Phil's blog

2009 is almost here. Can you believe it? As I think back on 2008, I feel extremely blessed at all that we've been given and all that we've been able to accomplish. I will forever remember 2008 as the year I made the rap video and competed in the Pay Yourself First Challenge.

As good as 2008 was, I have so much to look forward to in 2009. Most importantly, getting to meet our little girl. I feel good knowing that we've been able pay ourselves first, make progress with our savings goals, and have a better sense of security about our situation.

Thanks for all your support and I hope you have a wonderful 2009.

Bartering Saves Money

This week we've been using our computer to create a DVD for a friend of ours of her home videos and pictures. While we're glad to be able to provide this service to our friend, we were able to make a nice trade: our friend is making us a custom bumper and bed skirt for our little girl's crib.

Just goes to show you that to have something nice you don't need to necessarily go out and spend a ton of money. Look for ways to exchange a bit of your skills for the things you want. Bartering is sometimes more time consuming and "old school", but there's something pure and frugal about trading skill for skill.

More Free Baby Stuff

Also, we've been blessed to pick up a few more freebies from friends. In addition to the maternity clothes Teresa received a while back, we recently were given a door jumper, a couple of gently used bouncers, and an activity exercise center. All of these are on Million Dollar Journey's list of 8 Essential Infant Baby Toys. I guest-imate they'd cost us $175 had we purchased them new ourselves.

Our New Crib

Lastly, last week I promised some video of the crib we just bought with our savings. The shipping and assembly of the crib would have costs us around $150. So I opted to put in the time and effort to do it all myself. That saved money can go towards our savings goal.

Thanks to MacGyver, one of my favorite TV shows from back in the day, for the inspirational theme song. I wish MacGyver were still around to show me more ways to save money, MacGyver-style of course.

Hope your Holidays are blessed and happy.

-Phil

Tim recently shared a big splurge he'd made on a new MacBook Pro. Good choice, Tim. I thought I'd take a second to confess a splurge of our own: we just bought a nice, brand-new crib.

Our New Crib

The frugal guy inside me wanted to search craigslist.com or local consignment shops for a crib, or simply go find a heavily discounted cheap-o crib. But the future Dad in me wanted a nice, shiny new, safe piece of furniture for my baby girl's room.

Needless to say, future Dad won out over frugal guy. But, that's why we're in this contest so we can have the money saved to afford these types of purchases, and not have to always make the most frugal choice, right?

It Converts!

As a plus, it's a convertible crib (converts up to a full size bed). So, if we're able to make the most of this bed, our little girl could be using the crib for 18 years or longer. This is starting to sound like a good deal.

I understand there are mixed reviews on the cost-effectiveness of the convertibles though, so I'll temper my enthusiasm and just be glad we have one nice piece of furniture for our girl's room.

More Crib Info

For some guidance on buying a crib be sure and check out this section on baby expenses - cribs at Four Pillars financial blog.

I'm putting this crib together this weekend. So, hopefully you guys will get a sneak peek by video.

-Phil

Hi everyone! I hope your post-Thanksgiving Day blues are wearing off quicker than mine. Thanks for stopping by the blog.

So, I'm looking at our closet right now. My wife, Teresa, has a bunch of nice maternity clothes hanging in there. It's like they magically appeared. I watch our bank account pretty close and I can't say I've seen any major purchases come through. What's up?

Thankfully she didn't go out and buy (or steal) all these clothes. The word is, they were lent to her from some of her good friends who recently had little ones of their own. Awesome!

I suspect had she purchased all these clothes herself it would be pretty expensive. At least $500, using my guestimator.

A big THANKS to friends for free maternity clothes.

I've since learned that there are also consignment stores that specialize in maternity and baby clothes. So, if you don't have any post-preggo friends, hunt down one of these stores and save some money.

Or, just stay home and wear sweats all day. Which, is what I would do. :)

-Phil

Thanks so much for reading, commenting, and voting! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday!

I'm back from my long work trip. It's good to finally be home. It's tough being away for so long, but there are some definite savings benefits for being away. Here are just a few I could think of:

• Auto and Gas - I didn't have to use my own vehicle for the past three weeks. That's at least one tank of gas I saved. Plus, that's three weeks less wear and tear.
• Utilities - Although my wife was still at home, it's likely that we saved a bunch of money on our home utilities like electricity, gas, and water since only one person was using it instead of two.
• Food - This is the biggie. As I've shared in the past, our food expense can be one of our biggest budget busters. With me not incurring any food expenses for three weeks, we surely saved a good deal of money.

I'm looking forward to these savings showing up in our FNBO Direct Online Savings Account in the next few weeks.

I think everyone has a unique way they can find to save some extra money. My job helps me to save more. What's your unique way of saving? Let me hear from you in the comments below.

-Phil

Thanks for your excellent comments on my last post. Your answers were great and really helped me to get more comfortable with the decision.

Health Care Plan Choices

We decided to go with the premium plan. With it's lower deductible and higher percentage coverage, the premium plan will end up costing less in 2009 considering the medical charges we're likely to incur.

As for the flexible spending account, we decided to contribute $2,000. A conservative number we came up with after factoring in the estimated total cost of delivery, doctors visits, and our plan's coverage and deductible.

Once our baby is born we'll also get to make changes to our plan. So, at that time we'll do another quick analysis to ensure our selections still make sense.

Life on the Road

I'm currently wrapping up a long road trip for work. Likely the longest time I've ever been away from friends and family. Life on the road has it's challenges, but it actually is an opportunity for us to save more money.

In my next post I'll share some of the ways that being on the road for work so long has helped us to spend less back home. Stay tuned and keep up the voting.

-Phil

Ready for something really exciting? It's that time again at work: benefit re-enrollment. Stay with me here. Even though it's not that exciting of a topic, there's some money to be saved here...I've just got to take the time to figure it all out.

Over the next few days (3, to be precise) I need to study up on our options in these two main areas: health insurance plans and flexible spending accounts. Luckily, my company offers both. Both are excellent benefits. Here's how I'll approach my review of these two benefits:

Health Insurance Plan - We have two plans at my work that we're considering right now: a basic preferred provider organization (PPO) plan and a premium PPO plan. The main differences between the two: basic is cheaper on monthly contributions, but it has a higher deductible and lower coverage percentages; premium costs more every month, but has a lower deductible and will cover a bigger percentage of the actual expenses.

Basically, I need to sit down and estimate how much in medical expenses we'll incur in 2009. Then, using that number, apply it to both plans and see which one comes out ahead.

In the past we've always gone with the basic plan. In 2009, with the delivery and pediatrician visits we're sure to rack up the medical bills. I'm betting on the premium plan to win out, but we'll have to see. I'll let you know what I decide.

Flexible Spending Account - First, let me add for those that might not know: a flexible spending account is an account that lets you set a side pre-tax dollars and use them on qualifying health care costs.

So if I sign up, my company will pull money from my paycheck periodically, and place it in this account. I then go out and ring up a bunch of health care expenses. Finally, I send the plan administrator evidence of my expenses and they reimburse me through the account. Sounds complicated the way I explained it, but it's not that difficult.

One other thing to note, our plan is the "use it or lose it" type. I can't put too much money in the plan or I run the risk of not spending it all and losing that money. That wouldn't be good.

So, in all, there's a lot to analyze with our health benefits. And it starts with a good estimate of how much we'll be spending.

To go along with this post I've posted a video blog question.

In case you can't view the video, my question is:

How much do you contribute every year to your flexible health care spending account? And if you aren't using yours, why? If you don't have the option of one, what other tips might you have for saving money on health care expenses?

Okay, I'm off to complete my benefit re-enrollment process/analysis. Wish me luck, vote, and don't forget to answer my question in the comment section below.

-Phil

Several items to update you on this week:

On the Road Again

I'm in Sydney for a few days with work. While I'm sure to spend a little on weekend sightseeing expenses, our monthly food budget will shrink back home since the company picks up all my meals out here on the road. I'd love to hear your thoughts on places to visit, great restaurants, etc. Let me know in the comments below.

Registering for Baby Stuff

My wife and I registered for a few baby items this past weekend. I sort of feel weird about registering for gifts but I'm told some friends will be throwing us a baby shower, so the registering is required. Oh well, I got to hold the scan gun.

One key item to note from the registering was the inclusion of the Diaper Champ in lieu of the Diaper Genie. Here's the Consumer Report article on these Diaper Pails. In short, although the Champ under-performs in the smell category, it more than makes up for it in savings because you can use your own bags.

Kind of funny but as we were discussing pail options in the aisle a woman overheard us and jumped right in with her opinion, singing the praises of the Champ. She insisted that we register for it. We did. Who knew there was such passion out there for diaper pails. :)

Direct Deposit in Full Effect

I want to thank everyone for your continued votes. The direct deposit from my employer should start up soon, bolstering my savings percentage. Just wanted to point that out since I've heard once or twice now from some of my supporters that I'm not doing my part to win this thing (i.e. actually saving money). To you I say, "slow and steady wins the race". Remember the tortoise and the hare? Seriously though, look for the percentage to jump greatly soon.

Super Savers

Finally, kudos to Kristen and family for saving so much already. Very inspiring, guys. Not only with how much, but by how you're actually doing it. Very creative. Thanks for sharing the details.

-Phil

Just a quick note to remind you to vote. Do I think either candidate will have an affect on my ability to reach our PYF Challenge savings goals? Not really. Still, some of their plans (taxes/retirement savings) may end up affecting me (and likely you) in the long run.

So get out there, know the issues, and vote it up!

Voting for the U.S. President is great and all. But isn't it kind of overrated compared to other voting opportunities? Not only do you get just one vote, but you only get to vote once every four years. Kind of lame?

Here at the Pay Yourself First Challenge you can come back everyday and cast another vote (for me, of course). How awesome is that?

Be sure and let me know if you've been following along on the blog and casting your vote everyday.