Phoenix on a Budget

 The sister's three, Shannon, Sara and me. Yes, that's the new get up I purchases at the Velvet Owl last week.

Planning for a trip to Phoenix for my sister Sara's wedding was agonizing because I wasn't sure we would have the money to go. I fretted constantly about putting all the trip expenses on the credit card because it was my sister's wedding and who wouldn't look back on missing that event and think, it was only X dollars, I should have just gone?  Yet, I take after my father more than anyone, and if you can't afford it, then you don't do it and don't buy it. I don't always make this decision, but the principle is strong and I work hard to abide. The pressure was heavy from my sister to make an appearance, and bringing the whole family would have been great but we compromised with just me taking the trip.

All those money saving things we do are great, but typically we are still left living pay check to pay check. Several additional and beneficial things have occurred over the summer that have made the purse strings a bit more loose around here. Brent took on many extra contracts and has been grossing the equivalent of a double salary paycheck for a couple months, and we expect it to continue for a few more. Since we had the extra funds, we paid off the van at the end of July, thus reducing our auto expenses in terms of payment and insurance. We increased our auto fuel savings by not driving our van in August and have maintained a very reduced mileage for September. We gave away our second vehicle last month, also reducing our insurance obligation. London choose not to continue swim team this year and opted for the free fencing practices instead. All of these measures have contributed to about $650 in monthly savings, not including the extra income.

We are guilty of spending the dollars we see in our bank account. I took the breathing room we have been fortuneate to have as an opportunity to catch up on some wants and needs. There were the two bike purchases, Brent's GT and our Yuba Mundo, then there was the trip to Phoenix. Just because I had the money didn't mean I was crazy with it. My trip this past week was frugal, but not stingy. I certainly could have done a better job with my spending, but I was trying to relax a little and enjoy myself.

The expense break down

Summary and Explaination

• $300--Airline ticket (not shown because it was purchases weeks ago)
• $46.84--clothing
• $136.24--food

 The larger food expenses were when I was buying a meal or coffees for everyone because they bought meals and coffees for me. We just shared the expenses and kept it as even as we could. My sister fronted the gas for her car and I slept on her couch. I could have done without the new outfit for the wedding, but I needed those flip flops from Walgreens if I didn't want to bandage my bleeding feet. My sister's new in laws treated us to homemade dinners twice and I will be sending them a thank you gift. I really think I was able to make a seven day trip affordable because of the generosity of others time, space and resources which I always return eagerly.

All the touristy things we did were free, or we did things that were around meals and family, so the expenses were ones we might have had anyway, were we not "sight seeing." I will be putting up a full post of pictures from my actual adventure later, but you can see some here, here, here, and here from the past week.

Before leaving Huntington we did take the whole family out for dinner, at Griffith and Feil's in Kenova. I didn't include this expense, but we had a wonderful time. I also packed a homemade granola trail mix, banana, sandwich and empty water bottle so I didn't purchase anything in transit.

I traveled light, thus eliminating the need to check any bags. My sister let me use all her soaps and shampoos and sunscreens. She even gave me a razor.

I ended up leaving the book, as it wasn't my sister's after all. I didn't bring the plain brown dress either. I opted to wear the yellow 1/4zip to the airport to save more space, and I added my bike helmet.

It all fit, and room for more.

Returning from Phoenix I bought trail mix, an apple and banana at the grocery the night before and refused to purchase anything in transit, although I was very hungry. Seeing a bottle of water for $2.25 and a small sandwich for $6.50 was an instant appetite suppressant. I made do with what I packed. It wouldn't hurt me to eat all the trail mix even though I desired something else.  I filled up my reusable water bottle and spent my two hour lay over in Detriot with my new book, Bike Snob. It was a gift from Sara and Micheal. I opened it up on the plane from Phoenix and didn't set it down until I finished it yesterday afternoon.

It's certainly good to be home. It is great that I still have money in the bank and I was able to open and pay all those bills waiting for my yesterday without a knot in my stomach.

How do you travel on a budget? Have any tips on how we could have taken the whole family? Something we could try next time?

Friday Comparison: September 2

Our trip meter last week August 21-26:

Miles Walked: 12.5

Biked: 50.9

Bused: 2.1

Drove: 0

This week

Today, August 28-September 2:

Miles Walked: 6	Biked: 70.4	Bused: 0	Drove: 4	This week
43.7	183.3	12.6	403.9	Since August 14, 2011

We walked half as many miles this week and biked about twenty more. Most of those biking miles were Brent's. As a reminder, this tally is a total account of our joint family miles. If we bike or walk together, like we do for errands, they only count once, but if Brent's biking to work and I am biking to school, those are separate miles. I was not too sure what to do if London biked home from school but the boys and I walked with her, so I counted them separately because they were different modes.

Not included are the carpool miles. We were not driving, but the children were riding with someone else. Should those be included? Would they be a separate column or just under "drove?"

Savings!
Reducing our driving miles combined with giving away the car meant I got to call our insurance agent today and change our policy. We were paying roughly $1300 a year, or more precisely $117 a month to insure two vehicles, one with full coverage. Reducing the van to liability dropped the rates to $935/yr or $78/m. When I looked over the declaration I noticed we were listed as driving more than 8000miles annually for the van. Talking to the agent today we noted the change in our driving habits. Combining this mileage reduction with the removal of the car our annual rate is now $520 or $44/m. This savings is equivalent to two dinners out with the family, or a light week of groceries, every single month. While I hope we get to enjoy some of these things with our savings, it will also give us more to put toward our second mortgage, more for bike safety equipment and a bike purchase, more for sharing with our friends, more breathing room in general.  

Officially car-lite

We signed over the title to our Cavalier to a new owner yesterday. No sale, just gave her away, as she was given to us. We feel great about our decision. I can't wait to call the insurance company and knock down that bill even further. Brent is happy the car will see a good life with someone new.

One car, now what?
Now that we have just one vehicle, I still want to sell it, to be replaced at a later time. Brent's pretty steadfast in keeping it. Most folks we talk to about the car situation tell us to keep it, it's paid for, you are going to need it. I have no doubts that we will need a car, that we want a car, I just don't want one right now. I have a hunger to eat up more debt and getting $10,000 from that van will certainly serve as a catalyst.

Entertaining the idea that we keep the van comes with straining to put together another way to pay down the second mortgage. We owe $23,000. I think if we could pay it down to with in $5K we would be in a great position to refinance. We need to come up with $18,000. We can do that, I just don't know how quite yet.

I am toying with the idea of some sort of debt ticker on the side bar, sort of how I track our mileage for our modes of transportation. The ticker is not going to help us earn or save any cash, but it might be a good point of visual accountability every time I visit, which is often, apparently. Don't I have laundry to wash or toys to put away? Probably, but this is more enjoyable.

Thank you all for reading, and coming back to read more.

Kids Sale Consignment

There was more in the hall way and up stairs. The Kids Sale is a great resource.

This morning we still had the shoe dilemma to deal with. Brent didn't have time to stop by any stores yesterday while he was at work. I didn't even know if the sporting goods stores were open today and Brent was working from home. I was able to procure a couple of Kids Sale consignment pre-sale passes and one of those offers came with a ride to the sale. Now we were in business. I eagerly accepted the pass and the transportation and London and I went along for some thrifty shopping. Thank you so very much Cara!

Shoe options. We bought the ones she was trying on here.

Yellow lined jacket for Avery and Green light weight slicker for Oliver. $4, total.

We were able to find nearly new all white Puma shoes for $10 and two rain jackets for $4. I splurged on a large 1000+ piece K'nex set for the family to work on this fall and winter, $12. London bought herself a Davey Jones costume for Halloween, $10. I feel very satistfied that I was able to find London her shoes and the two rain jackets. $28 for my troubles and some of our clothing needs were met.

I didn't want to pass this up, but we didn't need it. I just really liked it.

The sale runs all week at the Veteran's Memorial on 5th Avenue.  Anyone in the area looking for a deal? Maybe you will snatch up this all metal and wooden Radio Flyer fire engine for $15? If only it were last year, this would have made the best first birthday present for Oliver.

We Don't Buy It

We had company for dinner last Tuesday. I spent three and half hours preparing and cooking five dishes. I don't typically spend this much time on meals, but I wanted to cook enough for everyone's varying pallets and to also have leftovers for the rest of the week. I was successful in both quantity and flavor. Dinner was good. The trouble was I didn't have any napkins for my guests. I haven't bought napkins or a roll of paper towels all year, maybe since before Halloween last year, maybe longer.

Our family uses dish clothes and kitchen towels. We do have company often, but I had been using a stack of Valentine and Halloween napkins that were in the basement from old parties and functions. We are classy and practical people. Now, here I was with four guests and nothing for their spills and fingers. I rummaged through the kitchen towel drawer and found two scraps of cloth I use for wrapping bread or laying over food to keep the bugs off. Perfect for napkins, although a bit frayed.

Then I started thinking about the things we just don't buy. Things we have never purchased, or have quit putting in our cart. Each item was probably eliminated because we don't need it, they weren't in the budget, or we found an alternative.

• cereal-we now make hot breakfasts or prepare baked goods ahead of time
• laundry detergent-we make our own
• fabric softener
• paper towels, napkins-started to use cloth
• air fresheners, candles, etc
• plastic ware, paper plates, etc
• dishwasher rinse aids-now use vinegar
• Ziplock bags and baggies-I save bread bags and other plastics from purchased items or use reusable cloth sandwich bags, Rubbermaid items, glassware with lids, etc.
• Ziplocks for my soup swap every fall is an exception
• Individual serving size anything (yogurt, raisins, soups, snack packs, juice boxes, etc)-we buy larger containers and dole out serving sizes, make our own or do without
• Beer is the only exception I can think of right now
• tissues-use toilet paper for now, thinking of flannel hanky come back this fall and winter
• specialty cleaners (dusting sprays, window cleaners, mop solutions, bathroom cleaner, etc)-replaced them all with castile soap, vinegar and baking soda as they ran out
• microwavable anything (we gave our microwave away)
• special "baby" item-the adult/child version were just fine or we did without
• magazines-use the library, get old issues from friends, read online
• accessories for the home or for us personally (i.e. picture frames, nick-knacks, jewelry and hair pieces)
• cards-call, email, make our own, send e-cards or replacement videos and pictures
• bath extras (i.e. bath salts, bubble bath, special shaving creams, exfoliates, muds)
• babysitters-trade child care with friends

Things we have significantly reduced our consumption and purchases of:

• pre-made, packaged and processed foods
• paper diapers-we cloth diaper during the day and paper at night
• disposable wipes-recently made flannel cloth wipes, which Brent doesn't use and we still take a pack of disposables out with us in the diaper bag
• car washes-I don't recall the last car wash
• stamps-we use online bill pay and email for most everything, buy postage at the PO for larger packages or print postage from my computer
• envelopes-we don't mail a lot anymore, and when I do, I have a stash of return envelopes from bills that I have kept or I fold and tape a piece of scrap paper around whatever I am mailing
• books-library, paperbackswap.com, or ebooks
• photos-I have ordered photos online to be sent directly to my mom, but otherwise we just look at pictures online
• newspapers-I check online to see if getting the Sunday paper is worth the coupons
• meat-we buy meat for our meal co-op group only, Brent's recently converted to vegetarian and the rest of the family just follows suit.
• spray oils (Pam)-I replaced them with an oil pump spray bottle from Pampered Chef
• gifts-we make what we can from fabric in the cabinet, blank CDs, baked goods, experiences, trading services/babysitting, bulk school book orders and other creative giving
• light bulbs-for over two decades we have replaced nearly every light bulb with compact fluorescent, thus reducing the need to buy them often
• seeds, flowers, lawn care-save seeds from produce, share seeds and bulbs with friends,and use our own compost
• date nights-date less, or stay up later to date at home
• movies, videos, Netflix, and other media time-We rarely go to the movies, if we do, it's the discount theater and not everyone goes. We reduced our Netflix to streaming only. Are there any more video rental stores? We use the library for free.
• drawing paper and art supplies-By keeping the copies of paper that come home from school and work and saving single sided papers from junk mail, we have a profound stack of art papers for airplanes, grocery lists and doodles. Taking four children to any family friendly restaurant will yield a set of at least 8 crayons, sometimes up to12. My grandma B has taken us out and asked the server for old crayons that were destined for the garbage, she is my savings inspiration (she could go to Fulmer's and always get them to pay her to shop when she used coupons).
• hot water-I started using cold water for everything I could, including hand washing. I let the dish washer use hot and wash only diapers with hot. Showers for children are timed, minimum bath water is shared for the little boys.
• make up, nail polish, fragrant lotions/sprays, and other temporary accessories-My mom bought me eye shadow and mascara for my birthday two years ago and we haven't bought anything else since or probably many years before.
• gasoline and other car items, services, etc-Besides the obvious reduction in driving, we do a lot of our own basic maintenance and my dad has helped with brake pads and more.
• clothing, shoes-Buy used, buy very little, buy only what we need, borrow and be extremely grateful for hand-me downs.

Certainly I am forgetting many things. What have you given up or reduced in your lives?

Two More Things
I found that by not shopping at WalMart and Target we are no longer tempted to buy things we don't need just because they are there and they are on sale. When ever something runs out, I ask myself if I need it and could I make it for less. Perhaps I need it, but not now and it sits on my list for a long time or until it's forgotten.

Just by keeping a list I am no longer running out for a couple of things just when I need them. I might have air filters on my list for a long time because they are more expensive at Kroger, but when I finally get to a place where they are less expensive, I buy more of them to cover the time between store visits.

Damned If We Do
The thing that gets me, is that despite our change in habits, purchasing shoes stills "breaks the bank." It may have something to do with our deprivation/impulse issues. When we have gone a fair amount of time cutting back, doing without, feeling deprived (again, by middle class standards), and then we may get some windfall money or Brent takes on an extra job for cash, and we blow it. We feel we can go out to eat, spend a little more on a bike helmet, buy a bike, drink more beer, visit family and friends out of town, get the odor controlling cat litter, pay back favors or give gratitude with purchased gifts, pay more on a debt or utility bill, send a kid to day camp, get the name brand popcorn, or tap the thermostat down a little more (all recent splurges). The reality is that because we did all this impulsive spoiled spending, we have to return to lengthy stretches of conservation. The habits of saving and thrift are not as strong as the desire to spend and consume (though both have strengths that ebbs and flows). We are working on it.


Money Talk
I wrote a bit about all this here and here, and will continue to come back to it. I hope to also give a good update on what we have been able to save by not driving, how we ended up using that money instead and what our financial plan is for the remainder of the year. What else would you like to see/hear/read/know? I feel very comfortable talking about money and my family with the exception of our actual base salary income and the tuition situation for my children at school, as these two issues would effect a lot of other people beyond our six. Ask away.

Shoe Shopping

First day of school shoe violations.

We knew the children needed new shoes for school. We knew they had to meet the uniform policy. We hoped they could wear the shoes they wore last year. London's still fit, Elliot's didn't and they were worn clean through. What we didn't plan for was the cost of shoes when you can't get to Payless or find any at WalMart or Target.

Prior to school starting my sister took the children to WalMart and they couldn't find any that met our needs, be it size, color or price. A few days later my friend Ashley called to say they were going to Target and do I need anything? YES, shoes! Again, they came back empty handed. I posted to Google+, in my local circle, asking about downtown shoe possibilities and a friend suggested Payless on Route 60. Brent said Roby Rd was far too dangerous to ride and I didn't feel like taking all day to bus back and forth to get the size right and cause Brent to miss more time at work while playing with the children. Our neighbor looked at Sears the weekend before school started, still nothing. My online shoe shopping experiences of the past have only yielded one success despite a dozen attempts and I was pressed for time and didn't care for the hassle.

School started on Monday. I sent Elliot in his brown summer athletic shoes and London in the shoes she wore last year. I knew Elliot's were not going to meet the dress code, I thought London's might, since they passed last year, but were not following the written policy.

My friend Rachel and I were talking about shoes and she said her husband shopped at Glenn's Sporting Goods downtown. It never occurred to me to buy shoes at the sports shops. Huntington has several athletic store options. Glenn's, Dan's and Robert's are all on 4th Avenue, and I knew Glenn's and Robert's sold shoes, but I didn't know if they sold children's. Brent bikes right by these store on his way home, so I sent him to Glenn's for two pairs. He came home with a pair that fit Elliot and he had to return the ones for London as they were too small.

Elliot's new Nikes

I was happy he found good shoes, I was mortified by the $47 price tag. I try to pay less than $20 for new shoes and prefer to buy our shoes used. I was able to find the shoes London wore last year at Target for $4. Yet, with the increase in biking, walking and leg pain, I do feel that a better shoes is worth that ounce of prevention. My own bout with plantar fasciitis a couple years ago when I started running without proper shoes, still serves as a good reminder.

Yesterday London came home with a reminder from the school that she needs shoes that meet the dress code. I am very happy to see the school enforcing the code. Now we have two days left to fix our shoe problem. I don't see how we are going to get shoes from anywhere other than downtown and for anything less than $20. Brent's on a lunch hour mission today,(as he is working all weekend), to find shoes. Back to Glenn's and to check with Dan's and Robert's. I am on an emailing mission to see which of my friends can spare a pre-sale pass to the Kid's Sale tomorrow. Perhaps Brent can spare me the time to go to this consignment sale, as it has some potential for a cheaper fix?

Poor planning on our part is costing us more money and time. I guess I have been out of touch with the cost of shoes. My grandma tells me that I should expect to pay that much for a good pair. We must not be "good shoe" people. I think we are just more of "good enough" sort of family.

Small Local Grocer & Greyhound

 

Miles Walked: 14	Biked: 21.4	Bused: 6.3	Drove: 3.6	This week
14	21.4	6.3	3.6	Since August 14, 2011

Brent went out for ground beef and bacon on Monday night and I needed a few things this morning. Biking to Kroger 2.5 miles away is not a very convenient option for small trips. When running out for a couple items we have a few other choices from our house. We can stop at Clark's BP gas station a couple of blocks away or Rite Aid several blocks further. There is a mom and pop shop (Ujamma's?) in the neighborhood behind Cabell Huntington Hospital, I think it's on Charleston Avenue, or a street south. Then there is Julian's market on 12th Street and 11th Avenue.

For both of our recent trips we chose Julian's. It's 2.2 miles round trip, less than 1/2 the distance of Kroger and still on level streets. Their prices are a bit higher than Kroger, but nothing outrageous. I paid .69/lb for bananas and they were .59/lb at Kroger last week. 2lbs of popcorn kernels were $1.99 and everything they sell is homemade or name-brand. 

Avery with eggs in the trailer

I did want to get bread today, but nothing whole wheat was under $2/loaf so I passed and will make my own later today with this recipe that just posted on another favorite blog site, 100 Days of Real Food. I also needed soy milk and it was near $3 for a liter, another pass today. The larger Kroger trip will be later this week. We make it stretch around here until we just can't scrape together the basic nutrition requirements.

Helmets and groceries, Oliver and list. Julian's used to be Mansour's.

Front door parking for every one at Julian's.  Yet, no bike rack.

Oliver, Avery and I took off at 10 till 9AM. We stopped for our eggs (4 dozen) first then to get a few provisions. Today's purchases and weights:

4.12lbs bananas
2.97lbs sweet potatoes
2lbs butter (actually margarine b/c butter was $4.89/lb and the margarine was .89, I still feel guilty over the compromise, but my budget won this fight)
2liters (4lbs) of diet Coke
2lbs of popcorn

About 20lbs in total, plus Oliver and Avery, the tools and diaper bag and waters. I think we maxed out the trailer's weight limit of 100lbs today. We were home by 10AM.

Time to Slow Down

Part of the slow journey today was my own physical condition. My throat has been very sore for a couple days and my legs ache. I can work through the muscle aches and pains, but then coming up the first of two hills home the pressure in my chest got to me. I have a history of my heart changing pace and rattling around in my chest like it's trying to jump out, even though my breathing is steady. The Drs say it's a change in pressure. Well, it started up at an intersection and didn't let up till I got home. The intensity of the pounding was making me light headed, so I stopped the bike, drank a lot of water, tried all the breathing tricks I know to get it to stop. Because it wasn't changing I decided to walk the bike home for the last couple blocks. When I reached down to unbuckle Avery in the trailer it quit. Just as quick as it started, it was over. I have been home taking it easy since.

HighSpeed

Did you catch a couple of things on this post? First there were miles listed in the "drove" section of the header. Then there was the diet Coke. We don't drink diet Coke, but you may not have known that. My grandmother took the Greyhound down from Columbus last night to visit with us and friends for a couple of weeks. Her bus came in at 10:45PM and we didn't dare let my 76 year old granny walk home or get on a bike. The local buses don't run that late, so Brent turned over the engine on the van, aka HighSpeed, and puttered down to pick her up.

Grandma been taking the Greyhound bus down here since we moved in. She likes the independence of getting where she wants to go without overly burdening anyone to take her. She enjoys sitting back and taking in the characters she sees on the bus. Now that I think about it, she's a car-lite woman. Her neighbor does her grocery shopping and she gets rides with family for doctor's appointments and errands. Way to go Grandma! 

Choices We Make to Save Money

House or Car?
My bright idea of driving less was set ablaze by a need to save money. For the first half of 2011 we were preparing our home to sell. We thought that if we sold the house and found something less expensive we could lighten up a bit with the doom and gloom feeling of our finances.

Our mortgage, with taxes and insurance and interest and all the other things they add into that escrow payment, is $1100 each month. We tried twice to refinance and the loan to value ratio was not enough. If we could rent something for $800 a month, then selling the house felt like the answer. As we got a lot of repairs made and upgrades completed and we looked at all we would have to pack up and the soaring cost of relocating, we cringed.  We had spent nearly $2500 on fixing things in the house and we could have paid down another debt somewhere. How was saving money to move, selling the house, finding something about $300 a month cheaper, going to help? It was adding a lot more pressure and a lot more expenses. Enter the crazy idea of selling the van. It was our next largest expense.

How Did It Come to This?
This house and car removal was not our first choice in knocking down our expenses. These are drastic measures that we have come to after years of tracking and budgeting each dollar. Yet, over the years we have made the decision to add to our family. Over ten years we have added four children, and taken on nearly $186,000 in debt. It's the sort of debt that middle class America has sold to us and we have bought it all. House, cars and education. Those three categories are where we owe all our money. Our every day living expenses eat up the rest of our income. The choices we make with the leftover dollars have been consumed and not saved, spent and not given back to our debtors.

Daily Savings
To get to the dramatic conclusion of selling your home or car you may be in a pretty desperate place. I am very happy to say, that while we certainly owe a lot of money, we don't have any delinquent accounts and we can pay our bills every month, even if sacrifices must be made. By sacrifice, I mean they are middle class sacrifices, not the kind that equate to not feeding your children or having a safe place to sleep. We might not be getting new clothes or having a hair appointment or eating out.

Here's a list of other measures we have taken over the years to save on our expenses. I will try to explain why we made these choices and not others, as best I can. Do you see anything we could be doing differently?

Housing

• Our utilities include water, sewer, garbage, recycling, electric, gas, phone and internet. We conserve resources as best we can, but know we can do better. Our phone is the basic-basic service. No long distance, no caller ID, no call waiting. We don't have cell phones, so we have kept our land line. We have internet for about $30 a month because it is our everything. It's Brent's connection to work and mine to the world. I could certainly do without it, but I don't want to. Brent cannot work with out it.
• When we moved in we installed a programmable thermostat. In the winter is hangs around 68 and in the summer about 78. We used to be able handle a little more cold and heat but I am afraid as we age we are getting to be more wimpy. I do turn off the system when we leave the house.
• We mow our own grass (except when we can't, such as being away for extended periods). We used a reel mower for many years and then we couldn't find anyone to sharpen the blade properly. We now borrow our neighbors electric mower as needed. We had a chemical lawn service for two years to get things into better shape, but canceled it and now only treat what we think needs treated. Lime once a year and we pay the children to dig out dandelions at a penny each.
•  We do most of our own maintenance but have paid good people to do larger jobs for us when the time vs money factor favored money. We also put off a lot of house maintenance until we have either time or money. There was a large hole over one of our doors for nearly five years.

Clothing and other Shopping

The details of our shopping. The $168 Everything Birth expense was reimbursed by a friend.

• We very rarely buy clothes, especially new ones. We have been very thankful to a lot of family and friends for hand me downs. Any gaps we have in our wardrobes have been filled at consignment sales and stores. Socks and underwear are purchased new, most of the time, and very infrequently, as in once a year in most cases. I looked at our Mint.com account and it showed we had spend $212 in clothing from January through June this year. Some of the general shopping is clothing as well. I need to get more detailed with my tracking.
• We simply try not to buy things. We have purchased some birthday presents and books. Most books are bought from the Scholastic school fliers at a discount. Many of our birthday presents for others are books from those orders. Our shopping expenses are broken out above. I was shocked by the "other shopping" category so I included a list of each transaction and their amounts. Everything Birth was for more cloth diapers. The BigLots purchase was for a set of bunk beds for Elliot for his 7th birthday. It was beyond the budget but his party cost me less than $20, so we splurged on something we felt we needed, beds. See how we make excuses.

Food

• Admittedly we don't do a great job here. I am including the charts above to make my case. I use to strive for spending $125 each week on groceries and all the other things that go in the cart, I am now up to about $150-175 a week. $3773 over 6 months works down to $629/m or $146/wk on average for six people.
• I use coupons if I can, but I not great about this. Most of what I buy there are not coupons for. I don't purchase things just because I have a coupon. My food values don't line up with many packaged products.
• I make as much as I can from scratch, including our laundry detergent and most recently our yogurt. We make bread in a machine often, but not often enough to supply us with the 1.5lb loaf we consume each day. When I cook from scratch I omit a lot things that are not, in my opinion or budget, necessary.
• We are part of a meal swapping group, that I started about three and half years ago. I will explain this whole concept in another post.
• We garden minimally, have a share and a half in our local CSA, shop the farmers market and try our best to buy things that are ripe in this season.
• My budget for food is centered around weight. I try not to pay more than $2 a pound for anything. If something goes over this amount, such as maple syrup, I give something up in other areas of our diet, such as meat or salad dressings or crackers. I give them up for other reasons, some of those things are not a part of my current values as well. I also make salad dressing from scratch when we have salad.
• We don't eat cereal. This started about 18months ago. I was tired of picking up empty bowls with milk puddles every morning. We were snacking on cereal after school and buying $10 in boxes a week. I could get good coupon deals on cereal sometimes, but not every week. We quit cereal. By making this one small change, we also reduced our milk consumption. We were finishing five gallons of milk each week, that was nearly $110 a month for breakfast foods. Now we have a hot breakfast most mornings, or fruit. This would also make a good post later.
• I'd like to say we don't eat out often, but it seems that it's one of those things that we do a lot of sometimes and not much of at others. When we do eat out, it's water for everyone, no desserts and a lot of meal sharing between the crowd. Coupons when we can. We took a miserable vacation (the wedding was great) to North Carolina in June and eat out every single meal, that hurt, but I loved the break from cooking.
• Brent takes his own coffee to work. He also has a pot there to make more. As a bonus to me, we have an espresso machine, gifted to us by my sister, that Brent turns into my morning mocha, complete with my home made chocolate syrup.

All the Rest of our Money

• Seems that every single other dollar we have goes to medical expenses and education. Education in the form of paying off loans and enrichment activities for the children. Medical, for our health and well being. There are a lot of us, and we spend most of our winter at the Dr.'s office and the rest of the year at the dentist, optometrist, counselors, pharmacy....

In Conclusion
I really feel like we have tried to cut back, but know we can do better. I really would love to here what you have to say on all of this. What have we done wrong, what could we do differently? What did I forget to mention here? How are you doing it?

I also feel that putting all this personal finance information out there for the world to read and comment on is very difficult. So many people are struggling more than we are and I don't feel that I have any space to complain. I am trying to understand it all and make the best of what I can.

Creating a Grocery List Based on Weight

Ordering toilet paper was an easy enough task. Getting my sister to purchase the case of copy paper wasn't too hard either. As I looked over what was left on my shopping list, it still felt incredibly heavy. I don't know what my towing limit is yet, but I know I was not able to drag Oliver and Avery out of the 10th Street aqua-duct during Critical Mass last month. They weigh in at about 70lbs total. Trailer weight, bike weight, diaper bag and waters...it's getting near 100lbs, probably more. Now add groceries like kitty litter, potatoes, milk, flour, and blocks of cheese. Good grief.

Family Fun
Several friends that have asked the question, "Don't you need the van, there are six of you?" have received the reply, "We rarely go any where all together, except the grocery store, and we don't have to go together." It's true. We are one of those annoying large families that have to bring everyone to the store. It's not that we do this every single time we go. Most often, Brent goes with very clear instructions and I am disappointed when he returns, but not so frustrated that it was worth me going instead. Sometimes I go alone or with the little boys, but always come home so frustrated that I send Brent the next time, and the time after that.

Then there are the trips that I enjoy the most, the ones where we all go. I get to pick out exactly what I need, for the price I want to pay and pair it with the right coupons. Brent and the children will sometimes go get things I forgot on the other side of the store and I have good company, which is really what I like.

It should then come as no surprise that we all went to the store on our bikes this morning. Not the best of logic, but a good time none the less. Great exercise of course, good company and an extra strong husband to haul things on his spiffy new 29" bike.

Brent on his spiffy new bike. A GT something or another. 29" wheels. They are huge.

The List
I prepared our list the night before, trying very hard to keep it simple and light. We had to contend with space and with weight. Here's my original grocery wish list. Those things crossed out did not get purchased because of price, space, or weight, and were based on importance to our survival this weekend. The actual amounts purchased are in red.

• milk 4 half gallon plastic jugs
• bread 4 1lb 8oz loaves whole wheat
• beer
• alternative milk (almond, soy, coconut) 1 half gallon cardboard carton
• popcorn 1 2lb bag of kernels
• small oranges
• bananas 1 bunch of 8
• apples 1 3lb bag
• cat litter 1 3.5lb bag
• onions 3 large yellows
• sweet potatoes 4lbs
• mozzarella 1lb 8oz
• couscous
• oils about a quart of each olive oil and coconut oil in plastic
• pastas 2lbs of whole wheat egg noodles
• Parmesan cheese 8oz wedge
• turkey pepperoni
• bar soap for laundry 2 bars
• hotdogs and buns
• peas, frozen 2lbs
• tuna 4 small cans
• nuts
• ginger root
• diapers 1 package of 27 paper diapers

I also threw a couple jars of peanut butter into the cart because they were a good price and we eat a lot of peanut butter.
Total Weight Estimated: 38lbs, does that add up right?

Hauling it Home
We knew everything had to fit just right so I asked the cashier if I could bag my own groceries. I didn't think she would object, but I didn't want to put any union workers out of a job either. I was also concerned about the bread. Last time it came home all smashed. I put the litter, diapers, onions and potatoes in my back pack. Everything else went into the trailer with Avery.

The nearest Kroger is 2.5 miles from home and they don't have a bike rack. Might need to write a letter to the store.

The goods.

Bagged and ready to load.

We loaded up the trailer, unlocked all the bikes and helmets and put everyone in their places to head for home. We had one more stop to make. Our eggs were supposed to be picked up on Tuesday evening but we didn't get out for various reasons. So we stopped by the rendezvous porch and tucked our three dozen eggs and four bundles of basil into the trailer.

Where the sidewalk ends on 1st St going toward PATH.

Coming out under 8th Street riding toward Ritter Park.

Very sleepy Oliver and London with eggs.

The ride back to the house is always more exhausting. Not just because of the added weight, but because we had already covered 2.5 miles and as the world turns, the sun's heat intensifies. Then there is that slight grade change. The last two roads are uphill just enough to make my chest hurt. Two hours, 5miles, 40lbs, and ten degrees later, we were home.

Approaching Hal Greer. Loaded trailer, exhausted London.

The soft and smashables. Weepy basil, we wait too long to pick up.

Cold goods, still cold on the left. More heavy stuff on the right.

Car-Free vs. Car-Lite

Brent and I had a heated debate about the purpose of not using our van this month. It really was all my idea and we do have two vehicles sitting out there in the driveway that can be used. Some of our reasoning for going Car-Lite can be found on this blogs car-lite family tab. Here are the specific reasons for not driving our car for the month of August.


By the Numbers
There is a significant financial savings gained from keeping those vehicles in the drive way. Here are two charts I have kept on Mint.com. The first graphs our insurance, fuel and loan payments as well as any maintenance expenses. The second shows just our gasoline expenses.

Gas Only

All Auto Expenses Combined

I really thought July would have been a lot lower in gasoline. I only drove the van one day a week for errands. Then I remembered we paid for the gas for both trips to Elkins for Brent and we went to Charleston three times in one month. It adds up quick. June looks more accurate for what our expense would be if we reduced our driving, but we drove to Charlotte that month too, so I guess this is just a real life snap shot. It's not reflecting any extreme measures, but more of our transition to using the van less, but also driving it when we had to.

What I get out of these graphs is that we spend, on average, $600 each month for our cars. I took a huge measure to knock out half of that expense by paying off the van loan today. After I get the title I will call our insurance company and reduce the coverage to liability. Maybe we will have a little less green on those charts in a couple months.

Different POV
The second thing I did was revisit the issue of selling the van. I see selling it as a way to drag ourselves out of the pit of debt that has consumed me and my family for the past decade. With it's sale I can put more money toward more debt, and there is plenty of it, debt, not money.

Brent and I do not agree on this issue. The van still represents a lot of freedom and security to him. It's a huge pain in my ass. I am doing just fine to not go anywhere far or anywhere at all. I have learned to tolerate the heat and take each incline on the bike one stoke at a time. I have been whittling down our errands and bringing our Drs closer to home. Brent is scared of the car traffic and having the children out on the roads. He's concerned about the expense of buy a new van later and putting money into the Cavalier to keep it running. I should really ask him to weigh in on all his concerns here. They are very valid, but I just don't see that as reasons to not try our hardest to pursue this route to financial freedom, however long it may be.

He brings up that renting a car will be more expensive; a minivan was running $100/day last I checked. I counter with, "where are we going?" He doesn't know. Then I bring up the hope that Marshall University will get the ZipCar program they discussed last year. It would be a compromise in price and convenience of having a car. I should call them soon about this possibility.

Brent is concerned about school pick up. What if the baby is sick or napping and Brent's in class and the children need to come home? I think we know enough people who would be able to bring them back or stay with the baby while I go out to get them.

Then there is the, "What about the weather?" Again, I don't know exactly. We don't have extremely rough winters, by my standards. The winter that Avery was in the hospital for two straight weeks we walked in snow nearly every day and it was fine. The roads were clear enough to drive, so the same roads should be clear enough to bike? Walking is still an option. Not going is still an option. The bus in an option.

There are many single car families in town. There are several folks we know who commute in all weathers by bike. I am sure there are many people in town without cars, but I only know of one. Finding out their solutions is also on my research list. I feel that each challenge is one to be overcome, not one to be answered with the mini van.

Car-free vs. Car-lite 
Many people and families live without cars. Many people also live car-lite, by which I mean, they have a family with one car and make do, or drive less. I will make a list of them all later.

I do not plan to live car-free. After this month I intend to drive the children to school in the morning. I still think we will be doing our grocery shopping by car. For August, I want to see how much we can do without the car. I want to strip away the dependency on the vehicles and see exactly what we need them for. August is a good month to try this experiment. Two of the children start school on the 15th. Brent starts back to teaching on the 22nd. Avery starts preK on the 22nd as well. It will give us time to figure out how to get around in the early weeks, then add a week of commuting to school with two big kids, then a week of commuting with three. There will be a week of getting everyone home by first taking up two and bringing home four, then a week of taking up one and bringing back four. It's sort of a step it up program in bike commuting, up hill, with children.

We may discover that I can get a lot of grocery shopping done when it's just me and Oliver and we can load up the trailer and bring it home and put it away with no extra little bikes and bikers to take out. We might find out that the children love biking to school so much they are easier to get up and out the door in the morning (I can hope). Our regimen might provide us with enough exercise that we won't be paying for soccer, basketball and swimming this year (more savings!). The children may sleep better and focus on homework with more intensity. Maybe Brent will like that I can't call him home to pick up the children because the baby is napping and he will get more work done. There is the possibility that we will save enough money that Brent and I could date regularly again, something we gave up with the budget crunch of 2009. I see a lot of great things coming from not driving this month.

It may be that we hate living without our cars and we miss going to, I don't know, Target or friends out of town. Traveling with out our van in the rain and snow might be a complete bear. Perhaps someone gets hurt and we immediately sell our bikes and swear off leaving our home ever again. Dramatic? Perhaps. I just wanted to give some weight to ideas that might swing a bit further in the direction of car usage.

A Verdict?
We will keep our vehicles for now. Until we know what we need them for and which one to keep. Sometimes I think we should give away the Cavalier and keep the van. Other times I think sell the van, keep the car. Then I have moments of give away the car, sell the van, good ridden to them both. We would give away the car because it was given to us and it's not worth much more than the satisfaction of knowing someone who needed it would be using it. One last idea is to donate the car, sell the van and then later, six months, a year, or when ever, buy a crossover vehicle that is better on fuel, seats six and is less than $10000 that we can pay for in cash.

It's certainly a lot to think about.

Why Car-Lite?

We have lived in Huntington, WV for five years now. It was a good transition for us from Buckhannon, WV. The whole family took well to having a variety of things to do each and every day with other parents and families. I was able to find a MOPS group, a Mother's Club and great libraries. There were a plethora of wonderful parks, many grocery options, an art museum, theaters, dance companies, a river, swimming pools, and of course, we had a good neighborhood with a school playground right around the corner. Every day there was something on the calendar for my pregnant self and my two children, then ages 4 and 2. We were movers.

Being new to a community requires a lot of effort. It's hard work getting to know your resources and amenities. Combine that with trying to make new friends and relationships and it gets very emotional too. We settled in nicely here after all this time. And it has been a long time for us too. Before this house in this city, we had been moving to a new address every year, sometimes across state lines and twice between time zones.

How and Why are we choosing to Drive Less NOW?
Because we have such a wonderful network of friends, because we have a small, locally accessible community with good resources, because we have a moderate climate (by my standards), because we have some public transit, because my children are ages 9, 7, 4 and 19m, because we live less than two miles from both the children's school and Brent's office, because we have done it before (although with fewer children), and because we just needed to cut our expenses somewhere, I feel that we can live as six with just our old 2000 Cavalier.

Today a good old friend whom I hadn't seen in well over a year, stopped in for a visit with her two young children. The issue of me trying to sell our van came up, as I sort of urged it to. I need a buyer, and I will keep talking about it till one comes along. She asked me all sorts of questions about the situation. Here is my paraphrased Q&A:

• Why are you selling your van, isn't it a necessity with four children?
• Our motivator was trying to make sacrifices to live within our means. We had already given up our cell phones and tightened our budget in other areas. We were all set to sell our home earlier this year and move somewhere cheaper and smaller and then it occurred to me that I would rather sell the van than the house. We are keeping the car and five of us can fit into it, so this was a good compromise.
• What about when you need to go out of town?
• We may rent a van, or we will decide if we won't go. It will be a matter of necessity. We are also fortunate to have a Greyhound and Amtrak station downtown. I heard talk of a car share program at Marshall University, but I don't know what's become of it.
• What about in the winter?
• The way we see it right now, we will either grin and bare it or we might just give up in January and buy another van. I am far more likely to like cold weather than the 90 degrees we have tolerated this July, it is the snow that concerns me. I do like that we are keeping the car and we have the option of just not going places sometimes.
• If you get a new van won't you be paying more?
• I hope not. My logic, as flawed as it may be, says that if I could sell a six year old van with 90K miles for $11K, then I ought to be able to buy one for that price if I need to. Since we have been making our payments now, I would hope to be in a better place in five months and be able to make them then too.
• Selling the van is also part of a larger picture. By selling the van and taking the proceeds to pay off our balance then use the remainder to pay down our second mortgage (combined with the extra income we are getting this summer thanks to Brent's many many hours of labor) we will be able to have a home value to loan amount ratio under the 80% needed to refinance our primary mortgage. It's a plan that may or may not work, but I have given myself till January to put all my efforts into it.
• We don't live in a big city. This is the sort of thing people do in NYC or Chicago, you can't just walk and bike every where. Maybe you should just keep the van and try living without it for a couple months.
• That's what we have been doing. We have been weaning ourselves from the need to drive everywhere. We use the van one day a week for errands and we have been using it one other day for tennis, but I think we solved that trouble with the bus. We have had other things arise where using the van could have been avoided, but it is still in the drive way so we have used it. For instance, a couple weeks ago Brent's group that he is working and living with, was an hour away so I took the children to see him. Family time is very important. I had saved enough gas from our fill up in late June to get us to Charleston, WV on July 9, where we tanked up and I still have 3/4 left. Good thing too, because we are going back to Charleston on Saturday to pick him up.
• We don't live in a big city, but everything we need is less than four miles and we are keeping the car. I am not saying this will work long term, but it is the catalyst for the financial change we need. I see it as something we can try for six months and evaluate.

I really like answering questions about what we are trying to do. I see it as a way to analyze the situation and get some perspective. Perhaps we are crazy and this won't work. Where do you see this whole thing could go wildly wrong? What other choices do we have when it comes to saving money?

I did talk to my friend about how my husband doesn't want to spend three weeks working away every summer. He doesn't want to work after the children go to bed until the wee hours of the morning on extra projects. He wants to spend time watching them grow. I want to maintain a budget that sets him up for one job with one salary and the time he desires. I want to grow a healthy financial future for us all.

2005 Honda Odyssey For Sale

In the market for a new to you mini van? We have a wonderful Silver Honda Odyssey-EX for sale. It has just under 90K miles and runs like a champ. 8 passenger, cloth interior, roof rack, 5 disc CD changer, new brake pads. It's been a dream van for us. We drove it to the Grand Canyon three years ago. It was the first and only time we used that lazy-Susan storage in the floor. Now it needs a new family to take it to see the rest of the country, or at least a new drive way.

We are ready to embark on our car-lite adventure. We are ready to lift the burden of debt we carry with owning this vehicle. You can own our wonderful van, which my children have named HighSpeed, for $11,000 OBO. Let me know when you want to take it for a spin.

The way we see it, selling this machine can save us over $600 a month. Making the decision to let go of our primary method of transportation, or rather replacing it with healthier more economical options, has taken a lot of strength for us all. Especially Brent, but more on that later.