Archives For Frugality

How to Plan Cheap and Healthy Meals

Corey —  May 13, 2010

       Cheap meals don’t have to be unhealthy. They don’t have to taste bad either. By following a few simple guidelines, you can plan cheap and healthy meals that are delicious.

Beans & Rice: The Main Characters

       OK, this isn’t limited to just beans and rice. The point is that the main core of a cheap and healthy meal is usually going to be legumes and grains. Good legumes include navy, pinto, black, and kidney beans, peas, lentils, chickpeas, lima beans, and soybeans. Good grains include barley, brown rice (not white!), buckwheat, corn, millet, oats, quinoa, rye, spelt, and whole wheat. You can pick just about anything in those two lists and they’re going to be pretty cheap and quite healthy (buy in bulk and raw – no instant rice or pre-cooked beans). You’ll want to combine at least one legume with one grain to get a complete protein.

       If you need inspiration for recipes that center around beans & rice (or other grains), consider ethnic foods from all over the world. Nearly every single culture has some kind of variation on this theme, which means you can find a nearly endless variety of cheap and healthy meals. One I like is sauce pois (bean sauce) with rice – common in Haiti. It’s basically just cooked, seasoned beans that have been pureed into a sauce served over rice.

Vegetables, Fruits, Nuts, and Seeds: The Supporting Cast

       To create a truly healthy meal, you’ll want to add vegetables, fruits, nuts, or seeds to your menu. Your “normal” vegetables and fruits can almost always be found cheaply. Check for fresh options first, then frozen, and finally canned if you must. Try to focus on the vegetables and fruits that are in season. Here’s a good list of cheap vegetables and fruits and when they’re in season to use as a guide, but you’ll probably need to adjust it for your area.

       You can’t go wrong with most fruits, but focus on the best vegetables to get the biggest nutritional bang for your buck. Broccoli and spinach are great examples of foods that can be quite cheap but have tons of health benefits.

       Don’t be afraid to go outside your grocery store to search for the cheapest options either. Farmer’s markets and pick your own farms can be great, cheaper alternatives to the supermarket.

Eggs, Dairy, Seafood, and Meats: The Intermission

       Eggs, dairy products, seafood, and meats are typically the centerpiece of the “American” meal. But if you want to eat cheap and healthy, you have to break out of this mindset. For complete proteins at a low cost, eggs are your best bet. For calcium, you’ll want to look to milk and dairy products. (I like cottage cheese for this. It’s fairly cheap but contains concentrated amounts of the beneficial stuff found in milk.) Finally, for B vitamins (especially B-12) and a few other things, seafood and meats are your friend.

       You can include small portions of the foods in this category and still keep your meals cheap. By using them to accent your main characters (the beans & rice), you’ll get flavor and nutrition while keeping it cheap and healthy. You don’t have to exclude these delicious foods to eat cheap and healthy, but you’ll need to use them with discretion.

Spices & Herbs: The Musical Numbers

       Spices and herbs will liven up any dish (especially the cheap ones) to help you create something tasty. Focus on those you use often rather than buying up a bunch of exotic spices you don’t like. Fresh herbs can actually be grown quite easily in small pots inside providing you with a cheap source of flavor all year round. Additionally, many spices and herbs have health benefits of their own, so that’s just a bonus.

Processed and Non-local Foods: Don’t Even Go There

       Most foods in this category are either bad for you or expensive. Yes, some processed foods are “cheap”, but it’s also possible to eat healthy while keeping your costs low. Considering the health risks of consuming mainly processed foods, it’s not worth taking your chances.

       Non-local foods have to be shipped hundreds or thousands of miles, thus increasing the cost. Most non-local foods are going to be more expensive than a local alternative with the exception of bananas and a few other items. (Though that’s probably due to the low-paid labor used to harvest them.) Many people also choose local foods for environmental reasons which can save on hidden costs we don’t quite see yet.

Your Take

       Do you have hints and tips on how to plan cheap and healthy meals? Share them in the comments!

In Cooking & Recipes, Frugality
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Frugal, Cheap, & Inexpensive Mother’s Day Gift Ideas

Corey —  May 5, 2010

       A meaningful Mother’s Day gift does not have to be expensive. Here are some great, inexpensive gift ideas your mom will cherish for years. (Dads, these are some good ideas for you if you need to help your kids!)

Give Her Your Time

       Make your mom happy by giving her the gift of your time. Make coupons promising to do something special for her. These can be as simple as “Will wash the dishes” or “Will cook dinner one night” to something a little more difficult like “Will not complain for a day” or “Will babysit the younger kids”. Think of something your mom would really appreciate (but you don’t do often enough) and make a coupon for her. Have fun and decorate it a bit, too!

Breakfast in Bed

       Wake up early on Mother’s Day and fix your mom breakfast in bed. If you’re not old enough to be cooking, make sure you get the help of your dad or someone older. Don’t worry if you’re not a professional chef. Put together something your mom likes even if it’s just eggs and bacon with orange juice. Top it off with a flower on her tray. (Oh, and don’t forget to clean up after you’re done cooking!!!)

Homemade Cards & Gifts

       Young kids can draw a picture and write a simple message. It doesn’t need to be fancy. Mom will love it! Older kids can try to make something crafty. Check out Instructables.com for tons of great (and frugal) ideas.

Scrapbook & Memories

       Scrapbooking can become expensive, but if you use what you have you can create something great for very little money. How about writing your mom a letter telling her your favorite memories together from the past year? A memory jar can be fun as well. Take a Mason jar, fill it with slips of paper that describe your favorite memories of mom, and then tie some ribbon around it to make a bow. Put enough memories in so mom can take on each day for a month (or if you’re ambitious, a year!).

Homemade Bath Scrubs

       Skip the expensive mall stores and make your own bath scrubs. Using salt or sugar and some other ingredients you probably have around the house, you can make a nice bath scrub for your mom. Here’s one way to make bath scrubs. Another interesting idea is bath bombs. They make the bath water fizzy and fragrant.

Your Ideas?

       You don’t need to spend a ton of money to make your mom happy this Mother’s Day. Do you have some ideas for frugal, cheap, and inexpensive Mother’s Day gifts? Share them in the comments!

In Frugality
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Extreme Early Retirement or Extreme Generosity?

Corey —  April 29, 2010

       I recently discovered Jacob at Early Retirement Extreme. I’m not sure how I got there – maybe from this post at Monevator – but I’m glad I did.

       Jacob is a bit of an anomaly in our culture – he’s a retired 34 year old, but he’s not rich (based on typical standards). He was able to retire early by saving 70-80% of his income for five years. He did not make a ton of money during that time. I think his salary was around $40,000-50,000/year while he was saving. He simply lived very frugally and saved the rest. Now, he still lives frugally but no longer needs to work to cover his expenses. Despite the fact that he doesn’t need to work, he does – and he makes enough to cover his expenses.

Cheap Living

       Jacob lives on about $7,000 per year. He’s able to do this because he’s learned to live cheaply – especially when it comes to the major areas of most budgets (housing, transportation, food, etc.). He doesn’t have a car, finds cheap/free forms of entertainment, and eats healthy meals with little to no meat. He currently lives in an RV with his wife, but he admits it’s not a necessary choice to duplicate his results.

Should We Retire Extremely Early?

       I don’t highlight Jacob as an example to be followed for extreme early retirement. I don’t think early retirement as a goal in and of itself as admirable or desirable for a Christian. (I also don’t dismiss it as a goal because I can see how God could use a person in this situation for full-time volunteer work or missionary work – a self-funded missionary if you will.) I’m highlighting Jacob and his choices because he offers insights that Christians can use to question the cultural norms and make choices that can lead to extreme generosity.

       For example, Jacob’s views on housing, insurance, and “sacrifice” greatly coincide with my own. (I don’t really agree with him on investing, but that’s irrelevant.) He doesn’t see money as necessary to have fun or live comfortably. He avoids waste. He learns new skills so he can make and do more stuff himself. His approach to living cheaply so he could retire extremely early can be adapted by Christians who want to give generously.

       If you want to get a better feeling for what Jacob did and why, check out his frequently asked questions, about himself page, and about Early Retirement Extreme. You can also see his best posts of 2008 and 2009.

How Can We Use Jacob’s Examples to Honor God?

       What I ask is that you read his articles from the perspective of how they can help you better serve God in your finances. Unless God has a specific purpose for you retiring early, that’s probably not a goal that will glorify Him. But we can use the same ideas Jacob used to enable extreme generosity in our lives by reducing our expenses and questioning the cultural norms. If you find something particularly insightful or helpful on his website, please feel free to share it in the comments below.

In Budgeting, Contentment, Frugality, Giving, Retirement, Work
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Don’t Put Up with Bogus Fees

Corey —  April 28, 2010

       A couple months ago, my wife and I canceled our phone, Internet, and satellite service (via Dish Network) through the local phone company to switch to Comcast. We did it to get faster internet and to cut out the TV service (which we replace by watching online videos). This saved us some money over the monthly costs and provided better Internet service (a big plus for me).

       There were no cancellation fees, and I asked to make sure. I had to talk to a different person to cancel the Dish Network subscription and she explained the return process. (They want the receiver, remote, card, and satellite dish “eye” back to reduce theft of their service. I can understand that.) She said they’d send me a box with prepaid postage and a list of instructions. If I didn’t send the stuff back, they’d hit me with major charges (anywhere from $200 to $500). If I did send it, no charges. Or so I thought…

The Bogus Fee

       I opened a bill in the mail a couple weeks ago from Dish Network. They wanted to charge me a $15 “return fee” plus $0.90 in taxes. Apparently, this is to cover the cost of the prepaid postage for the box to return their hardware. They’re supposed to tell you about this fee when you’re canceling your service, but they never told me. So I called them up to complain.

The Phone Call

       Honestly, I didn’t expect much cooperation since I’m no longer a customer. Dealing with bogus fees is a lot easier when you can threaten to cancel your service or stop being a customer. Not an option for me, so my hopes were not high. Surprisingly, the representative cleared out the charges after I explained the situation and he conferred with his manager. Score 1 for Dish Network customer service.

Don’t Put Up with Bogus Fees

       Here’s my point. Don’t put up with bogus fees. If you get hit with random fees that you’re not expecting (from any service or business), call and complain. Be nice but firm. Patiently and calmly explain the situation, tell them why you don’t believe you should pay the bogus fee, and listen to their response. I didn’t have to haggle much with Dish Network, but it’s not always that easy. Be prepared to keep (calmly) discussing the problem until you get the resolution you want.

It’s Worth Your Time!

       Why do this? Because it will save you money, and it might not take much time. For example, my phone call with Dish Network took a total of 8 minutes. I saved $15.90 by refusing to pay that bill and making the phone call. My time dealing with this annoyance was worth nearly $120/hour. Does your job pay that much?

       It might not seem like much, but a small savings over a small amount of time translates to a high hourly rate. So assuming you have the time, it’s worth your effort.

       What about you? Have you had an experience like this? How did you handle the bogus fees, and what was your outcome? Share your experiences in the comments!

In Frugality
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Advice to a Young Professional

Corey —  April 22, 2010

Benjamin Franklin by cliff1066TM on Flickr       In 1748, Benjamin Franklin wrote a great little letter entitled Advice to a Young Tradesman. It’s packed with wise advice, but the language is outdated for most readers today. So without much ado, here’s an updated version of Ben Franklin’s “Advice to a Young Tradesman”.

TO MY FRIEND, Y.P.:

       You asked me for my advice, so I’ve written these tips for you. They worked well for me, and they’ll work for you if you’ll follow them.

       Don’t forget, time is money. Let’s say you can earn $200/day. Now if you sit and watch TV for half the day, you can’t count the $3 you spent for cable as your only expense. You’ve really spent – actually, you wasted – $100 besides that.

       Don’t forget, credit is money. If a man is late collecting the money I owe him, he’s giving me the interest that can be earned on it. This extra interest can add up if we’re talking about a lot of money.

       Don’t forget, money can compound. Money can give birth to money, and its babies can give birth to more, and so on. A hundred dollars used well can become two hundred. That two hundred can become four hundred, and so on until you have ten thousand dollars. The more money you have, the more you can make each time you use it well. Then your profits will increase faster and faster. But if you kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, you destroy all the eggs you would have gotten in the future. If you murder a hundred dollars, you destroy all that it might have produced, even ten thousand dollars.

       Don’t forget, that $1,825 a year is only $5 a day. For that small amount (which you can easily waste in time or money) a man with good credit could cover the interest on a personal loan of $20,000. That much money put to quick work by a diligent man gives a great head start.

       Remember this saying, “The man who pays his loans on time owns another man’s bank account.” If you always pay on time and as you promised, you’ll never have trouble borrowing more money. This can be very useful. After hard work and frugality, nothing brings more success to a young man than punctuality and justice in all he does. So never keep borrowed money an hour longer than you promised. A bad mark on your credit history could close the bank for a long time.

       Pay attention to even the smallest things that can affect your credit. If your creditor knows you’re working hard, he’ll give you a break. But if he sees that you’re being lazy and not trying to pay him back, he’ll be demanding you pay him back all of his money tomorrow.

       Your diligent work and long hours will show that you remember what you owe. It also makes you appear to be a careful and honest man, and that will improve your credit as well.

       Don’t live like everything you have belongs to you. Too many people with a credit card make this mistake. To avoid it, carefully track your income and expenses for several months. If you take the time at the beginning to track even the smallest things, you’ll have great results. Here’s why. You’ll see how tiny amounts pile up into larger amounts of money. Then you’ll know where you’ve wasted money and how you can save it in the future with very little inconvenience.

       Here’s what it boils down to. The way to wealth, if you really want to know it, is as clear as the way to Target. It depends mainly on just two things – diligent work and frugality. Waste neither time nor money. Make the best use of both. Without hard work and frugality you’ll get nowhere. But with them, you can go anywhere. The man who gets all he can honestly and saves all he gets (except what he needs to live) will definitely become rich. Provided, of course, that God (whom everyone should ask for blessing on their honest work) doesn’t have other plans for that man.

An Old Pro

In Budgeting, Debt, Frugality, Investing, Miscellaneous, Saving, Work
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You Don’t Need to Be an Expert to Be Successful

Corey —  April 20, 2010

       While knowledge isn’t really a hindrance to success, you don’t need to know everything to accomplish your goals. After you reach a basic understanding of an area you want to be successful in, you need to start taking action. Continuing your learning after that point is wise, too. But if you never act on what you learn, you’ll never be successful.

First, Learn the Basics

       This is especially true in personal finance. You don’t have to be a seasoned financial planner to begin finding success. You don’t even need to spend a ton of time to understand the basics. They’re simple. Spend less. Earn more. Save and invest. Be wise and cautious when making purchases (goods, services, or investments). Plan ahead. Don’t pay things you don’t have to (like extra taxes). And so on. A basic education is all you need to start finding success in your personal finances.

       You don’t need an accounting degree to make a budget. You don’t have to be Warren Buffet to start investing. You don’t have to go to law school to get your estate documents in place.

Then, Take Action

       Success in personal finance is not necessarily about knowing all the right answers. It’s about taking action. Those who only read about the benefits of budgeting will never be as successful as those who actually try to make a budget and stick to it. This is true even if the doers are not successful the first time.

       You can learn by reading about the experiences of others – but only so much. Until you start creating your own experiences, the information will just be knowledge in your head. You must start using it yourself!

       Don’t think I’m discounting the value of learning, education, and research. To be truly successful, you’ll have to keep learning. But you can’t get started on the road to success unless you follow a pattern of learning, doing, learning, doing, and so on.

Avoid Danger Areas!

       I’ll end with a few cautions especially true in personal finance. In some areas of personal finance, there are unscrupulous people who will try to take advantage of your lack of education. Insurance, investing, and debt are the most common places you’ll run into this, but you can really find it anywhere. Here’s the key: Before doing something, make sure you’re aware of the possible problems/pitfalls and educate yourself on how to avoid them.

       Here’s an example. In investing and insurance, you must be aware of how advisors and salesmen get paid. If it’s commissions, know what conflicts of interest might exist. In other words, learn how people might try to rip you off and be on the lookout for those techniques.

       Even though there are risks to the learn, do, learn method, you can avoid most major mistakes by learning first about the danger areas and how to avoid them. In personal finance, be aware of those who earn commissions, learn the math of debt, and read the academic research on investing.

Now Do Something!!!

       So get out there and start doing the needed things to achieve success. Stop reading about budgeting and do it! Stop worrying about having enough for retirement and start saving! Stop dreaming of starting your own business and do it! You’re never going to get anywhere until you take action.

P.S. I think I wrote this as much for me as for anyone else. I have the curse of perfectionism, and I must battle it every day. There is no such thing as perfect in this world. Only God is perfect. So I need to stop worrying about doing everything perfectly and just start doing. What about you?

In Budgeting, Debt, Estate Planning, Frugality, Insurance, Investing, Retirement, Saving, Taxes, Work
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Is Being Frugal a Waste of Time?

Corey —  April 5, 2010

       Peruse Ramit Sethi’s blog I Will Teach You to Be Rich for just a few minutes and you’ll quickly learn that being frugal is a waste of time. Actually, you’ll learn that it’s impossible to be truly frugal – so why try? You’re much better off just focusing on the “big wins” and then trying to earn more money…all so you can spend “extravagantly” on the things you love. (The quotes are not for sarcasm. Those are the terms Ramit uses. And I’m not just bashing him. There are other “experts” who tell you the same thing. And yes, sarcasm was intended with the quotes that time.)

       Ramit’s stance is that you should only focus on the frugal tips that will save you big money. These “big wins” should save you at least several hundred dollars a year, require very little time on your part, and in no way negatively affect anything you love to spend money on. He calls these things the “big 5” and with limitations like that you’d be lucky to find five things you should cut back on.

       Now, it’s easy for me to pick on Ramit because Provident Planning is not about spending extravagantly on the things you want and love. (Actually, maybe it is if what you want and love is God.) It’s not about making you feel guilty for spending money on things that aren’t needs either. My goal here is to explore how Christians can glorify God through their financial decisions – to look at how our faith in Jesus is reflected in our budgets. And that means frugality is as good an option as earning more. Here are a few reasons why being frugal is not a waste of time.

Choosing a Simple Life

       Living frugally allows you the freedom to live with less. It gives you the opportunity to focus less on earning money. Yes, you’ll still need some money to live. But frugality can help lower the amount you “need” by quite a bit. The less you need to earn, the more time you have to live frugally.

       This translates into many different options depending on your calling. For some, it allows more time with your family. For others, it’s a chance to volunteer more or work on a personal project that doesn’t provide income. I’ve even read of those who choose to live simply and earn less income to avoid paying taxes because they don’t agree with how the government spends the money – especially on war. For all these people, being frugal is not a waste of time. It’s a tool that helps them achieve their goals.

Conserving Resources

       Frugality is not always about being cheap. It can be a way to use less of the world’s resources. Americans are notorious for wasteful living. And whether we acknowledge it or not, this lifestyle impacts millions of the world’s poor and will affect our future and our children’s future. For those who seek to use less “Stuff”, being frugal is not a waste of time either.

Concern for the Poor

       This aspect of frugality is partly connected to conserving resources. Part of the impact of wasteful living is the injustice that happens in Third World countries. The coffee you drank this morning was probably harvested by somebody who earned only a few dollars for an entire day’s hard work. Those bananas sitting on your counter were likely picked by people who still can’t afford to feed their families despite having a job.

       Being frugal is not just about time and money. Our choices impact someone, somewhere. Frugality can be a choice to avoid supporting those things you don’t agree with. Conscious living is hard in this world, but it can be an example of your values.

Your Take

       Those are just a few reasons why being frugal is not a waste a time. When you stop thinking about time as money, you can start to see that you can’t judge frugal tips merely by their cost savings. What’s your take? What are some other reasons that being frugal is not a waste of time? What do you think of the examples I gave? Or am I just wrong? Let me know in the comments.

In Contentment, Frugality, Stewardship
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