Fees? No Thank You

Fact: Darrell and I rarely pay attention to emails that come out about changes to our checking/credit/savings account. For the most part, the "changes" are totally worthless and unimportant--I really don't care if they change the interest rate on my credit card because we never have carry-over balances anyway. However, something made me actually look at our most recent email closely--closely enough to realize they were going to start charging us a monthly service fee on our checking account.

Umm, what?? I don't think so. No way were we about to start dropping $15 a month just to keep a checking account with our current bank. And the only ways to waive the fee were to have a mortgage through the bank (which we don't--and aren't about to deal with the hassle of changing our mortgage) or keep a balance of $7500 in the account. Also not happening--no way do we need that kind of money sitting around a low-interest checking account when we only use it to pay a few bills. We'll keep that money in a savings account with a much higher APY, thank you very much.

So now we're faced with a serious dilemma. We really don't want to switch banks (or checking accounts) because we'd have to change all of our direct deposit forms and automatic bill pays (which would be a pain in the a$$), not to mention the fact that we just purchased quite a few new check books. Plus our current bank has a plethora of nationwide ATMs, which is great when we are traveling on the East Coast and need to pull out a little extra cash. But we refuse to pay a fee--and have access to a fee-free checking account through multiple other banks (which would still give us pretty good nationwide coverage--and a $2.50 ATM fee once every few months is way more reasonable than a $15 a month service fee). So Darrell is going to meet with a broker later this week and see what kind of magic he can work--all I can say is better him than me. I really don't handle confrontation situations like that well. At all.

Life Lesson: Probably a good idea to actually start paying attention to emails about account changes on a regular basis. Just sayin'.

Dinner on a Budget

Last April I mentioned that the area we have the biggest difficulty sticking to our budget is our grocery spending. We like buying quality ingredients and we like cooking nice meals, but we also don't want to break the bank in order to allow ourselves those luxuries. So, we allotted a grocery amount that was probably a little lower than we would have liked, and forced ourselves to stick to priorities in the kitchen. We've gotten more comfortable with our budget, though, and have even found ourselves having extra at the end of some months, which we use to stock up on wine and spirits. Other months, however, we're stuck scraping by during the final days and are stuck raiding our pantry (which, all in all, is not a terrible thing) to minimize expenses so we can stay under budget.

This month? Definitely the latter. Here's our dinner from last night:

A half-used box of pasta (tossed with olive oil and some Italian seasoning), a piece of chicken from the freezer (breaded and baked), cauliflower left in the fridge from last week, and a sweet potato. Certainly not extravagant, certainly not gourmet, but you know what? It kept us under budget for the month, and it even ended up being pretty tasty. Don't get me wrong, I'll still always pick Steak au Poivre or Cajun Chicken Pasta over a meal like this, but every once in awhile a hodge-podge meal like this works. Just as long as it's only every once in a while  :-)

On Budgeting...

Work has become our lives as of late, which hasn't left time for doing much of anything (although we did manage to squeeze a late trip to Lewis last night before they closed to pick up some stuff to get our vegetables/herbs started...but more on that later). However, all the working and paychecks and bills and everything else has spiraled me into the land of budgeting. We've been sticking to one pretty well for the past couple of months, and it really hasn't been too bad (Darrell maybe had to loan me some money at the end of last month because I was out of my allowance and really wanted a few cute shirts that were on mega-sale...but that's beside the point). However, we've found that in one area it is particularly difficult to stick to our budget: Groceries. Try as we might, we always end up just barely scraping by, and as of late have resorted to taking a calculator with us so we return that bag of chips to the shelf because they'll push us over budget aren't surprised by the total at the cash register. What we've realized, though, is that food is an area where we aren't that willing to compromise. We loooove ourselves some fresh produce (although we've gotten better at eating only what's on sale in season, hence the branch into cauliflower), quality meats (but, meatless Mondays have been successful the past two weeks, so we're on a roll with that) and the (occasional) spirited beverage. Plus, we just genuinely enjoy cooking (and eating!) a variety of tasty food, and sometimes that requires purchasing some "not-so-local-or-cheap" ingredients, like coconut milk and pine nuts. I'm also a little bit of a brand whore--the differences between generic brand and name brand peanut butter and yogurt (to name a few items) are noticeably different enough for me to justify forking over the extra dough.


Our solution (and, ultimately, I suppose, the point to this post)? I don't have one. Seriously. We already plan weekly menus to minimize waste (need a small quantity of green onions for one dish? We'll plan another with green onions so we don't have to throw the extras out). We love ourselves some rebates (handle of Bacardi Rum + sale price + $5 rebate = mega deal). We already shop the ads and specials. But just today I looked through the new ones for our local store and complied over a $40 list of the on-sale items that are either regular use items to stock up on (peanut butter, sugar, oatmeal) or items we'll incorporate into our meals this week (peppers, zucchini--although that one might get put in a bread--yum!, sweet potatoes). And I know from experience that once we plan our menu and add the other ingredients that we need that amount will shoot way up--easily over budget if we're not careful. I do need to get better about using coupons, although I do always use the ones in the ads when they are applicable. 


Ultimately, I know that there are things we could cut. But when it boils down to it, we don't want to. We don't want to give up fresh ingredients and flavor and taste and go back to our college days of Zatarans and tacos every week. And if things really start to get dicey (and food prices keep getting higher...) expect to see me on my bike A LOT this summer. Because this girl will gladly cut back on her gas budget in order to be able to fuel herself with quality food.

Money Matters

I know, I know. Money is one of those "taboo" topics that you don't discuss, like religion and politics. So I'll choose my words carefully. And I shouldn't offend anyone, unless you are the author of one of the articles that I'm referring to (and in that case, I don't really apologize for your lack of creativity). 


Everyone knows that most people like to go crazy setting New Year's Resolutions. And it's no secret the some of the most common resolutions are to "be happier", "lose weight", "save more money", etc etc etc. And of course, on this world wide web of information, articles aimed at helping people reaching these resolutions have sprung up like wildfire. And as my mother's daughter, the articles on "new money saving ideas for the new year" appealed to me (after all, who couldn't afford to have a little more cushion in the bank?) From no exact source, I give you the ten most common ways that these ingenious authors give to save money:

1. Set your thermostat back in the winter and up in the summer (usually coupled with advice about buying a programmable thermostat)
2. Cut back on water use by not running water while you are bushing your teeth, and taking shorter, less frequent showers. Oh, and by a low-flow shower head while you are at it
3. Be diligent about turning off lights when you leave a room. And make sure that those lights you are turning off are CFLs
4. Unplug your electronics when you aren't using them. They drain energy even when they aren't on
5. Give up your dependance on bottled water/your morning latte/eating out for lunch/etc 
6. Be a savvy shopper and watch for sales and double the sales up with coupons to maximize savings
7. Reassess your cable package--do you really watch all those channels that you are paying for?
8. Negotiate with your credit card company/mortgage lender/etc to cut your interest rates
9. When possible, combine bills with the same insurer, as many offer multi-policy discounts
10. Track your spending and see where all of your money is going. You'll be surprised at how some of those "little" purchases add up

Now, I'll give credit where credit is due, and admit that those are all legitimate strategies for saving some money. The only problem? Those tips have been around FOREVER. They aren't "new" ideas. And most people who are trying to save money are already doing those things. Case in point--

1. Darrell and I bought a programmable thermostat a month after we moved into our house. In the winter it's at 60 when we aren't home and 66 when we are. In the summer it's at 80 when we are gone and 74 when we are home. And in order to keep the house livable I don't think we can sacrifice any additional degrees to save an extra buck.
2. I've never run the water while I brush my teeth, and I usually only take showers every other day (be grossed out, I don't care. It's not like I don't use deodorant). And I've been working on making them shorter. Plus before our work schedules got so crazy we tried to make it to the gym regularly and shower there so we didn't have to shower at home. I also don't think that our shower head could be any lower flow--we both have thick hair and sometimes it's hard to wash all the stuff out with what little pressure there is.
3. We're pretty much light Nazis at our house. I tend to freak out if there are too many lights on. And yes, we've forked over the extra money to make sure they are all CFLs.
4. We've been doing this since college. Our TV, Wii, and DVD player are all plugged into a power strip that only gets turned on when we are using it. Same goes for our computers and printer. Aside from our major electronics, the only things that are always plugged in are our internet modem, our clock radios, and Darrell's bedside lamp. 
5. Done done and done? We usually make big dinners so we have leftovers for lunch, or make sure that we have bread on hand for sandwiches, and we've never had an issue with coffee/bottled water/other unnecessary expenses. Darrell only drinks coffee because it's free at his office, otherwise he wouldn't have any. 
6. I was raised by the queen of coupons. While I haven't quite become the hoarder that she was, I'd say I do a fair job of making sure to buy stuff when it's on sale and keeping an eye out for coupons.
7. We don't have cable. Problem solved.
8. No credit card debt, so no reason to negotiate rates there. And since we just financed our mortgage 14 months ago, I highly doubt we'd gain anything by trying to refinance.
9. Done. And kind of a no-brainer in my book.
10. This is probably the only one that we could really improve on, but I'm making an effort to work on it by actually setting budgets. I looked back on all our expenses from the past year and used that information to calculate some averages. Not that we really ever get too out of control with our spending, but now if our food budget is getting close to it's limit we'll have a reason for putting that bottle of wine back on the shelf.

So, as a final note to all of you out there who write articles about ways to save money: do the people a real favor and come up with some new, innovative ideas. Stop recycling the same information that's been around for years. Because I'm doing all that and I'd like to cut back some more.