Saving Families Money Since 2007
Today’s question is from Nicole:
I’ve had a AAA membership for over six years now, and have needed their services a total of two times! I have not needed to call for the last four years since we got a new-to-us car.
Do you think the peace of mind is worth $140 per year to keep this membership?
Do you have a question you’d like to ask Money Saving Mom® readers? Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.
Guest post from Sara.
If there were a competition for de-cluttering, I’d be the winner. I picture a Biggest Loser-style competition. Confetti would fall onto my smiling face immediately after they shouted “Sara Bell, you got rid of 91% of your personal belongings. You are the biggest de-clutter-er!”
No, really. I got rid of 91% of my personal belongings.
My husband and I love to travel, so we decided to move into a trailer and travel all over the U.S and Canada. At the time, we lived in a two-bedroom condo with a garage so we knew we’d have a lot to get rid of. We just had no idea just how much!
Here’s how we did it…
Do we really need two TVs when only one of us actually watches TV? No. Then do we really need two DVD players? No. Since our laptop plays DVDs and our Xbox is always hooked up to the TV, do we need a DVD player at all? No.
Do we really need a desktop computer when we are usually just on the laptop? No. Do we really need two bookshelves when neither is completely full and one is a little rickety? No. Do I really need five of the same-sized sauce pan when there are only four burners on my stove any ways? NO.
Once you’ve done that, congratulate yourself!
That vase was a gift but I think it’s ugly. I have hated every book I’ve attempted to read by that author, yet I still have three more of his/her books on my shelf. That dress hasn’t fit me since I was in high school. I don’t know whose that is, but I’m pretty sure it’s not even mine.
All of it has to go!
Yes this part is the hardest part, especially for me since I am a very sentimental person. I was crying during half of my de-cluttering process because I felt guilty for getting rid of things someone gave me.
I had movie ticket stubs dating back to 2002. I had sweaters I’d hated from the moment I’d unwrapped them, many with the tag still intact. I had colorful scribbles drawn by kids whose last names I couldn’t even remember. I had 24 notes from my little sister-in-law, even though they all say the exact same three sentences on them.
When I couldn’t bring myself to throw something away, I’d tell my husband. Some of the things he’d look at and say “See if your parents will store it.” Some he’d look at and say, “Just keep that.” Some he’d look at and say “You’re joking, right? Throw that away right now.”
If you can’t throw a lot of it away, have a friend or family member do that with you. They don’t have the strange emotional ties to the object that you do, so they’ll be able to logically see if it’s something you’ll regret throwing away or if it’s garbage.
We gave our friends and family members a lot of things — especially our furniture. We put many of pricier items up on Craigslist… and we had a big garage sale. Anything we couldn’t sell we either gave to Goodwill or threw away.
We didn’t bring anything back into our house once it was out in that driveway.
Now I’ve trained myself not to buy things I don’t need. 91% of my belongings were things I didn’t really care about getting rid of. 91% of the things I’d spent money on were things I didn’t mind throwing away.
I don’t buy clutter anymore, so I have more money to experience life with. I don’t have a ton of clutter all over my tiny little trailer, so I don’t have much tidying up to do and I don’t really feel any stress in that area. I de-clutter again on the first of every month… but I have to tell you, I de-clutter less and less every month and I think you will too.
Sara Bell is a 20-something currently residing in Prescott, Arizona. When she isn’t bargain-shopping or cooking, she loves reading, writing, knitting, and photography. She and her husband recently moved into a trailer so they can travel the U.S. in it.
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I introduced you to Chris Seay on Monday (watch the video here, if you missed it) and he shared a little of his heart for giving and reaching out to the poor.
In today’s video, Chris shares more about his yearly 40-day fast and how it looks for him and his family.
While what Chris and his family have chosen to do might not work for your family, I’d love to challenge you to consider what you could give up in your own life to experience in a tiny way what millions of those in poverty experience on a daily basis.
Perhaps you could considering eating oatmeal every morning for breakfast for a month. Or, have a meatless meal twice a week for an extended time period. Or, eat from the pantry for a few weeks. Or, maybe you do something entirely unrelated to food.
Watch the video short below and then I’d love to hear your ideas on how a 40-day fast from excess might work for your family:
Interview w. Money Saving Mom Part 2 from Chris Seay on Vimeo.
If you’re looking for an easy non-dairy alternative to whipped cream, this recipe is for you. With only 3 ingredients and a few minutes of hands-on time, you won’t even miss the actual “cream”!
Since one of my children is on a dairy-free, gluten-free diet, I’ve been on a mission to find some creative alternatives to things they usually eat that are healthful and yummy.
I’ve had a number of flops, but I’ve also hit on a few yummy recipes, too — like the Non-Dairy Whipped Cream I made last week.
It’s so simple and easy to make and we all agreed that it was yummy — especially if you can’t eat regular whipped cream!
1. Refrigerate a can of coconut milk overnight.
2. The next day, open it and spoon out into a bowl (it should be somewhat hardened from refrigeration).
3. Add powdered sugar and vanilla.
4. Whip with a hand or stand mixer until it resembles whipped cream.
5. Serve and enjoy!
Make sure to share and save it on your favorite platform below!
Meal time just got so much easier!
Guest post from Andria.
The last time I saw my grandmother was six years ago when my husband and I were on our honeymoon. We now live on the other side of the country and our two boys have never met their 90-year-old great-grandmother.
We are determined to make the 2,300-mile trip to visit her this year, and to do it debt-free!
The price tag for the trip is about $2,000. We are not going to use our savings or credit card. We are going to sell our way to California, and simultaneously accomplish our goals for the year: de-clutter, organize, and simplify our home!
I tend to be a neat freak, but in the past year, I have become increasingly overwhelmed by the amount of “stuff” accumulating in our home. Perhaps my sentimental tendencies are to blame; it’s hard for me to part with toys we have given to our boys, gifts we have been given, etc. But I’m running out of space and something has to be done!
We set aside one evening a week and several hours on Saturdays to de-clutter our home. We tackle one room at a time – together. We feel it is important to stick together since we are making tough decisions as to what stays and what goes.
We start at one end of a room and go through every nook and cranny, getting rid of everything we can reasonably live without. This is a time-intensive task as the contents of drawers, countertops, shelves, and closets are examined and put to the test:
If something doesn’t pass the test, it goes in the trash or a “to sell” box.
Granted, the heartstrings of sentimental value have been tested at every turn, but we press on because we’re tired of clutter, and we want to reach our vacation goal!
So far we have tackled three rooms, and our home is already feeling much “lighter.”
Here are some of the items we have set aside to sell so far:
We set aside a large section of our garage as a holding area for the boxes of things to sell. Our goal is to finish the task by the end of February and have a celebratory garage sale in March. We will also be selling some items online (Facebook, eBay, Craigslist, etc.)
The hope of an exciting, debt-free family vacation is a powerful motivation for us as we de-clutter our home. The more we sell, the sooner we can go to California!
Andria Alexander lives in Pittsburgh, PA with her husband and two sons. She teaches coupon classes in the tri-state area, has a weekly coupon segment on KDKA TV, writes bi-monthly newspaper articles, and blogposts.
We had the incredible opportunity of getting to have Chris Seay and his cameraman come to our home for a short visit last week. Chris is a pastor, author, and a man with an amazing heart for the poor. I was so blessed and inspired to meet him and get to hear a little of his heart.
Chris has traveled all over the world to visit those living in poverty. He’s seen suffering beyond what most of us could even begin to fathom (some of the stories he shared just blew my mind!). But he’s not just witnessed the poverty, he is actively seeking to live a life of walking with the poor–sacrificing his own comforts and wants in order to reach out to those in desperate need.
In his new book, A Place At the Table, Chris is issuing a challenge for us to not just talk about the dire needs and poverty around the globe, but for us to actually walk with the poor. His book challenges readers to consider a 40-day fast from excess.
This week, I’ll be sharing short clips from our interview and encouraging you to consider if there are sacrifices you feel called to make in your own life in order to help those who are in need in your own area–or in other parts of the world.
In the short video below, I share about two books that have impacted me recently when it comes to giving and living a simple life and Chris shares more about his heart for the poor (excuse the fact that this is the very first time I’ve ever conducted a video interview before so I’m a wee bit nervous about it!):
Interview w. Money Saving Mom Part 1 from Chris Seay on Vimeo.
Guest post by Jen Leo
My husband was laid off. I was five months pregnant and we had copious amounts of bills from spending six years of marriage living beyond our means. Gratefully, I was still able to work full-time, but the unemployment compensation was substantially less than what my husband had been making.
It took six months before my husband found another job, and in that amount of time, we learned that we could live on much less than we thought.
My heart’s desire is to stay home with our son, and we’ve learned from those six months that we can make it work with a tighter budget. So I quit my full-time job and took a job as my church’s secretary working only about 12 hours a week.
My husband is still gainfully employed but our budget is tight so I start following blogs like MoneySavingMom.com to learn how to stretch our dollars. More importantly, I read a life-changing book by Dave Ramsey called The Total Money Makeover and decide to focus all of our energy into paying off debt.
On a smaller income than we’ve ever had, we have managed to pay off two credit cards, two hospital bills, and one student loan (roughly $3000), plus put aside $1000 in an emergency fund.
After we paid off our final credit card, my husband was let go from his job…again. While this was a considerable blow to us emotionally, and our fervent prayer is for him to find work soon, I know that because of our diligence over the past year we can breathe a little easier on the financial front.
This layoff is going to be much different since I’m no longer working full time and we have a three-year-old at home. I’m not going to lie, I find myself stressing over how we’re going to make it. But I also look at the three years he was employed as a “transition”.
This job allowed us to pay off thousands of dollars of debt and has allowed us to have a small cushion to fall back on in this unexpected time. It’s also freed us up for my husband to find a job he really likes that may make less money than we’re used to because we don’t have this debt hanging over our heads.
I will choose to look at this time as another growing opportunity and another example of how God will bless us if we’re faithful.
Jen Leo shares her life with a wonderful husband, an amazing son, and two dogs. Next to her family, her greatest passions are quilting and finding a great deal!
Here were the groceries we bought this week:
We spent $21.76 to buy the above groceries at the health food store and Aldi. See the full price breakdown here.
Then, we stopped by a new health food store in town (Natural Grocers) on our date night to check it out. I wasn’t impressed with the prices, but we did get a free bag of almonds thanks to a coupon a kind friend had shared with us that she wasn’t going to use.
We also bought three dozen eggs from my brother for $6.
And last, but not at all least, we stopped by Braum’s today to get a half gallon of ice cream and cones as a special treat for those in our family who can have dairy. (I made a fantastic non-dairy dessert with coconut whipped “cream” for the non-dairy eater–I’ll share the non-dairy whipped cream recipe next week. It’s a keeper!)
Would you like to know what the best deals and coupon match-ups are for your local stores? Be sure to check out the Store Deals section of our site where we post the best deals and coupon match-ups each week for over 100 different stores across the country. You can sign up to receive the top deals in your email inbox each week as soon as they are posted!
Did you snag any great deals or bargains this week or save money in other ways? If so, be sure to post about them on your blog and leave your link below. Please remember that this weekly round-up is to share deals you personally got and/or money you were able to save this week. In order to keep this weekly round-up focused on helping and inspiring others in their efforts to save money, links which have little-to-no content other than promoting affiliate links, etc. will be deleted. Also, to make it easy for everyone to navigate quickly through the links, your link must link directly to your Super Savings Saturday post.
Guest post by Kelli Hays of More Bang For Your Bucks
When our son Landon was born six years ago, we were expecting to pay cash for his delivery since we didn’t have maternity insurance. What we weren’t expecting was an additional $2,000 for my last-minute C-section plus $7,000 out-of-pocket expenses due to his rare pediatric liver disease. Add that to the $4,000 for my OB/GYN and other hospital bills, medication, hotel stays, gas, meals out — and we were out $13,000 by the end of the year! (This figure doesn’t count the $60,000 my insurance company did pay for my son’s health diagnosis, biopsy, surgery, etc.)
Just looking at that amount now still takes my breath away. But we were able to do it because we weren’t strapped down with consumer debt.
We had no credit cards or student loans. Both of our vehicles were paid for, and our mortgage was just $250 a month (no, I didn’t leave off a zero! With lots of sweat equity and a private loan, we were able to fix up a house we bought for $10,000 in the year 2002 and keep our mortgage well below what it would have cost to rent.)
We had a lot of stress going on shortly after our son’s birth. On top of being new parents, we had a ten-day stay in the neonatal intensive-care unit, then weekly trips to a city three hours away for the continuing diagnosis process, culminating in his surgery at seven weeks old.
The amount of tears I shed in that seven-week period was probably more than the sum total of my entire life up until that point. If we had to worry about finances, I can’t even imagine how much harder that time would have been.
Because we didn’t have any debt besides our house, all of Landon’s medical bills were paid off within the year. We are very thankful to our parents for teaching us to make wise financial decisions. I will never forget at one point in my infant son’s hospital room, my dad asked me, “Aren’t you glad you don’t have a huge mortgage to cover right now?” And I was.
Now, you may be thinking, “Well, they must have had a high paying job.” The truth is, my husband is a minister.
Our first year of marriage–the year we bought the house–he made $12,000 as a full time youth minister (again, I didn’t leave off a zero!) The next church we served in paid us triple that amount–which definitely took care of our needs but didn’t allow for exorbitant spending. I made $9,000 as a part-time private school teacher.
We just chose to live a simple life.
None of us know when tragedy will strike, but by being careful with the money we have been entrusted, it will take one worry off the table when a crisis does hit.
Kelli Hays blogs at More Bang For Your Bucks about ways to save money, as well as her life as a church planter’s wife (in the city where her son spent his time in the hospital!), mother of three, and do-it-yourself projects. Her son, Landon, is doing phenomenally well.
Guest post from Rachel of The Purposeful Wife
As busy moms and homemakers, we are always looking for ways to stretch a dollar… right? Here’s a new idea that dawned on me the other day: procrastination can be costly.
It started with a deal I found on MoneySavingMom.com.
100 free prints on Snapfish, with shipping as the only cost. There was an entire month to use the code so I put it on my To Do list. And it sat there for the whole month.
But do you think I actually followed through? No — and I missed out on a fantastic money-saving opportunity.
This carries over to the kitchen, too.
I really meant to turn those overripe bananas into bread or muffins that would last us several breakfasts, but I put it off too long and they ripened beyond redemption.
A friend gave me a large container of homemade applesauce, too much for us to eat at once. My intentions were great.
One day I was going to make applesauce pancakes and muffins for the freezer. When that day finally came I opened the container only to find mold growing on top.
Maybe I didn’t have time for extra baking, but even freezing the applesauce in smaller containers would’ve been better than throwing it away. And that would have only taken a few minutes.
Think about your car.
When the check-engine light went on, did you take it straight to the shop, or did you keep driving and end up causing more damage and a higher bill?
Or what about the time you put off balancing your checkbook and ended up incurring a steep overdraft fee? The possibilities are endless, but the bottom line is the same: Procrastination can be an expensive bad habit.
In the book of Proverbs it says: “A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.” Slackness, specifically procrastination in our case, causes rich resources to be wasted. But the hand of the diligent doesn’t miss out on these vital things — she keeps working away, and “makes rich” as a result.
What costly items on your To Do list are you putting off? Do them now, and save yourself money and regret! It pays to act fast.
Rachel and her husband Niall live with their sweet baby girl in Northeastern Pennsylvania. She blogs about home, walking with the Lord, and life as a micro-preemie mom at The Purposeful Wife.
The Girls’ Closet: Before
The girls tackled their closet with me yesterday.
The Girls’ Closet: Before
We examined everything and talked about whether it was something they loved and used. If not, we talked about whether we could pass it on to someone else who would love and use it.
The Girls’ Closet: After
They ended up really getting into the spirit and starting attacking their clutter with gusto–which I was thrilled about since I was expecting they’d not be too excited about getting rid of anything. {As I mentioned earlier this week, they tend to be a bit sentimental about hanging onto things. :)}
The final result? An entire laundry basket of stuff to get rid of!
Next, we’re going to go through their dresser drawers. I’m hoping their clutter-attacking enthusiasm holds out for that project, too.
Did you do any clutter clearing this week? If you posted about it, link directly to your blog post below. We’d especially love to see before and after pictures, if you’re brave.
A testimony from Stephanie, who runs Lilybean
My husband and I have not used our credit cards in some time, but we were still debit card addicts and never realized how those little purchases made it difficult to make ends meet at the end of each month.
Several months ago, I began using coupons and following a couple of money saving, frugal-living blogs. Something that always drew my attention was the ability for people to pay cash for large purchases (a concept that still seemed very unattainable for us due to the lack of extra funds at the end of each month).
We had wanted a sectional couch for our downstairs ever since we moved in two years before, and I asked my husband if he would be up for the challenge of going debit card free, using only cash for all expenses to begin saving for a couch.
He was excited at the prospect and we went shopping for couches to celebrate! We tried out as many as we could that were $1,000 or less. We figured we could put aside $100 a month, so it would take us less than a year. We narrowed our choices and got to work at home saving money.
Here is what we did:
We had been saving for four months when my husband emailed me a link from Craigslist he spotted while posting an item to sell — it was the exact sectional we wanted and it was listed for less than 1/3 of the cost of new. It also included the ottoman which we had not planned on buying due to the additional expense!
We took a look and it was spotless, well taken care of in a pet and smoke-free home, and barely used.
We happily gave them the money we had been saving and used the extra for the hauling cost. It felt like such an accomplishment to snuggle and watch a movie as a family on a sectional couch that was paid in full!
Stephanie Van Horn is a wife, mom to an infant daughter and chocolate lab, and an elementary teacher. She lives in Colorado where the best part of waking up is the mountain view. In her occasional free time, she runs a baby boutique, Lilybean, named after her daughter.
Have you saved up and paid cash for something — large or small? Submit your story for possible publication here.
SimpleOrganizedLiving.com shows you how to make homemade shower cleaner.
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.
Want to make something special for your family for Valentine’s Day? Here are some delicious ideas:
Make Homemade Heart-Shaped Fry Bread — yummy!
Meek & Chic shows you how to make Sweetheart Pancakes.
Amy’s Finer Things has a recipe for Valentine’s Day Fruit Kabobs.
I Can Teach My Child shares a recipe for Stained Glass Valentine Cookies.
Whip up a batch of Maple Oat Heart-Shaped Scones from Life as MOM.
What are your favorite Valentine’s Day themed recipes?
Guest post from Jennifer of Pure and Simple Organizing
Our garages and attics are often the most neglected areas of our home. How often do you actually get in the garage to sort through your precious stuff? We just pile and stuff, pile and forget.
We think that once the garage door is closed, we will forget about all the boxes we have piled and stuffed. However, our sneaky subconscious mind reminds us day in and day out about our clutter lurking in these neglected places.
Does the clutter in your home (visible or not) bother you?
My guess is that it does. We, as humans, crave order, and clutter is not order. It causes stress and anxiety, not to mention, it packs our homes full of stuff that we don’t really need or use. Thus, your home becomes a storage unit, not a peaceful, relaxing domain.
1. Start with the room that bothers you the most (garage, attic, kitchen)
Pick a weekend to tackle the project — it will take longer than you think!
Talk to your family and get them on board with sorting, purging, and cleaning — if the clutter is bothering you, then I bet it is bothering them, too.
If you have a friend who loves to organize, call her, too! You could treat her to dinner or babysit her children for a few hours in exchange for her help.
2. Take everything out. Yes, everything must come out! Make sure that the space is clear.
Sort like with like. (Toys, holiday decorations, pictures, memory lane)
Throw away anything that is broken, moldy, faded, and not in great condition
Donate multiple items and anything you don’t use, love or need.
3. Evaluate your progress and repeat with the next space!
Organizing helps energize and inspire you. You want to live in the moment rather than be succumbed to the past. Treasure your memories as they live in your head and heart, not in your stuff. Display treasured items. If you keep something special, then serve its purpose. Frame your christening gown and hang on the wall! Put your first report card in a photo album.
Keep what you love and use. Toss or donate the rest.
These pictures are of a garage that was badly overstuffed and forgotten. In four days, I managed to create inventory zones for holiday decorations, pool storage, and memory lane. The owners were thrilled! The husband even mentioned putting a pool table in the middle — he had no idea there was so much room up there!
Organize to live simply. Downsize, learn to live in the moment, and you will soon forget about all of the extra stuff.
Jennifer is a home organizer in Charlotte, NC. Her mission is to help families and individuals find calm within their home after clearing out the chaos. Giving someone the opportunity to increase their quality of life by cleaning up and out is her passion! She blogs at Pure and Simple Organizing.
