Living on a Dime

Back to school is a time when many moms witness their money sprout wings and take flight, finding their homes at retail stores across America. I know that consumer spending is good for the economy, but I don’t take it upon myself to keep the entire US economy propped up, so when my first-grade son announced that he wanted a backpack with rollers, I saw this as a wonderful financial teaching moment. His school is small, and he doesn’t walk to or from school. He didn’t need rollers.

I told my son that I would give him $8 toward a backpack. I told him that if he wanted a fancier one, he could put up some of his allowance money for the difference. That’s the rule at our house. Mom and Dad buy the basics the kids buy the extras. It was amazing how my son’s perception of the need for rollers changed when his allowance was on the line. Yes, he has concluded, a regular backpack will do the trick this year.

Thousands of parents are buying back-to-school supplies. From crayons and notebooks to calculators and lunch boxes, the list of what to buy can be as long as the list of your kids’ excuses.

I know that you are anxious to get your kids back into school, but there is no need to take out a second mortgage just to get them in school. Instead, use some of these money-saving tips from www.LivingOnADime.com and you can happily send your kids to school and keep some of the cash for mom’s back-to school celebration!

*Wait for the list to come out and stick to it, otherwise you might buy things you don’t need. Remember, the Bank of Mom doesn’t pay for frills. Any extras the kids want will have to be funded from their own cash reserves. I do understand that it is nice for kids to have “hip” back-to-school supplies. I look at yard sales and thrift stores for brand-name finds. For instance, I recently found a gently used Barbie backpack and a Barbie lunch box and no one would know that I paid $1.00 each instead of the $32 that Becky Johnson’s mom paid. Who says stay at home mom’s don’t make any money?

*Don’t buy back to school clothes. Children don’t need an entirely new wardrobe every fall. Some mom’s act as if aliens clothes-napped their kids clothes the night before school and the fashion police will come arrest them if they donít buy the latest designer clothes right away. The kids wore clothes all year long, didn’t they? If they need something like a new pair of shoes or new jeans then buy what they need, but donít just buy a new wardrobe because it’s the thing to do.

*Use back to school sales to your advantage.

If you know your kids go through a package of socks, underwear or jeans every six months then stock up while they are on sale. The same is true of crayons, paper, notebooks, backpacks and lunch boxes. My son went through two backpacks and two lunch boxes last year, so this year we will buy two while they are on sale instead of waiting until the middle of the year when they are full price. We will also be checking garage sales between now and then to find any good deals on those items. Donít be tempted to buy things that you wouldn’t normally use, though, just because they’re on sale.

*Go through last year’s school supplies to see which things are still usable. If my student has a working calculator, the Bank of Mom will not extend credit for a new one.

*Limit activities to one at a time. Activity fees can add up fast. One at a time is the rule at our house. If you can’t afford the activity, it doesn’t hurt for the kids to use their own money to pay for it. The best way to teach them money management is to let them manage their own money when they have nothing to lose, instead of after they have maxed out the credit cards someone persuaded then to sign up for in college.

Jill Cooper and Tawra Kellam are frugal living experts and the authors of the Dining On A Dime Cookbook. Dining On A Dime will help you save money on groceries and get out of debt, by cooking quick and simple homemade meals. For free tips & recipes visit http://livingonadime.com

Many of you know that I have a thing about air drying our clothes. Unfortunately, I do not have a fancy-smancy, nor handy-dandy, laundry line….just a make-do-with-whatcha’-got line that is cobbled from an inexpensive retractable single line attached to my garage and ending on at a tall pvc pipe slipped over a t-post. Isn’t that something?

Last year I reported to you that we had cut our utility costs by 33% for the months of June/July and that I felt that solar drying and cold water washing made the huge difference. Unfortunately, my solar drying is meeting with some opposition this year from Hais and JMorgan. Both cannot stand the smell of fresh, air dried laundry…nor do they care for the crisp feel of nature on their clothes. Between their protests and my own issues with my life being totally unorganized I confess that my solar dryer is not getting much attention this summer. I still hang MY nicer clothes up in the basement instead of letting the dryer vent fill up with the threads from my favorite garments, but I have to admit that I have thrown loads of towels into the dryer lately.

Maybe the wet beginnings of summer kept me from getting in the groove with things…or maybe it is that I am just being lazy because my thoughts are scattered from here to yon. Who knows? Maybe today will be the day I begin to work toward re-establishing my old laundry habits. Hais’ comforter is hanging on the line as I write. She will be home from school in a few hours…maybe it will be dry before she arrives and I can just throw it in on her bed without her noticing. Maybe she won’t notice the lovely aroma…maybe it will soke up the “aroma” from her room before she gets home….maybe I can get away with saving some money while making a tiny impact on energy overuse.  We’ll see.

For those of you who are looking for ideas and motivation for solar drying your own clothes, I strongly urge you to take a look at Project Laundry List. From their website….

“Project Laundry List is making air-drying laundry acceptable and desirable

as a simple and effective way to save energy.

Save approximately 15% on your energy bill.

Do your laundry the green way.

Want your clothes to last longer?
Use a clothesline and cold water wash.”

They even have a store where the profits benefit the non-profit Project Laundry List.

See what I ordered? Adorable! I can hardly wait for it to arrive…..

from the website….
Nova Scotia Dress Clothespin Bag

“These beautiful bags are sewn in Nova Scotia by a woman who spent decades pinning things up on her clothesline. She wanted to have a place to store the pins that was attractive and whimsical. We bring you…the Nova Scotia Dress Clothespin Bag.”

Stop by and take a look at all they have to offer at the Project Laundry List Store.

Money has never flowed freely for us, so I am always looking for ways to cut back on costs.  With my DIY projects, DH often tells me “your time is worth more than that”, but my thought is that if what you are doing is not keeping you from making money, then your time is NOT worth “more than that”.  My theory is that if you have to have something done…AND…you don’t have the $$ to pay for it, then DIY is your only choice.

If you are making something yourself (that has to be purchased)…say…like…ummmm….graduation announcements? If  the end result is half the cost of the Josten’s school announcements….that is a good thing right? (disclaimer: don’t tell anyone…but…. sometimes my ideas end up costing more money than what would have originally been spent. Shhhhh! ) For instance... those aforementioned Josten’s announcements run approximately $1.50 each. I think having the “official” announcement chosen by certain members of the senior class is important, but not necessarily important enough to send to everyone on our grad list. Last year, some family members had photo memory announcements designed that ended up costing about $1 each.

After looking at a few of those announcements, I thought…goodness! I can design these…AND I have a reasonably priced printing source that could make my announcements half of even that cost. Well Prom was the past weekend, which means it is time to begin working on those announcements. So far, I have spent four solid days of designing and I STILL don’t have an end product with which I am satisfied. After looking at several designs online, my designs are not quite up to par. My ideas are good I think, but my software is failing me.

So this is where I whisper to you, again, that my ideas sometimes cost me more than if I had just gone ahead and purchased someone else’s work. I have been looking at an upgrade to my software for quite some time now, but just could not rationalize spending the money.  In this lifetime, I will never be able to afford Adobe, Dreamweaver, Expressions II, etc. Print Shop is more inline with my budget. I wanted to upgrade to the Print Shop Pro Publisher 23, which would be the third version I have purchased over the years, but I still was having a bit of a time letting go of the cash. Yesterday, after 5 hours of non-stop mistakes and redoes of one announcment, what did I find in my email inbox but a nice 33% discount on thePSPP! In my exhaustion, my willpower was weak and out came the plastic and just like that my new version is on its way.

The way I calculate it, that makes those announcements closer to that $1 each mark now… depending on how many we actually purchase. So there you go….save pennies…spend dollars.

You know how I love a great contest or giveaway, right? Well I stumbled across this lovely new website, $5 Dinners.com, and Erin is offering a yummy Sister Schuberts Giveaway of a basket filled with some scrumptuous goodies.

A ~snip~ from $5 Dinners.com….“Valued at $49, the hand-painted gift basket comes with two pans of Sister Schubert’s rolls, a choice of Sister Schubert’s specialty gift products, a package of Mook’s Cheese Straws, two packs of Red Diamond Estate coffee and a hand-decorated, seasonal cookie.”

Erin’s goal is to make $5 Dinners for my family every night of the week and she generously shares tips, ideas, menus, and coupon sources to help us tighten the belt at our homes.

The contest ends on Thursday, March 26th, so RUN~~don’t walk~~over to $5Dinners.com.

State Basketball ended this past weekend and track season has begun. That means it is time for new track shoes, thermal tights, and thermal gloves. In Kansas you just never know what the weather will bring at any given track meet. Hais, our daughter, has had to battle raging wind, rain, sleet, etc. to blistering hot days when she has participated in high school track. This being her senior year, I think that we have finally figured out the different equipment she needs to keep her warm and safe. She works so hard, we want her to be comfortable. This will be the very last chance we get to “do it right”.

One of our favorite places to purchase athletic supplies is EastBay, which is a UPromise.com
partner. Currently the Eastbay contribution is up to 9%, up from 4% not very long ago. Maybe this is because of Bonus Month.
So let’s see, a set of thermal tights will run approximately $120 before tax and high jump shoes will cost approximatley $60. At this new contribution rate, my earnings would be near $12 on something I am going to purchase anyhow. That doesn’t sound like much, but if I earn these “rebates” on a regular basis, say twice a month….that is $288…enough to purchase 1 or 2 textbooks freshman year.

After you sign up for your free account at UPromise.com, visit Eastbay.com for all your Under Armour needs!