Getting a bolstered emergency fund is a great idea now.  (It usually is, but now especially.)  One way to get to a decent cushion is to spend less so that the extra can go into savings.

Many kinds of expenses can be cut, but the easiest ones to eliminate are ones that you probably won’t miss anyway.  Expenses like the following:

• Seasonal expenses. Are you paying year-round for an activity that you only do in the summer (or winter)?
• Hobby-related expenses for a hobby you’ve lost interest in. Maybe you were gung-ho about scrapbooking, and the stamp of the month delivery just goes in a drawer now because other things have become more important.
• Job-related expenses that aren’t necessary anymore. Say your last job required membership in certain professional societies, or more likely, required a certain kind of dress or appearance.  Or perhaps you’ve moved from up-front sales to more of an office job, and the wardrobe that was necessary for dealing with customers all the time isn’t needed anymore.
• Any luxury that doesn’t deliver like it used to. It could be a monthly massage, a monthly trip to The Melting Pot, premium movie channels, etc.

The Frugal Lawyer saved money on some little things that she admitted weren’t that important, like eyebrow threading, open-toed shoes, and magazine subscriptions.  She observes:

These aren’t huge savings, but the little amounts will add up over time.  Particularly if I am putting the extra money into savings or toward paying off debt.  I’m still looking at my regular spending to find other things that I can trim from the budget.

Little things do add up. What irrelevant expenses can you cut out of your spending?

Update: Thanks to Amateur Asset Allocator for including this post in the Money Hacks Carnival!

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Many of my colleagues have heard about the recent cease and desistery regarding the trademarking of what I thought was a fairly common term for a frugal woman which, by the way, rhymes with barista.  (Here’s some context.)

But I’m not here to take sides.  No-sir-ee-bob.  I’m just here to provide a helpful service to some of my dear colleagues who might be waiting in the wings, ready to fire up their own frugal branding juggernaut.

Here are some suggestions for frugalized names, y’all!  No need to thank me.

• Frugalneering
• Frugalerism Frugaltary
• No Frugal Needed
• Five Cent Frickel
• Poorer Than Froo
• Free Froney Frinance
• Stick Figure Cartoons Are Frugal
• Frugal Are Sexy
• The Fridgerati Life
• Frawkfox
• Frazy Man and Monaviney
• Frugal Bread
• All Frugantial Matters
• Frapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge
• Frugal Free Adventure
• Get Rich Frowly
• The Frimple Dollar
• Froolanomy
• Mrs. Fricah

Just don’t take Being Frugal, The Frugal Duchess, and Frugal for Life.  I’m going to trademark those.  KIDDING!

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We just arrived in West Virginia to visit my wife’s parents and her grandmother who’s visiting them.  We’re bringing along a three-month-old puppy that we got a few weeks ago from a friend.

We stopped at Five Brothers for dinner and ate outside so that Taffy could get out, too.  While we were eating, I was really surprised how much attention Taffy got.  And it was mostly from girls and young women who introduced themselves by saying  ”Awwwwww!”

Then my wife and I thought the same thing at the same time: “Man, it would have been great to have a puppy in college!”  She said that it works great for guys to have a puppy, but not for girls.  All it does is attract other girls.

But then I ran down the reasons why I didn’t have a puppy in college:

• I didn’t have a clue
• I was mildly allergic to dogs
• Dogs weren’t allowed in the dorms
• Did I mention that I didn’t have a clue?

But anyway, my wife had some of the same restrictions, but unlike me, she had a clue, and she was able to get puppies for free to take out and about without actually owning them. The local Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) shelter would welcome anyone who wanted to take the dogs out for a walk, because they’re cooped up in kennels most of the day and the walks help to socialize them for eventual adoption.  They got to know her so well that she could play with them in the cages.

Had I known this as a single guy I could have had puppies for nothing and my chicks for free!

But now, as a very happily married guy, I at least know not to walk Taffy in town without my wife close by.

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Cube farms are great for overhearing little bits of random quotable goodness, like this gem from one of my (male) co-workers while he was talking on the phone with his wife (I can only assume):

I like to smell like a man, but sometimes I like to smell like a different-smelling man.

But this isn’t a post about how to smell different, nor is it just for men.  (Well, maybe the smelling like a man part is just for men, but hey, I won’t tell.)

It’s about being on the lookout for substitutions that can mix things up a bit without being more expensive.

I’m very much a stuck in a rut kind of guy on some things.  If I find something I like, I’ll get it again and again until they stop selling it to me.  That’s the way I’m wired, and my wife loves me anyway.

The neat thing about heading to the supermarket or the drugstore is that there are usually at least a few varieties of just about everything that cost pretty much the same:

• Different flavors (vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, Moose Tracks)
• Different colors (50 different colors of Play-Doh®)
• Different shapes (spaghetti, bowtie, shells, macaroni)
• Different textures (creamy, chunky)
• Different scents (over two hundred brands of deodorant)

Trying something different doesn’t have to mean spending more than you would anyway. So consider switching aftershaves and try changing around other products you normally buy to keep budgeting and frugality from getting to be too much of a drag.

It’s gotta be better than running out for a $300 purse.

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OK, so I’m reading the July, 2009, issue of U.S. News & World Report that my mother-in-law left the last time she visited, and I happen on an article called “Frugal Forever?” written by Kimberly Palmer, senior editor at U.S. News and blogger at Alpha Consumer.  (She had several articles in that issue.)

The gist of the article:  Frugality, borne of necessity, is now the in thing.  People don’t feel the pressure to spend, businesses are playing into frugality with their marketing campaigns.  Eating over at friends and doing your own nails is chic.

Overall, a perfectly solid article.

The last paragraph mentions that people will still want to splurge once in a while, especially when the repayment of their interest-free loan to the government known as a federal income tax refund hits their bank accounts.  This also is all well and good, but the example that was used … well, maybe it’s testosterone but I just don’t get it:

One consumer told us, “If I get $1,000 back [in tax refunds], I may buy a $300 purse.  If I don’t do it, I’ll go crazy … “

Am I completely out of touch by saying that $300 for a purse is crazy?

I very well might be.  Let me know in the comments.

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Dawn over at Frugal For Life discusses some of the ethical implications of stockpiling foods.  She gets into a few rules of thumb for testing to see whether stockpiling has crossed into greed, or just plain inconsideration.  Talking to the store to have them do a special large-quantity order is much more considerate than cleaning out the shelves, for example.  We even scored a small bulk grocery discount when we took this route.

Done properly, stocking up on food (6 months’ worth, or more) is wise, not only for you and your family, but also for your community.  It’s not being greedy at all. Some positive benefits of building up a decent pantry:

• Emergency preparedness. Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods — and worse — can disrupt supply lines, making things either very expensive, or just simply unavailable at any price.  At this point, if you have it, you have it, and if you don’t, you won’t until the danger passes.
• Reduced demand in times of emergency. If you have what you need, you won’t need to run out to buy necessities at the eleventh hour and compete with everyone else who’s doing the same.  This means more of your community can get what they need.
• More local business now, when they can replace their supply. If you’re buying now, you don’t have to buy later, and they can sell to you now rather than only wish that they could sell to you later.
• Self-sufficiency. Following this thought further results in a heightened level of long-term preparedness.  Less reliance on conventional supply lines like grocery stores means less personal risk.
• Opportunities for outreach. Being able to feed people in an emergency allows chances to share beliefs like the Gospel message.  Giving a meal and an eternal gift = good deal.
• Inflation hedging. If salaries don’t keep up with inflation, everything will be relatively more expensive.  Locking in items at today’s prices hedges against this scenario.

Howard Ruff’s How to Prosper During the Coming Bad Years in the 21st Century runs through many of the big pitfalls in long-term food storage.  He discusses how some foods lose their nutritional value far before they actually go bad, as well as how to ease into this kind of diet should it become necessary to rely on it.

So please, pounce (wisely) on those food deals and invest in some food.

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Over at the MBN Forums there was some discussion about a short video presentation called Drive Free, Retire Rich over at Dave Ramsey’s website.

The first part of the presentation (up through Slide 11) was very well put together, and showed perfectly the value of buying used over borrowing and buying new.  A synopsis of the first 11 slides:

1. Getting a loan and buying new is a bad way to buy a car because you pay for up to six years, the car loses a big chunk of its value the moment you drive it off the lot, and it’s not what it once was after a few years, but you’re still paying for it.
2. Instead, save up to buy an inexpensive used car, and pay yourself the car payment.
3. After 10 months, sell your used car for (close to) what you paid for it, and upgrade to a better used car using the proceeds and your saved money.
4. Rinse and repeat until you’re driving a pretty nice car, and saving what you would have spent on the car loan for an emergency fund, retirement, etc.

The presentation paints very broad strokes, but the premise is a viable solution to borrowing for a car.  It will be slowed by things like taxes, registration, repairs, etc., but there’s nothing wrong with the method at all.

Then, at the end of Slide 12, the video takes a right turn at Albuquerque and enters Fantasy Land:

At the end of six years, your $11,000 paid-for car has just about run its course.  It’s been great, but it’s time to upgrade.  But hey, that’s no problem:  You’ve got a mutual fund specifically earmarked as a car-replacement fund.  You know how much is sitting in that fund right now?  At the stock market average of twelve percent, you’d have about $32,000.

What freakin’ stock market averages 12%? That’s the ballsiest claim I’ve heard about the stock market.  It’s a full 5% higher than the real return of the S&P 500 from 1950 to 2008.  How they can say that with a straight face is beyond me.  What’s more, the video goes on to make calculations assuming that this rate will hold for forty years.  Sorry, there’s little chance of that happening, unless the 12% includes inflation.  Then I suppose it can happen, but if that’s the case, then the $5-million-plus the video claims we’ll have at the end of 40 years if we follow the plan won’t be enough to retire on.

Bottom line:  Buying an inexpensive used car, paying the car payment to yourself, and upgrading every year or so is a great way to get into a nice car that you actually own.

Just don’t count on a double-digit stock market for the next 40 years to pay for your retirement, too.  Please!

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The Frugal Duchess offered up a reader’s question for comments.  The reader was concerned that she was spoiling her son with garage-sale toys:

… I am concerned because I finally realized how spoiled my kids are. I’ve been buying them whatever they liked, although it’s from thrift stores and yard sales. Because it’s so cheap, I get them more than five things…

I can understand where this reader is coming from.  My wife and I find ourselves being quite a bit easier with buying toys at garage sales than in retail stores.  And that’s fine with me. I want our daughter to get excited about yard sales, flea markets, thrift stores, and auctions, because buying things used, like toys, more often than not is a great way to save money.  I know that she’ll notice that we’re more willing to buy things at yard sales, and will think more positively of them.

Could we cross the line and venture into the realm of spoiling?  Sure.  But we can get a whole bunch of used 25- and 50-cent toys for the price of just one toy from a retail store.  When we buy them one or two at a time, I don’t feel the slightest twinge of guilt, either.

Parents:  Does this cross the line for you, or do you indulge even more at yard sales than we do?

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The check engine light went on Friday in our 2005 Town and Country.  It wasn’t the gas cap this time but we found out why the engine light was on before taking it to the dealership.

One commenter on that post suggested getting a CarChip E/X but on the newer models of the Chrysler Town and Country, there’s a mechanism to get the codes without taking it to the dealer.  I just turned the ignition on and off five times in a row quickly, and the codes appeared in the odometer reading. Then, figuring out the cause from the code was an easy lookup on Google.

The code by itself doesn’t tell you what parts need to be replaced, but it does tell you why the check engine light is on.  Knowing what got tripped can help lead to more specific information on the web, and give you some talking points if you decide to take the vehicle somewhere to get it fixed.

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I’m very glad that Wegmans has come to our neck of the woods, and that they’ve continued to double manufacturers’ coupons.  It’s been quite a while since a grocer local to me has offered this.

Growing up, I remember that there used to be a limit on which coupons they’d double.  It may have been 75 cents, or it may have been up to a dollar.  I’m not sure.  The limit is still in place at ours.  It reads: “Wegmans will double manufacturers’ coupons up to 99 cents.”  (Additionally, the price after all discounts are taken off cannot exceed the price of the item.)

I asked Customer Service at our Wegmans exactly what this meant, because there are two interpretations:

1. Wegmans will double any coupons but only up to $0.99. Thus, a $5.00 item with a $2.00 coupon would get $2.00 + $0.99 off, for a final price of $2.01.
2. Wegmans will double any coupons that have a value of $0.99 or less. In the same situation as above, my $2.00 off coupon wouldn’t be doubled at all, so the final price would be $3.00.

The correct interpretation is the second one:  there is no doubling at all for coupons of $1.00 or more.

Quite a few manufacturers issue $1.00-off coupons for their products, and Wegmans’ doubling policy excludes these.  I mean, $1.00 off is $1.00 off, but $1.00 off isn’t as nice as $2.00 off.

How many manufacturers is “quite a few?”  Well, I checked on MyPoints‘ printable coupon section, and tallied up the coupons for the grocery store items for my ZIP code.  Here’s what I got:

• $4.00 off: 1 coupon
• $3.00 off: 2 coupons
• $2.00 off: 4 coupons
• $1.50 off: 6 coupons
• $1.10 off: 2 coupons
• $1.00 off: 36 coupons
• $0.80 off: 1 coupon
• $0.75 off: 5 coupons
• $0.60 off: 3 coupons
• $0.55 off: 7 coupons
• $0.50 off: 11 coupons
• $0.40 off: 7 coupons

There were 85 printable grocery coupons.  Fifty-one of them (60%) were $1.00 or more.  But 42% of the printable coupons were exactly $1.00. $1.00 off was the most common amount by more than a factor of three.

If manufacturers were to bring down the value of their $1.00 coupons to $0.98, all of these coupons would be able to be doubled under Wegmans’ current rules.  Why two cents rather than just one?  It’s not that noticeable for Wegmans (and other grocers) to change their policies from “We double coupons up to 99 cents” to “We double coupons less than 99 cents.”  The latter would exclude 99-cent-off coupons, but not 98-cent-off coupons.  They could exclude whatever they want, of course, but the change in their policy would be more noticeable.

This change wouldn’t make or break anyone’s food budget but it would make coupon doubling a little bit more fun.

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