Finances

Money is a funny thing, isn't it? Some people are uncomfortable discussing money, like how much they make, how much debt they have, or how much they give. Others want to tell you all about their tax bracket and overtime pay. It's interesting to me. 

Back in November or December, Travis and I had a fire lit under us and started working on taking a more detailed, intentional look at our finances. We've always thought of ourselves as financially responsible but knew we could be doing better. We were fortunate to receive a family inheritance recently and we used the money to pay off the remainder of the student loans from my graduate year at Seattle University. Our last step of debt (besides the mortgage) is the (insert inappropriate curse word) HELOC on our house. We won't get in to what led us to take it out in the first place but needless to say, we want to be done with it, as quickly as possible. We are already tracking every penny (literally, every penny) and making some changes to put more towards paying off the HELOC as quickly as we can.

Since I'm always interested in reading how other people are saving money, here are some of the things we're currently doing:

Grocery Shopping
-I meal-plan during the weekends, which saves money since I've got my meals and grocery list right in front of me as I shop. I'm a lot less likely to impulse buy if I have a list. I do most of our grocery shopping at Safeway (the cheapest option in Burien) and buy fruits and vegetables at a local fruit stand that has excellent prices.


-We don't eat a ton of meat, which saves us some money. Travis will cook meat once or twice a week but that's about it. We buy meat from a local butcher's shop (B&E Meats) down in Des Moines, where they know Odin and Taran by name. Does the vegetarian in me think that's a bit odd? Maybe. But they always give the kids samples and the customer service is awesome! 

-I use the Safeway Just For You app on the iPhone while planning my grocery list. I was resistant to signing up for it at first (seriously, another store rewards program?) but I have to say, it has saved us a lot of money. I was worried it would be too time-consuming but now I use it the way I previously used the grocery store ads that come in the mail every Tuesday. I flip through the categories on my phone for items and see what is on sale. 

-I shop at Costco about once a month for things like peanut butter, salsa, tofu, and Sriracha sauce. Wait, that sounds like we use an entire gigantic bottle of Sriracha a month. Now, peanut butter, on the other hand. . .

-Not a tip but a cute story-Odin asked his grandma the other day, while shopping, "Was that on your list?" as she put something in the shopping cart. He is used to hearing me tell him we aren't impulse buying things and we need to stick to our list! Now I'm not saying I am perfect because I am definitely not!

-We do not eat out much. In fact, the only meals out in February were one lunch I enjoyed with friends and a snack that Travis and Odin had while visiting Trav's brother, sister-in-law, and nephew in Seattle. Normally we get take-out (I do love teriyaki tofu!) or Papa Murphy's pizza at least once or twice a month but we are making sacrifices to get where we want to be. 

-We started getting pretty strict with our cash budget for groceries over the past 6+ months. One month recently we had run out of grocery money and we enjoyed some pantry/freezer meals for the last couple of days of the month. Guess what? We survived.

-I don't really clip coupons much. My reasons?
1) I am lazy. 2) Most coupons (at least the ones I've come across) are for packaged, processed foods that we try not to eat too often. 

Kids
-We've cloth diapered both our kiddos since they were newborns. We always have disposables around (for outings, trips to Grandparents' houses, etc.) but definitely have saved a lot of money by using (and re-using and re-using and re-using!) cloth diapers. They are really not a big deal to wash and trust me, I'm somewhat of a wuss about gross stuff and I'm not even grossed out by them. I'm ridiculously excited about selling our diaper stash (newborn up to Taran's current size!) on Craigslist when he's potty trained! 

-Our boys have always had second-hand clothes. They don't know any different, and they don't care what they are wearing (although Odin would love to wear a red shirt every day of his life if he had enough of them) so we take advantage of 50% sale days at Value Village and stock up there. We've also been VERY lucky to have lots of hand-me-downs from our nephew and our next-door-neighbor. Very occasionally we have to pick up socks (at Old Navy-they go on sale for $1/pair!) and we've started buying new shoes for Odin (at Nordstrom Rack-good, sturdy brands at a fraction of the cost at other stores). 

Home
-I've unregistered from quite a few email notifications from companies I either 1)Never buy from 2) Bought someone from ONCE, or 3) Don't NEED to buy from. Just not receiving the emails not only saves me money (since I don't use them to shop) but also saves me time since I don't have to delete them each day. 

-We don't have cable. We've got a $9 monthly subscription to Netflix instant-watch and that works for us. 

-We live in a small house, which is cheaper to heat than a large house (or so I'm told. . .how are gas/electric bills so expensive?). 

-We haven't bought paper towels for a few years now. We use simple white rags and considering how much laundry we already do, throwing rags in with a load every day or every other day is no big deal. 

Shopping
-The best way I've found to save money as far as shopping goes? Don't go shopping! Now, if I am out with friends, I will happily window shop and have lots of fun looking at clothes, jewelry, and things for around the house but I remind myself that the sacrifices now will pay off later. 

-Travis and I both love to read. Wait-scratch that. The boys, Travis, and I all love books! We rarely buy them. I can't remember the last book I bought and I think the last one Travis bought was a $1.00 purchase for our Nook. We put books we're interested in on hold at the library and pick them up when they come in. This means sometimes we're #159 on the wait list for a new book but boy are we surprised when we get the email notification that we can pick up the book we've forgotten we even put on hold. It's the little things, right?

-We've been doing really well these last few months not purchasing anything that's not a  genuine need. We've never really been impulsive shoppers but we both definitely have things we wish we could buy. As for me, it's a case for my DSLR camera so I can carry it in my purse without worrying about it getting bumped around. As for Travis, it's his minis for D&D. So far we've both gone without and have survived. 

Travel
-We haven't been traveling much lately since my mom moved here this past summer from California. I don't imagine any big trips for us will be taking place in the near future but we'll see.

-I was able to take a trip to Alaska to visit my friends Amber, Ben, and their new baby son Sebastian last Fall thanks to Alaska Airlines frequent flier miles and since I stayed with them as well, the trip didn't cost me anything! 

-I visited Portland for a night with my good friends Heather and Teresa last December and between riding the train and finding a good price on our shared hotel room, the trip was quite affordable. 

-One thing that caused a bit of apprehension for me was a trip we've been planning for a long time. Our 10th wedding anniversary is this July and since we are blessed to have family close by that will watch the boys for us, we've planned an early 10th anniversary trip in April to Austin, Texas! (April because we have our district's spring break then.) We're excited to explore the city together, eat until we can't eat any more, and sleep past our usual 5:00 or 6:00am alarm clock also known as Taran! I had been feeling guilty that we were going to be spending money on our trip when we were working so hard on putting all our extra money towards paying off our HELOC but come on. Ten years of marriage? That's a big deal. It's been the best ten years of our lives but we've been through a lot and we deserve a break. So I'm done with any feelings other than total joy that we are able to do this. 

There are additional things we do to save money but I won't bore you any more than I already have. 

I'm extremely thankful I have a partner that is 100% on board with me and willing to take the steps necessary to pay off our debt. He's a good guy!