Category Archives: Our Frugal Stories

The Financial Decisions That Have Saved Us $54,000 in the Past Two Years

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 19, 2013 3 comments

Almost two years ago my boyfriend and I moved in together. We are currently choosing to live on less income so that we both can go back to school for graduate degrees. I decided to compile a list of the financial decisions we have made in the past two years that have saved us the most money. After writing this list I have to say that I’m really proud of us!

1. Buying Our Cars With Cash– I drive a Chevy Cavalier that I bought for $2,000 and B drives a Nissan Sentra that he bought for $5,000 we could have easily spent at least $25,000 for these cars USED and that doesn’t even include interest on a car loan (See Our Experience as a One Car Household) Savings- $25,000

2. Renting a House in Our Original Target Price Range– When we were looking for a house to rent we originally decided we could spend $700 to $900 a month but quickly found that it would be very, very difficult to find a very nice home in that price range but we ended up picking out the house we are living in at $900 a month over houses in the $1200 price range Savings- $300 a month or $3,600 a Year

3. Renting a House With Free Water/Sewer/Trash Bill– We have a water well so we don’t pay for water but my sister and her fiancé used to pay $60 a month at their house (see Having a Water Well) Savings- $60 a Month or $720 a year

4. Working Jobs Close to Home– When I worked full time I commuted an hour each way to work. At one point I paid $100 a month just in tolls and I paid about $200 a month in gas Savings- $250 a month or $3,000 a year

5. Working Jobs Where We Don’t Have To Wear Dress Clothes– Dress clothes are expensive, there is nothing else to say! Savings- $50 a month or $600 a Year

6. Negotiating With the Cable/Internet Company- Our current rate would be $130 a month for a smaller package but instead we negotiated to $85 a month for a DVR/HD Channels/Internet/More Channels (See- How One Phone Call Saved Us $343) Savings $45 a month or $540 a year

7. Buying My Treadmill for $30– I had budgeted to spend $200 on a used treadmill but none came along then I got lucky and got mine for $30 (see How I Got a Treadmill for $30) Saved- $670

8. Buying Our 46 in Flatscreen TV for $150– We wanted a nice TV after we moved into our new house so we were able to price shop and use gift cards (See How We got a 46in TV for $150) Saved- $400

9. Getting Our Furniture Secondhand– Almost all of our furniture is high quality but second hand. We could have spent thousands on new furniture but we bought used and saved and our house still looks great. Saved- $3,000

10. Having a $200 a Month Grocery Budget– We try to eat healthy so we can easily spend a huge amount of money on groceries. I’m going to conservatively say that we save at least $200 a month by sticking to our budget. (See More About Our Grocery Budget) Saved- $200 a Month or $2,400 a year

11. Buying Groceries and Household Items with Coupons– We save thousands of dollars by using coupons so I’m going to conservatively say that we saved a couple of thousand dollars in the past two years. (See More About Our Couponing) Saved- $4,000

TOTAL- $54,000 We Saved Ourselves in 2 Years !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was really surprised when I calculated that total! The best part of this is that NONE of these are crazy things. These are regular every day things that with a little bit of extra time and effort saved us a substantial amount of money!

Doing My Taxes for Free

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 18, 2013 None comments

So this year for the first time ever, I thought I might owe money on my taxes. This was because of a stream of income from last year that had no taxes taken out of it and in addition I am no longer a student so I can’t claim that as a deduction. I tried asking various people what percentage of someone’s income goes towards taxes and I received various different answers that led me to the conclusion that it’s not that simple.

So for the first time ever, I decided to run my tax information through two different free tax services. Turbo Tax and HR Block. This took me less than an hour to do and to my relief, while I do owe money on my taxes, I owe less than $100 and both programs told me that I owe the exact same amount. While it is a little disappointing not to get a check back from filing my taxes for the first time, it is also a huge relief that I won’t have to take money out of my savings to pay my taxes either. Next year I will be back in school and I will likely qualify for a tax refund again so I can’t be too disappointed.

Note- I am in no way associated with any tax program. This article is simply meant to share my own personal experiences.

Too Many Newspapers and Publix $5 off of $50 Purchase Coupons

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 16, 2013 None comments

This is what my couch looked like Saturday morning when I started trying to organize my coupons from the past few weeks. Do any of you other couponers have this problem??? Sometimes I am so busy that I’m not able to go through my 4 Sunday Paper subscriptions to get the coupons out for longer than I would like. So after a vacation and a packed work schedule I ended up with three weeks worth of coupons to sort through before I would be getting even more the next day.

I was excited to find that last Sunday 3/10 there was a Publix $5 off of $50 Purchase Coupon. Usually we don’t get these in Volusia or Orange County, FL. So if you still have that paper you may want to look for it.

I filled an entire laundry basket with the newspapers. We will probably recycle them or burn them in our fire pit. It is a major frustration to me to try to decide what I will do with all of these newspapers. I give as many papers away as I can get people to take. We use them as pet bedding, as fire kindling, as drop cloths when painting, and as many other ways as I can come up with but most of them still end up getting recycled. If anyone has come up with any better ways to use old newspapers please let me know.

February Grocery and Household Item Budget

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 3, 2013 None comments

This February (I can’t believe that it is already March as I write this), we did a good job sticking to our grocery budget. Our Totals Were-

Spent- $221.62

Saved- $334.31 (not including savings from stores such as Aldi and Dollar Tree which are hard to calculate)

*Don’t forget that this is for all household items including personal care items, not just groceries*

We did go over our $200 goal for each month but it was actually for good reason. I stocked up on a ton of canned goods like I do every year during Publix’s Viva Italia Sale- click HERE to see the trip. We would have gone much farther over budget but a couple of our relatives had given us Publix gift cards totaling $45 that we used towards this stock up. This is the 3rd year I have stocked up during this sale and the canned items usually last us until next year’s trip, click here to see last years shopping trip.

Why I Have A College Degree and Choose to Be a Server

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 2, 2013 None comments

To make this article more interesting here are some things that you should know about me-

I graduated college in 2010 with a double major bachelor’s degree and a 4.0 GPA. And I did this with zero debt!

Part of how I accomplished this was by being very frugal and also by being a server in a restaurant. Most of my pay (servers make less than minimum wage hourly) was in tips which can vary but I’ve always had more good nights than bad so the pay isn’t really that inconsistent. After graduating from college I was hired for a full time job. I could write a book about how horrible that job was but for the sake of time I’ll just say that they wanted us to work a huge amount of unpaid overtime and also there were safety concerns including gun violence and arson. In addition, I felt suffocated by commuting an hour each way to work and working around 50 hours a week.

Making the decision to return to serving wasn’t an easy one.

Americans are taught that we should always be progressing and moving forward. Going back to serving after receiving my college degree felt like going backwards. However, for many reasons I was very unhappy working 9 to 5 which was really more like 8 to 7.

I started really considering what I wanted out of a job. This should be a requirement before choosing a college major but I assure you it is not.

Here are the things I decided I wanted in a job right now-

– A job that I could enjoy

– A job with a flexible schedule

– A job where I made at least enough money to pay my bills and save a little

– A job where I make a maximum amount of money in a minimum of time

– A job where I could take off if I was sick

– A job where I got to interact with people

– A job with a reasonable commute

Here are the things I want in a job in the future-

– All of the above things I want in a job now

– A job where I make a lot more money

– A job where I will use my education

– A job where I can help people

– A job where I am challenged intellectually

– A job where I am treated with respect

Even for an educated person the job market isn’t great right now. In our area, many full time jobs pay less than I make serving. I realized that going back to serving would meet the requirements on my wish list of things I wanted in a job right now. Yes, there are disadvantages to serving including being treated badly by customers, slightly inconsistent pay, and it can be a high stress job (People want their food and people want it now!) but I feel that the advantages outweigh them. In addition, serving allows me the flexibility to go back to school for my Master’s degree which will qualify me to teach at college level which is what I really want to do for a career.

However, when I made the decision to go back to waiting tables I hadn’t yet decided to go back for my M.A. I decided that I would rather have a job with a flexible schedule that I actually like (at least most of the time) rather than a full time job that paid a little more (in the area we live in it’s really not that much) even if I was miserable. In addition, I would rather work less and spend my time doing things that save me money rather than spend all of my time working. For now, the advantages of serving far outweigh the disadvantages and I’m really happy with my decisions.

What reasons do you have for choosing your current profession?

What to Do With Shampoo and Conditioner Samples

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on February 27, 2013 None comments

I always seem to end up with more flatish shaped shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste and hand cream samples than I can remember to use up. We do use these on the off chance that we run out of something and we could try using them instead of our regular products. However, we are going out of town soon with a group of people and I decided to bring this sample stash with me. Everyone will have their choice of toiletries to use while we are out of town, they are almost entirely flat so they won’t take up room in my suitcase, our hosts won’t have to supply any, I won’t have to buy or pack other toiletry bottles, and I won’t have to remember to take them home with me. Overall, I think this is a good money, time and energy saving plan.

Getting $1 Croft & Barrow Towels with Kohl’s Cash

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on February 21, 2013 None comments

I had recently gone shopping at Kohl’s with my mother and sister and I was surprised to receive $10 Kohl’s cash with my purchase. That’s $10 I can spend at Kohl’s at a later date. I had almost completely forgot about it (which is probably what they hope will happen) when my sister reminded me to spend mine before it expires. So on the last day I had before my coupon expired, I went to the store. I couldn’t find any clothing I wanted and didn’t honestly feel like shopping (yes it actually happens!). Then it occurred to me that I wanted some nice towels for our guest bathroom when we have company over. The towels I bought from Walmart when we moved in for $2 looked worn after the first time I washed them.

I found these two Croft & Barrow towels for $5.99 each. After my $10 Kohl’s cash they were only $2.19 for both. I always associate Kohl’s with clothes and shoes but they do have very nice household items. I’m glad I got something that we will use in our home instead of buying something just because I needed to use up the ‘free’ $10. So if you have Kohl’s cash to spend (they have different expiration dates) and don’t want to buy clothes you might want to look in the housewares for something you need.

My $2.99 Rain Boots

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on February 17, 2013 None comments

I am going back to school for my Master’s degree soon and the campus is huge and rainy! My mother, sister and I were at Goodwill the other day when they found these new rain boots for $2.99 in my size, Target donates new stuff to our Goodwills. I love the colors because they aren’t too crazy. I hate to get my feet wet so these will be really helpful for days when I have a 20 min walk to class in the rain. Plus I’m told this type of boots usually sell for $40.

Recent Thrift Shop Finds

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on February 17, 2013 None comments

My life has been a little less hectic lately so I’ve been able to go thrifting on a couple different days. I love thrifting because I often find things that I would have paid full price for but instead I pay quarters. Here are some of my favorite recent finds.

I loved the shoes in the above picture and they were actually in my sometimes hard to find size. They were only $2.25

We are going on vacation soon and I realized that my brand new suitcase was too big for the plane (it’s the black suitcase in the background). I was upset because I wanted to take my brand new suitcase on the trip without paying a $75 oversized luggage fee. However, I realized that this wasn’t going to happen and I was really excited when I came across this slightly smaller, red, rolling suitcase. It does have some marks on the outside (I believe from a plane flight conveyer belt) that is would have probably gotten from our flight anyways so I wasn’t concerned about that. The inside however, is very clean which is what really matters in my book. And it was only $9.99 which is $50 less than I thought I was going to have to spend.

I also picked up some really cute tea cups and a wooden holder $.49 for all 5 items, reusable baking cups that are usually really expensive for $.99, and an Orlando Magic noise maker $.49 (Go Magic!!!).

I also got really lucky today when it came to clothes. I got a pair of Pac Sun jeans for work for only $1.99, a pair of new looking black pants for $1.99, a wet suit shirt for $.99 and a Little Bo Peep halloween costume for $1.99.

I was really happy to find these books out of the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series. I rented them from the library to read them but they were really good so I wanted my own copies. I knew I would find them at a thrift shop sooner or later and today there they were for $.25 cents each!

January $200 Grocery and Household Item Budget Review

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on February 12, 2013 None comments

I know that I am a little late posting this but I ended up getting sick at the end of the month and it took me a little while to get back in fighting shape. However, it did make me happy that we did so well on our grocery budget last month. I don’t usually post about our grocery budget but I’m going to try to do a monthly review every month this year in 2013.

Our goal for January was our usual grocery budget of $200. We put our receipts in a reused junk mail envelope so that we can total them up periodically to check our progress. This budget is for two adults and yes we do eat three meals a day at home. We only ate out 2-3 times the entire month. I mention that not because we include what we spent eating out in the grocery budget but to show that we really do eat almost all of our meals at home. This also includes all household items such as toilet paper, soap, toothpaste, etc. Here is the breakdown-

January Monthly Grocery and Household Item Budget- $200

Number of People in Our Household- 2

Number of Meals a Month- 85-90

People I know who don’t coupon think that this is an extremely low number. People who do coupon tend to think that this is a high number. I like to think that it is in the middle.

Why $200 a month?

Things that make our costs a little higher-

– We try to eat healthy with as little junk food as possible- This means more fresh vegetables and fruits that aren’t that cheap in where we live. Also healthy foods have fewer coupons than junk food.

– We really do eat at home all the time- This means our grocery budget is a little higher but our eating out budget is a lot lower.

– This budget isn’t just food- It’s also all household items we may need like soap.

Things that help keep our food costs low-

– Couponing, couponing, couponing- While there are less coupons for healthy food that doesn’t mean they aren’t out there, it just takes a little more work

– Shopping Loss Leader Sales- Buying items at the lowest possible prices

– Shopping at Aldi a Discount Grocery Store- Food staples are simply lower at Aldi. Although Aldi doesn’t take coupons, most of the items we buy there aren’t items that usually have coupons anyways like flour and sugar.

– Shopping at Dollar Tree- Everything is $1. We can get regular sized laundry detergent for $1 and it works the same as name brand. We buy things there that are just plain cheaper than anywhere else even accounting for size and quality

– Use it Up, Wear it Out, Make it Do or Do Without- We try not to waste food and we also try to make our meals around the items that we get deals.

– Stockpiling household items- We buy them at the lowest possible price to save $ in the long run

So how did we do this month?

We Spent- $192.33

We Saved $ 197.52 (this doesn’t even count stores like dollar tree that don’t show what you save over other stores)

So we actually came in under budget which is always good. Also, $20 of what we spent was on the last day of January on groceries that we were generally buying for next month, but as I said I was sick and didn’t think I would make it back to the store for a while and I didn’t.

Tune in at the end of Febuary to see how we do with our $200 grocery budget for next month.