Working Through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Planner - Chapter ONE

I am very slowly working my way through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Planner. I made a halfhearted attempt some time ago, but utterly failed. This time feels different though. I hope that blogging about it will keep me on track.

Have you worked through The Financial Peace Planner? What helped you get through it? What was difficult? Any tips to share?

One of my struggles with the book is that some parts are quite religious. I am not religious. So, I'll have to make some adjustments as a result.

Anyhow, I've read chapter one,  "Call Me Weird--Just Don't Call Me Broke," several times over the last few days and each time I feel a pit of despair begin to open up in my stomach. Ugh! A significant part of this chapter is about determining just how deep in the hole you are and some of the habits that got you there.

It can be difficult to face such truths. 

I've reminded myself several times lately that there is hope. If so many others can have success with Dave Ramsey's plan, I can too.

I CAN turn around my money story.

Dave Ramsey's plan of attack involves seven crucial steps, but not all at once! The book breaks them down into manageable chunks to help you succeed--of course, time will tell if I actually DO succeed with this (I'm working on my mindset to shift from "hope to succeed" to "will succeed"!).

Dave Ramsey's Seven Financial Baby Steps:

1. Save $1,000 in an emergency fund. 
2. Pay off all of your debt except for a mortgage by using the debt snowball.
3. Complete your emergency fun by saving three to six months of expenses.
4. Fully fund your pre-tax retirements savings.
5. Save for your kids' college.
6. Pay off your home early.
7. Build wealth and give like crazy.

I don't have a house -- we rent -- so paying off a home early will be more like, buying a home free and clear so I have no mortgage to begin with! Of course, I have to get through steps 1 through 5 first, right???

Chapter One ends with two tasks: taking stock of your money fears and setting some goals.

Here are my top five money fears: 
ONE: I won't be able to fix my financial situation. 
TWO: There will never be enough money. 
THREE: My son will be stuck taking care of my financial needs later in life. 
FOUR: I'll lose my home due to lack of money to pay the rent. 
FIVE: My debt will grow instead of shrink.

I'm determined to NOT allow any of those fears turn into reality!

The other task is to set some goals for the week in four areas: spiritual, physical, mental, and relational.

The goals I've set for this week are: 
SPIRITUAL: Do yoga Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday and focus on my breathing and clearing my mind. 
PHYSICAL: Exercise daily beyond yoga -- a walk or bicycling. 
MENTAL: Read a business, personal development, and social or political article every day. 
RELATIONAL: More hugs for my son and putting down whatever is in my hands and focusing on him when he has something that he wants to talk about.

Interested in following Dave Ramsey's plan? You can buy your own copy of The Financial Peace Planner HERE.

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DEBT TRACKING:
Original total: $110,000
Paid off yesterday: $0
New total: $109,940 

***SET ASIDE TOWARDS MY CITY TRAFFIC TICKET DEBT: $13 -- $47 to go to pay it off!***

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Check out these other great posts:

• The Exceptional Value of a Penny
• When Debt Gets You Down
• 8 Rules to Minimize Food Waste at Home

 **This post may contain affiliate links.

Wrapping up 2015 : My WINS list

The end of 2015 is just around the corner. In the past, I have always treated the transition from one year to the next as just any other day and an arbitrary way to mark time. This year, however, I read THIS post by Denise Duffield-Thomas and I also decided to fully commit to following as much advice as possible from Leonie Dawson's Shining Biz and Life Academy as possible, including doing a year end reflection to close out 2015.

I still need to do some reflection work to complete Leonie's year end closing ritual, but Denise's ritual was basically to realize how many WINS you had over the past year and to list them out.

Honestly, my first thought was, "UGH! 2015 suuuuuuuuuucked! Like hardcore SUUUUCKED!"

But, guess what?

There were bunches of low points, but there were also a TON of high points too! Admittedly, most of those high points (or WINS) happened in the last two months, but they totally count, right?

Here's my list of 2015 WINS:

• Finally listed custom pet portrait coloring pages in my Etsy shop (find them HERE)
• Searched for, found, and began to implement SEO tools (my favorite HERE)
• Got many of my coloring pages to the FIRST pages of related searches on Etsy
• Had my two highest EVER grossing months on Etsy in November and December
• Made it a point to read more (my favorite hobby, so why wasn't I doing it more?)

• Learned to say NO to projects or requests that don't feel right
• Learned to let go of the guilt associated with saying NO
• Learned to say, "That sounds like an exciting project, but I don't think I'm the best fit for your needs. I think you should reach out to {{insert name}}."
• Cut several toxic relationships on social media
• Cut way back on my soda drinking (I'm totally addicted to Coca Cola!)

• Sought an opportunity at another company when my current employer said they couldn't offer me full time status, a raise, benefits, etc despite offering me a promotion
• Got full time status, a raise, benefits, etc when my current employer decided they couldn't afford to lose me
• Told my boss and her three bosses exactly what I thought my company needs for continued growth and to strengthen my two work sites and they agreed
• Started bicycling to my day job on most days 
• Lost 1.5 pants sizes and ALL of my asthma symptoms thanks to bicycling so much

• Started this blog in an effort to face up to and track my debt and thus motivate myself to pay it down faster
• Started coaching a coworker on a book he wants to write and helping with ghostwriting some of it
• Outlined a 4-volume ebook series on homeschooling
• Told two coworkers about a five novel arc I had outlined on my phone and committed to having a few chapters written before New Year's Eve
• Got an idea for another novel 

• Realized there is an entire industry that I don't enjoy working with in my editing and writing business and started saying NO to potential clients in that industry

What are YOUR 2015 wins??? I wanna know! Post a comment below...

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Also, HOLY SHIZZLE YOU GUYS!!!! I mentioned the Thug Kitchen cookbook in THIS post and my son and I have made a few more soup recipes from it and OH. EM. GEE! So delicious! 

So far we've made several soups and oven fries. SOOOOOO good! Funny thing though is that the amounts that result from some recipes are interesting...the tortilla soup recipe could easily have been cut in half and the chickpea and dumplings recipe made so much I'd cut it down by even more than half next time! The potato leek soup, however, could easily be doubled.

Check out the potato leek soup -- it was delicious. Super creamy and yummy! I have a tiny serving left that will go in my lunch for work tomorrow.

 And, the insane amount of chickpea and dumpling soup (AFTER we both had a large serving!):

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I didn't pay off any debt officially today, but I did set aside $18 towards a small debt that I owe to my city for a traffic ticket (oops!). The original debt was $215 and I'm down to $65 remaining with a payment plan of $50 per month. My next payment is due January 12th with the final $15 due on February 12th. I want it paid off NOW so I can snowball the payments ASAP into the next debt I want to tackle.

I'm setting aside the money in an envelope and will keep adding to it until I have enough to pay it off or until January 12th, whichever comes first.

I have two expenses on Monday that I can't avoid -- emissions testing for my car and annual registration -- and set aside money for those already, but I haven't decided if I'll do registration for just one year or if I'll do it for two (my state gives the option of one or two years). Whatever money is leftover from those expenses will go in this envelope. On the one hand, it would be nice to go for the two year registration and not have to worry about it for an extra year. On the other hand, it would be nice to pay this debt off entirely! I'll probably decide on Monday...stay tuned!

~*~*~*~*~*~

DEBT TRACKING:
Original total: $110,000
Paid off yesterday: $0
New total: $109,940 

***SET ASIDE TOWARDS MY CITY DEBT: $13***

This post may include affiliate links.

8 Rules to Minimize Food Waste at Home

My original goal had been to post daily in my adventures towards debt freedom.

I haven’t done that, my reader.

That last post about depression and money sort of wiped me out emotionally! I’m glad I wrote it, but it really did a number on me and put me into a funk again.

I’m starting to pull out of it though and wanted to share with you a couple of links and some food-money rules that we practice. I’ve mentioned groceries and food before – click HERE to read related posts.

First, I was scrolling through my Facebook feed when I came across a link via Goop (yes, I follow Goop despite the exorbitant excesses they often push) about “make do” pies. I didn’t follow that link, but instead went to my good friend Google and asked, “Google, what are make do pies?” (Actually, I just typed “make do pies” into my search bar WITH the quotation marks so Google would search for my exact phrase…).

I turned up some interesting articles that I thought you might enjoy:

• In Lean Times, Creative Bakers Turn to Desperation Pies byJessica Stoller-Conrad on NPR
• Greeks Stomach Economic Crisis With Help of “StarvationRecipes” by Joanna Kakissis on NPR
• Why Desperation Pies are Making a Comeback by Margaret Eby at Bon Appétit (this one really is a bit about “desperation pies” as a luxury though….)
• Make-Do Cooking for Preppers (this one is a from a “prepper” perspective, and I am not at all a “prepper” but I do appreciate the rules laid out in this post)

Now, my own “make do” cooking and food rules:

#1. ~ If it’s in your fridge, freezer or cupboard, plan to eat it, trade it, or donate it. 

If you find yourself donating foods because you simply won’t eat them, STOP BUYING THOSE FOODS! Chances are if you won’t eat it, the person receiving it may not want to eat it either. If you want to donate food, donate things you actually like and think someone else would also enjoy. Also, donate food throughout the year, not just around Thanksgiving and the winter holidays. Plus, if you are buying foods you and no one else in your home will eat, you are wasting money.

#2. ~ Have a plan to prevent spoiling

If you think something will go bad before you can consume it, figure out if it is freezable, and if it is make sure you package it properly and make a plan to use it in the future. HERE are some tips on freezing food from the BBC's Good Food blog.

#3. ~  Have a weekly leftovers night

At least once per week have a fridge clean-out/leftovers dinner night. Pull out all of the leftovers, bits and pieces that are too small for a full serving, and things that need to be eaten soon to avoid spoiling. Can you make anything new out of any of it? If so, do that. If not, let everyone pick and choose what they want to eat. The only rule is this: if you select something from the options you then are obligated to eating it! No throwing it out!

Here's an example of a past "make do" fridge clean out meal:

The night we had this meal, we had enough leftovers for two servings of rice, a serving of sausage each, a serving of spinach each, one egg that I scrambled and gave to my son, leftover roasted red peppers that I ate, and baby carrots for both of us. We both like spinach, but I prefer it cooked while my son prefers his raw. Super easy to cook mine down in the same pan I used to scramble the egg. We used up leftovers, used up spinach before it went bad, and both had full tummies.

#4. ~ Put a lid on it

COVER everything before putting leftovers in the fridge. My son has a bad habit of putting uncovered leftovers in the fridge so that by the time I discover them the next day they are dried out or otherwise gross (dried out, stale rice anyone???). Also, handy tip for leftover rice: If you remove the lid and the rice seems a little dry, just add a teaspoon or two of water per serving and heat in the microwave for a minute or two while covered. The rice should soften up a little bit. Experiment with how much water you need.

#5. ~ Freeze your stale bread 

If you have bread that is going stale, toss it in a zip top baggie or a plastic container with a lid and put it in the freezer. Next time you need bread crumbs, pull it out and grind or tear it up. We also freeze the end pieces. Thaw them and use them to make stuffing, bread pudding, or croutons.

#6. ~ Freeze veggie ends and peels and make broth

Rinse well and then toss veggie peelings, onion skins, carrot and celery ends into a plastic container with a lid and put it in the freezer. When it’s full, use them as the base of a good home made broth. I don't follow a recipe when making broth, but my method is to put on a pot of boiling water, dump in my veggie scraps, add some salt, pepper, garlic powder, bay leaf, and whatever other seasonings sound good at the moment (I really like thyme) and bring it all to a rolling boil. Then, cover and turn the heat down to a simmer and let it bubble away for a few hours. Carefully taste it periodically and adjust seasonings or add more water as needed. When you think it's done, turn off the heat and let it cool. Then, strain out all the veggie scraps and put your broth in storage containers for the fridge or freezer. Yum!

#7. ~ Don't buy foods you don't like even on sale

As mentioned above, don’t buy stuff you don’t like – even if it’s at a steal of a price. If you don’t like it, you won’t eat. If you don’t eat it, you haven’t saved anything no matter how great the sale was.

#8. ~ Keep a running list of the food you throw away

This may seem odd, but writing down exactly what you are throwing away can be eye opening. You may think you are throwing away very little food when really you're throwing away several meals worth every month. Make a habit of writing down the food you throw away and then review your list periodically. If you are throwing away the same things over and over, consider no longer buying those items. If you are throwing away a lot regularly, perhaps reconsider your overall grocery and meal planning strategy and how you might cut back.

What are your family’s food and grocery rules for minimizing waste? Do you have a favorite “make do” recipe?

~*~*~*~*~

DEBT TRACKING:
Original total: $110,000
Paid off yesterday: $10
New total: $109,940 

 

~*~*~*~*~

One way that I'm working towards paying off my debt is by using the cash envelope method for budgeting. To stay on track, I created my own cash envelopes that double as coloring pages. Each one has space on the front for the name of the envelope's category, a money mantra, and three category priorities. Get yours in my Etsy shop HERE.

Car repairs and cargo bikes

That is not my car in the above picture ~ my car isn't nearly that cool.

In THIS post, I wrote about bicycle commuting and talked about riding my bicycle due to car problems. Well, today I took my car to the dealership and had it looked at. I honestly have been putting this off for so ridiculously long that I should be ashamed, but I'm not!

My only regret in waiting so long is the stress that I caused myself by not knowing the extent or cost of necessary repairs. If I'd taken it in months ago, I could have made a plan to save for the repairs and not have it be a huge burden.

Seriously, I caused myself A LOT of stress just by putting off finding out the extent of my car's needed repairs!

Instead, I put it off and put it off. Now, I have a car needing $2k in repairs (I thought it was going to be so much more!) and I have a few things coming up where I do need a car (which is a rare need for me...).

I could sell or give up my car as I mentioned in the prior post, but I'm not going to. At least not yet.

I was expecting all sorts of things to be wrong and for them to say, "Well, if you'd come in sooner..." But, the repairs were not even half of what I expected and only one was related to needing routine maintenance (replacing my brake pads). The rest was all stuff that you would expect to happen when your car is 17 years old and has over 235,000 miles on it!


Yeah, repairs are sucky and expensive and time consuming, but the car still has a lot of good use for me so for now I'll keep it. And, frankly, I actually love this car too!

I hate the money I spend on my car, but soon my son will start college and the closest campus is too far to reasonably bicycle unless you are hardcore in bicycling and we don't have a bus anywhere near us. So, I'll keep the car and work on convincing my son that it's time to learn to drive (he's 17 1/2 and doesn't want to learn to drive...).

Even after repairs, I still plan to continue bicycling to and from work and to do some basic errands. I will still save money if I bicycle and my health will hopefully continue to improve (I'm not sickly or anything, but I do have asthma and have put on a few extra pounds I don't need).

I want to save up for a cargo bike even if I keep my car. I would love to ride around with my dogs, to be able pick up more than just a couple of bags of groceries, and more.

Check out this cargo bike I spotted in New York City:

After much searching online, I found that this cargo bike is from a company called Babboe. They have a wide variety of cargo bikes and accessories, including covers and such. I'd have to either get a cover or train my dogs super super super well to not jump out!

Love the cargo bike? Wanna help me with my dream to get one myself? Check out my Etsy shop HERE and consider purchasing a coloring or stationery page or two or three. All purchases are greatly appreciated! You can also find us HERE on Facebook ~ we (my son and I) post new work, sales, coupons, and more on our Facebook page.

When debt (and more) gets you down

Dear reader,

Yesterday I felt down, like really, really down. All I could think about all day was money. How little I have. How much I owe. How hard I work without seeing big financial gains.

It got me down. I had the deep, down, debt and money blues.

And, it's totally ok. It's totally ok to have a moment, or even a whole day, where you feel like poo about your situation, but do yourself a favor, my dear reader, and don't stay in that place of despair.

Take an hour, an afternoon, or even a whole day to feel it, to experience it, to be with your money woes. Stay in bed. Curl up on the couch under a mound of blankets and binge watch as many old episodes of "Friends" or "Orange is the New Black" or whatever show lets you forget your reality for a brief moment. Don't do the dishes. Don't wash your hair or take a shower. Don't answer the phone or the door. Don't check the mail.

Take an hour, an afternoon, a whole day to just be.

My dear reader, I totally get it. And, other than going to work, that's what I did yesterday. I wallowed, I whined, I hid. I felt like crap about my debt and money situation and I'm totally ok with that.

I went to bed early last night because I just didn't want to do anything else because I felt like crap about money. I fed my kid leftovers because I felt like crap about money and couldn't face washing dishes in order to have a clean pot or frying pan to make some dinner because all I could think was "Money, debt, money, debt, money, debt" all day yesterday.

Today, I didn't have to work so I did exactly ONE responsible thing and took my car to the mechanic for a repair estimate. They gave me a free ride home and I've been sitting on my couch all day today reading because I couldn't yesterday since I had to work.

And, you know what?

All that sulking before and after work yesterday?

All that binge reading today?

I feel a lot better.

Like, a WHOLE LOT BETTER.

I will go take a shower now, wash the dishes I didn't wash yesterday, and will make dinner tonight. I will clean up my bathroom and tidy my living room. I will pay a bill. I will get together my to-do list for tomorrow.

Reader, it's ok to have a day of being down-and-out and to wallow and feel bad and feel sorry for yourself. However, it is not ok to feel that way every day for days on end. If you find yourself feeling sad, depressed, worthless, or lost for more than an hour, an afternoon, a whole day... If you feel yourself slipping into this negative space for days, weeks, months on end...

Please get help. Please call your doctor. Please see a counselor. Please go to your pastor or a trusted mentor. Please get help.

I have suffered from depression my entire life and I have been in counseling and I have taken antidepressants. There is NO SHAME in any of this because you have an obligation to yourself to take care of you and sometimes getting help is the only way to do that.

I have felt awful for weeks, even months, and this past month has been the worst in a long time. I just qualified for insurance through my employer and plan to see a primary care doctor, ask to go back on an antidepressant, and to go to counseling because I need an objective voice to help me navigate these rough waters. I need medication to help me stay afloat right now.

If you do to, then please get help.

If you don't have insurance or financial means to pay for counseling, a doctor's visit, or medication, seek out help anyhow. I live across the street from a health clinic that offers primary and family care, ob-gyn care, dental care, and more. And, they also offer a sliding scale based on income and your financial situation...even offering some FREE appointments for those really in need. And, it's actually a really nice clinic. It's not a gross, downtown, middle of the worst-neighborhood-in-town-wait-six-hours-for-a-half-assed-visit-with-an-overworked-doctor-that-doesn't-have-enough-energy-to-care type of clinic. Nope, this is a suburban clinic with practitioners who have the time and energy to care and they have the time and energy to understand that not everyone can afford the care they need. If you need help and can't afford it, ask for help finding solutions like the clinic across the street from me that has a sliding scale and doesn't leave you feeling the need for a shower to wash off the gross as soon as you walk out the door.

If you live in a town or a city with a YWCA or YMCA or with an organization like Jewish Family and Children's Services, call and ask if they offer counseling and mental health services. When I lived in Portland, Oregon, the counseling services offered a sliding scale and I saw a counselor weekly for $5. That saved my sanity during some difficult years as I was navigating an abusive relationship. If you don't have organizations like the ones I mentioned or like the clinic across the street from me, start calling the churches and synagogues in your neighborhood and ask if they know of resources (many won't require you to follow their religion...like you don't have to be Jewish to use many services from Jewish Family and Children's Services).

If you are so far down and out that you can't even look for resources or don't know who to ask for help, or you are on the edge and your life is at stake, please call  

the National Suicide Hotline at 

1-800-273-8255.

If you are so down-and-out, so depressed, so lost that you feel like you may harm yourself and calling a hotline isn't enough, go to your local Emergency Department. 

While they are trained to deal with physical medical problems, they also take mental health crises very seriously and can help you get the help you need and in the meantime, you can be sure that you are in a safe place with people to help look after you. 

So, I let myself wallow yesterday and today. I'm feeling better, but still have a lot of despair over money, over working so hard and not seeing any tangible results, and more. And, I am predisposed to depression. It's been and probably will continue to be a lifelong fact of my life.

It's not a battle. Depression isn't a battle for me. It's simply a part of who I am. And, in a weird way, I actually really appreciate it -- I wouldn't wish it on you if you don't deal with depression, but I really do find it useful in some ways. When I am not feeling the worst of it, I can use my depression to weight out other things in my life. I can use it to weigh out how fortunate I actually am DESPITE my depression. I can use it to weigh out how far I have come since I was a child and didn't know there was a name for my sudden outbursts of misery and tears and despair. I can weigh out how far I've come since a long, lonely year of college in a town that was too small and isolated for me. I can weigh out how far I've come since leaving an abusive relationship and rebuilding my life and my son's life.

I can weight out how I have learned to SURVIVE and THRIVE and PERSIST.

So, my dear reader, whether you are feeling held down by debt, by relationships, by a fact of depression being part of who you are...

Please get help and take care of you.

Take an hour, an afternoon, a whole day (or two) to wallow and then ask for help.

{{hugs}}

***Nothing in this post should be taken as medical or mental health advice. These are my opinions only. I am NOT a health care provider of any kind and you should ALWAYS seek professional help from a certified health care or mental health provider if you have concerns or needs.***

How bicycle commuting is helping my pay off debt

I've been bicycle commuting for a few months now, mostly out of necessity, but now I'm really enjoying it. And, it has financial benefits too!

I am lucky enough to work only 2.5 miles from one of my two work sites and close to several grocery stores and other amenities. My other work site is about 8.5 miles from home and I only have to go there on occasion, but I still bike there! While I realize this post won't have value for people who live far from their work, stores, etc or people who live in especially harsh climates, I hope some of you will find this inspiring and will go out and brush off your bikes and get pedaling (safely, of course).

I have been riding my bicycle to and from work, to the grocery store and bank, to the library, and on various errands. It's had so many benefits!

The obvious financial benefits include:

• reduced gasoline costs
• reduced car maintenance costs
• reduced car insurance costs

I'm honestly considering selling my car entirely as I've worked out that renting a car one day every week will cost less than keeping up my own car! And, honestly, I don't even need a car once per week! If I get rid of my car entirely my car-related costs will drop a TON!

Less obvious financial benefits to my bicycle commuting have included:

• improved asthma control (less $ spent on medication)
• fewer impulse purchases (especially things like coffee or fast food and non-essentials at the grocery store since I can't carry too much on my bike!)
• better grocery choices as I need to consider the nutritional value of what I buy and eat if I want to keep up this lifestyle change

I'm experiencing a ton of health benefits as a result of bicycling so much as well. These health benefits have the potential to reduce my long-term financial expenses by reducing the amount of money I need to spend on health care. Because I've been bicycling and also paying more attention to my diet in order to promote the energy reserves I need for cycling, I have noticed:

• improved asthma symptoms, as mentioned above
• weight loss
• improved digestion
• clearer skin
• improved psoriasis symptoms
• more energy
• better sleep
• better mood

I haven't had any lab testing or a medical exam since I've started bicycling, but I do work in healthcare and I can see and feel huge health improvements!

{{Please note, I am NOT a physician or medical professional and NOTHING in this post should be taken as medical advice! Please see your doctor or healthcare provider before making lifestyle changes like I have undertaken.}}

Are you curious how much bicycle commuting might save you? Check out THIS calculator from Kiplinger's. My commute is short, but bicycle commuting saves me about $2 per day! I work an average of 16 days per month, so that's a savings of about $32 per month or $384 per year.

The downside of bicycle commuting
Now, I don't want you think bicycling is ONLY saving me money. There are some costs involved and if you take up bicycle commuting, you'll have to decide if these costs are worth it. 

If you don't have a bike, obviously you'd have to invest in one to take up bicycle commuting. For the moment, I am riding my step-mom's bike, but I am saving to buy a bike for myself and one for my son. My budget is $250 for both + $100 for accessories (baskets, panniers, lights, etc). We already have helmets, bike locks, and a friend gave me a tire pump. I've had to invest in some weather-friendly clothes, but bought them all on sale (about $30). I also had to replace a tire inner tube and bought a spare ($9 each at a bike shop within walking distance from my home).

At some point, the bicycle I'm riding will also need a tune up ($60 at the local bike shop). If you live somewhere with a lot of rain or snow, you might also need to invest in fenders and if you plan to haul cargo or lots of groceries, you'll want to consider panniers (bags that hang over your back wheel) or baskets and racks.

Also, I'm not sure this is a downside to bicycle commuting, but it does mean spending a little more money -- I'm LOSING WEIGHT! I don't own a scale so not sure how much I've actually lost but almost all of my clothes are too big now! I'm slowly replacing things as I see deals and find things that need to be replaced anyhow.

Staying safe
Of course, another significant concern is safety. Be sure to ALWAYS wear a helmet! Working in emergency medicine, I can tell you the consequences of a crash without a helmet on can be disasterous (and expensive!). Also, be sure you have a headlight and taillight if you will be riding in the dark.

Before I began bicycle commuting, I also looked up both local regulations about bicycling and bike routes. There are very few bicycle lanes here and not a lot of cyclist so drivers aren't used to bicyclists on the road. Be sure you know your local laws, customs, and bike routes!

ALWAYS be aware of your surroundings and use caution when approaching intersections or around cars.

If bicycle commuting isn't for you
Obviously bicycle commuting won't work for you if your commute is incredibly long or in extremely bad weather. However, you can probably still reduce your commuting costs if you can't bicycle. Make sure you keep your tires properly inflated (it actually can make a HUGE difference) and keep your car well maintained -- check sites like Groupon for maintenance deals and go directly to the websites for your local mechanic or car dealerships with service departments to find sales and coupons.

To save money on gas, be sure to check out Gas Buddy to price shop for the best gasoline rates and find out if your local grocery store has a savings program tied to gasoline savings.

If you take public transportation, consider buying weekly or monthly or even annual passes -- often the longer time period covered by the pass the greater the savings. Also, look to see if HOW you buy your pass makes a difference. I used to live in an area where buying your passes online saved you quite a bit of money!

What are your alternative commuting tips to help save money?

The exceptional value of a penny

A penny is worth so much more than it's literal one-cent value. If you think about it, in the United States, no other denomination of money has any value without the penny.

So, I want to know -- do you pick up pennies when you see them on the ground? Do you keep them and count them up? Do you always make sure to have four pennies in your pocket, just in case?

Or, do you think of pennies as annoying wastes of space or having little value?

I ask because I recently watched THIS Marie Forleo video in which Marie spoke about money habits, including habits like picking up change if you see it in the street or organizing your money neatly and in order in your wallet.

I started thinking about the vast difference between how I treat my money versus how my ex treated money while we were together (and I suspect his habits haven't changed much).

My ex used to HATE pennies. He hated them so much that he would literally throw them out the car window while driving or in the trash if he was at home or out walking somewhere! Can you believe that?

He was LITERALLY throwing away money!

We kind of had a constant ongoing argument over pennies. I believe a penny is much more than simply one-cent. A penny is a lot of value that can add up quickly -- one penny alone may not be much, but ten pennies is a dime. 100 pennies are a dollar. A thousand pennies are ten dollars. And so on...

Pennies have extraordinary power and value that I cherish. 

Every time I saw my ex throwing away pennies, I felt a rock drop in my stomach. He saw himself throwing away a nuisance. I saw him throwing away our financial stability and our son's future (like, throwing away college tuition). 

Next time you see a penny on the sidewalk, pick it up. Take it home and drop it in a cute piggy bank, jar, a box, or whatever receptacle makes sense for you. Make a habit of dropping all of your change into this container! It will add up faster than you might think and it could potentially save your financial butt or at least ease a tight financial spot.

There have been times when money was tight and my little piggy bank (that actually looks like a monkey) has gotten me through. I may not have had enough paper dollars to buy all of the groceries we needed or to get gas to drive to work, but because I have the habit of tossing ALL of my change into my little piggy bank, I was able to see myself through in a pinch. Right now, I have almost ten dollars in change in that little coin bank with another couple of dollars in change in my wallet that I'll be dropping into the bank soon.

And, this may seem silly at first, but lately I have been working on changing my mindset around money from one of stress, dread, and worry to one of appreciation and blessing. Every time I drop coins into my little bank, I say to myself, "Thank, you Universe for this blessing" before inserting each coin. At first I didn't notice any effect from this habit and it seemed like it was just wasting my time because I don't just say it once and drop in all of my collected coins. Nope, I say it for each individual coin I put in my little bank. Now, however, after several weeks of doing this, I find that this ritual helps me to slow down, calm down, and appreciate that I CAN and I WILL dig myself out of my financial hole.

Getting debt free is about baby steps, persistence, and understanding that I can do it -- even if it's one penny at a time.

~*~*~*~*~

Did you like this post? Check out these posts as well:

• Paying debt one penny at a time
• Zero food waste and my budget

 ~*~*~*~*~

DEBT TRACKING:
Original total: $110,000
Paid off yesterday: $0
New total: $109,950 

~*~*~*~*~

Coming soon -- a blog post about how I am using coloring to motivate my debt pay off plans. Want to join me on my coloring to debt freedom plan? You can get your coloring pages in my Etsy shop -- it doesn't matter which pages you select; what matters is that you get started. Look for that blog post later this week!

Zero food waste and my budget

I grew up in a home where a lot of food got wasted -- A LOT. As new food was bought, older food was simply pushed to the back of the fridge, freezer, and cupboards to rot. Leftovers were only occasionally eaten and no care was taken to look at prices when grocery shopping nor were efforts made before shopping to save money (no couponing, no looking over weekly sales ads, no price comparisons).

In some ways, I was very lucky to grow up that way -- I never went hungry and I never feared going hungry.

In other ways though, that type of environment taught me nothing about waste, keeping a budget, or money skills.

It has taken me a very long time to learn any money skills at all or how my food and grocery habits could impact my budget. In fact, although I made great strides after moving out and having a child of my own, it wasn't until my son and I moved back in with my mom several years later that I really started to notice how my family's bad food/grocery habits during my childhood affected my food-related money choices. I love my mom dearly and am so grateful that we were able to move in with her during a time of dire need, but we had very different habits and very different budgets. My mom was financially stable enough to continue to not worry about money, but my budget was extremely tight. I had to weigh my options at the grocery store and be careful that I made our money and food stretch in order to make ends meet and get ahead.

The final straw was when I realized how often food I bought with my own money was getting shoved to the back of the fridge, freezer, and cupboards when my mom bought food. Sometimes my groceries would get smashed so that when I found them they weren't really usable -- like a tomato with a heavy package placed on top of it. I tried talking to my mom about the problem which helped briefly. I tried using hard plastic containers with lids with minor success. I tried a number of other options.

Eventually, my son and I moved out so that I could go to graduate school and I was able to re-implement many of my frugal habits, including minimizing food waste. However, lately I've found both my son and I slip-sliding into bad habits again.

Today, I threw away a half bunch of celery, half bag of salad, and a serving of homemade chana masala. That's not a whole lot, but it still translates to throwing money in the trash. I also realized that I have asparagus that needs to be eaten in the next two days and two apples that will need to be eaten soon as well.

While I may not have cleared out a lot of food waste today, I wish I'd formulated a plan to eat those foods instead. Every time you throw away food, you have to spend more money to replace it. And, if you let THAT food go to waste? Well, more money wasted and more money having to be spent to replace the wasted food again. And, on and on and on...

This week, I'll be hyper focused on minimizing food waste to improve my budget. And, as a side benefit, because I've been buying mostly WHOLE, UNPROCESSED foods, I'm also benefiting our health in the long term which then translates to fewer medical costs over time.

{{I'll do a post in the future about how I save money at the grocery store -- last week, I saved 60% without being super extreme!}}

My zero food waste plans for this week:

• Take my own lunch/snacks to work daily
• Take advantage of free breakfast and lunch at work when my schedule and the meal schedule match up
• Oatmeal, pancakes, waffles for breakfast daily for both of us
• Apple fries for dessert tomorrow night to use up the two apples mentioned above
• Leftovers for dinner tomorrow night (minestrone soup from Thug Kitchen* cookbook -- insanely good!)
• Huge batch of homemade broth from veggie scraps I've been saving in a container in the freezer (it's basically FREE other than the electricity to run the stove and water and soap to wash the dishes! Just the scraps, water, and some seasoning!)
• Asparagus fries as a snack tomorrow night
• Homemade tortilla soup (also from Thug Kitchen) on Monday night
• Evaluate perishables daily and meal plan for the following two to three days based on what's about to go bad

How do you handle food waste, meal planning, and your grocery budget?  

Yesterday's post: Paying off debt one penny at a time
Tomorrow's post: How bicycle commuting is saving me money.
And two days from now: How I'm using coloring to motivate my debt reduction

DEBT TRACKING:
Original total: $110,000
Paid off yesterday: $50
New total: $109,950


*Thug Kitchen is a vegan cookbook and IT IS FREAKING AWESOME! Even my son, a teenager who loves meat, thinks the recipes are outstanding. If you eat meat, consider cutting back -- it can save you a ton of money with some practice. However, if you are sensitive to swearing, this cookbook isn't for you, no matter how great the recipes are! It is filled to the gills with F-bombs.

This post may include affiliate links.

Paying off debt one penny at a time

5:30am & rudely woken up, literally & figuratively...

Literally, a car alarm began to blare outside my bedroom....my own car alarm.

Figuratively, my money "problem" wasn't going anywhere unless I seriously ramp up my efforts, even if only a penny at a time.

I can't shake an image I saw on a debt payoff blog a few weeks ago. The writer had paid off her student loans by chipping away constantly at her debt, sometimes even with payments of just a penny at a time. The picture was a snapshot of her payments over the course of a month. Some payments were less than a dollar, even as little as a single penny! But, the whole point was that she was simply diligent about chipping away at her debt at every opportunity, and ultimately she managed to get totally debt free, and a lot faster than she had expected.

I have been despairing for months -- no, years -- over my dismal financial situation. I have felt crushed by it, especially this past year. I am living a bizarre paradox where I am both doing better and worse than ever before in my life, and upon waking this morning to my car alarm, I realized I am about to fall off my financial tightrope if I don't make big changes NOW, even if it's only a penny at a time.

I've got one of the best jobs I've ever had with full benefits, super flexible hours, and room to grow.

Yet, I'm in worse financial shape than ever. 

Here's what I do NOT have:

• credit card debt
• a car loan
• a mortgage

Here's what I DO have:

• student loan debt
• medical/healthcare debt
• a car that is about to fall apart, and that I can't afford despite NO car payments (think gas, insurance, maintenance)
• a small debt to my city due to two tickets and a registration error (Since writing this, I have PAID OFF this debt IN FULL!)

My crazy ridiculous amount of debt comes out to a HUGE $110,000. That figure makes my heart race and my palms sweat.

$110,000 makes me want to hide under the covers and cry. 

It makes me want to give up. It makes me feel hopeless.

But, the thing is, I'm a single mom. I can't afford to give up or feel hopeless. I can't afford to do that to myself or to my son. I owe it to both of us to find a way out of this, even if that means paying off my debt and improving our situation one penny at a time.

Today, in my efforts towards financial stability, I will be:

• Revisiting Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Planner
• Paying $50 towards the debt to my city ($115 remaining to pay this tiny debt off! Update: I paid it off IN FULL!)
• Paying a few bills
• Meal planning
• Grocery shopping based on sales and my meal plan
• Telling my boss that I won't be attending our annual holiday work party as doing so would cost at least $40 between the white elephant gift, a potluck dish, and transportation to get to and from

Stay tuned as I'll be sprucing this blog up and writing a new post EVERY DAY as often as I can to track my journey from $110,000 in the hole to $110,000 above ground.

~*~*~*~*~*~

If you are familiar with Dave Ramsey, you have probably heard of his cash envelope budgeting system. I have tried it in the past and found it to be boring and a chore. Ugh!

I want my money story to be FUN and EXCITING! 

So, I decided to create my own money envelopes. They are covered in hearts because I want to LOVE my money. I created these envelopes to feature a spot to write in categories, a spot to write a money mantra, and a spot to write three priorities for my money in that category. My goal is to use the mantra and priorities to help me stay motivated and on track and to prevent dipping into one envelope or another when I'm low in one area of my budget. I also created these to double as coloring pages!

You can get your cash budget envelopes HERE. 

Love them? Save 33% on your own cash budget envelopes in my Etsy shop with coupon code PENNIES. You'll receive a near instant download PDF of the envelope to copy, print, color, and use. Print as many copies as you need, and if one gets damaged, just print another one!

 Please note, posts on this blog may contain affiliate links.
This post is also linked up at A Little R & R Link Party found HERE.