Living a frugal life means giving up a few comforts here and there. Back home in the DR, one has to forgo air conditioning, hot water, even electricity at times. It's not near as bad as it sounds. We have learned to enjoy the heat and humidity of the Caribbean. But here in Nebraska, the cold dry winter can be pretty hard to tough out without a little help.

Understanding our situation, a family member gave us a humidifier to ease the transition into the less than 100% humidity of the Midwest. It worked great, but in our drive from Atlanta to Omaha a small part went missing. When we tried to turn it on this winter, no luck. Our first reaction, motivated by the discomfort of a hoarse throat and dry skin, was to rush out and buy a humidifier. It would have only put us back $32, but we decided to be patient and look at other alternatives.

We first checked out the local Target to see if they carried the missing piece. Being turned away there, we decided to do a thorough search online for the specific part; another dead end. It was about time to shell out the cash when our frugal army put forth one final charge. Hidden on the inside cover of the humidifer was a little 1-800 number for customer service. We called and explained the situation to the lady on the other line, who, after getting our address, said she would send one over right away, free of charge.

It took about 8 days of going without the humidifier, but at last the small plastic piece came, sent in an oversized box. The box turned out to be a great free toy for Samantha but I'll save that tip for down the road. Our lesson learned:

If something you own doesn't work, don't rush out and purchases a new one. Instead, take the time to fix it or replace the broken part.

In this case, a simple phone call was all it took. Obviously, some things aren't practical to fix, but I'd wager over the long haul "fixing over buying" would save you significant money. Thirty two bucks doesn't sound like much, put every penny counts when you are paying yourself first!

And now I'm curious. I'd like to hear from you, the reader, what is something you have fixed instead of buying a new. Or be brave and share with us a time you couldn't wait out the repair and rushed out to buy. Either way, we would love to hear your stories.

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Thanks for reading my blog. If you like what you see, vote for me! Feel free to email me at kristenpyf@gmail.com, or visit our personal blog. God bless you.
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Fix

Let there be light

The library wins again

Fixing a fence

Happy Sputnik

Have you ever read one of those personal finance blogs where they do a 'roundup' of other bloggers in their network? It's basically a way for them to pick their top ten posts and be pro-community while not actually writing a blog themselves. Not that our blogs here at the challenge our intended to be to that pedigree of personal financial blogs (although Phil has his own), but there's some really good stuff floating around that I should mention. Here's my favorite post from each contestant, and no, I'm not being lazy and skipping out of writing my own!

- Only the profoundly comical mind of Dave (not to mention access to church costumes) could produce such a funny video highlighting the epic struggle of savings. Not only will his creativity impress you, but his unique ability to grow several inches of blond hair in a month's time is astounding.

- As Phil trots the globe, he is learning how to save internationally, while not forgetting about the home front. While in Sydney, the Dad-to-be pockets some serious cash and get's some great feedback on preparing for parenting.

- I really enjoyed reading Tim's post about their biggest savings strategy… roommates. There's a lot of good insight here on how sharing your space can add all kinds of goodness to your life, and your savings account.

- Alexa is right on the money when she writes about heart-felt gifts vs. expensive ones. Her and Seth really practice what they preach, not only talking about frugality, but actually living it out.

And a final note to say thank you for all of you who vote for us. We have been working hard to save, but we definitely can't do it without you. If you weren't clicking that mouse, we wouldn't be where we are. Thanks for picking me, and please keep voting for Kristen every day!

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Thanks for reading my blog. If you like what you see, vote for me! Feel free to email me at kristenpyf@gmail.com, or visit our personal blog. God bless you.
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congrats

Thanks for the link!

In our last post we talked about the three credit cards we use and how we maximize the rewards we get from each. Although the incentive of cash back for your purchases might seem like a great deal, there's a lot of smart people out there who argue that using credit cards will actually lead to spending more money than if you just paid with cash or check. While they make some valid points, I think a few systems and some good old fashion discipline can keep those 'overspending trends' at bay.

For us, it simply boils down to staying within our budget. We have predetermined how much we are going to spend on groceries, entertainment, fuel, etc. It is an elementary idea that is made easy when you use cash for everything. In the Dominican we adhere to the 'envelope system', primarily because most open-air market vendors don't have credit card swipers! But if you want to reap the rewards of plastic, you have to put as many purchases possible on the card. The question becomes, "how do I keep from spending too much on the card?" Here's what we do.

1. Be dedicated to your budget. If you don't have a working budget, make one. A simple budget will moderate your spending, leading to a dramatic increase of savings. We have been using a budget since we got married. Our current budget holds 27 different categories, the first half comprised of mandatory monthly expenses (rent, utilities, etc.), the second half of discretionary savings expenses (clothing, medical emergencies, travel, etc.). We prefer a detailed budget, but you don't need anything that complicated to have a good one. Living by a budget isn't clasping a ball and chain to your foot, instead it frees you to spend your money where you really want to. Alexa has some great thoughts on the benefits in this. But having a budget won't do you any good if you don't spend within it's boundaries, you have to stick with it!

2. Keep track of your spending. Make sure to get a receipt whenever you pay with a card, and make sure to log it. We created a simple spreadsheet where we track all of our receipts. The small excel file contains a.) the budget category each purchase falls under, b.) the date of purchase, and c.) the amount spent. At the top of each column (category) goes the total dollar amount we allow ourselves to spend each month. To log them in, which we try to do nightly, we write each purchase as a negative value descending under that total amount and summed up at the bottom. Once we hit zero, we are done spending for the month. If at the end of the month we still have $ left over, we transfer it into savings instead of rolling it into next month.

3. Never miss a payment. Finally, the day comes when you must actually pay for all of those credit card purchases. If you miss a payment, you can kiss the reward money goodbye. To help us not miss one, we set all of our bill dates for the same day and make all of our payments once a month online. A little reminder email or calender alert is an added safeguard.

Like anything else, you'll have to work a little to get it started. But once the ball gets rolling, using rewards credit cards can save you plenty of money. I would estimate we spend 4-5 hours a month and save 100 bucks. At $20 an hour I think it's worth it. If you want to know more, check out the resources below

- Building a Budget Liz's excellent article on budgeting.
- On Rewards Credit Cards A good overview of cards out there (note: I would recommend a lot of research, oftentimes the best cards are not the most advertised)

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Thanks for reading my blog. If you like what you see, vote for me! Feel free to email me at kristenpyf@gmail.com, or visit our personal blog. God bless you.
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Credit cards can be a very dangerous thing for lots of people. But if you can be disciplined, and do your research, credit cards can actually make you money.

Let me start off by saying that we don't believe in debt. Thankfully, we've never been forced into a situation where we had to borrow excessively, and neither Michael nor I have ever spent money we didn't have. As far as credit cards go, we know what we can afford, and if the cash isn't there, the card doesn't get swiped. Also, we're confident enough in our discipline to not let the big CC companies get the best of us.

With that said, we have come up with a system that ensures that we don't deviate from our spending habits, and at the same time allows us to get lots of cash back in rewards on the purchases we have to buy anyway. Today I'll talk about the cards, tomorrow, the system. Last month we made about $100 just from using the right cards. Here is a summary of the three we use, and by the way, none of these cards carry an annual fee.

#1. FNBO: The ExtraEarnings Visa
This 2% cash back card links directly to our online savings account with FNBO Direct making monitoring purchases and making payments a cinch. We use this card more than any other, and the rewards percentage will last us 12 months, up until we move back to the Dominican. Putting all of my college tuition on this card will save us $300. Besides that, all of our groceries, internet purchases, and most everything else goes on this card. The reward money is cashed in at $25 and dropped directly into our high yield savings account.

#2. Pentagon Federal: Visa Platinum Rewards Card
Every time we fill up at the pump, this card comes out. We don't bother with gas cards that limit you to a specific chain of stations, this PenFed one gives us 5% no matter where we fuel up. It's also nice in that the reward goes directly into our account every month, regardless of the amount. We never have to request it, it's just deducted from out next bill. Our monthly fuel budget is $250 so at 5% we pocket an extra $12.50 a month.

#3. REI: Visa Signature Card
REI is the best store on the planet. My only beef with them is they don't have one in Nebraska. We buy about 80% of our clothes from them because they have the best inventory, prices, and return policy of any other company; hands down. Off-season shopping is the way to go. Generally, Michael will pick up an entire summer's worth of clothes during the winter for under $50. And this is high quality stuff. Their rewards card gives us 5% cash back in addition to their normal 10% cash back as a member. This 15% savings comes once a year in the form of a dividend.

While we are living here in the states, it makes sense for us to use credit where we can to our advantage. But they have their downsides. If having a card makes you spend more, then you can forget about the rewards, you've just been duped by flashy marketing. To avoid spending more with plastic, we have to stay within our budget. But it can be hard tracking all of those purchases. Check out my post tomorrow about how we manage our card usage, keeping us from overspending.

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Thanks for reading my blog. If you like what you see, vote for me! Feel free to email me at kristenpyf@gmail.com, or visit our personal blog. God bless you.
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What a boring title.

I know that on this historical election day most of you won't be reading our blog. Instead you're likely to be biting your nails awaiting to find out which way the pendulum is going to swing. I guess we'll know tonight how the last year of campaigning has paid off.

But you don't have to wait that long to find out how the last month of savings went for us, I've got if for you right here!

October was a great month for us, both in saving money, and in gathering some cash on the side. When we punched the numbers today, we were pleasantly surprised. Despite a few unexpected medical expenses, we were able to meet our monthly goal of setting aside $468 from our normal salary. Dropping gas prices (not to mention free coffee and donuts if you voted today!) had a lot to do with that. We scored good on frugality.

We scored even better on side income. This month we were able to pull in an amazing $2,046.91. That's $1,629.91 over our monthly goal, and only $455.09 under our total goal! The bulk of that money came from selling things on craigs list. Both Michael's mother and grandparents moved and gave us a generous commission on whatever we could sell of the things that wouldn't fit in their new places. It has been a lot of work, but well worth it. The details on our side income are as follows:

• sales - $898.02
• construction work - $761.25
• odd jobs - $205
• sign up bonus' - $125
• credit card cash back - $98.66
• fuel (expense) - (41.02)

This is way more than we were expecting to be able to make on the side. It is, after all, equal to the average yearly income for our friends back in the Dominican.

Finally, here's a chart that I'll update and post every month.

Thanks for voting (for both the presidential AND savings races).
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Thanks for reading my blog. If you like what you see, vote for me! Feel free to email me at kristenpyf@gmail.com, or visit our personal blog. God bless you.
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wow sweetie, that's

Groceries….you just have to buy them. But how much do you spend? Cutting that weekly bill has been a challenge and a goal for me lately. Here are some things I have been doing to keep some extra dollars in my wallet.

I plan a weekly menu. Now, some of you are turned off already. But let me just tell you that this takes about 10 minutes and is great for so many reasons. First, you control what you will be eating and can make sure your meals are healthy. Second, having a plan keeps you away from the drive through! Third, it will be your main tool in making your grocery list.

I ALWAYS take a list with me. Who doesn't love a good impulse buy? My wallet, that's who! My rule is "Never stray from the list." It can be done folks. Do you really need that candy bar or that soda by the register? Nope. Just walk right on by.

I buy things that are on sale. Now this can get tricky. Just because something is on sale, doesn't mean that I will use it or need it. I stick to my list and look for things on it that are marked down. Of course if there is a great deal on something that is usually more expensive like meat, I will go ahead and pick it up and either use it next week or replace it with something on this week's list.

I stick to the basics when it comes to food. Rice, meat, veggies, fruit, potatoes….things you don't find in a box are what we like to eat. We end up with healthier and cheaper meals this way. Specific items we tend to stay away from are cereal, crackers, and dessert snacks. These items crowd most carts at our local store and are so expensive! Just say no to those cake rolls and cheese crackers! Your body and your bank account will thank you.

I try to keep a balanced mindset when it comes to food. Let me explain. Living in the Dominican Republic for three years opened my eyes to a lot of things, one of them being my view on food. The first few months in the Dominican I was annoyed at having to eat the same rice and beans every day. The lack of variety frustrated me even though I was eating plenty and getting good nutrients. I wanted different food every day. I wanted it to be delicious and I wanted to take lots of time cooking fun and creative dinners for my family. This usually meant spending more money on ingredients. To me, food was more for enjoyment than for survival, a foreign concept for most people in the third world. After so many years overseas, my mindset has shifted. I still enjoy making special, more expensive, things for my family, but now I don't feel like I have to do it every day or even every other day. If we end up eating rice and beans three times this week then that's just fine! It is food after all!

Ok. Well these are just a few of many ways to save on your weekly grocery bill. One final thought is a challenge I have for you guys. We'll call it the Oatmeal Challenge. Here's what you do! Try eating oatmeal for breakfast this week instead of cereal. A large container usually costs less than $1.50 and can feed your family up to two weeks. Some toppings people like are brown sugar, honey, butter, and salt (not all at once of course!). It is so good for you and super tasty! Don't give up after one day. Experiment until you find how you like it. Soon, you won't be able to go without it!

Happy grocery shopping this week. Don't forget your list!

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Thanks for reading my blog. If you like what you see, vote for me! Feel free to email me at kristenpyf@gmail.com, or visit our personal blog. God bless you.
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Let's continue from yesterday's post about our contemplations on life insurance. Right now we find ourselves leaning towards the green light on this. Despite how much I loathe spending money on anything, there are too many good reasons why it makes sense for me to just ignore it. The current policy we are looking at is covered by Shelter Insurance who received a solid score on Fitch Ratings. Liz Pulliam Weston has a few sites listed in her book that we used to shop around - looking at both price, and company strength. Fitch was a very useful site to help us nail down an insurer. Here are the specifics on the policy:

• 30 year term life insurance
• $200,000 paid out to Kristen (lump sum) if something happens to me
• Costs $222 a year ($18.36 monthly)
• Policy is convertible
• Premiums are guaranteed

Of course there are many fine print details that go into any policy, and I'll have to look deep into those before I sign. But I won't bore you with that information here. Overall, we feel really good about this opportunity, and here's why:

• I'm risky enough to justify the coverage.
• We do not own many assets (home, land, vehicle) or much cash for Kristen to make a fresh start. That money would be very helpful once she figures out where they are going to settle.
• Thirty years would cover all the kids we might have in the next 13 years.
• Assuredness that the family's needs would be taken care of.
• Payout isn't overboard but enough.
• Premiums are very reasonable.
• Premiums come out automatically each month so there's no extra work on us.
• Agent is someone I trust, my brother in law, and I'm sure the new contract helps him out as well.

We haven't made our final decision yet, but it's looking like a good option. Since this is such a new thing, we were wondering if you, the reader, have any advice. Does this sound like the right thing for us? Are we missing anything, or are there better offers out there? We welcome any thoughts you might have, just shoot us an email at the address below. Thanks!
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Thanks for reading my blog. If you like what you see, vote for me! Feel free to email me at kristenpyf@gmail.com, or visit our personal blog. God bless you.
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*****Guest Post by Michael, Kristen's Husband*****

What do you think of when you hear 'life insurance'? The first thing that comes to my mind is that game board with a spinning dial in the middle and little colorful cars filled with blue and pink pegs. Other than that, I always thought life insurance was for the super rich. But we find ourselves contemplating whether or not a policy would be right for us.

(I'm writing this post instead of Kristen because I don't think she wants to write about the topic of me dying. It doesn't bother me, so here we go.)

For starters, my brother-in-law works for a solid insurance company. I thought life insurance would be a topic worth discussing with him. Reason why? If something happens to me, where would that put my wife and child? Since down the road we plan on having several more kids, it's probably worth the dough to make sure that they would be taken care of.

Now I know that it doesn't make much sense to add another monthly expense to our budget during a savings contest. It's actually the opposite direction we want to head in. That being said, if we are going to do this, we need some pretty good reasons why. In researching the topic, we digested what Liz had to say in her book Easy Money, we talked with some mentors, and we checked out a few websites. Of course we have been talking through the whole thing together. Our process began with the two questions Liz posses in her book; 1) do you need it?, and 2) how much do you need?

Do we NEED it? No. Would it be really nice to have? Yes. But, can we afford it...

My mentor Seth wrote to me, "You're a bit of a risk taker, I'd do it."

It's true. We live in a fairly violent country, and the peacemaker in me makes me run towards the bullets, not away from them. It's not uncommon to find myself breaking up a knife fight either. So the issue of 'should I get it' is decided.

In settling on how much we would need, we looked at how many years it would take Kristen to get over the hump:

• cover funeral costs
• finish her education
• cover normal family expenses
• making an income to take care of the family

We think she could pull it off with about $35,000 a year after all the up-front fees are taken care of. But how much is that going to cost? And (hopefully) if we never cash in on the policy, are we just throwing $ away? Is this the right time to do it or should we wait? We will discuss those questions in Part 2.

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Thanks for reading my blog. If you like what you see, vote for me! Feel free to email me at kristenpyf@gmail.com, or visit our personal blog. God bless you.
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We love our local library. It provides so many resources for our family, and the price tag fits nicely into our budget... free. Situated within a mile of our house, we can easily throw the kid in the stroller and go the distance on foot. The walk is good exercise, good conversation, and a good opportunity for Samantha to get outside. Once we get to the library we head straight for the kids room, which is filled with giant stuffed animals and board books. The little thing could easily spend hours entertaining herself there. Most of the time other families populate this section so Samantha can learn some social skills as well.

From there we peruse hundreds of DVD's that we can check out for free, or pick up a great book. Of course there are plenty of quality non-fictions to learn something new from. Whether it be history, finances, religion, whatever, the library has it. We sometimes even pick up audio-books to listen to in the car instead of just hearing the same old music. I've decided that in a years time here in the States, I could learn the basics of a new language with all that time on the road. Again, completely free.

The final thing we love about the library is the quality networks that advertise there. Near the entrance, a large bulletin board informs you about all kinds of free events and activities going on. Most of these are very educating, useful, and for the last time...free!

So my advise for you; can the blockbuster membership and ease back on Barnes & Noble. Get a library card instead. Just be careful about taking your little one during her 'wide awake' hour. They tend to frown on high-volume baby talk.

I found this website that will give you the closest public library near you. http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/libraries/librarysearch/.

Happy reading!
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Thanks for reading my blog. If you like what you see, vote for me! Feel free to email me at kristenpyf@gmail.com, or visit our personal blog. God bless you.
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More thoughts from a reader

Our little daughter Samantha hasn't gained all that much weight since moving here to the States from the Dominican Republic back in July. She still falls on the 50th percentile line, but we like a chubby baby so much so that we initiated "Operation Fat Baby". I must admit, it's pretty fun feeding her all kinds of food, it's just not fun cleaning up the mess.

The other day I was heating up some squash baby food to give to her. All was well until I heard a loud 'POP' and realized what went wrong. Yep, I'd let the timer go just a little too long. The heavy drops of orange ooze splattered on every corner of the microwaves interior were not salvageable. Not only would Samantha miss out on this delicious meal that I would never even touch, but I had to take 10 minutes and clean out the microwave.

As Samantha watched me wipe down the warm goo, the smell of burnt veggies hit my nose and a thought occurred to me, "would I ever have taken the time to clean the microwave if this had never happened?" I then began pondering the need for routine cleaning and maintenance on all kinds of things in our life. Household appliances, the car, the laptop, I'm talking about those types of things. If we don't take care of our stuff, they tend to lose lifespan, meaning we'll have to spend more money sooner to have them fixed ,or worse, purchase new ones. That's not something I do out of my nature. Maintenance is not my thing.

But I figure if we can go a whole year without having to buy or fix any of these items that will save us some cash. Lesson learned. This week I am going to make a checklist of all the stuff in our life that could use a good check up and turn on the elbow grease. I found two websites that offer a good starting point for my list:
http://www.onlineorganizing.com/ExpertAdviceToolboxTips.asp?tipsheet=4
http://homemanagement.suite101.com/article.cfm/quarterly_household_jobs_...

Who would of known an exploding squash held so many financial secrets!
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Thanks for reading my blog. If you like what you see, vote for me! Feel free to email me at kristenpyf@gmail.com, or visit our personal blog. God bless you.
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