Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

Anyone who has known me for more than about 10 minutes knows that I am a fairly frugal individual. If you've known me longer than that, you'll probably just call me flat-out cheap!

When I first got out into the "real world" I managed to get by on a series of minimum wage jobs. Then I experienced something that I know others have also experienced: as my wages increased, so did my cost of living. Every time I got a raise or moved to a higher paying position, I took on more expenses: newer (and more reliable) cars, larger apartments, trips overseas, etc.

Then, several years ago, my good friend Angela gave me the book "Women and Money" by Suze Orman. Though I don't enjoy listening to Suze in person, the content of the book really smacked me upside the wallet. While I had managed to pay off my student loan and keep a few hundred dollars in the savings account, I couldn't help but thinking that I could, and should, be doing better. So began my critical thinking about money, budgeting and consumer lifestyle choices in general.

I began tracking all my spending in an Excel spreadsheet. I opened money market savings accounts for Emergency Savings, Periodic Expenses and Travel. I taught myself about retirement options and set up a plan to save more each year (raises get automatically added to my pre-tax contributions). I chose not to pay for cable, Internet, gym memberships, and many of the forms of entertainment that others consider necessities (think books, music CDs or downloads, DVDs, going out to drink/eat/watch shows regularly). Later, I began to make my own yogurt because it saves me about $10 a month over buying mass-produced yogurt. I even volunteered to help with the Savannah Music Festival so that I could see some of the amazing shows but not have to pay and seek out other free activities around town. Maybe the most drastic action of all is the fact that each quarter I take a "spending vacation" where the only thing I buy is gas for the car and groceries. That's right, I don't spend money on ANYTHING except gas or groceries.

A lot of folks think that I live this way because of my job: if I'm teaching others how to live below their means, pay off debt and save money then I have to practice what I preach. In fact, I was doing most of these things before I took this job, and have just kept building on my previous experiences. Living below my income actually allowed me to take a pretty drastic pay cut to take this position (my gross adjusted income dropped by about 25% on my taxes this year!) but maintain a comfortable standard of living.

Last night I sat down and reviewed my finances for the first quarter of 2010. Whereas I used to just track my spending, this year I wanted to stick to a pre-planned budget to take my money management to the next level. My monthly budget for all expenses is $2000 (which includes a double car payment to have my car paid off within 3 years), with another $200 assigned each month for savings. For the first quarter I managed to spend less than my budgeted amount and save more than projected!

You may be wondering why I am posting such detailed information about my personal finances. I mean, people aren't supposed to talk about their money, right? Well, I'm writing about my budget exactly to GET people talking about money. There is a social taboo, a code of silence, about money matters, and it does little more than make us feel more isolated and insecure about how we deal with money. I encourage you to talk to your friends and family (especially children!) about money, buying habits, costly consumer choices, use of credit, debt levels and retirement goals. One of the best ways to break the mentality of keeping-up-with-the-Jones is to realize that the Jones are up to their eyeballs in debt and can't keep up with themselves! No one is perfect, but if you talk to others I can almost guarantee that you can learn, or even teach, something new.

Did someone order an Ark?

While I've been enjoying beautiful Spring weather and 80 degree days, my friends in New England have gotten hammered by heavy rain storms. Basements flooded, streets flooded, rivers overran their banks, schools and businesses closed and people have lost power. Here are a few pictures of the Westerly area and their water woes.

Care Package #20: Cabin Fever Cookies and North Georgia

I should have posted this before now, but it has been a busy few weeks (really, is anyone surprised by that?). Last week I tried yet another awesome recipe from the best snack cookbook in the world! I give you Cabin Fever Cookie Bars:
1/2 C brown rice flour
1/2 C old fashioned oats
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4C chopped walnuts
1/3 C canola oil
1 C brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 C M&M candies

Pre-heat oven to 350. Combine flour, oats, salt, baking powder, walnuts and M&Ms. In a separate bowl, beat together the oil, sugar, vanilla and eggs. Add the dry ingredients and mix well. Pour into a greased 9x9" pan and bake for 30 minutes. Let cool then cut into bars.

Since this was the box that Brian would get right before Easter, I had to add some candy as well. It was a terrible temptation to have that many Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Eggs around the house, but they all made it into the box.



Last Friday Piedmont College had their first Career Day, and I volunteered some time to talk to folks about budgeting and credit. The turn out was a little lower than expected, but I was glad to help out.

Seeing Piedmont again was fun, but the best part of the weekend was getting to visit with my friends and staying at Timbrook, the Dover's farm. I'm sure that I am not the only person who feels this way, but staying on the farm is my idea of a perfect, relaxing get-away.

Suzanne's home cooking is yet another reason to look forward to visiting. My last trip to the farm back in May 2009 was the first time that I used her wood stove to cook an egg for breakfast. Food just tastes better when it's cooked on a fire.

Two of the grandchildren spent some time riding horses (and even the mule, Molly) on a beautiful spring day.


On Saturday we took a nice little road trip up to North Carolina and stopped at an overlook for this stunning view. I can't decide which I love more: a mountain view or living near the beach.

A helpful and entertaining post.

April is Financial Literacy Month! Check out a great article that offers some easy steps to do some financial spring cleaning: It's time to spring clean your money savannahnow.com

Now for the entertaining part (not that I don't find money topics entertaining, because I do even if most other people don't...). Have you heard about the Peeps Diorama Contest? No? I tend to lose track and miss it each year too. But you can check out the top finalists here. Some very clever Peepers out there!

Care Package #19: Half Domes Cookies and misc.

A few weeks ago we had a great group of University of Florida students volunteering at the CCCS office. They were part of the Florida Alternative Break program, and spent their Spring Break working with us. They were a wonderful help and seemed to enjoy their time in Savannah. As a "thank you" I had the group over for dinner their last night in town. As much as they enjoyed the food and snacks, Harley was the real hit of the evening and I was afraid they would try to dog-nap her!

Miriam has been curious about the kinds of goodies that I've been sending Brian, so she came over last week to help me make the Half Domes Cookies. It came as no surprise that they are delicious, and she brought a big bag home.

Half Domes
1C butter
1C brown sugar
1C white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2C wheat flour
2.25C old fashioned oats
1tsp baking powder
1tsp salt
1C chocolate chips
1C dried cranberries (I used coconut instead of cranberries)

Pre-heat oven to 350. Combine all dry ingredients. Beat together the butter, sugars, vanilla and eggs. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter and blend well. Drop teaspoon-sized scoops onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Canetha and I made an excellent batch of the granola and she was looking forward to using it as an ice cream topping. Baking is always fun, but baking with friends is even better!

Spring has officially sprung here in Savannah. The flowering trees are in full bloom, forsythia and daffodils are spreading their cheery yellow petals, and the birds are a rucus chorus even before the sun rises. I have to say, I think this is the most beautiful time of the year in Savannah. Don't believe me? Come on down and check it out for yourself!

CCCS in the news

Here is a nice little piece in the local news about couponing. I'm getting better at it (meaning I'm saving money, but have also stopped buying things that I don't use just because I have a coupon and it's on sale!).





I've been doing a lot of reading about all the credit card and overdraft changes. My boss, John, and one of our clients was just on WSAV talking about the same topic.

Credit Card Reform?

Just a little something to tickle the brain...