Need a little help

[dolphinlfier]

Hello Everyone!!

I am new here, I have been lurking here for awhile, what a wonderful forum!!!! I have learned so much from you thrifty folks!! But I need to ask some questions, so if you could answer or direct me to where I need to look, I would be very greatful!!! Here goes......

1. What do all of the little abreviations mean? (such as EF?)

2. How do you work on paying off credit cards?

3. Do you budget "every dime" of your money?

4. How long have you been living frugal?

5. How long did it take you to adjust to frugal living?

6. How did your family adjust to living frugal?

7. Do any of you still do things that aren't thrifty?

I am finding that if I have money in hand I tend to spend it. I love the Goodwill and thrift stores, but I am finding that I need to limit myself there too. And I used to frequent Dollar stores, but I find that I spend more there than I should (I guess because I am thinking "everythings just a Dollar", but it adds up!) I am trying here, and I have already changed some things. But I need lots of help.

Thank you all!!

TJ

[Michelle68]

Hi, TJ, welcome to Frugal Village! i'll try to answer some of your questions.

1. Some of the common abbreviations are : DD (dear daughter), DS (dear son), DH (dear husband). EF stands for emergency fund.

2. A lot of those here who have credit card debt will pick on credit card (either the one with the lowest balance or the one with the highest interest rate) and pay extra on it while paying the minimums on the others. Once that card is paid off, you apply that entire amount, along with the minimum payment to the next card until you have the next one paid off. Then on and on until you have them all paid off. That's commonly referred to "snowballing" your debt.

3. For the first step to budgeting I would suggest tracking all of your spending, down to the last penny, for about a month. You need to know where all of your money is going before you can budget it. After you do that you'll have a better idea of what to budget. I know there are many different ways of budgeting, but personally I do mine on a piece of paper for three pay periods at a time and keep it in a folder. I budget every expense we have for each pay period, including savings, gas and spending money.

4. My "frugal journey" actually began more than ten years ago, although, truth be told, I was never a person who lived extravagantly. I was just financially ignorant. We had had a vehicle repossessed due to poor financial planning and it was at that time that my DH and I decided that we didn't want to live like that. We wanted to be debt free and be more financially secure.

5. It didn't take us too long to adjust. Like I said, we weren't really extravagant and the challenge of living frugally became kind of fun and then once we were debt free (except for our house) and more financially stable, it was very rewarding. I think the most difficult thing was becoming more financially organized and learning how to budget and plan where our money was going.

6. Both our kids were fairly young (Our DD was around 8years old and our DS was just a baby), so they didn't have a problem adjusting. My DH is great and once we talked about it and decided what was important and our goals for the future, he was all for it. We had to learn to discipline ourselves on spending and how to find the best deals. That took a bit of adjustment. Interestingly, our DD never had a problem with our frugality, even as a teenager, but now that our DS is a preteen, he's starting to make noises and complain a bit about things--especially when I buy many of his "new" clothes from garage sales or thrift stores.

7. Occasionally, but when we do we save money for it and pay cash. Our big thing is to go on a big vacation every year, so that we can learn more about new places, history, natural wonders, etc. I seriously consider it very much an educational experience for the family. We drive to our destination and stop at historical sites, natural areas, etc. along the way. Amusement parks just AREN'T our thing (well, except for DS) so we tend to avoid the expensive, crowded places. Many people would probably point out that spending a couple of thousand a year or so for a big trip like this isn't frugal, and that it would be cheaper to just stay home on vacation but this is something that is very important to us as a family and I know DH and I will still be traveling once the kids are gone. Like I said, we pay cash for the entire vacation and look for the best deals. Here's the key: Frugality, IMHO, is all about spending money wisely so that you can enjoy life in the ways that make you happy, while also having the financial security to do so and to be prepared for the various emergencies that life throws your way.

Whew! Well, that was long! Hope I didn't bore you too much and I hope this answered some of your questions.


--Michelle

[McD]

1. What do all of the little abreviations mean? (such as EF?)
E.F. means emergency fund, btw means by the way, dh means dear husband...I think there is a thread somewhere that shows them all.

2. How do you work on paying off credit cards? Take one step at a time. A lot of people used the snowball method of paying minimums on all debts except 1 and then throwing all extra towards that one debt. Once that one is paid off you snowball all the extra towards that one. Any extra money you 'find' or don't budget for, like from baby-sitting, selling books, make as an extra payment to your debt. It'll get reduced much quicker.

3. Do you budget "every dime" of your money? I try to, but it doesn't work out so well for me.

4. How long have you been living frugal? I've been trying for about 2 years.

5. How long did it take you to adjust to frugal living? I'm still adjusting!

6. How did your family adjust to living frugal? My hubby puts up with me...somethings he draws the line at....like washing ziploc bags.

7. Do any of you still do things that aren't thrifty? ALL THE TIME! I am working on it though.

[Michelle68]

BTW, maybe you could use an "envelope system" for the money you have budgeted for spending on certain items. You keep moneys budgeted for certain area in different envelopes and once that money in the envelope is gone...well, then it's gone. That seems to help some people from overspending. Good luck!


--Michelle

[imforpeace]

Welcome!

1You have the abbreviations.

2 I paid off all credit cards years ago. We basically put every extra penny into them as well as tax refunds.

3 We try to budget 90%, just in case something comes up. Any extra not used,at the end of the month, goes into savings.

4 We've been living frugally for 20 years.

5 We are still adjusting to frugal life!

6 My family had their moments, but its great to see my kids as adults and looking for the best deals or saving money. As kids, they really wanted to keep up with the Joneses, so it was hard!

7 Oh yes, we do un-thrifty things. The hardest part is not to kick yourself after. Just remember we are human and make mistakes. Just live life.

I understand about the dollar stores and thrift stores. It's so easy to come out of there after spending $25- $50. Thrift stores and dollar stores are where I try to take cash and not spend more than what I take!

Have a great day!

[sdrjeolsen]

Hi and welcome to the village!

1. What do all of the little abreviations mean? (such as EF?) looks like you got those

2. How do you work on paying off credit cards? We don't have any CC debt, but the snowball method pp (previous poster(s)) recommended it the most widely used.

3. Do you budget "every dime" of your money? yep

4. How long have you been living frugal? Forever. I was brought up in a very frugal household. However in our early 20's we got in with a crowd who had "Affluenza" and we were really pressued to have all the stuff, but after a year and a half, we decided that wasn't for us and got back on the path to financial independence.

5. How long did it take you to adjust to frugal living?

6. How did your family adjust to living frugal? Dh still has his moments, but he ahs really turned around. He was not raised to be frugal.

7. Do any of you still do things that aren't thrifty? not that I can think of at the moment.

[FrugalMomof3]

Hi there and to the Village.

1. What do all of the little abreviations mean? (such as EF?) Looks like you got these already but TMMO = Total Money MakeOver, TWG = Tightwade Gazette, DSD = Dear Stepdaughter, DSS = Dear Stepson, etc..

2. How do you work on paying off credit cards? Well I paid them off by cutting bills down, cutting services on the phone, cutting cable, etc but using the snowball method mentioned above already.

3. Do you budget "every dime" of your money? I try to, most times I go by the budget 95% of the time.

4. How long have you been living frugal? Humm, for me I would say 2 years but I really did the above #3, by paying down all my debt in 2002 so I could purchase a home, it worked and now I am stuck on frugal and loving it.

5. How long did it take you to adjust to frugal living? Not really that long, it gets super easy in no time.

6. How did your family adjust to living frugal? They deal with it, the kids are a bit harder to train but DH get's it all the time. I have friends who tell me I have to teach them to be frugal.

7. Do any of you still do things that aren't thrifty? I do sometimes when I come into extra money but most often times than not, I bank the money in the savings account... that's a reward in itself and I gain extra money doing it.

Believe me if you werent frugal before it's not hard to become frugal now, once you start seeing your EF grow you wont want it to stop, instead of buying something you have to think "Do I really need it?" If not then take the money you would have spent and put it into a savings account.

[Hardy1]

You've had some good advice here. Good luck! As for me, I try to be frugal 'but' am very happliy married to a techno, gadget-loving guy. If I get too frugal he squeaks! However, we don't have debt so I'm not really complaining.
W

[ConnieD]

Here's the key: Frugality, IMHO, is all about spending money wisely so that you can enjoy life in the ways that make you happy, while also having the financial security to do so and to be prepared for the various emergencies that life throws your way.

This says it PERFECTLY!! I love this. Michelle, I'm going to "borrow" this quote for my siggy (giving you credit of course)

[Michelle68]

This says it PERFECTLY!! I love this. Michelle, I'm going to "borrow" this quote for my siggy (giving you credit of course)

Goodness! I feel honored!


--Michelle

[baxjul]

1. What do all of the little abreviations mean? (such as EF?)
HM means homemade

2. How do you work on paying off credit cards?
We only have one and pay it of monthly.

3. Do you budget "every dime" of your money?
I don't really have a budget. We pay the bills all at one time, and use the rest wisely.

4. How long have you been living frugal?
About 5 years.

5. How long did it take you to adjust to frugal living?
For me, it was no time at all.

6. How did your family adjust to living frugal?
My dh loves the free stuff, and good deals I find. My dd (7) loves to help mommy find the good bargains at the stores.

7. Do any of you still do things that aren't thrifty?
We go out on the weekends, and we do eat out a couple of times a month. We also buy all the best for our dd. We certainly aren't lacking for anything.

[Telephus44]

1. What do all of the little abreviations mean? (such as EF?) - the only one I haven't seen anyone mention yet is that CC is credit card.

2. How do you work on paying off credit cards? - honestly, we don't have CC debt. I never have. DH has, and we chose to put a lot of extra money for 7 months into paying it off, and it's gone.

3. Do you budget "every dime" of your money? - No. I am one of those rare people on here that actually just doesn't have a budget. Period. We are fortunate enough not to live paycheck to paycheck (mostly because of good money management and good choices - it's hard work!) so we don't have a budget in the same way that many people do.

4. How long have you been living frugal? - Most of my life - I learned from my parents.

5. How long did it take you to adjust to frugal living? - I really haven't dealt with this. It's taken DH a few years to come on board.

6. How did your family adjust to living frugal? - Took a few years for DH, but when we started to realize that we had goals we wanted to achieve - then it becomes worth it. We didn't make a lot of changes at once, it was pretty gradual. One more generic item in the grocery cart, turning the A/C back a little at a time - just get comfortable, and then adjust again.

7. Do any of you still do things that aren't thrifty? - Oh yeah! I generally get a pedicure every three weeks ($30). We eat out more often than we probably should. And tons of other things.

[cheappearls]

1. What do all of the little abreviations mean? (such as EF?)

If you have a question on any more, just ask.

2. How do you work on paying off credit cards?

I budget in money every pay check to go to the CCs. Some months it's more then others depending on other bills. But usually we pay at least $50 a month.

3. Do you budget "every dime" of your money?

Not really, we have an "extra" category that is just whatever money that is left over after everything has been taken out.

4. How long have you been living frugal?

Really, the last 4 years out of necessity but have been really focusing on it the last year.

5. How long did it take you to adjust to frugal living?

Not very long. Like I said, we were already living on the cheap side of things.

6. How did your family adjust to living frugal?

I think it upsets DH sometimes that we can't just go out and buy things he wants but he also wants to see us in a good place money wise. The kids are too young to care.

7. Do any of you still do things that aren't thrifty?

Yes, but we are working on it. I don't think anyone can be completely thrifty unless you are really living off the grid, especially since all of us here have internet. :lol3 But 90% frugal is better then nothing.

[amecoy75002]

Welcome to the group

Looks like you have the answers you were looking for. Good luck, and remember - If you believe living a frugal life equals going with out and only making do, it will be. On the other hand, if you believe that living a frugal life is fun and exciting and normal - it will be. Perception is Reality! Good Luck

[peanut]

Welcome to the board!

1. What do all of the little abreviations mean? (such as EF?) Can't think of anymore to add.

2. How do you work on paying off credit cards? We've never had CC debt, so I leave this to the others.

3. Do you budget "every dime" of your money? Yes. We envelope budget. We figure once a year expenses and put them aside monthly in a bank account. We figure monthly expenses and put aside half (2 paychecks/mth) each paycheck in various category envelopes. We aren't adverse from pilfering one envelope to cover something else though. It's a sign our budget needs to be revisited. Seems to change on a seasonal basis here.

4. How long have you been living frugal? Ten years? Hard core for 7. I developed health issues and realized I wasn't going to be able to go back to work. Meant we really had to be frugal and put money aside for retirement.

5. How long did it take you to adjust to frugal living? Hmm...I think we're still adjusting. But now it's a game, instead of a chore.

6. How did your family adjust to living frugal? Quite well. At least the kids. We gave them allowances for clothing etc., and they learned to be frugal using them. DH tends to cycle through a feast and famine approach to money. When he's in feast mode, he likes to spend. When he's in famine mode, even buying a safety pin is too much for him. I still sometimes resent not being able to buy things, but when I get like that now, I look around the house at all the projects I haven't finished or started and shake my head. The 'buy me's' disappear.

7. Do any of you still do things that aren't thrifty? Oh yeah! That's what being frugal is about for me! Being able to do the non-thrifty things occasionally. I go to the spa on air miles. I just bought a Kitchenaid toaster full price. Couldn't find it cheaper and I was sick of the cheap ones always breaking down. I'm at the point in my life (kids are grown) that I want nice stuff in my house. No more junk. So there will be a lot of non-frugal spending the next few years I'm afraid!