, mortgages, and personal loans. Get a complete picture of your debt balance, interest rate for each, and minimum payment.

Break your debt into smaller chunks.

If you have a large, overwhelming balance on a student loan, don’t focus on the full amount. Instead, break it into smaller amounts.

For example, if you owe $50,000 in student loans, break that amount into the number of semesters you took. Want to break it down further? Try breaking it down into classes. Viewing $50k as eight $6,250 semesters, or 40 classes at $1,250/pop might be easier to tackle.

If your debt is a mortgage, you can calculate how much house you have paid off and translate that into square footage in your home. For example, we’ve paid off about 20% of our house — roughly enough to own our garage and a bathroom.

Create a visual representation of your debt.

Post it somewhere in your home where you and your family will see it often. Try a graph that you color in as you make progress.

Write the debt total on a post-it note and wrap it around your debit card in your wallet.

Use play money to represent your debt. Tape it to a poster board and remove the bills as you make progress.

Pick a debt pay-off date and put it on your calendar.

Calculate how long it will take you to get out of debt if you only made minimum payments. Next, figure out how much in interest you’d pay if you never made an extra payment.

Using Dave Ramsey’s debt-snowball principle of listing your debts from the smallest to largest balance, apply as much as you can to the principal of the smallest debt and pay only the minimum on the other debts. Eliminate that first debt, and then repeat while building momentum. You might also want to call your credit card companies and ask for a lower interest rate to help make even more traction.

Here’s a handy calculator to track your progress with your debt snowball. It will tell you when you’ll be debt-free. For each individual debt, note the projected pay-off month and see if you can beat it by selling extra things and reducing your expenses for awhile.

Tell a friend when you hope to have each debt paid.

Accountability is important! If a friend knows you should have your Visa paid off by July, she can follow up with you. If you’re feeling bold, post your debt numbers or target payoff date on your Twitter or Facebook account for even more accountability.

Stick to your plan and see it through. The short-term sacrifice will be worth it!

Kacie blogs at Sense To Save. She and her husband have paid off roughly $20k in debt, built a 6-month emergency fund, and have a mortgage. She’s working on a retirement guide to help herself and others get on track for investing for the future.

photo credit

Shared Apr 28, 2012 comment

How We Switched From Debit to Straight Cash

Published: by Crystal Paine on April 28, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Guest post from Cassi who blogs at The Fitness Failure

About a year and a half ago, my husband purchased Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover and it drastically changed our lives. We learned how to budget our money and save money by using cash.

Our first decision was to implement the envelope system!

We had tried using cash to pay for groceries in the past but inevitably we would turn to the debit card when we went over. We solved this problem by purchasing an inexpensive calculator that I could use to keep track of our total as we shopped so that we would not go over.

I learned to take my time shopping and pay close attention to prices. The longer I used the envelopes, the easier shopping became. I also realized another added benefit to the envelopes — they held my coupons that I needed for any given shopping trip and eliminated the possibility that I would forget my coupons at home.

Since switching to cash we have reduced our grocery bill by over $150 per month. We always have a stockpile of cereal, pasta, and other canned goods. And because I now pay more attention to the amount of cash that it leaving my envelope, I am better equipped to handle sales on items that I need to stock up on. This has afforded me the opportunity to buy more fresh produce throughout the year and has helped me to plan healthier meals for my family.

Holidays used to be a grocery bill buster, but now my husband and I plan for holidays by budgeting more money for groceries in November, December and April. We no longer have to panic when a holiday arrives wondering how we will purchase the few added expenses.

Using cash has totally transformed our lives.

We do much less impulse shopping and we pay very close attention to where every penny goes. My husband and I are much less stressed and we have a stronger relationship as a result.

Tips for using cash:

Use brightly colored envelopes to categorize and organize your cash — it makes them easier to keep track of!
Invest in a decent calculator — one that flips closed is best if it is going to live in your purse!
If you don’t want to use a calculator (or you can’t find it) round up on everything and jot the total down on your list periodically so you don’t lose track.
Don’t figure coupons in when keeping a running total. This helps you have money left at the end of your shopping trip for things you may need to buy later.
Leave your debit card at home — that way you will not even be tempted to think it is okay to go over.
Always leave wiggle room — try not to spend every last cent so that you have cash left mid-month if you need it.
Don’t forget to figure tax into your total — this could break the bank

Cassi is a wife, mother, and high school English teacher in South Dakota. She loves to read, write, paint, use coupons and is passionate about saving money. She blogs at The Fitness Failure.

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