Hiatus Time...

Hi everybody... sorry for the lack of posts but things have been crazy here and I have no time to blog really.
I will be popping in and posting here and there but for now the regular posts from me will be few and far between.

Please feel free to utilize the archives of posts on frugality, the recipes, and everything else really because they are truly beneficial to saving you some serious money. If anybody needs to contact me, please feel free to do so through e-mail. I will answer everybody.

I Like This Guy's Way Of Thinking!

While trying to think of what to post today I came across this article. This guy has the right idea! Wow 107 years old and been retired since 1969 God Bless Him!!!

View of Retirement at 107

by Jennie L. Phipps
Monday, January 17, 2011

Eight years ago, at age 99, Leonard McCracken failed the eye test for renewing his driver's license. He put his Lincoln Continental up for sale and got $1,600. "I sold it in three days -- I got a good price. I love to haggle," he says.

McCracken, who lives in Florida, has been living in retirement since about 1969, when he left a position as a salesman with a now-defunct steel company in Ohio. Since then, he's been living on savings, Social Security and a lifetime annuity that he purchased before he retired. He has never had a pension. At 107, after living in retirement for 41 years, he's still paying the bills and getting by on his own resources.

"Dad never made more than $10,000 a year in his life," says his son Bob, a 73-year-old retired GE aircraft engineer.

How does a guy with modest income manage such a retirement planning feat? McCracken points to a half-dozen basic principles that have gotten him through life and continue to serve him well.

Thrift

In his whole life, McCracken says, he has only owned two new cars. The rest of the time he bought used. He still shops at the thrift store. And he remembers vividly the time that his wife was holding a garage sale and left him in charge. When she returned, he had sold the living room sofa for $100. "I had a very understanding, frugal wife (Dorothy, who died in 2002 at 95 after 75 years of marriage). We gave up a lot of things that other people were buying in order to break even."

Leonard McCracken

Real Estate Investments

McCracken bought and sold 35 houses in his life, including five that he built himself. His son, Bob McCracken, says his parents "always invested in a nice house and that has helped my dad. He is living off the equity in the last home he and my mother owned."

The elder McCracken agreed that buying and selling real estate was a smart move for him. "We didn't make a lot of money in every case," he says. "But we made something and that helped."

What is his advice for current owners of real estate? "It's bad now, but it will come back," he says. "And people who buy now, they'll make a lot of money," he says.

Use Debt Well

During the Great Depression, McCracken worked for a bank. He watched people lose their shirts and learned from it. Throughout his life, he borrowed when he had to, but he borrowed as little as possible, he says, and he paid it back as quickly as he could.

Work Even When Jobs Are Hard to Find

McCracken was unemployed about 45 years ago after his previous employer went bankrupt. He had to take a job driving a truck that paid $5 per day. It was a low point in his life, but between that and a commission sales job that he took at night, he and his family muddled through until he got back on his feet.

Save and Invest Conservatively

All of McCracken's money is in CDs and bonds. He's always avoided the stock market, even when people who purported to know more than he advised him differently. "When the economy tanked, he made a lot of us look real silly," Bob McCracken says.

Stay Healthy

McCracken has hung onto his health and his wits and has had no major medical bills at all throughout his entire life. It has only been in the last year that he's needed a little assistance. And even then, he doesn't need much, his son says.

Copyrighted, Bankrate.com. All rights reserved.

Happy Sunday Everybody! God is Amazing!

God Story about how God wanted me to open my Etsy store selling the Christian Scripture pendants and other Christian stuff-
So after I made that shop, I asked God how to promote it and He told me to make a Facebook page. Okie Dokie Lord- done.
Then as I was getting dressed to leave to run errands for the day He told me to wear the Proverbs 3:5 pendant I have for sale in my shop. Okie Dokie Lord- done.
About an hour or so later I get this notification from my ETSY store and the subject line is : Proverbs 3:5 Pendant. Out of all the stuff I am selling in my shop, THAT one pendant is the subject line (You can't make this God stuff up!). That lady asked if it was possible to order more than one pendant at a time.
She ordered 16 pendants.

Is God amazing or what??

I know God has big plans for this- I just need to follow His lead. :) Oh and if you don't mind too much, please look on the left side column of this blog and LIKE my Facebook page. I need 50 people and then I can get a custom link for it. Thanks and have a great week!

Ok, back to our regularly scheduled blogging- Here are some words from my Pastor.


Fill the Earth
Read: John 2:1-12

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"- II Corinthians 5:17

You have heard the saying, if life gives you lemons make lemonade. This concept makes sense so what about changing lemons to wine. Still a possibility but what about changing water into wine. This idea is altering nothing into something. This is God's invention of changing empty to full. We can wish for impossibilities and pray for an eternal answer.

We are to trust with patience and strength and know that God knows all of our needs. His answer is not contingent on you. The direction your life will turn will be at the Lord's discretion and good judgment. Either your choice in the matter will fulfill God's intent or delay God's will.

One particular day Mary asked Jesus for a basic need of wine for the wedding feast. She did not give explanation or a long justification of her necessity. She simply stated the conflict and difficulty and then just waited. She knew she was starting with nothing but depended on Jesus and believed her God would fill all the empty spaces and satisfy the needs of the people more than she imagined.

The more you follow after God's Love with praying and trusting and anticipation of God's will in your life the sooner you can be like Mary and live a life filled and centered on completeness through the Lord. Like Mary, you can become a vessel ready for what seems beyond your reach.

How I got $500 In Xbox Video Game System + 5 Games For FREE And MORE Stuff Too!! Get 70 FREE SWAGBUCKS Just For Joining!

As most of you know I got most of my Christmas presents for free through Swagbucks. Way back when I promised you a post on how I did that. Apparently now is the time for that post. If you JOIN NOW you will get a huge head start on a free $5.00 Amazon Gift Certificate. They are only 450 Swagbucks and with your free 70 for joining you are well on you way.
Join Swagbucks Now and enter code: CouponsNGames or Hip2SaveGames (you may need to type it in — its also cAsE sEnSaTiVe) and you’ll start yourself off with 70 FREE Swag Bucks… thats a bonus 40 Swagbucks! I have no idea when they will end this promo so don't wait or you may lose out on this great offer!

For Christmas I got an XBox 360 game console and these games FREE:
Halo Reach
Call Of Duty Black Ops
Lego Indiana Jones
Tomb Raider
Madden Football 10

Most of those games retail for $60.00. The X box game console alone retails for $199.99 so all of this would have cost over $500 with tax and shipping. I paid NOTHING.
I used my Swagbucks that I have stockpiled to buy the console first, then when I bought the console during one of Amazon's 'Lightning Deals' they were running during Christmas I also received a $60.00 video game credit. Just so happened they started running another deal and had Black ops for 50% off as well as Halo. Can you say 2 free video games that would have cost $60 plus tax at a store? It gets better.. when I 'bought' those 2 games I received $20.00 more in video game credit so I used that and more Swagbucks to 'buy' the other games which gave me another $10 in video game credit. How awesome is THAT??? There is no tax charged on Amazon.com and if you spend over $25.00 the shipping is free too.

I also used more Swagbucks to get these things FREE:
2 car chargers for our Ipod Touches
1 car charger for my son's Nintendo DSI
The Blind Side DVD
An extra controller for the X box
$25.00 I Tunes card


I am not kidding when I tell you how easy Swagbucks is to use. All I do is use their search engine and at times you get rewarded with various Swagbucks. Look at this one:

I win 1 Swag Buck a day by simply answering a question on their Daily Polls + I visit their ‘NOSO’ page, click ‘Start Earning’, ‘Skip’ or say ‘No’ to all offers and you’ll score 1 Swagbuck. If you download their toolbar you’ll earn 1 Swagbuck and also view the Trusted Surveys page and you’ll earn another 1 Swagbucks! There are offeres all over their page that get you free Swagbucks- you can view videos, look through some other offers and get a few here and there for NOTHING but a few minutes of your time. The surveys pay pretty well too!

During the day they usually release free codes that I try to post here (the alert for a free code, not the actual code because that is against the rules)

What is Swagbucks? It is a search engine where you earn bucks for redeeming FREE codes, doing searches, answering daily poll questions, referring friends, etc. to earn rewards such as gift cards and much more.

Even though Amazon.com has just about everything for sale, you can also buy a ton of other gift cards from their site. Check it out:

Aeropostale
AMC Theaters
Applebee’s
Black Angus
Brinker
Buca di Beppo
Build A Bear
Cabelas
Carrabba’s Italian Grill
Chili’s
Claim Jumper
Claire’s
Cracker Barrel
El Pollo Loco
Fandango
Fashion Bug
Finish Line
GameStop
IHOP
iTunes
Jack in the Box
JCPenney
Justice/ Limited Too
Kohl’s
Lane Bryant
Legal Sea Foods
Lord & Taylor
Macaroni Grill
Maggiano’s
Marriott
Max & Erma’s
Old Chicago
Outback Steakhouse
P.F. Changs
Pizza Hut
Red Robin
Regal Entertainment Group
Regis Salon
Rock Bottom Restaurants
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory
Ruby Tuesday
Sephora
Spa Finder
SUBWAY
Sunglass Hut
T.G.I. Friday’s
Talbots
The Cheesecake Factory
The Home Depot
Uno’s

Now can you guys see why I love this Swagbucks thing so much? What an awesome tool to have in your frugal arsenal! I currently have another $100 in Amazon Gift Certificates available to use now but I think I will save them until there is something that I need or find a great deal on.

Click the SIGN UP on the widget below to join now and enter code: CouponsNGames or Hip2SaveGames (you may need to type it in — its also cAsE sEnSaTiVe) and you’ll start yourself off with 70 FREE Swag Bucks… thats a bonus 40 Swagbucks!

 

Grocery Shopping Strategies Revisited... It's Us Against Them. Srsly.

Are you one of those shoppers who goes into the store without a plan and grabs what you need, pays, then leaves? If so then you are one of the people who the grocery store marketing people love. I am the complete opposite of that kind of shopper. They don't like me very much I can assure you. LOL

In reality, grocery shopping is one of the best activities to see how frugal you are.  Here are some of my best tips on saving money when grocery shopping. You will notice that I really do not mention coupons at all. Coupons are great when you have them and I would (and do) use them in addition to what is outlined below. Relying on coupons alone will not net you the kind of savings that I get.

It is important to bring a shopping list with you when going to the supermarket. If you do this you will remember what you need and avoid another trip back to the store to get what you needed in the first place. Inevitably you will ALWAYS buy something else in addition to what you forgot in the first place. (Ask me how I know.)

Compare prices of different items. If the other item is cheaper and has the same amount of product and use then why not buy it instead? Store brands can be your friend. Believe it or not some store brands are really the name brands with different labels. What you are paying for with the name brands is all of the advertising that goes into those fancy labels and television commercials, magazine ads, etc. Let THEM pay for that stuff, not you.

Plan your shopping trips around other errands and activities. If you have kids in school you have 2 trips that you know you will be making to take them to school and pick them up. Work in your trips during those times. By doing this, you will be able to save up on gas as well.

Be aware of supermarkets' marketing strategy. Products are placed in certain ways so that customers will buy those products which they might not really need but think its a good deal. I notice this every single time I walk into a grocery store. Things on the end caps are not always on sale. They just put them there to give that appearance. KNOW YOUR PRICES that way you don't get sucked into their little tricks. 

Speaking of knowing prices... When I worked in retail (shudder) there was a list that came across every single morning with what was called 'Price Changes'. Every day. I'm not kidding. We then had to go around and re-price whatever was on that list. There was no rhyme or reason to why this was an everyday thing but nonetheless we changed prices every day on at least 20% of the store. Get to know what the lowest price is on an item that you buy regularly and do not pay more than that.

Take advantage of sales. Stores have these things called "loss leaders" which are items that are priced at rock bottom prices. They don't do this to be nice, they do this to get you in their store so that you can buy the rest of the stuff that you need at their inflated prices. Don't do this. I am not afraid to go in, buy ONLY the loss leaders and then leave. I buy a TON of the item if it is dirt cheap and stock my pantry up. Remember, we do not owe any store any kind of loyalty. My loyalty lies with my family. The store is out to make a buck- I make sure that they get as few of mine as possible.

Speaking of stocking up- DO IT WHENEVER YOU CAN. Many of you know from reading my blog that when tuna goes on sale for under .40 a can I buy a few cases of it. Why? Because I buy enough to last until that next rock bottom sale and by doing this I am able to save about 60% on the regular cost of it. I do this with most everything that I buy and THAT is how I am able to stock my pantry without spending a fortune to do it. How cool would it be to just pay 50% of what regular retail for groceries currently are? Well I do exactly that and all you have to do is take advantage of the sales and know your prices.

I hope that these tips above have given you some ideas to get you started to be the kind of shopper that the markets don't like. It's fun being a rebel. LOL

When That Little Green Monster Comes To Visit...

Most of you will recognize this little green monster as Mikey from Monster's Inc. I am using him as the perfect example of "the Little Green Monster' that resides a bit in all of us.


Envy is a resentful desire to have another’s superior possessions, achievements, or qualities. 
I can admit it- there are times when I get green with envy and this little guy shows up.

I do not want to confuse envy with jealousy either.

Jealousy is a feeling of anxiety or distrust over the possible loss of something valued—such as love or friendship—to a rival. Envy refers to what one wants to have; jealousy refers to what one fears to lose.

Let me give you a recent scenario-

I have a friend who just got a new car for her (50th) birthday. Her husband is awesome at buying her presents for every occasion imaginable- and good ones too. The car is just the latest case in point.

I drive a 2003 truck with just over 107000 miles on it. I just had to replace the tires on it and it now needs brakes and possibly some transmission work and the dang turn signal just went out.  Would I love to have a new car so that I did not have to deal with all of this crap? Oh heck yes I would! Did I get envious of my friend's new car? Honestly? Yes- for just a moment I admit that I did until I did the math in my head.

They just financed over 25 grand and have a new payment of almost $500 a month. Every month for the next 60 months. Their car insurance just went up about $80 a month to cover the new car. Their yearly car registration tags to the tune of $490 just materialized because of the new car. If I did the math it breaks down to about $620 a month she is now spending on a new car. Mind you she did not need this car-she had a perfectly good car to drive already- she was just tired of it. (2009 model that they are still making payments on)

Okie dokie. When I look at that I see the difference between her and I. I may drive a 2003 truck with age issues but It is also paid off. The only payments that I have are what it takes to maintain it when stuff goes bad. Yes tires, transmissions, and brakes are not cheap but they are not a recurring monthly expense. 

I could get a new car if I wanted one. We can afford it, but then other stuff in my life would have to give. I CHOOSE to drive this car so that I can afford to enjoy other stuff that is more important to me and my family. Being out of debt is a big one. If my husband loses his job, we still get to keep our vehicles because they are ours. I will not have to stress over that. The money that I would normally spend on a car payment and added expenses, we use to do fun stuff and buy other things that we want. That is a choice that I have made. That is how my frugal mindset differs from her 'have to have the latest and greatest' mindset. Don't get me wrong, she is a very nice person, it's just that she is pretty wasteful and is caught up in the world's "The more cool stuff that I have the better I look to people' attitude. I find that sad, but it is what it is. Anyways... there you have it. I admit that at times I get envious...but then I do the math... and look at what is important to me in my life...and then that little green monster goes away and all is right with me and my little frugal life again.

Thank God for focus, hey? ;)

Hope you all have a great day!

I Hope This Post Will Save You Money...AKA- Buying New Tires Is A Racket!

Grrrr...
Ok so my truck has been in need of tires for a month or so now. I have been looking for deals and comparing prices everywhere. Finally the day comes when I decide that the tires are bordering on being 'unsafe' so I know that I have to pull the trigger and buy some.

We call around again and get a whole different set of prices- for the same tires. Now I'm getting really aggravated. We finally go into America's Tires because they say that they will beat any price we can find. Okie dokie. When we get in they try the upsell on everything of course then give us a final price. 'Is that the BEST price you can do..?" "Yep that is ma'm" .  Not happy with that answer my husband decides to make a quick phone call to another tire dealer in the area. One of the many that we have already called mind you. Wouldn't you know that their price came down $30.00 since we were already at a different tire place??? So- my husband mentions this fact to the current tire place that we are in and all of a sudden their 'Best price' magically came down that same $30.00. *sigh* What a racket! Now I realize that they just make up their prices as they go along because 90% of the time, people will just accept the first quoted price and pay the money. Those are the people who keep those places in business- DON'T BE ONE OF THEM!`

Also- another biggie... when looking for prices ALWAYS tell them that you want a price OUT THE DOOR INSTALLED WITH TAX. That is another trick they use. 'Oh you want those put on your car too? You didn't say that!' Good Lord... some people's kids, I tell ya!

Anyways, moral of this story as with everything else on my blog- Don't ever pay full price for anything!

Have a great Monday!