Getting Things Done: Setting Up the Right Buckets

This is the seventh entry in a fourteen part series discussing the time management classic Getting Things Done by David Allen. New entries in this series will appear on Tuesday afternoons and Friday mornings through July 16.

So far, we’ve talked about two of the five major steps for getting things done: collecting all of the stuff you need to do and processing that stuff down. Today, the focus is on organizing – or where the stuff goes when you’re processing it.

Allen suggests that there are seven specific destinations for stuff when we’re processing it. Although this looks complicated, all you really need for this is a trash can, some folders, and some paper.

Trash
This is pretty straightforward. The stuff you don’t intend to keep goes in the trash can. The notes you’ve written to yourself and then processed go straight in the trash can. Envelopes? Trash can. You’d be surprised how large of a portion of your inbox goes straight into the trash can when you’re processing it.

Maybe/Someday
“Maybe/Someday” refers to a collection of lists. I keep all of these in a single folder on my computer so I can easily find them.

What do I mean by this? I have a list of books I’d like to read someday. I have a list of projects I’d like to take up in the future. I have a list of people I regularly buy Christmas gifts for. I have a list of movies I’d like to view someday.

Each of these lists is just that – a computer document listing all of the items that fall under that specific category. If you prefer, of course, you can use pen and paper and a series of folders.

Whenever I have an item in my inbox that refers to a book to read or a movie to watch or a big project I’m thinking about, I add these to those lists – and I usually date them. Then, during my weekly reviews (I’ll talk about this more in the next entry in this series), I pull out these lists and look them over. I usually study the most recent entries more specifically so I can decide whether I should do something with those items right now, like request them from the library. I sometimes add notes to the items on the list, too.

Reference
Reference materials refers to things that I’m going to want to keep, like tax statements or car titles or other things like that. If I think there’s a solid chance I’m going to want to refer to such an item in the future – or if there’s a slim chance but that slim chance absolutely requires the document, I keep it.

For magazines (which we subscribe to in bulk), I’ll often just tear out the articles I want to keep over the long term and throw away the rest. I have a few file folders jammed with potential articles that I might talk about on The Simple Dollar in the future, for example, and I also have a fat folder full of recipes.

I really don’t worry too much about a filing system. I put things into folders under a name that makes sense to me and organize those folders A-Z and then 0-9. I can always find what I want pretty quickly in that scheme, with only a guess or two needed to find anything at all.

Projects and Project Support Material
Some of the things I work on are ongoing “projects” – meaning big tasks that break down into lots of pieces. For each of these “projects,” I keep a folder in a separate part of my filing cabinet. I actually have a single drawer for “projects,” to tell the truth.

Again, I organize these by A-Z and 0-9 based on the title I decide on. This makes it easy to find them when I need them. I also keep a master “project list” just for my own reference – this makes things much easier when I do my review of projects.

What’s in each folder? Whenever I conceive of a new project, I usually brainstorm big time with a sheet or two of paper in front of me, then I come up with a rough outline of what needs to be done for the project (all of the steps from beginning to end, broken down into the smallest chunks I can), with lots of spaces between the items for additional steps and notes. I usually do the outline on my computer, save it, then print it out. The brainstorming and the outline are saved in the folder.

When I do my weekly “review,” I usually update each folder (if I haven’t already during the week) and then add the next step for each project to my “next actions” list (which I’ll talk about in a bit).

“Waiting”
There are obviously some things that require “waiting” for some unspecified time for someone else to come through for you. For example, if I’m working on a collaborative project with another writer and I send her a draft, I don’t know for sure when I’ll get a response from her.

For most of these things, I just wait for the response, but some of these things do require me to hold onto things. I just keep a “waiting” folder in amongst my projects to handle any such things.

Calendar
If something needs to be done on a specific date and/or time, I add it to my calendar. My calendar is the first thing I look at each day – I maintain it with Google Calendar and it is, in fact, my browser home page.

What should go on a calendar? Allen specifies on page 142:

[There] are two basic kinds of actions: those that must be done on a certain day and/or at a particular time, and those that just need to be done as soon as you can get ot them, around your other calendared items. Calendared action items can be either time-specific (e.g., “4:00-5:00 meet with Jim”) or day-specific (”Call Rachel Tuesday to see if she got the proposal.”)

In other words, all time-specific actions should go on your calendar. Allen goes on to discuss some things that shouldn’t be on your calendar, on page 143:

What many people want to do, however, based on old habits of writing daily to-do lists, is put actions on the calendar that they think they’d really like to get done next Monday, say, but that then actually might not, and that might then have to be taken over to following days. Resist this impulse. You need to trust your calendar as sacred territory, reflecting the exact hard edges of your day’s commitments, which should be niticeable at a glance while you’re on the run.

Here’s a great example. I want to practice piano every single day, but there might be days where I’m simply not able to get around to it. Should I write the piano practice on my calendar every day? No. It should be on my “next actions” list for me to prioritize as I wish. The same is true if I want to clean the house on a given day or something like that – if I can miss it without causing devastation, it shouldn’t be on the calendar. Only the things at specific times that I can’t miss should be on the calendar.

“Next Actions”
What’s left after all of that? Surprisingly, all that’s left is the specific stuff you need to do that takes longer than two minutes (remember, you do all of the two-minutes-or-less tasks when processing it all).

For me, the “next actions” takes the form of a long list. Whenever I’m buckling down to get stuff done, whether it’s professional work or otherwise, I look through the list, pick out something, and just do it.

This is the point when the system really shines. All of the stuff above seems like a lot of overhead, but you make up for all of it and much, much more when you’re actually pushing through your pile of “next actions.” Why? Everything you need to do is right there in front of you. The only thing that matters is your next appointment, and you can set an alarm for that. Until then, the only thing on your mind is your current action. You don’t need to remember anything. If something floats into your mind, just jot it down and move on with your task.

This freedom of mind enables you to get into “the zone” (or flow state or whatever you like to call it) very easily. It turns out – and this is the big advantage of GTD – that the biggest thing that keeps people from getting into that flow state is the number of things they’re trying to keep in their head while working. If you can write it all down and have a trusted system in place where you can just toss that idea – whatever it is – and know it’s handled, then you don’t have to waste so many brain cycles keeping track of all of it.

When the system is running well for me, I can get into “the flow” for a long time every day. Without it, I would never be able to create this much material for The Simple Dollar plus all of the responsibilities of having three young children plus ongoing attempts at other endeavors. It just wouldn’t happen.

What about prioritizing? Obviously, some things on the list have a higher priority than others. The way I handle it is pretty simple. I just keep my list in a document on my computer and print it off occasionally. Before I start in with a work session (where I intend to knock several items off the list), I make an effort to roughly prioritize the list. I move the ones that I’d most like to get done up to the top so that they’re found first. That doesn’t mean I won’t change things up as I’m going along, of course; it just gives me some help as I go.

Next time, we’ll go through the fourth piece of the puzzle: a weekly review. I actually find that a weekly review (and patch-up) is perhaps the most essential part of this entire system. Without it, it would eventually fall apart.

Continue reading Getting Things Done: Setting Up the Right Buckets …

From The Simple Dollar.

Getting Things Done: Setting Up the Right Buckets

This is the seventh entry in a fourteen part series discussing the time management classic Getting Things Done by David Allen. New entries in this series will appear on Tuesday afternoons and Friday mornings through July 16.

So far, we’ve talked about two of the five major steps for getting things done: collecting all of the stuff you need to do and processing that stuff down. Today, the focus is on organizing – or where the stuff goes when you’re processing it.

Allen suggests that there are seven specific destinations for stuff when we’re processing it. Although this looks complicated, all you really need for this is a trash can, some folders, and some paper.

Trash
This is pretty straightforward. The stuff you don’t intend to keep goes in the trash can. The notes you’ve written to yourself and then processed go straight in the trash can. Envelopes? Trash can. You’d be surprised how large of a portion of your inbox goes straight into the trash can when you’re processing it.

Maybe/Someday
“Maybe/Someday” refers to a collection of lists. I keep all of these in a single folder on my computer so I can easily find them.

What do I mean by this? I have a list of books I’d like to read someday. I have a list of projects I’d like to take up in the future. I have a list of people I regularly buy Christmas gifts for. I have a list of movies I’d like to view someday.

Each of these lists is just that – a computer document listing all of the items that fall under that specific category. If you prefer, of course, you can use pen and paper and a series of folders.

Whenever I have an item in my inbox that refers to a book to read or a movie to watch or a big project I’m thinking about, I add these to those lists – and I usually date them. Then, during my weekly reviews (I’ll talk about this more in the next entry in this series), I pull out these lists and look them over. I usually study the most recent entries more specifically so I can decide whether I should do something with those items right now, like request them from the library. I sometimes add notes to the items on the list, too.

Reference
Reference materials refers to things that I’m going to want to keep, like tax statements or car titles or other things like that. If I think there’s a solid chance I’m going to want to refer to such an item in the future – or if there’s a slim chance but that slim chance absolutely requires the document, I keep it.

For magazines (which we subscribe to in bulk), I’ll often just tear out the articles I want to keep over the long term and throw away the rest. I have a few file folders jammed with potential articles that I might talk about on The Simple Dollar in the future, for example, and I also have a fat folder full of recipes.

I really don’t worry too much about a filing system. I put things into folders under a name that makes sense to me and organize those folders A-Z and then 0-9. I can always find what I want pretty quickly in that scheme, with only a guess or two needed to find anything at all.

Projects and Project Support Material
Some of the things I work on are ongoing “projects” – meaning big tasks that break down into lots of pieces. For each of these “projects,” I keep a folder in a separate part of my filing cabinet. I actually have a single drawer for “projects,” to tell the truth.

Again, I organize these by A-Z and 0-9 based on the title I decide on. This makes it easy to find them when I need them. I also keep a master “project list” just for my own reference – this makes things much easier when I do my review of projects.

What’s in each folder? Whenever I conceive of a new project, I usually brainstorm big time with a sheet or two of paper in front of me, then I come up with a rough outline of what needs to be done for the project (all of the steps from beginning to end, broken down into the smallest chunks I can), with lots of spaces between the items for additional steps and notes. I usually do the outline on my computer, save it, then print it out. The brainstorming and the outline are saved in the folder.

When I do my weekly “review,” I usually update each folder (if I haven’t already during the week) and then add the next step for each project to my “next actions” list (which I’ll talk about in a bit).

“Waiting”
There are obviously some things that require “waiting” for some unspecified time for someone else to come through for you. For example, if I’m working on a collaborative project with another writer and I send her a draft, I don’t know for sure when I’ll get a response from her.

For most of these things, I just wait for the response, but some of these things do require me to hold onto things. I just keep a “waiting” folder in amongst my projects to handle any such things.

Calendar
If something needs to be done on a specific date and/or time, I add it to my calendar. My calendar is the first thing I look at each day – I maintain it with Google Calendar and it is, in fact, my browser home page.

What should go on a calendar? Allen specifies on page 142:

[There] are two basic kinds of actions: those that must be done on a certain day and/or at a particular time, and those that just need to be done as soon as you can get ot them, around your other calendared items. Calendared action items can be either time-specific (e.g., “4:00-5:00 meet with Jim”) or day-specific (”Call Rachel Tuesday to see if she got the proposal.”)

In other words, all time-specific actions should go on your calendar. Allen goes on to discuss some things that shouldn’t be on your calendar, on page 143:

What many people want to do, however, based on old habits of writing daily to-do lists, is put actions on the calendar that they think they’d really like to get done next Monday, say, but that then actually might not, and that might then have to be taken over to following days. Resist this impulse. You need to trust your calendar as sacred territory, reflecting the exact hard edges of your day’s commitments, which should be niticeable at a glance while you’re on the run.

Here’s a great example. I want to practice piano every single day, but there might be days where I’m simply not able to get around to it. Should I write the piano practice on my calendar every day? No. It should be on my “next actions” list for me to prioritize as I wish. The same is true if I want to clean the house on a given day or something like that – if I can miss it without causing devastation, it shouldn’t be on the calendar. Only the things at specific times that I can’t miss should be on the calendar.

“Next Actions”
What’s left after all of that? Surprisingly, all that’s left is the specific stuff you need to do that takes longer than two minutes (remember, you do all of the two-minutes-or-less tasks when processing it all).

For me, the “next actions” takes the form of a long list. Whenever I’m buckling down to get stuff done, whether it’s professional work or otherwise, I look through the list, pick out something, and just do it.

This is the point when the system really shines. All of the stuff above seems like a lot of overhead, but you make up for all of it and much, much more when you’re actually pushing through your pile of “next actions.” Why? Everything you need to do is right there in front of you. The only thing that matters is your next appointment, and you can set an alarm for that. Until then, the only thing on your mind is your current action. You don’t need to remember anything. If something floats into your mind, just jot it down and move on with your task.

This freedom of mind enables you to get into “the zone” (or flow state or whatever you like to call it) very easily. It turns out – and this is the big advantage of GTD – that the biggest thing that keeps people from getting into that flow state is the number of things they’re trying to keep in their head while working. If you can write it all down and have a trusted system in place where you can just toss that idea – whatever it is – and know it’s handled, then you don’t have to waste so many brain cycles keeping track of all of it.

When the system is running well for me, I can get into “the flow” for a long time every day. Without it, I would never be able to create this much material for The Simple Dollar plus all of the responsibilities of having three young children plus ongoing attempts at other endeavors. It just wouldn’t happen.

What about prioritizing? Obviously, some things on the list have a higher priority than others. The way I handle it is pretty simple. I just keep my list in a document on my computer and print it off occasionally. Before I start in with a work session (where I intend to knock several items off the list), I make an effort to roughly prioritize the list. I move the ones that I’d most like to get done up to the top so that they’re found first. That doesn’t mean I won’t change things up as I’m going along, of course; it just gives me some help as I go.

Next time, we’ll go through the fourth piece of the puzzle: a weekly review. I actually find that a weekly review (and patch-up) is perhaps the most essential part of this entire system. Without it, it would eventually fall apart.

Continue reading Getting Things Done: Setting Up the Right Buckets …

From The Simple Dollar.

Getting Things Done: Setting Up the Right Buckets

This is the seventh entry in a fourteen part series discussing the time management classic Getting Things Done by David Allen. New entries in this series will appear on Tuesday afternoons and Friday mornings through July 16.

So far, we’ve talked about two of the five major steps for getting things done: collecting all of the stuff you need to do and processing that stuff down. Today, the focus is on organizing – or where the stuff goes when you’re processing it.

Allen suggests that there are seven specific destinations for stuff when we’re processing it. Although this looks complicated, all you really need for this is a trash can, some folders, and some paper.

Trash
This is pretty straightforward. The stuff you don’t intend to keep goes in the trash can. The notes you’ve written to yourself and then processed go straight in the trash can. Envelopes? Trash can. You’d be surprised how large of a portion of your inbox goes straight into the trash can when you’re processing it.

Maybe/Someday
“Maybe/Someday” refers to a collection of lists. I keep all of these in a single folder on my computer so I can easily find them.

What do I mean by this? I have a list of books I’d like to read someday. I have a list of projects I’d like to take up in the future. I have a list of people I regularly buy Christmas gifts for. I have a list of movies I’d like to view someday.

Each of these lists is just that – a computer document listing all of the items that fall under that specific category. If you prefer, of course, you can use pen and paper and a series of folders.

Whenever I have an item in my inbox that refers to a book to read or a movie to watch or a big project I’m thinking about, I add these to those lists – and I usually date them. Then, during my weekly reviews (I’ll talk about this more in the next entry in this series), I pull out these lists and look them over. I usually study the most recent entries more specifically so I can decide whether I should do something with those items right now, like request them from the library. I sometimes add notes to the items on the list, too.

Reference
Reference materials refers to things that I’m going to want to keep, like tax statements or car titles or other things like that. If I think there’s a solid chance I’m going to want to refer to such an item in the future – or if there’s a slim chance but that slim chance absolutely requires the document, I keep it.

For magazines (which we subscribe to in bulk), I’ll often just tear out the articles I want to keep over the long term and throw away the rest. I have a few file folders jammed with potential articles that I might talk about on The Simple Dollar in the future, for example, and I also have a fat folder full of recipes.

I really don’t worry too much about a filing system. I put things into folders under a name that makes sense to me and organize those folders A-Z and then 0-9. I can always find what I want pretty quickly in that scheme, with only a guess or two needed to find anything at all.

Projects and Project Support Material
Some of the things I work on are ongoing “projects” – meaning big tasks that break down into lots of pieces. For each of these “projects,” I keep a folder in a separate part of my filing cabinet. I actually have a single drawer for “projects,” to tell the truth.

Again, I organize these by A-Z and 0-9 based on the title I decide on. This makes it easy to find them when I need them. I also keep a master “project list” just for my own reference – this makes things much easier when I do my review of projects.

What’s in each folder? Whenever I conceive of a new project, I usually brainstorm big time with a sheet or two of paper in front of me, then I come up with a rough outline of what needs to be done for the project (all of the steps from beginning to end, broken down into the smallest chunks I can), with lots of spaces between the items for additional steps and notes. I usually do the outline on my computer, save it, then print it out. The brainstorming and the outline are saved in the folder.

When I do my weekly “review,” I usually update each folder (if I haven’t already during the week) and then add the next step for each project to my “next actions” list (which I’ll talk about in a bit).

“Waiting”
There are obviously some things that require “waiting” for some unspecified time for someone else to come through for you. For example, if I’m working on a collaborative project with another writer and I send her a draft, I don’t know for sure when I’ll get a response from her.

For most of these things, I just wait for the response, but some of these things do require me to hold onto things. I just keep a “waiting” folder in amongst my projects to handle any such things.

Calendar
If something needs to be done on a specific date and/or time, I add it to my calendar. My calendar is the first thing I look at each day – I maintain it with Google Calendar and it is, in fact, my browser home page.

What should go on a calendar? Allen specifies on page 142:

[There] are two basic kinds of actions: those that must be done on a certain day and/or at a particular time, and those that just need to be done as soon as you can get ot them, around your other calendared items. Calendared action items can be either time-specific (e.g., “4:00-5:00 meet with Jim”) or day-specific (”Call Rachel Tuesday to see if she got the proposal.”)

In other words, all time-specific actions should go on your calendar. Allen goes on to discuss some things that shouldn’t be on your calendar, on page 143:

What many people want to do, however, based on old habits of writing daily to-do lists, is put actions on the calendar that they think they’d really like to get done next Monday, say, but that then actually might not, and that might then have to be taken over to following days. Resist this impulse. You need to trust your calendar as sacred territory, reflecting the exact hard edges of your day’s commitments, which should be niticeable at a glance while you’re on the run.

Here’s a great example. I want to practice piano every single day, but there might be days where I’m simply not able to get around to it. Should I write the piano practice on my calendar every day? No. It should be on my “next actions” list for me to prioritize as I wish. The same is true if I want to clean the house on a given day or something like that – if I can miss it without causing devastation, it shouldn’t be on the calendar. Only the things at specific times that I can’t miss should be on the calendar.

“Next Actions”
What’s left after all of that? Surprisingly, all that’s left is the specific stuff you need to do that takes longer than two minutes (remember, you do all of the two-minutes-or-less tasks when processing it all).

For me, the “next actions” takes the form of a long list. Whenever I’m buckling down to get stuff done, whether it’s professional work or otherwise, I look through the list, pick out something, and just do it.

This is the point when the system really shines. All of the stuff above seems like a lot of overhead, but you make up for all of it and much, much more when you’re actually pushing through your pile of “next actions.” Why? Everything you need to do is right there in front of you. The only thing that matters is your next appointment, and you can set an alarm for that. Until then, the only thing on your mind is your current action. You don’t need to remember anything. If something floats into your mind, just jot it down and move on with your task.

This freedom of mind enables you to get into “the zone” (or flow state or whatever you like to call it) very easily. It turns out – and this is the big advantage of GTD – that the biggest thing that keeps people from getting into that flow state is the number of things they’re trying to keep in their head while working. If you can write it all down and have a trusted system in place where you can just toss that idea – whatever it is – and know it’s handled, then you don’t have to waste so many brain cycles keeping track of all of it.

When the system is running well for me, I can get into “the flow” for a long time every day. Without it, I would never be able to create this much material for The Simple Dollar plus all of the responsibilities of having three young children plus ongoing attempts at other endeavors. It just wouldn’t happen.

What about prioritizing? Obviously, some things on the list have a higher priority than others. The way I handle it is pretty simple. I just keep my list in a document on my computer and print it off occasionally. Before I start in with a work session (where I intend to knock several items off the list), I make an effort to roughly prioritize the list. I move the ones that I’d most like to get done up to the top so that they’re found first. That doesn’t mean I won’t change things up as I’m going along, of course; it just gives me some help as I go.

Next time, we’ll go through the fourth piece of the puzzle: a weekly review. I actually find that a weekly review (and patch-up) is perhaps the most essential part of this entire system. Without it, it would eventually fall apart.

Continue reading Getting Things Done: Setting Up the Right Buckets …

From The Simple Dollar.

Five Big Ways You Need to Think About Christmas … Now!

It’s mid-June, so there’s no better time to write about Christmas. Right? Right?!

The truth of the matter is that just a little bit of forethought right now can save you a ton of time, effort, cost, and heartache this December. While it might feel really out of place to think about Christmas on a warm June day, right now is the perfect time to give these five things a quick thought.

Kill off unwanted gift exchanges
If you’re a member of a gift exchange or two with family that you just don’t want to participate in, right now is the time to put an axe in it. Just send out an email or a Facebook message to the other members of the exchange stating the truth of the matter: you enjoy seeing the people, but you don’t think a gift exchange is a great idea.

If completely bowing out seems potentially damaging, suggest that this year be a “secret Santa” drawing instead of everyone buying everyone else gifts or put a strong cap on how much can be spent.

Doing this now is much better than doing it in late November or the middle of December when people are already financially and emotionally involved in their holiday purchasing. The solution to too many Christmas gifts purchased is just an email away.

Get the important people on your radar
For most of us, there are a handful of people that we’re going to buy Christmas gifts for this year. Since these people are truly important enough to us to be an automatic gift recipient, we often desire to find the “perfect” gift for them.

That’s why I start my list now, so I have plenty of time and space to listen to what they’re saying, think about what they’d value, and come up with great gift ideas (and bargains on those ideas) well in advance of the big day rather than stumbling through Target on December 20th, pushing aside the hordes and scavenging whatever overlooked items remain on the shelves in hopes of finding something they won’t find too repugnant.

Just start a list of the people you want to buy for, then pay attention to them in the coming months. Most people will reveal deep interests and passions and sometimes even specific ideas over the course of the year. For example, maybe your sister will mention a type of sweater she finds particularly flattering, or maybe your father will lament not having grow lights so he can start seedlings in the basement in January instead of having to buy starts for his garden in April. Write these down, as they can be the source of great gifts.

Start automatic bargain hunting
If you’re certain of a particular purchased gift for someone already, there’s no better time than now to start bargain hunting.

Already?

Well, it doesn’t have to be as painful as it sounds. Let’s say, for example, that you have decided to buy your sister’s oldest son a Playstation 3 for Christmas this year – but you don’t want to spend a mint on it. Right now is the best time to start automatically bargain hunting for it.

You can use tools like FeedSifter to sift through the internet feeds of websites that list bargains related to what you’re looking for – like, for example, Amazon Gold Box. Then, put that FeedSifter feed into a service like FeedMailer so that whenever a deal pops up, you receive an email telling you about it.

Then sit back and wait. The exact deals you want will pop into your email inbox as they come up. Easy as pie.

I already have six of these running related to two different potential Christmas gifts.

Plan ahead for homemade gifts
Some of us (myself included) love to receive homemade gifts – and we love to make them, too.

The problem is that some of them take a lot of advance planning. In order to age well, you need to be considering making things like homemade beer and homemade soaps now rather than in November. If you’re going to knit some sweaters, now’s the time to bust out the yarn and the needles, for example.

If you’d like to save a lot of money and come up with some really memorable gifts, go homemade. The catch? You probably should start now on whatever that project is, because you’ll likely need some time between then and now to cause that gift idea to become reality.

Make it easier on last-minute gift hunters for you
In my family, a lot of people wait until the last minute to do gift shopping. They wait until December 15, then call around in a panic and search internet wish lists (like Amazon’s) for some sort of an indication as to what people want for a gift. Yes, each year, I get calls where people directly ask me what I want for Christmas.

Of course, the typical response to this is to try to think of stuff quickly off of the top of your head – items that usually end up not being items you really want or could actually use, but are items that just seem to randomly float in your head.

Take that challenge head on. Spend some time thinking of a handful of items you could genuinely use in your life. Once you discover them, put them on an Amazon wish list (or something similar), then if last-minute panicked calls come in, you don’t have to rack your brain coming up with half-baked ideas. You can actually point out items that you have thought about in advance and can genuinely put to good use in your home.

There’s no need to promote this list, of course – just create it as something of a protection against last-minute gifts that turn out to be items that you don’t want and they grasp at straws to buy. With just a bit of effort now, you can turn a situation where no one wins into something useful for yourself and something gratifying for the last minute gift buyer.

Continue reading Five Big Ways You Need to Think About Christmas … Now! …

From The Simple Dollar.

Five Big Ways You Need to Think About Christmas … Now!

It’s mid-June, so there’s no better time to write about Christmas. Right? Right?!

The truth of the matter is that just a little bit of forethought right now can save you a ton of time, effort, cost, and heartache this December. While it might feel really out of place to think about Christmas on a warm June day, right now is the perfect time to give these five things a quick thought.

Kill off unwanted gift exchanges
If you’re a member of a gift exchange or two with family that you just don’t want to participate in, right now is the time to put an axe in it. Just send out an email or a Facebook message to the other members of the exchange stating the truth of the matter: you enjoy seeing the people, but you don’t think a gift exchange is a great idea.

If completely bowing out seems potentially damaging, suggest that this year be a “secret Santa” drawing instead of everyone buying everyone else gifts or put a strong cap on how much can be spent.

Doing this now is much better than doing it in late November or the middle of December when people are already financially and emotionally involved in their holiday purchasing. The solution to too many Christmas gifts purchased is just an email away.

Get the important people on your radar
For most of us, there are a handful of people that we’re going to buy Christmas gifts for this year. Since these people are truly important enough to us to be an automatic gift recipient, we often desire to find the “perfect” gift for them.

That’s why I start my list now, so I have plenty of time and space to listen to what they’re saying, think about what they’d value, and come up with great gift ideas (and bargains on those ideas) well in advance of the big day rather than stumbling through Target on December 20th, pushing aside the hordes and scavenging whatever overlooked items remain on the shelves in hopes of finding something they won’t find too repugnant.

Just start a list of the people you want to buy for, then pay attention to them in the coming months. Most people will reveal deep interests and passions and sometimes even specific ideas over the course of the year. For example, maybe your sister will mention a type of sweater she finds particularly flattering, or maybe your father will lament not having grow lights so he can start seedlings in the basement in January instead of having to buy starts for his garden in April. Write these down, as they can be the source of great gifts.

Start automatic bargain hunting
If you’re certain of a particular purchased gift for someone already, there’s no better time than now to start bargain hunting.

Already?

Well, it doesn’t have to be as painful as it sounds. Let’s say, for example, that you have decided to buy your sister’s oldest son a Playstation 3 for Christmas this year – but you don’t want to spend a mint on it. Right now is the best time to start automatically bargain hunting for it.

You can use tools like FeedSifter to sift through the internet feeds of websites that list bargains related to what you’re looking for – like, for example, Amazon Gold Box. Then, put that FeedSifter feed into a service like FeedMailer so that whenever a deal pops up, you receive an email telling you about it.

Then sit back and wait. The exact deals you want will pop into your email inbox as they come up. Easy as pie.

I already have six of these running related to two different potential Christmas gifts.

Plan ahead for homemade gifts
Some of us (myself included) love to receive homemade gifts – and we love to make them, too.

The problem is that some of them take a lot of advance planning. In order to age well, you need to be considering making things like homemade beer and homemade soaps now rather than in November. If you’re going to knit some sweaters, now’s the time to bust out the yarn and the needles, for example.

If you’d like to save a lot of money and come up with some really memorable gifts, go homemade. The catch? You probably should start now on whatever that project is, because you’ll likely need some time between then and now to cause that gift idea to become reality.

Make it easier on last-minute gift hunters for you
In my family, a lot of people wait until the last minute to do gift shopping. They wait until December 15, then call around in a panic and search internet wish lists (like Amazon’s) for some sort of an indication as to what people want for a gift. Yes, each year, I get calls where people directly ask me what I want for Christmas.

Of course, the typical response to this is to try to think of stuff quickly off of the top of your head – items that usually end up not being items you really want or could actually use, but are items that just seem to randomly float in your head.

Take that challenge head on. Spend some time thinking of a handful of items you could genuinely use in your life. Once you discover them, put them on an Amazon wish list (or something similar), then if last-minute panicked calls come in, you don’t have to rack your brain coming up with half-baked ideas. You can actually point out items that you have thought about in advance and can genuinely put to good use in your home.

There’s no need to promote this list, of course – just create it as something of a protection against last-minute gifts that turn out to be items that you don’t want and they grasp at straws to buy. With just a bit of effort now, you can turn a situation where no one wins into something useful for yourself and something gratifying for the last minute gift buyer.

Continue reading Five Big Ways You Need to Think About Christmas … Now! …

From The Simple Dollar.

Five Big Ways You Need to Think About Christmas … Now!

It’s mid-June, so there’s no better time to write about Christmas. Right? Right?!

The truth of the matter is that just a little bit of forethought right now can save you a ton of time, effort, cost, and heartache this December. While it might feel really out of place to think about Christmas on a warm June day, right now is the perfect time to give these five things a quick thought.

Kill off unwanted gift exchanges
If you’re a member of a gift exchange or two with family that you just don’t want to participate in, right now is the time to put an axe in it. Just send out an email or a Facebook message to the other members of the exchange stating the truth of the matter: you enjoy seeing the people, but you don’t think a gift exchange is a great idea.

If completely bowing out seems potentially damaging, suggest that this year be a “secret Santa” drawing instead of everyone buying everyone else gifts or put a strong cap on how much can be spent.

Doing this now is much better than doing it in late November or the middle of December when people are already financially and emotionally involved in their holiday purchasing. The solution to too many Christmas gifts purchased is just an email away.

Get the important people on your radar
For most of us, there are a handful of people that we’re going to buy Christmas gifts for this year. Since these people are truly important enough to us to be an automatic gift recipient, we often desire to find the “perfect” gift for them.

That’s why I start my list now, so I have plenty of time and space to listen to what they’re saying, think about what they’d value, and come up with great gift ideas (and bargains on those ideas) well in advance of the big day rather than stumbling through Target on December 20th, pushing aside the hordes and scavenging whatever overlooked items remain on the shelves in hopes of finding something they won’t find too repugnant.

Just start a list of the people you want to buy for, then pay attention to them in the coming months. Most people will reveal deep interests and passions and sometimes even specific ideas over the course of the year. For example, maybe your sister will mention a type of sweater she finds particularly flattering, or maybe your father will lament not having grow lights so he can start seedlings in the basement in January instead of having to buy starts for his garden in April. Write these down, as they can be the source of great gifts.

Start automatic bargain hunting
If you’re certain of a particular purchased gift for someone already, there’s no better time than now to start bargain hunting.

Already?

Well, it doesn’t have to be as painful as it sounds. Let’s say, for example, that you have decided to buy your sister’s oldest son a Playstation 3 for Christmas this year – but you don’t want to spend a mint on it. Right now is the best time to start automatically bargain hunting for it.

You can use tools like FeedSifter to sift through the internet feeds of websites that list bargains related to what you’re looking for – like, for example, Amazon Gold Box. Then, put that FeedSifter feed into a service like FeedMailer so that whenever a deal pops up, you receive an email telling you about it.

Then sit back and wait. The exact deals you want will pop into your email inbox as they come up. Easy as pie.

I already have six of these running related to two different potential Christmas gifts.

Plan ahead for homemade gifts
Some of us (myself included) love to receive homemade gifts – and we love to make them, too.

The problem is that some of them take a lot of advance planning. In order to age well, you need to be considering making things like homemade beer and homemade soaps now rather than in November. If you’re going to knit some sweaters, now’s the time to bust out the yarn and the needles, for example.

If you’d like to save a lot of money and come up with some really memorable gifts, go homemade. The catch? You probably should start now on whatever that project is, because you’ll likely need some time between then and now to cause that gift idea to become reality.

Make it easier on last-minute gift hunters for you
In my family, a lot of people wait until the last minute to do gift shopping. They wait until December 15, then call around in a panic and search internet wish lists (like Amazon’s) for some sort of an indication as to what people want for a gift. Yes, each year, I get calls where people directly ask me what I want for Christmas.

Of course, the typical response to this is to try to think of stuff quickly off of the top of your head – items that usually end up not being items you really want or could actually use, but are items that just seem to randomly float in your head.

Take that challenge head on. Spend some time thinking of a handful of items you could genuinely use in your life. Once you discover them, put them on an Amazon wish list (or something similar), then if last-minute panicked calls come in, you don’t have to rack your brain coming up with half-baked ideas. You can actually point out items that you have thought about in advance and can genuinely put to good use in your home.

There’s no need to promote this list, of course – just create it as something of a protection against last-minute gifts that turn out to be items that you don’t want and they grasp at straws to buy. With just a bit of effort now, you can turn a situation where no one wins into something useful for yourself and something gratifying for the last minute gift buyer.

Continue reading Five Big Ways You Need to Think About Christmas … Now! …

From The Simple Dollar.

Are you looking at every household budget line item?

When you have to, or want to, cut back on expenses for your family, the place to look is in every household budget category.

Reason: if your budget comes up short by $100 a month, does it matter in the long run where you find that cost savings?

Answer: No. But the details of what are the “easy” budget cuts do vary quite a bit from one family to the next.

I have a series of articles based on the Crown Financial Ministries household budget program at the Downsized Budget: How and Where to Cut Back.

But another approach is to look at a more detailed list of household budget categories and think about money-saving options for each line item that would be appropriate to your family:

• Alcohol (Cut back on amounts, decide upon a different favorite beverage, drink at home rather than go out.)
• Allowances (When the overall income goes down, it is reasonable to expect that the “fun money” allocated to each household member goes down too.)
• Appliances (Repair instead of replace for as long as possible. Another trick is to look for second-hand appliances to buy you a little time before the next big retail purchase).
• Baby formula or breastfeeding supplies (Network with other parents of little ones and ask your doctor or nurse for tips on what formulas, bottles and supplies are the best value for the money.)
• Batteries (Pay attention to the deals on coupons and drugstore rebates. Use rechargeable batteries as much as possible. Ask for a battery charger for a Christmas gift.)
• Birthday and Christmas gifts (Select one low budget, but “perfect,” gift instead of trying to impress relatives with the number of boxes or bags. Send greeting cards instead of gifts to friends.).
• Bus fares (If you are a frequent flier on the city bus, add up your bus fares and figure out whether the monthly pass is better deal.)
• Cable or satellite TV (Pay close attention to the sales and deals promotions. This is an easy expense to drop if you need to save cash or find that you aren’t watching the extra channels very often.)
• Car insurance (Ask your insurance agent what he or she can suggest on the discounts and options. In the meantime, look over your policy when it arrives and make sure the fine print fits your actual usage.)
• Car payment and / or car purchase fund (If you can pay off the car early or drive it past the last payment, you have money available to save for down payment on the next car purchase.)
• Car repair and maintenance (Watch for the coupons and specials offered by your favorite mechanic.)
• Child support paid in or out (This amount might adjust depending on changes in parents’ income and other expenses for the children. Be sure you understand the county or state rules that apply to your child support case so you can file review requests as appropriate.)
• Cleaning supplies (Research and try out the eco-friendly and old-school methods. Even if you replace only half your chemical use with alternative supplies, that’s half as many chemicals you need to buy.)
• Clothing (Rely on a hand-me-down network or second-hand shops for basic items such as jeans, school uniforms, winter coats and black work pants. Watch the department and discount sales for shoes, socks, work boots and underthings. Make purchase choices based on items that can be worn for multiple occasions such as solid-color tees.)
• Coffee shop (Get a frequent flier card if you are a coffee shop customer. The better choice is buy a pound of your favorite coffee shop flavors and brew it at home. Don’t insist on an expensive coffee pot for home. My $10 coffee pot works just fine.)
• Computer and office supplies (If your office supply store has a rewards program, sign up. Look during the back-to-school sales in July and August for home office supply deals.)
• Condo or neighborhood association fees (If you have to pay a neighborhood association fee, then go to the association meeting and participate in the discussions of what are reasonable expenses for those funds.)
• Credit card payments (Pay off, pay down, or at least pay the minimum every month on time. The longer this bill takes to pay off, the more it’s going to cost you.)
• Day care and babysitter fees (Are you eligible for tax credits for day care? Can you send the children to grandma’s house for a couple of weeks during the summer rather than pay for day care? Swap with other parents on a co-op basis for the occasional night out.)
• Diapers (If you have laundry machines at home, today’s cloth diapers are a big improvement from what used to be available. If you need to use disposable diapers at least on occasion, ask for bags of diapers as baby shower gifts. Another trick is put the word out that you will happily take or swap diaper coupons.)
• Dinners out (Discuss within the family as to when and how often the cost of a dinner out is appropriate. A birthday gathering would be a legitimate expense for many families. But the “I don’t have time to cook” excuse is not acceptable when your family is on tight budget. Find another way to handle your dinner menus.)
• Donations to church, non-profit or charity (Direct as many charity donations as possible via purchases you make anyway. There are grocery store chains that will let you assign your rewards points to a school or church. You can save box tops for the schools. You can eat at the fundraiser dinners rather than at a restaurant. You can buy the gift cards from the school fundraisers. You can put freebies you earn on grocery coupons in the food pantry baskets.)
• Dry cleaning (Avoid dry-clean only attire. But, if you do have some dry-clean pieces, look up the labeling to see if home dry cleaning kits will work. I’ve used those kits and have been pleased with the results.)
• Electric bill (Get on the budget-pay plan if your electric bill swings quite a bit during the summer or winter seasons. Convert as many fixtures as possible to CFL bulbs. Look up the electricity usage rates for any new TV sets or appliances you plan to buy.)
• Fitness center or gym membership (Ask if your employer or health insurance plan provides fitness center discounts.)
• Fuel for the car (Drive fewer miles. I’ve done the math on my family’s gasoline expenses over the years, and that is the biggest factor in how much money goes into our gas tank.)
• Furniture (Take on the hand-me-down or second-hand furniture as much as possible. You may still need to buy an occasional bed or other piece on retail, and if so, watch for the sales.)
• Garden supplies (Get quality garden tools that will last many years, or take on someone else’s hand-me-downs).
• Greeting cards (Buy boxes of assorted cards, get the individual cards at the dollar stores, get crafty and make your own greeting cards.)
• Groceries (You know about coupons and watching the sales. But if you haven’t tried Angel Food Ministries or similar  grocery-by-the-box programs, what are you waiting for? These services were designed for families on tight budgets. And if your family is eligible for free or reduced-price lunches, WIC, food stamps or food pantry giveaways, sign up.)
• Haircuts (Pick a hairstyle that is inexpensive to maintain. I remember how costly it was to style my hair into a perm every four months. I don’t do that any more. I also don’t color my hair. The sprinkle of gray makes me look just old enough to know what I’m talking about.)
• Health insurance (Take the time to learn how your insurance policy, COBRA, state program or insurance alternative works so you don’t get stuck with more out-of-pocket expenses than necessary.)
• Hobbies (The best hobbies for families on a budget are those that take a lot of time and not a lot of money. As an alternative – ask for hobby items or supplies as birthday or Christmas gifts.)
• Home maintenance and repair (Learn as many DIY skills as possible, so that you have cash available for occasions when you need to hire a pro.)
• Income tax preparation fees (There are lots of free and low-cost services available for those who have simple tax returns. If you have a complicated tax return, then do the research to find a software package or a preparer you trust to do it right.)
• Internet service (I’m noticing that a lot of families these days keep the Internet connection going as long as possible. It is just too useful a tool for details like looking up assistance programs, the best price on a product or provide “stuck at home” entertainment. But if that expense has to go, there are a lot of places you can find free Internet. Many libraries, for example, have either free wireless or free computer labs.)
• Landline phone (Find the best option that works for you. My husband and I need to call out-of-state relatives on a frequent basis, and we’ve got a calling plan that does just that.)
• Lawn and garden care (Take advantage of free and low-cost resources at the public library and the cooperative extension service offices to learn how to care for your piece of dirt on the cheap.)
• Mortgage (If you can’t do anything about the mortgage payment itself, then look to other cost savings elsewhere in your household budget. Keep in mind that a part of your mortgage payment is most likely property taxes and / or homeowners insurance, and you may be able to get those expenses down on their own merits.)
• Natural gas or heating oil bill (Put this on the budget-pay plan to average out your monthly cost.)
• Newspapers, books and magazines (Make your decisions on which subscriptions or books to keep or buy based on which of those publications will help you save you money. Otherwise, go buy the pretty house and garden magazines at a thrift store or look up the hobby magazines at the library.)
• Personal care products (Learn how the drugstore rebate programs work because you can save a bundle of money on soap, vitamins, lipstick and shampoo by timing your purchases to those promotions.)
• Pet expenses (Stop buying toys, outfits and accessories. Your pet needs healthy food, appropriate shelter, medical care and your one-on-one attention.)
• Photos (Don’t get caught up in the “annual family photo” or seasonal baby photo ritual. If you can’t afford it every year, but want to have those keepsakes, then set up a family studio print every other year.)
• Postage (Check on the flat rate box options for shipping packages. Do on-line bill pays for at least some of your bills. Deliver greeting cards in person when you can.)
• Property taxes (Watch your tax assessment papers when they arrive each year. Do you think the assessor has a fair value and accurate details listed for your property? If not, follow up on the appeal process.)
• Property or renters insurance (Ask your agent for circumstances or bundles in which you can get a discount.)
• Rent (Don’t just look for the cheapest rent. Put the cheapest rent options into perspective with related expenses such as will you have to use a laundry center or get a storage unit? Will you have to drive farther to work or school every day?)
• School lunches (If your children are eligible for free or reduced-price school lunches, sign up. Pack the kids’ lunches only if you have medical issues to work around, or can consistently pack a lunch cheaper than you can buy it from school.)
• Snacks (Stop the vending machine purchases if you are on a budget. Buy your own snacks at the grocery store or food service store, and pack them in your lunch box, briefcase, desk or locker.)
• Sports, club and activity fees and equipment (Use second hand equipment as much as possible, especially when you are starting a new hobby. Put limits on the number of activities per family member.)
• Sports events attended (Go to the minor league events, or attend the major league or college events that are within close range of home, become a tailgate party expert rather than buy concession food.)
• Student loan payments (Learn how the deferment and forbearance policies work on your student loans. A six-month hold on student loan payments was a big help for me at one point. When you are in repayment, make sure to ask for and save the interest statements to send in with your tax returns.)
• Textbooks (Ask the professors which books are absolutely needed vs. which ones are helpful. Then you can seek out the best prices on required books, and consider options such as sharing a secondary reference book with a classmate.)
• Trash and recycling bill (We used to live in a neighborhood where 2 can trash service per week was cheaper than unlimited service per week. Guess what program we signed up for?)
• Tuition and class fees (If you have a student in high school, look into whatever programs are available in your district for college classes on a free or low-cost tuition basis. They might be called dual enrollment, post-secondary options, advanced placement or middle college. It will take 15 credit hours to knock a semester off the college graduation date, but even a couple of classes at the high school level can help with a schedule crunch later.)
• Turnpike and bridge tolls (We do use the Ohio Turnpike and Indiana Toll Road on occasion. If you also travel on those routes, look into the electronic pass services. They save money compared to cash rates if you are on the toll roads frequently enough.)
• Vacations (Stay-cations are no longer a trendy feature story for the news media. It’s the reality for a lot of families who are on tight budgets. If you still want to do the big family vacations, don’t eliminate them. Just plan them for every two to three years instead of every year.)
• Wireless phone (I did have pay-as-you go wireless for two years to save money; but eventually we had to get a real family calling plan. You know when you have a texting, talking or data freak in the family. If so, then do the research to find the best value for your money and save cash elsewhere in your budget.)
• Wedding plans (Spend only what you can afford on the wedding, reception and honeymoon. Shop around for the best packages if you have a big family and a reception will cost some bucks. And you can still have a church blessing or religious ceremony on a budget – I’ve seen it done on multiple occasions.)
• Work or college lunches (I’m a big fan of K-12 school lunches because the cost is very inexpensive compared to what can be packed in a lunch box. But brown bag lunches for work or on college campus are absolutely way cheaper than fast-food lunches)

Continue reading Are you looking at every household budget line item? …

From Monroe on a Budget.

Are you looking at every household budget line item?

When you have to, or want to, cut back on expenses for your family, the place to look is in every household budget category.

Reason: if your budget comes up short by $100 a month, does it matter in the long run where you find that cost savings?

Answer: No. But the details of what are the “easy” budget cuts do vary quite a bit from one family to the next.

I have a series of articles based on the Crown Financial Ministries household budget program at the Downsized Budget: How and Where to Cut Back.

But another approach is to look at a more detailed list of household budget categories and think about money-saving options for each line item that would be appropriate to your family:

• Alcohol (Cut back on amounts, decide upon a different favorite beverage, drink at home rather than go out.)
• Allowances (When the overall income goes down, it is reasonable to expect that the “fun money” allocated to each household member goes down too.)
• Appliances (Repair instead of replace for as long as possible. Another trick is to look for second-hand appliances to buy you a little time before the next big retail purchase).
• Baby formula or breastfeeding supplies (Network with other parents of little ones and ask your doctor or nurse for tips on what formulas, bottles and supplies are the best value for the money.)
• Batteries (Pay attention to the deals on coupons and drugstore rebates. Use rechargeable batteries as much as possible. Ask for a battery charger for a Christmas gift.)
• Birthday and Christmas gifts (Select one low budget, but “perfect,” gift instead of trying to impress relatives with the number of boxes or bags. Send greeting cards instead of gifts to friends.).
• Bus fares (If you are a frequent flier on the city bus, add up your bus fares and figure out whether the monthly pass is better deal.)
• Cable or satellite TV (Pay close attention to the sales and deals promotions. This is an easy expense to drop if you need to save cash or find that you aren’t watching the extra channels very often.)
• Car insurance (Ask your insurance agent what he or she can suggest on the discounts and options. In the meantime, look over your policy when it arrives and make sure the fine print fits your actual usage.)
• Car payment and / or car purchase fund (If you can pay off the car early or drive it past the last payment, you have money available to save for down payment on the next car purchase.)
• Car repair and maintenance (Watch for the coupons and specials offered by your favorite mechanic.)
• Child support paid in or out (This amount might adjust depending on changes in parents’ income and other expenses for the children. Be sure you understand the county or state rules that apply to your child support case so you can file review requests as appropriate.)
• Cleaning supplies (Research and try out the eco-friendly and old-school methods. Even if you replace only half your chemical use with alternative supplies, that’s half as many chemicals you need to buy.)
• Clothing (Rely on a hand-me-down network or second-hand shops for basic items such as jeans, school uniforms, winter coats and black work pants. Watch the department and discount sales for shoes, socks, work boots and underthings. Make purchase choices based on items that can be worn for multiple occasions such as solid-color tees.)
• Coffee shop (Get a frequent flier card if you are a coffee shop customer. The better choice is buy a pound of your favorite coffee shop flavors and brew it at home. Don’t insist on an expensive coffee pot for home. My $10 coffee pot works just fine.)
• Computer and office supplies (If your office supply store has a rewards program, sign up. Look during the back-to-school sales in July and August for home office supply deals.)
• Condo or neighborhood association fees (If you have to pay a neighborhood association fee, then go to the association meeting and participate in the discussions of what are reasonable expenses for those funds.)
• Credit card payments (Pay off, pay down, or at least pay the minimum every month on time. The longer this bill takes to pay off, the more it’s going to cost you.)
• Day care and babysitter fees (Are you eligible for tax credits for day care? Can you send the children to grandma’s house for a couple of weeks during the summer rather than pay for day care? Swap with other parents on a co-op basis for the occasional night out.)
• Diapers (If you have laundry machines at home, today’s cloth diapers are a big improvement from what used to be available. If you need to use disposable diapers at least on occasion, ask for bags of diapers as baby shower gifts. Another trick is put the word out that you will happily take or swap diaper coupons.)
• Dinners out (Discuss within the family as to when and how often the cost of a dinner out is appropriate. A birthday gathering would be a legitimate expense for many families. But the “I don’t have time to cook” excuse is not acceptable when your family is on tight budget. Find another way to handle your dinner menus.)
• Donations to church, non-profit or charity (Direct as many charity donations as possible via purchases you make anyway. There are grocery store chains that will let you assign your rewards points to a school or church. You can save box tops for the schools. You can eat at the fundraiser dinners rather than at a restaurant. You can buy the gift cards from the school fundraisers. You can put freebies you earn on grocery coupons in the food pantry baskets.)
• Dry cleaning (Avoid dry-clean only attire. But, if you do have some dry-clean pieces, look up the labeling to see if home dry cleaning kits will work. I’ve used those kits and have been pleased with the results.)
• Electric bill (Get on the budget-pay plan if your electric bill swings quite a bit during the summer or winter seasons. Convert as many fixtures as possible to CFL bulbs. Look up the electricity usage rates for any new TV sets or appliances you plan to buy.)
• Fitness center or gym membership (Ask if your employer or health insurance plan provides fitness center discounts.)
• Fuel for the car (Drive fewer miles. I’ve done the math on my family’s gasoline expenses over the years, and that is the biggest factor in how much money goes into our gas tank.)
• Furniture (Take on the hand-me-down or second-hand furniture as much as possible. You may still need to buy an occasional bed or other piece on retail, and if so, watch for the sales.)
• Garden supplies (Get quality garden tools that will last many years, or take on someone else’s hand-me-downs).
• Greeting cards (Buy boxes of assorted cards, get the individual cards at the dollar stores, get crafty and make your own greeting cards.)
• Groceries (You know about coupons and watching the sales. But if you haven’t tried Angel Food Ministries or similar  grocery-by-the-box programs, what are you waiting for? These services were designed for families on tight budgets. And if your family is eligible for free or reduced-price lunches, WIC, food stamps or food pantry giveaways, sign up.)
• Haircuts (Pick a hairstyle that is inexpensive to maintain. I remember how costly it was to style my hair into a perm every four months. I don’t do that any more. I also don’t color my hair. The sprinkle of gray makes me look just old enough to know what I’m talking about.)
• Health insurance (Take the time to learn how your insurance policy, COBRA, state program or insurance alternative works so you don’t get stuck with more out-of-pocket expenses than necessary.)
• Hobbies (The best hobbies for families on a budget are those that take a lot of time and not a lot of money. As an alternative – ask for hobby items or supplies as birthday or Christmas gifts.)
• Home maintenance and repair (Learn as many DIY skills as possible, so that you have cash available for occasions when you need to hire a pro.)
• Income tax preparation fees (There are lots of free and low-cost services available for those who have simple tax returns. If you have a complicated tax return, then do the research to find a software package or a preparer you trust to do it right.)
• Internet service (I’m noticing that a lot of families these days keep the Internet connection going as long as possible. It is just too useful a tool for details like looking up assistance programs, the best price on a product or provide “stuck at home” entertainment. But if that expense has to go, there are a lot of places you can find free Internet. Many libraries, for example, have either free wireless or free computer labs.)
• Landline phone (Find the best option that works for you. My husband and I need to call out-of-state relatives on a frequent basis, and we’ve got a calling plan that does just that.)
• Lawn and garden care (Take advantage of free and low-cost resources at the public library and the cooperative extension service offices to learn how to care for your piece of dirt on the cheap.)
• Mortgage (If you can’t do anything about the mortgage payment itself, then look to other cost savings elsewhere in your household budget. Keep in mind that a part of your mortgage payment is most likely property taxes and / or homeowners insurance, and you may be able to get those expenses down on their own merits.)
• Natural gas or heating oil bill (Put this on the budget-pay plan to average out your monthly cost.)
• Newspapers, books and magazines (Make your decisions on which subscriptions or books to keep or buy based on which of those publications will help you save you money. Otherwise, go buy the pretty house and garden magazines at a thrift store or look up the hobby magazines at the library.)
• Personal care products (Learn how the drugstore rebate programs work because you can save a bundle of money on soap, vitamins, lipstick and shampoo by timing your purchases to those promotions.)
• Pet expenses (Stop buying toys, outfits and accessories. Your pet needs healthy food, appropriate shelter, medical care and your one-on-one attention.)
• Photos (Don’t get caught up in the “annual family photo” or seasonal baby photo ritual. If you can’t afford it every year, but want to have those keepsakes, then set up a family studio print every other year.)
• Postage (Check on the flat rate box options for shipping packages. Do on-line bill pays for at least some of your bills. Deliver greeting cards in person when you can.)
• Property taxes (Watch your tax assessment papers when they arrive each year. Do you think the assessor has a fair value and accurate details listed for your property? If not, follow up on the appeal process.)
• Property or renters insurance (Ask your agent for circumstances or bundles in which you can get a discount.)
• Rent (Don’t just look for the cheapest rent. Put the cheapest rent options into perspective with related expenses such as will you have to use a laundry center or get a storage unit? Will you have to drive farther to work or school every day?)
• School lunches (If your children are eligible for free or reduced-price school lunches, sign up. Pack the kids’ lunches only if you have medical issues to work around, or can consistently pack a lunch cheaper than you can buy it from school.)
• Snacks (Stop the vending machine purchases if you are on a budget. Buy your own snacks at the grocery store or food service store, and pack them in your lunch box, briefcase, desk or locker.)
• Sports, club and activity fees and equipment (Use second hand equipment as much as possible, especially when you are starting a new hobby. Put limits on the number of activities per family member.)
• Sports events attended (Go to the minor league events, or attend the major league or college events that are within close range of home, become a tailgate party expert rather than buy concession food.)
• Student loan payments (Learn how the deferment and forbearance policies work on your student loans. A six-month hold on student loan payments was a big help for me at one point. When you are in repayment, make sure to ask for and save the interest statements to send in with your tax returns.)
• Textbooks (Ask the professors which books are absolutely needed vs. which ones are helpful. Then you can seek out the best prices on required books, and consider options such as sharing a secondary reference book with a classmate.)
• Trash and recycling bill (We used to live in a neighborhood where 2 can trash service per week was cheaper than unlimited service per week. Guess what program we signed up for?)
• Tuition and class fees (If you have a student in high school, look into whatever programs are available in your district for college classes on a free or low-cost tuition basis. They might be called dual enrollment, post-secondary options, advanced placement or middle college. It will take 15 credit hours to knock a semester off the college graduation date, but even a couple of classes at the high school level can help with a schedule crunch later.)
• Turnpike and bridge tolls (We do use the Ohio Turnpike and Indiana Toll Road on occasion. If you also travel on those routes, look into the electronic pass services. They save money compared to cash rates if you are on the toll roads frequently enough.)
• Vacations (Stay-cations are no longer a trendy feature story for the news media. It’s the reality for a lot of families who are on tight budgets. If you still want to do the big family vacations, don’t eliminate them. Just plan them for every two to three years instead of every year.)
• Wireless phone (I did have pay-as-you go wireless for two years to save money; but eventually we had to get a real family calling plan. You know when you have a texting, talking or data freak in the family. If so, then do the research to find the best value for your money and save cash elsewhere in your budget.)
• Wedding plans (Spend only what you can afford on the wedding, reception and honeymoon. Shop around for the best packages if you have a big family and a reception will cost some bucks. And you can still have a church blessing or religious ceremony on a budget – I’ve seen it done on multiple occasions.)
• Work or college lunches (I’m a big fan of K-12 school lunches because the cost is very inexpensive compared to what can be packed in a lunch box. But brown bag lunches for work or on college campus are absolutely way cheaper than fast-food lunches)

Continue reading Are you looking at every household budget line item? …

From Monroe on a Budget.

Are you looking at every household budget line item?

When you have to, or want to, cut back on expenses for your family, the place to look is in every household budget category.

Reason: if your budget comes up short by $100 a month, does it matter in the long run where you find that cost savings?

Answer: No. But the details of what are the “easy” budget cuts do vary quite a bit from one family to the next.

I have a series of articles based on the Crown Financial Ministries household budget program at the Downsized Budget: How and Where to Cut Back.

But another approach is to look at a more detailed list of household budget categories and think about money-saving options for each line item that would be appropriate to your family:

• Alcohol (Cut back on amounts, decide upon a different favorite beverage, drink at home rather than go out.)
• Allowances (When the overall income goes down, it is reasonable to expect that the “fun money” allocated to each household member goes down too.)
• Appliances (Repair instead of replace for as long as possible. Another trick is to look for second-hand appliances to buy you a little time before the next big retail purchase).
• Baby formula or breastfeeding supplies (Network with other parents of little ones and ask your doctor or nurse for tips on what formulas, bottles and supplies are the best value for the money.)
• Batteries (Pay attention to the deals on coupons and drugstore rebates. Use rechargeable batteries as much as possible. Ask for a battery charger for a Christmas gift.)
• Birthday and Christmas gifts (Select one low budget, but “perfect,” gift instead of trying to impress relatives with the number of boxes or bags. Send greeting cards instead of gifts to friends.).
• Bus fares (If you are a frequent flier on the city bus, add up your bus fares and figure out whether the monthly pass is better deal.)
• Cable or satellite TV (Pay close attention to the sales and deals promotions. This is an easy expense to drop if you need to save cash or find that you aren’t watching the extra channels very often.)
• Car insurance (Ask your insurance agent what he or she can suggest on the discounts and options. In the meantime, look over your policy when it arrives and make sure the fine print fits your actual usage.)
• Car payment and / or car purchase fund (If you can pay off the car early or drive it past the last payment, you have money available to save for down payment on the next car purchase.)
• Car repair and maintenance (Watch for the coupons and specials offered by your favorite mechanic.)
• Child support paid in or out (This amount might adjust depending on changes in parents’ income and other expenses for the children. Be sure you understand the county or state rules that apply to your child support case so you can file review requests as appropriate.)
• Cleaning supplies (Research and try out the eco-friendly and old-school methods. Even if you replace only half your chemical use with alternative supplies, that’s half as many chemicals you need to buy.)
• Clothing (Rely on a hand-me-down network or second-hand shops for basic items such as jeans, school uniforms, winter coats and black work pants. Watch the department and discount sales for shoes, socks, work boots and underthings. Make purchase choices based on items that can be worn for multiple occasions such as solid-color tees.)
• Coffee shop (Get a frequent flier card if you are a coffee shop customer. The better choice is buy a pound of your favorite coffee shop flavors and brew it at home. Don’t insist on an expensive coffee pot for home. My $10 coffee pot works just fine.)
• Computer and office supplies (If your office supply store has a rewards program, sign up. Look during the back-to-school sales in July and August for home office supply deals.)
• Condo or neighborhood association fees (If you have to pay a neighborhood association fee, then go to the association meeting and participate in the discussions of what are reasonable expenses for those funds.)
• Credit card payments (Pay off, pay down, or at least pay the minimum every month on time. The longer this bill takes to pay off, the more it’s going to cost you.)
• Day care and babysitter fees (Are you eligible for tax credits for day care? Can you send the children to grandma’s house for a couple of weeks during the summer rather than pay for day care? Swap with other parents on a co-op basis for the occasional night out.)
• Diapers (If you have laundry machines at home, today’s cloth diapers are a big improvement from what used to be available. If you need to use disposable diapers at least on occasion, ask for bags of diapers as baby shower gifts. Another trick is put the word out that you will happily take or swap diaper coupons.)
• Dinners out (Discuss within the family as to when and how often the cost of a dinner out is appropriate. A birthday gathering would be a legitimate expense for many families. But the “I don’t have time to cook” excuse is not acceptable when your family is on tight budget. Find another way to handle your dinner menus.)
• Donations to church, non-profit or charity (Direct as many charity donations as possible via purchases you make anyway. There are grocery store chains that will let you assign your rewards points to a school or church. You can save box tops for the schools. You can eat at the fundraiser dinners rather than at a restaurant. You can buy the gift cards from the school fundraisers. You can put freebies you earn on grocery coupons in the food pantry baskets.)
• Dry cleaning (Avoid dry-clean only attire. But, if you do have some dry-clean pieces, look up the labeling to see if home dry cleaning kits will work. I’ve used those kits and have been pleased with the results.)
• Electric bill (Get on the budget-pay plan if your electric bill swings quite a bit during the summer or winter seasons. Convert as many fixtures as possible to CFL bulbs. Look up the electricity usage rates for any new TV sets or appliances you plan to buy.)
• Fitness center or gym membership (Ask if your employer or health insurance plan provides fitness center discounts.)
• Fuel for the car (Drive fewer miles. I’ve done the math on my family’s gasoline expenses over the years, and that is the biggest factor in how much money goes into our gas tank.)
• Furniture (Take on the hand-me-down or second-hand furniture as much as possible. You may still need to buy an occasional bed or other piece on retail, and if so, watch for the sales.)
• Garden supplies (Get quality garden tools that will last many years, or take on someone else’s hand-me-downs).
• Greeting cards (Buy boxes of assorted cards, get the individual cards at the dollar stores, get crafty and make your own greeting cards.)
• Groceries (You know about coupons and watching the sales. But if you haven’t tried Angel Food Ministries or similar  grocery-by-the-box programs, what are you waiting for? These services were designed for families on tight budgets. And if your family is eligible for free or reduced-price lunches, WIC, food stamps or food pantry giveaways, sign up.)
• Haircuts (Pick a hairstyle that is inexpensive to maintain. I remember how costly it was to style my hair into a perm every four months. I don’t do that any more. I also don’t color my hair. The sprinkle of gray makes me look just old enough to know what I’m talking about.)
• Health insurance (Take the time to learn how your insurance policy, COBRA, state program or insurance alternative works so you don’t get stuck with more out-of-pocket expenses than necessary.)
• Hobbies (The best hobbies for families on a budget are those that take a lot of time and not a lot of money. As an alternative – ask for hobby items or supplies as birthday or Christmas gifts.)
• Home maintenance and repair (Learn as many DIY skills as possible, so that you have cash available for occasions when you need to hire a pro.)
• Income tax preparation fees (There are lots of free and low-cost services available for those who have simple tax returns. If you have a complicated tax return, then do the research to find a software package or a preparer you trust to do it right.)
• Internet service (I’m noticing that a lot of families these days keep the Internet connection going as long as possible. It is just too useful a tool for details like looking up assistance programs, the best price on a product or provide “stuck at home” entertainment. But if that expense has to go, there are a lot of places you can find free Internet. Many libraries, for example, have either free wireless or free computer labs.)
• Landline phone (Find the best option that works for you. My husband and I need to call out-of-state relatives on a frequent basis, and we’ve got a calling plan that does just that.)
• Lawn and garden care (Take advantage of free and low-cost resources at the public library and the cooperative extension service offices to learn how to care for your piece of dirt on the cheap.)
• Mortgage (If you can’t do anything about the mortgage payment itself, then look to other cost savings elsewhere in your household budget. Keep in mind that a part of your mortgage payment is most likely property taxes and / or homeowners insurance, and you may be able to get those expenses down on their own merits.)
• Natural gas or heating oil bill (Put this on the budget-pay plan to average out your monthly cost.)
• Newspapers, books and magazines (Make your decisions on which subscriptions or books to keep or buy based on which of those publications will help you save you money. Otherwise, go buy the pretty house and garden magazines at a thrift store or look up the hobby magazines at the library.)
• Personal care products (Learn how the drugstore rebate programs work because you can save a bundle of money on soap, vitamins, lipstick and shampoo by timing your purchases to those promotions.)
• Pet expenses (Stop buying toys, outfits and accessories. Your pet needs healthy food, appropriate shelter, medical care and your one-on-one attention.)
• Photos (Don’t get caught up in the “annual family photo” or seasonal baby photo ritual. If you can’t afford it every year, but want to have those keepsakes, then set up a family studio print every other year.)
• Postage (Check on the flat rate box options for shipping packages. Do on-line bill pays for at least some of your bills. Deliver greeting cards in person when you can.)
• Property taxes (Watch your tax assessment papers when they arrive each year. Do you think the assessor has a fair value and accurate details listed for your property? If not, follow up on the appeal process.)
• Property or renters insurance (Ask your agent for circumstances or bundles in which you can get a discount.)
• Rent (Don’t just look for the cheapest rent. Put the cheapest rent options into perspective with related expenses such as will you have to use a laundry center or get a storage unit? Will you have to drive farther to work or school every day?)
• School lunches (If your children are eligible for free or reduced-price school lunches, sign up. Pack the kids’ lunches only if you have medical issues to work around, or can consistently pack a lunch cheaper than you can buy it from school.)
• Snacks (Stop the vending machine purchases if you are on a budget. Buy your own snacks at the grocery store or food service store, and pack them in your lunch box, briefcase, desk or locker.)
• Sports, club and activity fees and equipment (Use second hand equipment as much as possible, especially when you are starting a new hobby. Put limits on the number of activities per family member.)
• Sports events attended (Go to the minor league events, or attend the major league or college events that are within close range of home, become a tailgate party expert rather than buy concession food.)
• Student loan payments (Learn how the deferment and forbearance policies work on your student loans. A six-month hold on student loan payments was a big help for me at one point. When you are in repayment, make sure to ask for and save the interest statements to send in with your tax returns.)
• Textbooks (Ask the professors which books are absolutely needed vs. which ones are helpful. Then you can seek out the best prices on required books, and consider options such as sharing a secondary reference book with a classmate.)
• Trash and recycling bill (We used to live in a neighborhood where 2 can trash service per week was cheaper than unlimited service per week. Guess what program we signed up for?)
• Tuition and class fees (If you have a student in high school, look into whatever programs are available in your district for college classes on a free or low-cost tuition basis. They might be called dual enrollment, post-secondary options, advanced placement or middle college. It will take 15 credit hours to knock a semester off the college graduation date, but even a couple of classes at the high school level can help with a schedule crunch later.)
• Turnpike and bridge tolls (We do use the Ohio Turnpike and Indiana Toll Road on occasion. If you also travel on those routes, look into the electronic pass services. They save money compared to cash rates if you are on the toll roads frequently enough.)
• Vacations (Stay-cations are no longer a trendy feature story for the news media. It’s the reality for a lot of families who are on tight budgets. If you still want to do the big family vacations, don’t eliminate them. Just plan them for every two to three years instead of every year.)
• Wireless phone (I did have pay-as-you go wireless for two years to save money; but eventually we had to get a real family calling plan. You know when you have a texting, talking or data freak in the family. If so, then do the research to find the best value for your money and save cash elsewhere in your budget.)
• Wedding plans (Spend only what you can afford on the wedding, reception and honeymoon. Shop around for the best packages if you have a big family and a reception will cost some bucks. And you can still have a church blessing or religious ceremony on a budget – I’ve seen it done on multiple occasions.)
• Work or college lunches (I’m a big fan of K-12 school lunches because the cost is very inexpensive compared to what can be packed in a lunch box. But brown bag lunches for work or on college campus are absolutely way cheaper than fast-food lunches)

Continue reading Are you looking at every household budget line item? …

From Monroe on a Budget.

Introducing: new blog header art

I’ve got new blog header as of this morning. So if you are reading this post on an auto-feed or my facebook fan page, come over to the main blog, Monroe on a Budget, at www.blogsmonroe.com/budget and look at it.

The Monroe Evening News webmaster did this up for me. I liked the photo collage look at  Doug Donnelly’s sports blog, Welcome to the TCC, and asked if I could get something like that. I learned that a photo morph could be done very easily, and all I had to do was supply the pictures!

I went digging through my photo library for images that would illustrate  recurring themes on Monroe on a Budget. These are all pictures that have appeared at some time on this blog. From left to right:

• One of my grocery shopping carts, filled with groceries I got in Monroe, Mich., on sale prices and / or coupons. I’m posting pictures like this at least once a month.
• The ladder and newspapers on the floor show one of my DIY projects. This is from when I painted my daughter’s bedroom in summer 2008. The green paint, by the way, turned out far prettier than I expected.
• A massive pile of coupons. Yes, I’ve been couponing for more than 20 years. Coupons are not not my only money-saving trick, but that’s often what gets people’s attention to this blog.
• The table setting is a deliberate statement about frugality: it’s not all about paper plates and skimping on your family’s comfort level! Sometimes you just have to be resourceful. Example: I built up this collection of pattern dinnerware through several years of birthday and Christmas gifts from my grandmother, aunt and mother-in-law. We really do eat on the pretty dishes everyday, even though the fabric napkins are saved for special occasions.
• The Monroe on a Budget sign is a promotion card my co-workers created for me in March 2009 as I started doing public appearances and speaking engagements about frugal living.

Continue reading Introducing: new blog header art …

From Monroe on a Budget.

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