Frugal Friday: Financial Shape in 2008 Challenge
We're kicking off a year-long live-on-less challenge over on MoneySavingMom this week and we'd love to have you come join us!Would you like to live on less, pay off debt, and save more money this year? If so, join in the Financial Shape in 2008 Challenge - a year-long campaign to encourage families worldwide to live on less than they make and take personal responsibility for their finances.Bonus! As part of the first step in living on less, I covered a bit on budgeting and posted a detailed look at our family budget which you won't want to miss.
Click here to read more.
Whether or not you can participate in the challenge, I'd love to hear if you have any specific goals related to frugality and money-saving for 2008. Here are a few of mine:
1. Read at least one book on finances or frugality per month.
2. Chronicle my journey of trying to become more of a Do-It-Yourself-er on MoneySavingMom.
3. Become more educated on investments, especially mutual funds and online banking (anyone have any suggestions or ideas or want to point me in a good direction?).
4. Continue to work on reducing our outgo, increasing our income, and wisely investing our money so we can, Lord-willing, make good strides towards our goal of paying cash for a home in 3-5 years.
Feel free to post these goals as part of your Frugal Friday post or leave them in the comments below.
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Join in the fun! Have a frugal tip or deal to share? Post about it on your blog and then come back here and leave your link below so we can all be motivated and inspired. Remember to keep it family-friendly and to post directly to your blog post, not to your blog homepage. Thanks so much for joining us!
Labels: Budgeting and Finances, Frugal Friday
posted by Crystal Paine at 6:00 PM
26 Comments:
We're on a pretty tight... I mean CREATIVE budget for the next year or so. Looking forward to everyone's ideas
Crystal,
Wow, I am impressed. The only direction I can point you to with investments is Sound Mind Investing. They have a website. Just google their name. They give good advice on how to invest your savings. Mike and I have a subscription though expensive to their magazine that tells you how to invest your money. I would call and ask for a complimentary one to see what you think. They include scripture in their writings. Hope this helps.
MP
Crystal, I'm so excited about all your teaching regarding savings! Saving more and spending less is one of my personal goals this year and I have so, so, so much to learn!
I just re-read "The Total Money Makeover" and have been looking (with my husband) for areas we can cut back to put more into savings and investments. We have gotten a bit off track this year and with another military move in the near future, we want to do all we can to keep saving despite "life situations."
I love this new challenge and am encouraged to hear about your budgeting. My husband and I just went over our new budget for the year! It is tight but I am looking forward to doing my best with it. For frugal Friday over the coming weeks I am planning a series on fun entertainment on a tight budget! My blog is brand new...partially inspired by your series on Money Saving Mom!
Also I think it is incredible and VERY smart to try to save up cash for your home purchase. I look forward to hearing more about that.
Thanks!
Crystal, I am new to blogging but I am so delighted to have found this site. It is such a wonderful (and uplifting!) resource. I'm looking forward to learning all that I can from you and your readers!
Thanks for hosting this, Crystal. Love your blog! Thanks for keeping it real, too! : )
How do you link to the post and not the blog home page? I am having trouble with some of this blogging I can't add a link to my blog unless it is a copy and paste thing. I would like to leave a link to a frugal tip I wrote the other day.
Thanks for any help.
I'm up to the challenge! I really want to do better about planning ahead, especially in the menu department. I'm also going to learn how YOU use CVS and follow your other blog more carefully.
Bugtheteacher: At the bottom of each post it says "posted by ___ at ____" If you click on the time it was posted that will take you to the direct link for that post and then you just copy and paste that link from your browser into the Mr.Linky box. Make sense?
Don't worry, we were all just as stumped when we first started out blogging. It's a learn as you go thing!
Thanks for participating!
Good luck on your savings goals, Crystal! I'm sure you both can accomplish this.
With regards to study about investing & online banking, I recommend:
www.getrichslowly.com
While not expressing Christian oriented, the site chronicles one man's journey paying off lots of debt and starting to save. He also has *very good*, up-to-date advice on investing in mutual funds and online savings.
Enjoy!
I am excited to hear more about your plans to buy your house in cash. We are also considering that. After eliminating the student loans, we hope to save aggressively for the house. I totally agree with you that working hard to accomplish this will allow us to be more generous (and avoid needing help from others) in the future. I'm intimidated at times, because house prices are pretty high around here. We are committed to following Dave Ramsey's advice and doing nothing more than a 15 yr mortgage that is less than 25% of our monthly income. However, I feel like after the hard work of eliminating our student loans, we may never want debt again!
It sounds like you are well on your way to avoiding debt.
Crystal,
I am so excited you will be posting a series on budgeting because that is one of my financial goals for 2008. I want to learn to organize, implement and keep a monthly budget with my finances. I have very little personal practice in this area. I live well within my means as it is not hard to do when I am the only one using my income (I'd have to be living real high in the hog to use up my yearly income). However, I definitely see the value of learning to stick with a budget especially so I can better track where my money is going and be able to set aside more for ministry, saving for retirement, and making wise investments.
I am greatly looking forward to reading your series on this topic. Could you also recommend some budgeting software for a PC and where to find the best deal on software? I recently acquired my own computer and plan to install some budgeting software to keep track of my expenses and categorize them.
Here are some of my financial goals for 2008:
1) Plan, implement, and adhere to a budget for each month
2) Give away $200 each month to a Christian ministry in addition to my tithe
3) Balance my checkbook once per week
Thanks so much for bringing up this topic and sharing your knowledge with us.
As for one of my own tips:
I have moved most of my money to my checking account because I can earn 6% interest in that account vs. less than 2% in my savings. The problem comes in when I see how much I have and just think "oh, I can buy whatever I want" without really thinking about my purchase a head of time. I don't have expensive tastes or spend oodles of money but this tends to be my mindset. This is, in part, why I am wanting a budget.
But I have to say that earning the 6% interest is great; more than having a CD or putting it in savings. I just have to learn how to discipline myself to not think of it as "free money" to use however I want.
Have a blessed week.
~LH
Thanks for sharing. Do you think it might be a bit in excess to read one book each month on the topic of finances and frugality? Are we making this aspect of homemaking some what of an idol? I am definitely a frugal mommy and love saving money, but I don't want to be too consumed with it at the expense of our health/good nutrition, time, energy, etc. (reading that could be put towards strengthening our faith, etc.)
I would be curious to hear your position.
ledmonds: I think it depends upon your priorities and season of life.
I definitely wouldn't say that everyone should read one book a month on finances, but since I've actually never even read that many books on saving money and investing (maybe five or ten total that I can think of off-hand - which is pretty pathetic considering how interested I am in this topic!) this is an area I'm hoping to delve into a lot more this year.
You also have to remember that I read really widely and often read 3 or more books per week so one book per month on the subject is not really a large portion of the books I read. I have a huge stack of books related to all sorts of different subjects that I'm also hoping to read this year! I'm a very eclectic reader!
And it also goes back to being your *own* husband's help meet. One of my husband's goals for this year is to learn more about investing so I'm hoping to research this subject along with him as this is something he's mentioned he'd like for me to learn more about.
Thanks for a great question!
Crystal,
I love what you are doing. I have been running from my budget for years and it has just become overwhelming. I now desire marriage and am so afraid because I am so in debt! Any advice given will be so appreciated! Thanks for the inspiration, and there is nothing wrong with what I see as a number. I think it keeps you focused, accountable, and disciplined. Keep up the good work.
Hi Crystal, thanks for all this info. I have a question for you. Why do you and your husband spend so much on life insurance? We've been approached by several life insurance people, and it just doesn't make sense to me, for my husband to work harder now so that I can have a little extra if he dies. I'm perfectly capable of making an income if he were to die, and if I were to die, I don't have an income, so why would I need to be insured? I just don't get it. Thanks for considering my question. : )
Amy R.
Funny, Hubby and I just sat down and outlined our financial goals, both short-term ones and long term ones. I appreciate you posting about this :)
my husband and I use an online bank for our savings which yields higher interest than regular banks. you can check it out if you're interested in something that is virtually risk free and has no penalties for withdrawal.
emigrantdirect.com
AmyR: Great question and one that deserves more than a short comment answer. I'll try to tackle this on MSM very soon. Stay tuned!
Sorry about the double posting, Crystal! I accidentally linked an older post on Freecycle on my first link. The second link is the correct one with the Freecycle post for Frugal Friday that links your blog! You can delete the first one if you'd like.
I encourage everyone to check out Freecycle; not only does it make sense, it's Christian and green. And if you're creative, you can do even more, like get things for a local woman's shelter, needy families, etc. The sky's the limit!
Marianne at Writer-Mommy
If you have a chance to answer, this is a money and scheduling question. How much time do you spend on your budget/money planning (daily, weekly, yearly, etc.)? I know this may be skewed a little since you have business finances thrown in there, too, but just wondered how long all of that takes to keep track of.
My husband and I are both naturally savers and our schedules are unbelievably tight right now (5 kids, homeschool, multiple full time jobs, etc.), so although we keep track of things overall (and hardly have time to spend more than what we need), we haven't kept a paper budget in recent years partly because it wasn't a priority in our schedule. We do talk about money, and both are in agreement on things. We are saving about half of our income and give well beyond the tithe, so it is not effecting our money negatively, but I am hoping to get back into tracking things in the near future as our schedule may be opening up quite a bit sometime this year.
Anyway, I know I used to spend about 45 minutes each week on it and a couple hours once a month as well. How does the system you use compare? We were using Larry Burkett's Money management system.
Wow, well you are certainly doing alot better now that you finished school, huh?
I see now why it is possible for you to be able to save to buy a house now, and it makes sense if you can do that, to do it! That must feel really good!
I think though there are people this will never be possible for, to save enough money to buy a house.
I am doing pretty well now financially, which means I do have money every month to pay everything without worrying about it. I have a little life insurance, I have a small amount saved, but there is no way on earth it would even be possible for us to save enough to buy a house as we live on disability and part time work my husband can do of $650 a month.
I do not want to be well off, I know some people think that is weird, but I am content to be on the poorer side as money brings too many temptations. I think we can easily forget other people who are struggling once we get more comfortable (not that you do this), but I think it is something to really try to remember that not everyone will be able to save to buy a house, but sometimes for them it may be right to take out a morgage and buy one as sometimes poor people can still get out of debt this way.
Right now, I am happy to have a mobile home, as renting was so stressful with children, this way I have my own walls and although not fancy, not that much money either. Someday, I hope to get a house, but if not, I know God has made me content!
Hi Crystal,
You are SO inspiring, girl! My husband just got through putting together a new budget for us, including an envelope system. We've never had much trouble with a lot of debt, but we've never been great at saving either. We're hoping to turn that around! It's funny that we are doing better financially now with only one income than when we had two. I guess when we had "disposable" income we didn't think about it much. Now we are watching where everything goes, and it's SO good for us both!
I would like to sincerely congratulate you on your efforts to buy a house debt-free. That is almost unheard of these days, and really inspiring! You go girl!
Ok, this is totally unrelated (except that I am trying to save $), but does anyone know about canning your own tomatoes, chicken broth, or beans? I have recipes for making jam, pickles, etc, but my family really doesn't eat those much. Where I drop all the money is on canned tomatoes, pinto beans, and chicken broth (should I freeze the broth instead?). I know absolutely nothing about canning. Crystal, would this fall under the "do it yourself" category over at Money Saving Mom?
Phebe
Crystal, I wish you well in the house saving area. Even though we took a home mortgage out for our home we are looking at refinancing for better interest rates, paying off 2 credit cards that total under $5000 by the end of the year, switched our retirement plan, making home improvements w/cash and put money into savings. The only problem I have with my budget is I can't always count on the income to come on a weekly bases. We are self-employed and have to wait for our contractors to pay us. Most times they are on time but then there are times we have to sweat it out. These are the times when I truely depend on the Lord. We aren't doing to bad but with the little that we are in debt with we are doing better then others. I even want to buy a new vehicle this coming year but w/cash because right now our vehicles are paid for and after 6 years of not having to make those payments are hard to swallow. We'll see. Right now our vehicles run fine and I want to update the house more.
I'm home again with sick girls this Sunday so I wanted to post a quick note here (I'm really hoping we can get completely well this next week!):
I changed #4 on our goals and pulled a few of the comments after more discussions with my husband - I don't want to in any way be a distraction or cause someone to feel discontent or be a stumbling block to anyone. I want to help and encourage you instead!
From now on, we've decided it would be best to keep specifics on our budget and savings over on MoneySavingMom.
Thanks to those who expressed concern over this so I could re-think things and change the post. I sincerely apologize if I offended anyone. I'm once again reminded just how careful and discerning I need to be when posting things here. Thank you for bearing with me when I make mistakes. I'm learning and growing in the area of discretion and still have a long way to go!
God bless you all!
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