Weekend Reading: Suddenly Frugal

Suddenly Frugal: How to Live Happier and Healthier for Less

By Leah Ingram

Adams Media, 2010

In the interest of full disclosure, I had to admit that I have a bit of a bloggerly crush on Leah Ingram. Hers was the first frugality blog I stumbled across (thank you google reader), and from that moment forth I decided that I kind of want to be her. That's the bias I'm bringing to my write-up on this book when I say that this is easily one of the best frugality books I've ever read (and that's a lot). Just like her blog, this tome is chocked full of practical advice that saves you money.

I'm not entirely sure what it is about her that I respond to so much but I think it's a combination of things:

1. She's an actual writer. It's hard to find bloggers that can actually write. There are many talented people out there who have a style, but to find a professional, polished writer is a real treat.
2. She's no-nonsense and doesn't make it about herself. There are little asides about how she and her family started doing x, y or z, but it's certainly not confessional or full of pictures of family weekends. That stuff is all well and good sometimes, but other times, I just want the advice.
3. Religion doesn't factor in. This may be an odd thing to say, but one of my biggest complaints about frugality blogs is that many are run by stay-at-home moms who are very religious. I have no gripe with religious people, but it's really refreshing to just read about saving a bit of cash without having to wade through the whole "god directed me to save money this way" stuff. Again, I just want the advice.

While I find the claim on the front cover of the book that a person can save up to $25,000 per year just by reading a bit silly, she does back it up. At the end of each section, there is a breakdown of how much you can save by doing everything she says. Sadly, most of it doesn't apply to me, but maybe someday it will.

Best takeaways:

I need to get a drying rack for my clothes.

I've actually known this for a while, but this book really brought home the fact that I could be saving a lot of money, energy and wear on my clothes if I just sucked it up and bought one. Problem is, I did buy one a few years ago at Target, and the damn thing would not stay together. It was the kind where the wooden dowels fit into plastic brackets on the frame, and the dowels wouldn't stay in. I tried glue (several kinds) and duct tape before I finally just threw it out. If anyone has managed to find a well-made drying rack, let me know.

DIY Laundry detergent.

Borax, washing soda and Fels Naptha soap and you've got laundry detergent that works just as well as the stuff that smells like a meadow. She also posted this on her blog, but the DIY chapter in this book is exhaustive and a little bit awesome. I haven't actually tried making the laundry soap yet, but I will, and you'll hear about it.

How to Compost.

Explained in a way that actually make sense. I have a boss who is a master composter, and she's half explained it to me before, but since she knows it so well, she omits things. This book breaks it down in a way that actually resonates to me much more than boss's advice or anything I've read on the interwebs. Granted, I do not have a yard so cannot really compost--but someday! I'll be ready.

Random Reuseables.

This is an entire section dedicated to giving you ideas of other ways to use common items. It's not unlike the new uses of everyday items section of Real Simple, but that's one of my favorite parts of the magazine, so I can't get enough of this stuff. I love dual purpose and maximizing what you can do with one thing. Ever thought of using toilet paper tubes as seed starters? Genius.

Cardinal Rules of Clothes Shopping

Frugal shopping does not mean following every trend, but it shouldn't mean dressing like a frumpy old lady either. Buying classic, well-made items even if they cost a little more actually saves money in the long run because you're not replacing your clothes all the time due to wear or dated appearance.

Wardrobe Inventory--

Before you set foot in a store, know what you already have so you don't buy the same thing over and over again. Have you ever looked in your closet and realized that you have five white shirts, or six pairs of black pants? Unless you wear a white shirt every single day of the week (and you should probably mix it up a bit), there is no reason to own that many. Knowing what you have means you know what you need as well, and you won't be buying just for the sake of buying. You may inventory your wardrobe and realize that your work pants are getting a bit worn out--then go shopping for new work pants that will match the tops you already own. If you don't have any casual weekend clothes, go shopping for those. Having a plan in mind before setting foot in the store helps you reign in spending by making shopping and errand rather than entertainment.

Buy Outfits--

This is not always possible, but it's a good rule to keep in mind. Stacy and Clinton abide by this as well. If you are buying separates to mix and match (and you should because it makes a few pieces more versatile) make sure that you have in hand an entire outfit to avoid buying pieces that you can never wear. Say you're in a store and you find a skirt that you love but you know that you don't have anything at home (because you've done your inventory) to wear with it. Unless you are 100% confident you will be able to find something to wear with it, don't buy it. I can't count the number of times I've bought something, and been unable to find anything to wear with it, and then left hanging in my closet for years until I no longer like it or it doesn't fit.

The problem with not buying an entire outfit in one go is that it becomes much more work to create one later. Often you buy a lot of things thinking that they will go with the magical skirt, only to get home and realize that they just don't. Then you either waste time going back to the store returning things, or have a bunch more clothes to find things to match to. You could be one of those people (and I never am, but I know I should be) who bring the item back shopping with you and try to find other pieces to go with it. This is a good strategy, but if you wait too long to find that missing piece, you may be unable to return the initial item.

Shop online first--

Before I set foot in the mall, I often go to the website of the stores I plan to visit and shop there first. This helps me see the clothes and get some ideas before setting foot in the loud, chaotic and overwhelming store. I know myself, and I often buy things just for the sake of buying something. I feel weird if I leave a store empty-handed and have made ridiculous purchases because of it. If I shop online first and see nothing I like, then I either skip the store, or make a quick lap though reminding myself that I probably won't be buying anything. This keeps that impulse in check and also gives me an idea how much I'll be spending before I go.

Browsing & Returning--

Frankly, I hate shopping, but sometimes shopping with a friend is fun. However, I have that problem where once I'm on a store, I feel obligated to buy something--anything--I trick myself into thinking I like something and then I get it home and am baffled about its appeal. So in the interest of not repeatedly turning down requests to go shopping, I've forced myself to get better at both browsing and returning.

This seems like a total no-brainer, but when it comes to frugality, but a lot of changes are really that easy (in theory). I've forced myself to be much pickier about what I buy through regular inventorying of my closet. If I slip into the "must purchase something" mindset, I bring it home, leave the tags on, and re-evaluate after a little time has passed. If I don't love it, I bring it back. If I'm on the fence, I wear it around the house for a little while (tags still on), and see if I continue to love it. There is nothing worse than cutting the tags off a new pair of pants just to realize that there's huge gap in the back of the waistband, or that they're uncomfortable to sit in.

French Bread Pizza

The BF is addicted to those frozen Red Baron and Stouffer's French Bread Pizzas. When we first started dating, he eagerly warmed one up for me and presented it with a hopeful flourish. I choked it down, and then later (after we'd been dating a bit longer) told him that it tasted like chemical-soaked cardboard. Since I'm trying to cook for him as well because he just can't/won't cook for himself and it's more cost-effective to cook for two, I decided to revamp this disgusting favorite meal into something tasty and healthy.

This is exactly what it sounds like--pizza on french bread, and therefore, it's super easy.

Ingredients:

One loaf french bread

Pizza Sauce

mozzarella or preferred cheese blend

desired toppings--I used spinach, mushrooms, sausage and green pepper, but no more than three topping per pizza

• My plan was to make up a bunch of these pizzas and freeze them so when I'm not around, he can eat real food. To start, I measured the french bread against the size container I had to freeze it in, and then hacked off a chunk.
• Once the loaf was in chunks, I cut those in half, and scooped out a bit of the middle to create a nice divot for the toppings.
• add sauce
• add toppings
• wedge into container for freezing
• take the pizzas that you're not freezing, and heat them up on the George Forman grill and enjoy with a glass of sangria

These were super tasty, and I think they'll heat up well too. Sadly, the french bread doesn't hold a ton of toppings--it's pretty narrow, but still, good stuff. Also, I could not find non-shredded mozzarella cheese at the grocery store. All they had was pre-shredded in a bag, or fancy mozzarella balls--no brick, no savings.

Even considering how dirt-cheap the Red Baron and Stouffer's versions of these pizzas are, I still undercut doing it my way:

$2 for pizza sauce

$2 for cheese

$1.79 for french bread

$1 for toppings

Total $6.79 for 8 pizzas about $.85 apiece vs. $3.50 for two of the Stouffer's or $1.75 apiece.

...and I still have half a jar of sauce

Budget Beauty: Home Highlights

Note: I am not a hairstylist, I am a librarian, please consider that before taking my advice. That said, I've been dyeing my own hair since 7th grade, and dyeing my friends' hair since high school. I've learned some stuff.

If you are interested in the highlights that basically look like hair stripes ------------> I'm not interested in helping you. That's something that can be accomplished quite handily using those home highlighting kits they sell for $9.99 (though it's never a good look).

If what you want is natural looking layers of color on your head i.e. something that you might get from the sun, I can help you fake that with a box and a bit of bravery.

Supplies:

• 1 box hair dye purchased with a coupon
• 1 old but not gross toothbrush
• 1 hairclip
• a comb or chopstick--use a chopstick if you have a nice comb you don't want stained
• 1 small bowl or plate that you don't mind staining
• a hand mirror, or maybe a friend to help you do the back (bribe her)

This is an technique that my stylist taught me back when I was under my parents' roof and they paid for things like professional highlights. The idea here is not a sharp contrast in color, but subtle changes that can make your hair just look prettier and less flat.

Start with a color that is not terribly different from your current color, possibly slightly lighter or darker, maybe with a bit of red, if that's what you're going for. Don't trust the box completely, it rarely looks like that. Instead, bring along your most honest friend, and ask her which color looks most like your current color. Then take that box and compare it to others until you come up with a pleasing contrast.

Once you're home, put on your ratty hair-dyeing clothes, get your bowl and toothbrush and read the instructions in the hair dye paying particular attention to the time it takes to work. Then gather up most of your hair in your hairclip leaving a bottom section out. Mix the dye and squirt it into your dish.

Take the toothbrush, swish it through the dye, and start combing the dye through the section of hair not in the clip. Make sure to go all the way around your head (this is very important), and get it up to the roots (or you'll look silly). Saturate your hair with more hair dye if you want your hair dyed more, less if you want more of your natural color.

Once that section of hair is done, use a comb or chopstick to free another section from the hairclip and repeat combing the toothbrush through your hair, adding more dye as you go.

And so on and so on through all sections of your hair until you reach the top. Be sure not to pile a bunch of dye on the top of your head, and be sure to add some color around your face/temples. That makes it look more natural. Then sit back, and wait for the appropriate amount of time to pass. Rinse your hair, style as usual, and send me an email (findmefrugal@gmail.com) telling me how awesome you look.

Little Tweaks

Everyone seems to have small suggestions for ways to cut expenses without sacrificing much, if any, comfort. Some ideas are good, many are far too extreme or labor intensive and some just don't make sense. Over the years I've adapted a few ideas and noticed a marked savings.

Adjusting the temperature on your water heater:

We've all heard this one before, but I am a staunch convert. I moved into my current apartment a year ago, and for some reason it took six months for the gas company to find me and bill me for all the gas I'd been using. The bill was antonishingly high, and I didn't even know what gas powered besides my stove. Turns out, water heater. I was paying $50 a month, and never turned my shower's temperature above the halfway point. Now I'm paying $20-$25 less a month, and am not inconvenienced in the slightest. If you simply love a scalding hot shower, at least adjust the temperature over the summer months, you'll still feel hot.

Cut food waste by any means necessary:

There is no reason to waste food. You eat several times a day, and there's no reason that you can't eat something two days in a row. Throwing out food wastes hundreds to thousands of dollars per year, plus, it's wasteful. I've found several ways to cut out food waste painlessly and easily.

1. Eat your leftovers. You made it, eat it. Unless a dish turned out really poorly, there's no excuse for not eating your leftovers. Bring whatever you had for dinner for your lunch the following day. If you really can't stand eating the same thing two days in a row, freeze it. Portion out single servings of whatever you made, and put it in the freezer immediately. That way you have ready-to-eat meals, and a little bit of time to want to eat them. Just don't forget that they're there because even frozen food only lasts about six months before it's not so good. Label them with a date, and maybe even what they are.
2. Make less food. This seems like a no-brainer, but calculate how many you're cooking for, and alter you recipe accordingly. If you live alone, you may not want to make 12 servings of corn chowder. Yes, cooking is messy and it may seem like a waste to dirty all those dishes for a little bit of something, but when you're on day five of eating the same dinner, you'll understand.
3. Re-purpose leftovers. Get a bit clever with your food. If you're looking at your leftovers and they won't freeze well, but you don't want to eat the same thing twice, get creative. Add a few new ingredients and turn it into a whole new dish. Leftover stir fry= stir fry omelet. Wilting spinach=creamed spinach. Leftover pasta=cold pasta salad, pasta bake, pasta stir fry, etc. If you're ever at a loss as to what to do with something, ask the internet. Someone out there probably tried something.

Use Craigslist or Ebay:

If you need to buy something, check these places first and see if you can get it for cheaper. If you're getting rid of something, list it first, and see if there's any interest. It stands to reason that if you can make a little money on something you were getting rid of anyway, you might as well. Yes, it's a little more work, but the savings can be huge.

Example: A few years ago, I was a member of a gym. I liked the gym, but my work/class schedule made it such that I could never really make it to any of the cardio classes, plus they closed at 8pm each night, which is about the time I'd like to start working out. This was a gym where you pay for a whole year up front, and when I got a bill for $600+ for the next year, I actually laughed out loud. When I thought about what I used at the gym, it was really only the treadmill. I got on craigslist, found a used treadmill for $75, and I've had it for almost two years. I'm all about gym memberships, but if you examine how you use the gym (if you're actually using it), and find a way to replicate that at home for cheaper, who not try it? You can rent workout DVDs from netflix or get them from the library, you can find cheap weights and cardio machines on craigslist, you can get outside to run, walk or hike.

Change your brand:

I drink a lot of coffee. I like good coffee and cannot drink the weak crap that is usually (surprise!) the cheapest. As a result, I am always on the lookout for a good quality coffee that doesn't cost too much. Usually, I load up on Starbucks when it goes on sale at Target (Target's coffee prices consistently beat my grocery store's per pound); if my boyfriend gets a free pound of Dunkin Donuts coffee for donating blood, I mix that with a darker roast to make it taste decent; and I buy strange brands that I find at Ocean State Job Lot or TJ Maxx. I've been burned, to be sure, but occasionally you hit on a brand that tastes fantastic for a fraction of what you normally pay. Those are the magical times.

Recently, I brought home a variety of coffees from Trader Joes, and I think I'm sold. I can get them in whole bean, which is increasingly hard to find, there are a variety of roasts, they all come in a very nice cardboard canister that I can potentially re-use, and they are up to $2 less per pound than the Starbucks I always felt guilty buying. We have a winner!

Keep an eye on your accounts

...especially if you're not using them.

I check my bank balance and credit cards regularly, but I recently let something slip by that could have been catastrophic. I've been a bit behind, moneywise this month. I just got back from vacation and I've had some unexpected expenses as well as a slight dip in income. So I've been less diligent with checking the balance on my American Express. Mostly, it's been because I've been hiding my head in the sand.

I looked at it a couple days ago, and found a mysterious charge for an airplane ticket from Zurich to London. I would love to be flying from Zurich to London, but sadly, it was not a ticket I purchased. I immediately opened a claim stating that this was an unauthorized charge, and that it should be investigated. Then I called my card and requested a new card with a new number and expiration date. The girl I spoke to said, "But you just requested a new card five days ago."

No, I did not. This is when things started getting a bit scary. This person had compromised my card, made a major purchase and had requested a replacement card--to what? Intercept delivery and run around with my card number? Who knows. That's not going to happen. Because I check my balances pretty regularly, I caught this early, but if I wasn't paying that much attention, who knows when/if I would have noticed.

When I was in high school, I went on a school trip to Kansas City, MO. I used my debit card to purchase some CDs. A couple months later, my mother (who was my banker at the time) noticed a point of sale (debit) purchase coming through on my account for $36.72. Since I rarely used my debit card at that time, this was odd, and it was more money than I had in my account. It was also for the purchase I had made in Kansas City two months before.

What had happened, was that the store had screwed up its credit card sales that day and had not charged all of the cards used. To get their money, they just re-ran all the sales of the day, and those who had already paid got charged again. This is illegal, but if you've used a credit card and dispute the charges, the credit card company will deal with it. Since I had used a debit card, the store had to issue the credit back to my account, and my mother spent hours on the phone trying to explain that to the people who should not have done this in the first place.

Had I not noticed, I would have overdrawn my account, and potentially not gotten my money back. Having my mother at my bank was certainly helpful, but most people don't have that.

A friend told me just a few days ago, that she had accidentally authorized her student loans to take out two payments per month from her savings account. Unfortunately, she didn't catch this until her savings account was wiped out, and then her car broke down almost the same day costing $700 she would have taken out of savings.

Other people can screw up your money, and you can do it yourself. All you have to do to combat this is just pay attention. Check your credit cards online once a week, maybe once every two weeks for the ones you're not using. Check your bank balances weekly. Either maintain your checking account register, or be mindful of where your money is going. This is why I make most purchases on one credit card, and make a payment every time I get paid. This helps me be constantly aware of where my money is and how much I've spent.

If there is a snafu somewhere, it is considerably easier to catch it right away.

Too True

Monthly Goals

It's August-- did you notice that? It certainly caught me off guard. In order to keep my spending in line, and because I like making lists, I'm going to try my hand at monthly goals. A lot of other frugality bloggers do this, and even though my big goal is always to spend less than I make, I thought I'd try to incorporate some smaller goals as well. We'll see what happens.

1. Start planning to menu plan. This is like a pre-engagement ring (a promise to pledge that we'll one day consider getting engaged), but it's the best I can do right now. I cannot just dive into this because for whatever reason, I have a huge mental block when it comes to menu planning. Also, I need to start including my boyfriend in the meals I make because his diet is appalling and I don't want him to die in the next five years. So, I need to figure out what I can make that we will both enjoy, and that's cheap. By September, I should have a better idea of how to make this all work...hopefully.
2. Cut down on spending, and make a little more money. I've been slacking in the freelance writing department, and haven't made much money in the past two months. I have a hard time accomplishing anything when it's hot out, but now it's starting to feel a bit more crisp and fall-like, which means I need to get back to work. I also have two half marathons coming up that I need to pay for--best get cracking.
3. Get back under budget. I've been doing well in some columns, less well in others. I'm a bit proud of the fact that I reduced my prescribed budget amount for food by $50 and am still under budget for the year by $200. That's despite going out for restaurant week and going on vacation for ten days. Insert pat on back. But, I'm over in the clothes column, and my misc (which doesn't have a prescribed limit) has been higher than I would like. I need to reign it in, and start putting more into savings.

I think three is a good place to start, I like the number three.

Wish me luck!

Lentil Loaf

I realize that lentil loaf is a very unattractive name for something so delicious, but this really is one of my favorite things to eat. First off, it's hella cheap to make, it's filling and it's versatile. Lentils are low fat, low calorie, full of fiber and bursting with protein. They're basically a perfect food that you can prepare countless ways. Learn to love lentils, and you will be happier, healthier and wealthier. Even the name-brand lentils only cost $1.69 at my grocery store, and the generic are $1 a bag. All total, this recipe costs: $1.69 for lentils, $1.00 for cheese, $.10 for rolled oats, $.89 for tomato paste, $.10 for eggs, $.25 for salt, pepper, basil, garlic or other desired flavoring agents.

Let's add that up: $5:03 for about ten servings. Pretty awesome.

If you get sick of eating the same thing for ten servings, cut half or 3/4 of the loaf into slices and freeze. If you stack them with parchment in between, you can take them out one at a time.

Ingredients:

• Lentils, 1 bag (3 cups) soaked for 1 hour--place in a pot of water, bring to a boil, then let sit for about an hour--taste to see if they're soft enough.
• 1 cup (ish) either rolled oats, or I used leftover challah bread–if using rolled oats, moisten first or they will dry out everything!
• 3/4 cup grated or cubed sharp cheddar
• 1 whole egg, + 1 egg white
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp basil
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. mix all ingredients in bowl
3. taste test
4. add more spices, if desired
5. make sure it’s mixed well, then pour the whole mess into a greased loaf pan
6. bake uncovered 30-40 minutes, let cool for 10
7. cut into slices, melt Gorgonzola over top, or enjoy without

Extreme Frugality

Every now and then, and article or book will pop across my eyeline about someone practicing extreme frugality. Like this article in the New York Times about the Shopping Diet where people are urged to choose only six items of clothing and wear only those (plus fresh underwear) for an entire month.

There's also The Uniform Project, where one woman wore the same outfit every day for an entire year. She actually made six copies of the same dress, so she wasn't completely stinky by the end of the year, or staying up doing naked laundry all the time, but it was essentially one dress, every day with a lot of different accessories.

Whenever I read about something like that, I go through a range of emotions.

1. Jealousy. Why didn't I come up with that?!? Then I could have written a book about it and sold it for a nice chunk of change
2. Competitiveness. I should do it anyway, I can totally do that, and I'll save tons of money that way.
3. Bargaining. This is where I start examining my life and figuring out how I can take on the project with the least amount of impact on my comfort level/free time. Any changes I come up with also serve to make this project of mine unique and in no way am I just imitating someone else.
4. Acceptance. I will not attempt this. It's been done already, it would take too much time and it just doesn't work with my lifestyle.

I've tried my own version of extreme frugality, which didn't work out so well, but I remain slightly jealous of these people who seem to pull it off so handily. I may eventually stumble upon something that I can successfully pull off, but in the meantime it seems that any major attempt to save money ends up costing me more in the end.

I have a friend who successfully does a no-buy month every February where she only spends money on necessities and no extras, but when I attempted it, I found that all I could think about was money and the fact that I wasn't allowed to spend it. Similarly, I feel like if I attempted the clothes diet or something similar, I'd just yearn for everything else in my closet--including stuff I probably should have gotten rid of a long time ago.

I liken frugality to dieting pretty often, and like dieting, I've learned I don't operate well under an extreme philosophy. I'm good at frugality if it's something I'm mindful of, but an not thinking of constantly. Once I listened to the Shopaholic books in the car on my commute. I've read them before and enjoyed them immensely, but listening to them made me spend money like crazy because all I could think about was shopping. I guess I'm just susceptible.

How about you? Have you tried any kind of extreme frugality? How did you find it?