When Frugal Living Pays Off

It's been one thing after another around here since I posted last. And, most of those "things" have involved unexpected expenses.

1. One of the recliners in our family room broke. My hubby has repaired this recliner (and its twin) several times in its 5-year life, but this time it was done, as the metal frame itself snapped (upon calling the store that sold it to us, we were told they don't sell that brand anymore because of all the defects). It was necessary to replace it so that everyone in the family could sit in the family room at the same time. My hubby shopped around and got a fairly decent deal on what I hope is a better quality recliner (we decided not to get a matched pair--I don't care if my recliner doesn't match his anymore). Price: $435.
2. Our oldest son broke his elbow and wrist in a silly "only a teenage boy would think of this" incident at school. While his medical bills are paid in full by our insurance, I had to buy him a short-sleeved white dress shirt for church and various waterproof cast covers, splints, and braces for him to use while swimming (long story). Price: Approx. $150.
3. Speaking of braces, this same son also had his lingual arch snap off. A lingual arch is a wire that goes on the inside of the teeth to keep them in place. It can be reattached, but he's reached his lifetime maximum on orthodontic insurance coverage through my hubby's insurance. Price: $160 (if my insurance won't cover it).
4. High school swim team clothing (suit, tshirt, jacket) for son with broken bones. Price: $110.
5. The car we bought for our teenage driver needed new tires. It had to be done, the tires were dangerously bald. At least once his injuries are all healed I can let him drive again and not worry about him on the road. Price: $450.
6. I am meeting my mom and sisters in Utah next month for a long-overdue girls' getaway. Technically, this is not the same type of unexpected expense. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, and I could have opted not to go, buy there are some things worth blowing your budget for, and the chance for forming priceless memories with my family is one of them. We are sharing a hotel room and rental car, and I got a decent price on my plane ticket. Still, travel and accommodations will run around $300. This is our Christmas present to each other.
7. The high school band is going to Disneyland this spring. The band director has done a great job of finding a really competitive tour package. Again, this is one of those once-in-a-lifetime chances that is worth far more than the cost. Still, that is $675 that we will be paying between now and March.

My point in this post is this: by living frugally and saving money on the expenses of everyday life, we are in a position where paying for these sorts of things, while always a bit painful, is not a financial hardship. I'll be racking up my credit card reward points, but not my interest charges, as I can pay the bill in full. We still have Christmas coming up, but that, too, we can handle.

Life will keep throwing things at each of us. Just yesterday we learned that our youngest son is going to be ready for braces in May of next year. But, by doing those small things to save money, we can be prepared when the big expenses come along!

Reality Check: Cell Phones

Reality Check is a recurring feature here on RLF where I will look at one of the monthly spending categories I listed when figuring out our monthly expenditures, and break it down a little further, exploring options for cutting the expenditure down. Today's expenditures: cell phones.

We have been with our carrier, T-Mobile, on a family plan for years. I can't even tell you how long. My husband, my oldest son, and me are on the plan together (our middle-schooler doesn't get a cell phone until he reaches high school). It is such an old plan that it doesn't even have a fancy name. We share 400 minutes a month and my son has 400 text messages a month. Total bill with all the taxes is right around $81/month.

We use the cell phone for all our long distance, and even so, with three of us on the plan, we never come close to the 400 minutes. I guess we aren't chatty types. My husband uses his cell phone the very least (maybe if he could actually feel the phone when it is set to vibrate, he'd answer it more often...but that's beside the point); in fact, on the bill we received right after my layoff, he used three (3) minutes!

I researched a variety of plans from a variety of carriers online and talked with representatives from T-Mobile and TracFone (which I was considering getting for my less-than-talkative husband), and was unable to come up with a cheaper plan. This is primarily because no one offers a family plan with such a low number of minutes anymore. If we had moved my husband off of the family plan onto a prepaid plan, T-Mobile's plan ($10 for 30 minutes that expire after 90 days) was better than TracFone's, but it still would have saved us only $20 every 3 months. However, we won't do that now because my husband stepped up the pace, and used 27 minutes on our most recent billing cycle.

Sometimes it seems like a disadvantage, having already been trying to live reasonably frugally prior to the layoff, because there are fewer "luxuries" to trim. Really, the only way we could cut down our cell phone bill would be to get rid of cell phones altogether. I'm not ready to take that plunge just yet. With a teenager who will be driving this summer, and who is already supremely busy, having that easy way to be in contact is a mind-easer.

Reality Bites!

As my unemployment stretches into its third week, I've been taking some time to go through our finances with a fine-toothed comb, looking for ways to economize.

I decided it might be interesting to go back in time to the year that our combined incomes totalled what my husband's single income does now, and compare our expenses. I had to go all the way back to 2000 to make the comparison. Oh, what a different world it was back then! We did not have a cell phone (now we have three on what is probably the oldest family plan in the nation), our Internet connection was dialup (perish the thought!), I doubt we had even heard of TiVo (if it even existed), and our boys were 4 and 7 and didn't consume mass quantities of food at every meal.

I made an Excel spreadsheet and entered our monthly expenditures in a variety of categories (see below), and then found the monthly average for each category. I can sum it up in one word: Depressing!

Here's the summary of these expenses. Even if a bill was paid bimonthly (water), quarterly (trash, newspaper), or semiannually (car insurance), I figured what it would be per month. In future blog posts, I will break down each one, and discuss what, if anything, we can do to control these costs. The first number is 2000 and the second is 2008. Any 2008 amount that is actually lower will be highlighted in green.

Mortgage: $1,231.94/$1,315.10
Gas/Electric: $99.68/$167.69
Water: $56.83/$87.39
Trash: $15.70/$18.15
Cable TV (including TiVo): $29.98/$62.70
Land Line/Long Distance: $59.62/$30.69
Cell Phone: $0.00/$81.62
Newspaper: $9.19/$17.33 (as of 3/11/09 we are on a Sunday-only subscription for $5.98/month)
Internet: $21.95/$49.75
Groceries: $437.40/$778.68
Gasoline: $63.01/$156.64
Auto Insurance: $75.12/$113.18
Life Insurance: $61.67/$0.00
Cash for Allowances: $270.83/$360.00
Total: $2,432.90/$3,238.93