Saving Money Archives - Page 4 of 4 - the frugal millionaire

One simple way to save time and money

In life, there are two things everyone wouldn’t mind having a little more of – and that’s time and money. I would love to have more time to spend with loved ones, more time to cook yummy meals and desserts, more time to spend working and more time to spending relaxing. And who wouldn’t want more money? I would save more, invest more, give to charity, help out those in need and probably shop more, too.

Since moving from Arizona to North Carolina, I feel like I’ve discovered the secret to having both more time and more money.

7 Ways to save money on rent

As most of you know, we seriously considered breaking our lease to rent out my “dream home” in my dream neighborhood. While money was an important factor, it wasn’t the deciding factor (though it very well could have been). Turns out the house backs up to a major highway. Huge bummer!! While the leasing agent said it was “white noise” and that it wasn’t that noticeable, I would have gone crazy living there. I’m already the world’s lightest sleeper so there was just no way I would ever live near a highway or major road. As a mom of a toddler and a baby, peace and quiet is just too precious to me!!

But, this whole process got me thinking on ways you can save money on rent. I actually had written out a contract for that house had we decided to move forward with an offer (this was prior to seeing it).

7 Things I won’t give up to save more money

While I admitted that I’m more about earning more money than saving more money, I’m still pretty cheap by nature. I don’t enjoy spending money on shopping sprees, I get my hair cut at Great Clips about once a year, I can’t remember the last time I got a pedicure or manicure, I don’t go on lavish vacations (though I wouldn’t mind that one) and I don’t spoil my kids rotten (even though I may want to).

That being said, there are definitely still quite a few things I’m just not willing to give up in order to save more money.

How to simplify your budget and save more money

If I’m being completely honest, I don’t really follow a budget. Now, that’s not to say I don’t know where my money goes, don’t save and spend frivolously. In fact, I do the opposite of all of those things. But an actual budget? I’ve just never really taken the time to create it and follow it. It seems too time-consuming and stressful, and I personally like my method of managing money. It’s allowed us to save, move across the country, invest and work for ourselves. Not to say not having a budget is for everyone, but here’s why I don’t follow one and what exactly I do instead.

How to plan for unexpected expenses

Is it just me or does it seem like EVERY month something “unexpected” happens? Seriously. Just a little recap…but in July our air conditioner went out (in AZ), two weeks later we had a massive swarm of bees outside our front door ($160), in August we moved across the country, in September we bought my husband a work truck, tools for his business, insurance/licensing for his business and general house stuff to get set up in NC, and now this month we had both our cars in the shop (husband’s new truck dies multiple times in one trip // our family SUV needed a new tire). November will be Thanksgiving, time off work for my husband and the start of Christmas shopping! I’m sure something “unexpected” will happen then, too.

So how do you plan for the unexpected expenses?!?!

Why you should focus on earning more rather than saving more

Ahh, the great debate – Is it better to save as much money as possible and live an extremely frugal life OR seek out side jobs to make more money?

Natalie Bacon over at The Finance Girl discussed this in depth a few weeks ago, and I wanted to share where I stood on this issue.

Based on the title of this post, I’m sure you can guess that I’m more about earning and than saving every penny. I wasn’t always this way, though. In fact, it was just in the last few months that I decided I really wanted to focus on earning more instead of save, save, save. Don’t get me wrong – saving money is good. But, what you save is somewhat (read: very) dependent on what you make.

Ways that I save include couponing (I’m new at this, but will be sharing tips and tricks as I go), purchasing necessary items off of Craigslist (tools for my husband’s job, used vehicles, etc), not paying interest (paying credit cards off EVERY month), buying generic items at the grocery store, buying items on sale only, shopping at Costco and more. I will say, though, that the main way I save is by simply not buying stuff I don’t need. Yesterday at the mall I was browsing through Bath & Body Works, and while I would love to own every single delicious smelling candle, I didn’t buy anything. I was there to walk around with the girls and let them play – not to shop. I try to avoid impulse buying and would say I succeed 90% of the time.

Now, I’m looking to earn more money. I work from home, so my options really are endless as I’m discovering. Of course, there’s only so much I can do in any given day as my two girls are my main priority 🙂 I am excited to explore more income-earning avenues as time goes on, though. My husband is also working for himself, which means the more he works, the more he’s able to make. Once we buy a house, him and I have a few ideas for side businesses that we want to start. We need space for those projects, so unfortunately we can’t start those businesses while living in our apartment.

While both earning more and saving more are absolutely necessary to financial independence, you can’t make millions quickly simply by saving (assuming you make an average salary). You need to bring in more money that way you can save more money. You need to invest your money, develop passive streams of income, possibly own and rent out real estate, minimize your bills and so on and so forth.

My husband and I are very good at saving money and living within our means. Going out to eat is spending $15 at the local BBQ restaurant to feed all four of us! We love cooking at home, going on walks and to the library, watching movies, playing cards, reading and more. This past week, though, BOTH of our cars wound up in the auto shop (more on this later) and cost us $400 (we got off VERY lucky!). Still, that was $400 we could have saved but instead had to go to our auto repairs. Unexpected expenses happen ALL the time, so instead of stressing about not saving as much, I’m changing my game and focusing on earning more!

What are your thoughts? Are you a spender or a saver? Do you focus on saving more, earning more or both? I would love to know!!

High yield savings accounts

John and I opened our first high yield savings account this past week! After some research, we went with Synchrony Bank. No fees (as long as your balance is over $50) and a 0.95% APY, this is definitely something I wanted to get on board with.

We deposited $20K to start, and if we never add to it, we’ll make about $200 per year. Not much, but quite frankly that’s MUCH better than the interest rate of a regular savings account (.01%).

I plan on tracking our progress and updating the blog to let you know how much we’re contributing. As of right now, we don’t plan on adding a set monthly amount. With my husband just starting his own business, we’re not quite sure what he’s going to be taking in per month and what we’re going to be able to save. The goal would be to contribute $500 per month minimum, but of course we’ll have to wait and see if that’s possible.

This is probably the easiest passive income stream to exist. While the returns aren’t great, there’s zero risk involved! I highly recommend moving your savings account or emergency fund into a high yield savings account (and no, I was not compensated to say that!!).

Do you have a high yield savings? Any tips? I’d love to know!!

How to move across the country on a budget

This past summer, John and I moved from AZ to NC with a two-year-old, a one-year-old and two dogs. Just thinking about that makes me cringe!

Why did we move? Because we wanted to. I work from home and John works in construction. We didn’t get transferred, we don’t have family out here and, in fact, John had never even been to NC before and I had only been once (and to a different city than we live, no less). Simply put, we’re here because we want to be!

Since we didn’t have a job to come to, we knew we needed to save every penny we could during the move.

We got rid of a lot of our stuff

For two months, whenever I had time, I would go through closets, cabinets and drawers and get rid of what wasn’t a necessity. I cleaned out my closet three separate times and donated roughly 12 full-size bags of clothes and shoes. We got rid of some of my daughters toys, kitchen gadgets, a couch, a dining room table, a grill, miscellaneous pieces of furniture, tools and more. If it wasn’t a necessity or something one of us treasured, it got donated or sold.

*As a side note, I can’t tell you how good it feels to downsize and get rid of clutter! With less stuff comes less stress, less to clean, less to keep up and less to worry about!

We rented a 6 x 12 U-Haul trailer

We packed our entire 3 bedroom + loft house into a 6 x 12 trailer attached to the back of our SUV. That’s how much we downsized!! One thing I refused to part with was our couch that we bought in July 2013. We paid $1800 for it and there was no way I was going to sell it for not even half that. The couch, by the way, is MASSIVE. It easily took up half of the trailer.

We also took a fake fireplace we had purchased the previous Christmas, our girls cribs and mattresses, our mattress (but not the box spring), some of John’s work tools, a few boxes of sentimentals, one box of kitchen items, half a box of bathroom items, clothing and some artwork.

Cost of the U-Haul: $550

We packed ourselves

No one likes to pack and load boxes into a trailer, but if you can physically do it yourself, I highly recommend going that route. I got quotes from movers and it easily would have been $8K to have all of our belongings packed up and moved across the country. Instead, John and I packed everything up ourselves. It took a day and a half and we did it while watching our girls in the 110 degree weather!

We drove one car

Part of why we downsized so much is we didn’t want to rent a full-size U-Haul moving truck. Those cost way more than the trailers plus we would have had to pay for gas for our SUV and the moving truck. Not to mention, we had two babies and two dogs with us, so it just made sense for all of us to be in one vehicle.

Total spent in gas: $650

We stayed in La Quinta’s

La Quinta’s are pet-friendly and don’t charge extra. Our trip was five days, four nights so we stayed at four different La Quinta’s across the country (Albuquerque, Oklahoma City, Memphis and Knoxville). We booked a two-room suite each time to allow for plenty of space for all of us. Prices ranged from $120/night to $160/night.

Total spent on hotels: $550

TOTAL: $1750 plus food to move a family of four across the country!

You really can’t beat that!

Readers: Have you ever moved across the country? What advice would you have for others?