The Simple Life: Using Creativity to Solve Problems

Since our son is allergic to milk, eggs and peanuts I struggle with feeding him enough protein. It doesn’t help that he usually spits out any chicken or hamburger that I try to sneak in. Then I had a revelation, why not make eating chicken fun?

When we went on our trip last week we introduced our son to the joys of dunking his french fries in ketchup. I usually cover our son’s chicken nuggets in ketchup but I had never tried to show him how to dip it himself. So, when Tim made some homemade chicken nuggets for our son, I squirted some ketchup in a bowl and demonstrated the dipping technique. He loved it and ate every piece of chicken!

Now I know this is a simple remedy that probably every other mother in the world would have thought of before me, but it worked and that is what counts. I think in many areas of our life if we try to be a little more creative we can find simple solutions to our everyday problems.

IRS Free File

Did you know that if your adjusted gross income for 2008 is $56,000 or less, you may use selected tax softwares and efile your federal taxes for free? Go here for details and make sure you access the software through the IRS’s site.

We took advantage of this program the last couple of years when we were poor college students. Using tax software certainly made it easier for us to understand the tax code and we received our refund through direct deposit within two weeks. We found TaxSlayer to work best for us and when we compared it to TurboTax, we got the same amount of deductions. We even used this when our taxes were a little more complicated, i.e. Tim owned a business, worked as an independent contractor and we had to file in multiple states with multiple W-2s. Keep in mind that if you want to use tax software to file your state taxes you may be charged, depending on the state.

We are now gathering up all of our tax documents and preparing to file online again this year. We still qualify to efile  our taxes for free, and it’s nice knowing that with all of the headaches of preparing taxes, at least we don’t have to pay for preparing them this year.

America’s Cheapest Family

The book America’s Cheapest Family Gets You Right on the Money: Your Guide to Living Better, Spending Less, and Cashing in on Your Dreams by Steve and Annette Economides is a book I would recommend to all of my readers. The Economides are the parents of five children and have pinched pennies to stay out of debt and build up their savings. They have paid cash for used cars, mastered thrifty shopping and paid off their first home in nine years, on an average salary of $35,000/year. They are now paying off their second, larger home and employing their same habits of thrift. This book shares how their budgeting, disdain for debt and money saving habits have helped them achieve these goals and taught the value of saving to their children.

This book has great suggestions on cutting auto costs, saving money at the grocery store, buying clothes for less and saving for vacations. The book also addresses the problems with debt and the virtue of savings. Although many of the ideas in the book I have learned other places, I picked up a few tips on saving money on healthcare and entertainment.

The main idea that I was impressed with in this book was how the Economides set up their budget. Their process is a little in-depth, so I’ll do my best to summarize but I would recommend either checking out this book at the library or buying it just to read about their system of budgeting.

Throughout the month the Economides recorded every transaction in their main checkbook and would pencil in a category (food, gas, recreation, etc) next to each entry. Then twice a month when they received their paycheck they would get out their budgeting notebook and do a more in depth budgeting session together.

They set up their notebook so that each category had its own page and was a “subaccount” of the checking account. The total of all of their categories was the amount they had in their checkbook. First they would transfer all of the transactions from the main register into each category and subtract what they had spent. They then would divide their paycheck up into each category and add in how much they had budgeted for each category until everything equalled the amount in their main checking account.

So for example, here’s what their subaccount clothing might look like.

97.00 (starting balance)
-20.00 (garage sales)
77.00
+30.00 (bi-weekly allotment for clothing)
107.00 (ending balance)

The thing that I liked the most about this system was that it’s set up so that you know how much money you have available for clothes, or repairs or other items at any given time. This way, even if it looks like you had $3,500 in your checking account and should have plenty available for entertainment, after you had seen how much was set aside for repairs, insurance, clothing, vacation and other expenses you would see you had much less available than you thought.

Overall, this book was a great read and got me psyched up for our savings goals this year. I also learned more about the different type of emergencies we should be saving for. I have to thank my sister Shaunda for recommending this book to me and I would recommend it to all of my readers regardless of your gift at thrift.

Being Flexible With Your Goals

No matter how you try to prepare, life happens and sometimes you fall behind on your goals. This month we had many unplanned expenses including a quick trip to New York and buying new tires for the trip instead of waiting until next month to buy them.

In the midst of some of these unplanned expenses, we have had to dip into savings and fallen a little behind in our 2009 financial goals. Sometimes it’s hard not to get discouraged when you’re doing your best to save and live within your means and you fall behind in your timetable. But the key is to keep your eye on the big picture. Even with all of these expenses we didn’t go into debt, we continued to pay on our student loan and we know next month will be a little better. And the truth is, we have savings for months like these.

So for the rest of the month I’ll pass up grocery and CVS deals and live off of our cupboards and supplies. We’ll still have plenty to eat, a roof over our heads and each other. But don’t be surprised if I jump into ultra-thrift mode these next few months, especially because…. we’re preparing for baby #2 in August. But that’s for another post.

Weekly Menu: Sausage Stew

With a lot of unexpected expenses this month, we are eating out of our cupboards until next week. Here is a look at our menu. I’ll be making slightly bigger batches so Tim can take leftovers to work.

Monday: Spinach rice casserole
Tuesday: Sausage Stew*
Wednesday: Spaghetti
Thursday: Chili
Friday: Pizza
Saturday: Potatoes and Noodles
Sunday: Tim’s cooking

*Sausage Stew
6-8 cut potatoes
1 chopped onion
1 sliced smoked sausage
2 cans green beans, undrained
1 can corn, undrained

In large pot combine all ingredients.  Cook about twenty minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Add salt and pepper as desired.

In Memory of Zach DeRidder

We just learned a good friend of ours, Zach DeRidder, passed away. He heroically battled liver cancer for three years. He was a great friend and an inspiration to many. He will be greatly missed. You can read more of his story here and here.

It’s times like these that help you remember what is truly important in life and that is family and friends. I will be gone the rest of the week traveling to the funeral and will be unable to write posts. Please keep Zach’s family in your thoughts and prayers.

Hulu

Hulu.com is a website where you can watch television shows and movies for free. We don’t own a tv and have been using Hulu for quite a few months to watch many of our favorite shows without costing us a penny.

In addition, we frequently use Hulu movies for our date nights. They add movies each week and during the past few months their selection has grown to include such movies as My Best Friend’s Wedding, The Karate Kid, Men in Black and many others.

Hulu programs have small advertisements throughout the show to pay for the service, but these are much shorter than television commercials. In addition parents should be aware that Hulu has some racy programs not suitable for children.

My sister just sold her tv and cancelled cable after trying Hulu for a week because of the money it would save her with her limited tv watching. We recommend Hulu to others who are looking for free entertainment to help them save and get out of debt.

The Simple Life: Beans and Rice

I have read many frugal experts who tout the benefits of beans and rice. The dish is cheap, easy, and healthy, especially when using brown rice. The only problem was that Tim and I couldn’t find a recipe that tasted good. Then Tim struck gold.

He found this recipe online that was quick, cheap, yummy and we had all the ingredients on hand (with slight modifications). We served it to our friends who enjoyed it as well. We often put it in homemade tortillas with salsa, cheese, sour cream, lettuce and tomatoes or whatever we have on hand. But these aren’t necessary and invariably drive the cost per serving up.

To make this recipe even cheaper we don’t buy canned beans but instead soak and cook dry beans ahead of time then divide them into ziplock bags and freeze them until needed. I’ll even save some of the water I cooked them in with some beans to flavor the beans and rice. We also have used kidney beans in this recipe. We don’t purchase instant rice either so I’ll throw either white or brown rice in our rice cooker and add it to the recipe at the end.

Although this recipe is simple we enjoy how easy and versatile it is to make. Since it makes a lot we always have leftovers for lunch or another dinner. Now that we found a recipe we enjoy I too can tout the benefits of beans and rice.

50 Free CVS Prints

I picked up my 50 free prints from CVS this week and didn’t pay one dime for taxes or shipping. CVS is running a special where new photo customers get 20 free prints for signing up and an additional 30 free prints for linking their CVS card to their account.

I am so excited because now we have photos to put in the picture frame Tim bought me for Christmas and have photos to send to grandparents too.

Using Your Talents to Make Money

As the economy struggles, it is more important than ever to stay current on your skills and talent and be creative on ways you can make money by using your skills.

Tim and I  have both used our talents throughout our marriage to make extra money when needed. Tim is a whiz at computers and technology and has spent hours teaching himself how to build websites, market websites and create videos with advanced software. Because of these skills he has been able to pull in extra money through the years when certain projects come up. He hasn’t done a freelance project lately because his interests now lie elsewhere, but we could always fall back on his talents for extra income if needed.

I have played the piano since I was a child, and although I have no degree in music I still love to play and have kept up my skills. When a few friends asked if I played the piano or knew anyone who taught piano lessons, I volunteered that I could teach beginning lessons. I made it clear that I was only comfortable teaching beginning piano lessons and after 2-3 years their children would most likely need to move up to a more advanced teacher.

After setting up a few arrangements I began teaching piano lessons once a week. Since we don’t have a piano yet I drive to their houses and teach lessons in their homes. We also arranged that they would watch my son while I taught their children. I adjusted my rates to include the cost of travel and the service of the childcare they were providing me.

Although the extra money I make each month is a small boost to our income, I don’t teach lessons just  for the money. I have found that teaching piano lessons gives me a creative outlet and provides a social experience. In addition I love teaching children the power of music. But it’s great to get paid for something that I love doing.

I believe everyone can learn a skill they could monetize for extra income when needed. Although this site is based on living “ononeincome”, finding little ways to add income certainly helps your financial bottom line. In addition, it’s always nice to get paid for something you enjoy doing. Whether your talent is sewing, writing, woodworking or countless other hobbies see if you can find a way to earn a little extra money doing what you love.

Next Page »