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The past month has been an expensive one for us, but has really reinforced why we are doing some of the things we are doing. We paid off one of the cars at the beginning of the year and decided to continue making car payments into a savings account. The goal was to be able to purchase a car when we needed it without a loan, but we knew that the car we just paid off needed to have a good tune up and we would use this money to cover it as well.
We were finally able to get an appointment to get the car into the shop and it was now making 3 different noises. The day before it was scheduled to go in, the check engine light came on in the other car, so now both cars needed to be fixed. As luck would have it, both cars ended up in the shop at the same time, leaving us carless for a few days. Fortunately, Laura’s dad was out of town, so Ryan could use his car to get to work. When it was all said and done, both cars needed major repairs. One car needed the starter coil pack replaced, or the car would have stopped running. The other one was about to break through the brake pads on the front brakes and had broken the sway bar links and ball joints. In other words, losing control of the car and/or not being able to stop it was a possibility.
Because we had our car account, we were able to repair both cars - which came to around $1200 - and not impact our monthly budget, and not use the credit cards. A year ago, we would likely have not fixed the cars until we had to, and when we did, it would have been paid for by the credit cards. The ability to pay for the repairs without going into debt and know both cars were safe to drive was a great feeling. Our car account took a big hit, but the money had a purpose and it served it well. |
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by Ryan Meador, July 12, 2010 at 4:14 PM | Add a Comment |
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It is tougher to save than we hoped it would be. We managed to pay off a load of debt this spring, but we have had to spend money now on things for the new baby. We have set up the Coverdell account for Sparrow, but we will soon need to do the same for another little person! (We won't know for a couple of weeks if it is a boy or a girl.)
Life is what happens when you are planning to do something else, so we have to roll with the punches, be frugal, and be cautious! My worst fear is getting back to old spending habits just because we have to spend some money, but good deals are there to find. For instance, we got almost forty outfits for our daughter at a yard sale - for a dollar each!
Look for those bargains, folks! |
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by Bonnie Baker, July 2, 2010 at 9:07 AM | Add a Comment |
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| Price shopping for a treadmill |
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Hello everyone! As we progress down the path towards financial freedom, some days are easier than others. Currently we are looking at purchasing a treadmill. We both have memberships to 24 Hour Fitness and have not walked through the doors in months. We decided that we would be more inclined to work out if we had to see the treadmill everyday instead of seeing 24 Hour Fitness only when we purchase groceries. The old us would have maybe looked around different stores, but we would have purchased the first one that looked cool and didn’t make a lot of noise.
We have been to at least 10 different stores (some do not sell treadmills) and the price difference is startling. One treadmill that cost $1,588 at one store is on clearance for $599 at another. Some stores will haggle with us on price, some will not. I guess this has opened my eyes a little further on how much we can save or lose when making major purchases.
We still do not have a treadmill. Whenever I want to work out, I “suggest” we should go take another look that the treadmills, since I have to run on each one multiple times, at different speeds/elevations to see which one feels good. I know one day we will find one that is priced right and looks cool, all the while being reliable and disappears from sight when company comes over. But until then, we will get our workout one sporting goods store at a time. |
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by Russell Oleson, June 21, 2010 at 11:08 AM | Add a Comment |
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A dream of Ryan’s has always been to have a boat of his own. As we approached Ryan's birthday this year, I was shopping at garage sales for baby items. With our little girl due in less than 3 months, we have lots to do. At one garage sale, I encountered what I envisioned as one of Ryan's dreams - an older sailboat, in baby blue. A year ago, based on our financial situation, I wouldn’t have even looked at it, but this year, on a whim I did. It was a 1960’s sail boat, not in great shape, but not bad shape either. The price tag said “make offer”. I knew it had been donated to the school, so there was no emotional attachment to the boat. Ryan was in class, so I texted him a photo. His response was “I LOVE IT”.
All day I thought about this boat, wondering if we could just get the price low enough, but Ryan thought it was worth $1000 or more. Not an option, I thought. The sale ended at 4:00, so at 3:00 I went back. The boat was still there with no offers. Long story short, we got the sail boat for $100. Every time Ryan sees it, he smiles from ear to ear.
The best part is we did not break our budget. It was his birthday gift from me, the dogs and the baby, but it was worth it. His family gave him money to take care of the licensing and minor repairs as birthday gifts. And to think a year ago it was just a dream we would have ignored. With our financial goals in place, we have achieved so much more than we ever thought possible. Set your goals, don’t be afraid to dream big, and go for it. |
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by Laura Meador, June 8, 2010 at 11:15 AM | Add a Comment |
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The last time we were having a baby, we spent a lot of money. Some of the expenditures were on things that would last but cost a lot, like our daughter's armoire. Some were for things that we ended up not using, like the dirty diaper holder that went largely unneeded. In some cases we bought too much of something, like the two large bags of cottonballs still loitering around the premises and the almost infinite number of electrical outlet plugs that I seem to have - enough to secure five or six houses - no joke. We spent a lot of money, and that's even with what we got as gifts.
We are trying to do better this time, and largely I think we have. Make no mistake, babies are expensive. But so far the new Pack and Play has been the most expensive item. We are buying just a few things at a time, using whatever we have left over from the first go-round, and we are being more cautious. The baby industry, if I may use that term, knows its advantage: first time parents are afraid of everything and are a soft sell for labor saving and baby saving solutions. Not that there's anything wrong with that!But if I were a first time parent, I would find the most level-headed people I knew who had already had one or two children, and ask them, "What did you really need?" and "What did you end up wishing you had?" You could end up saving a bundle. |
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by Parrish Baker, June 1, 2010 at 4:13 PM | Add a Comment |
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