Frugal Rock Travel- Backpacking Style

Hi Folks! It's been a while- summer is getting away from me. Been really busy enjoying life, getting outside and enjoying out of town company. Hoping to get a more regular schedule in place again for the fall; but thanks for visiting!

I'm back with a Frugal Rock Travel Segment- and want to share about the best mini-getaway I've ever taken. That's right- THE best. And it was the best for a few reasons: getting away for a long weekend, spending time with Mr. FR, having no phone, email or technology...ohhh, and the fact that it all cost less than 200 bucks. Get ready for a photo-heavy post!

Having been lucky to travel quite a bit nationally and internationally, I never would have thought to find such a cool getaway a few hours away. IF you are willing to rough it and enjoy the experience of the great outdoors, camping and backpacking are a wonderful and frugal way to go. In Wisconsin, backpacking and non-electric site (meaning no outlets nearby) costs $20 a night so a long weekend stay can be done for $40 a weekend- $50 with all taxes and fees. This would still be much below the hotel costs or even a night out for dinner and drinks.

The GEAR

Now one quick aside about gear.

Of course, the initial costs of camping gear can be expensive. Tents, backpacks, cook stoves, etc. can add up quickly. I am not advocating for the cheapest purchases all the way around ( after all, who wants to spend any money on a tent that leaks?), but neither do you need to go to REI and let them 'outfit' you with a special cook pot that costs over $100 and supposedly works better over the fire. I call hogwash. Other then our tent and backpacks, we tend to go cheaper/simpler options as best. Here is a quick rundown of our backpacking gear:                   

Only people for miles, right along Lake Michigan.

                          

1 Quechua Tent- for sure the best purchase we have made. Tight fit for two people, but with room at the foot for bags. We have been out in some heavy rain and have never had a leak. Also while a tight fit, because of the small footprint, we tend to stay warmer. The big selling point for me on this one is it springs open and other then staking it into the ground requires no assembly.

A little chilly but nothing a hat won't fix. My

bag is a GoLite.

2 Backpacks- probably out most expensive gear. To haul all of our items comfortably, it's important that the bag be the right size for you and is able to help you easily haul everything you need. In this case, we needed to hike in and out about 2 miles, carrying all of our items. While not a huge distance you would struggle without the proper bag. We have used these not only for camping, but also for train trips or other getaways. Last year the Frugal Rock household took the train to DC, and then walked to the AirBNB, about 2 miles with all of our stuff on our backs. We bought these online (thanks Amazon prime!) but I would highly recommend walking over to a outfitting/camping store and trying on some bags before buying so you know the style that works best for you.

Mr. FR loving the outdoors and outfitted to hike out after a fun weekend!

1 Foldable burner and cook fuel. We had looked at more expensive options multiple times. JetBoil is the most popular one out there, but simple and light won the day on this. We use a simple fold out burner and a small fuel cell that we light. The pot for the stove- that we use for everything, making coffee, meals etc., was an old cook pot of ours that's gotten a little warped over time. When we replaced the pot in our home kitchen, it got repurposed for our outdoor needs.

1 Water Filtration. This is the first trip where we did not have easy access to drinking water.  Due to this we did have to make some purchases, including a foldable water jug, tablets to clean the drinking water (so we could pull it right from Lake Michigan!) and water filtration straws to help filter any left over bits from our lake or stream water. This totaled just under $30 and will be items that we plan on using in the future.

Other items:
Sleeping Bags
Ax- cutting up downed wood, instead of purchasing or hauling wood in (cuts down on invasives too- so double win)
Rain Gear
Clothes/Personal Items

Every so often we need to replace some of the small items, such as flashlights, but over the last 6 years, we have slowly purchased the big items so the expenses were spread out over a long period of time.

While we spend a lot of time hiking and sitting around the fire when camping, we also bring at least one travel game. A pack of cards will do, but lately we have been bringing Travel Chess or Battleship. A book or two generally gets shoved into one of the bags as well. We bring one of our phones for emergencies, but don't use it for distraction- ie. internet surfing during downtimes, though a podcast does come in handy for rainy nights!

The FOOD

The way backpacking differs from most camping, is the lack of refrigeration or coolers. Most foods will either need to be packaged and/or dehydrated to prevent spoiling.

There are several store bought varietis you can purchase if you want to go the easiest route. Here is one variety that came recommended that you can buy on Amazon. If you are worried about the sodium content in some of these package meals (Mr. FR) or just want something a little more gourmet for camping (me) you can also very easily and cheaply make your own food packs. The key idea behind this is something that will taste delicious, is nutritious- in these cases also packed with protein, and can be made with just boiling water and adding the food packet. I got a lot of inspiration from this blogger who made a variety of packaged meals. I also did some comparing to this site and played around with my own variations as well. I will admit that some of these were so good that I could see making and stacking them in the pantry for nights when you may just need an instant meal and don't want to do the same old pasta or rice-a-roni.

To make the recipes above I did go on Amazon (we have a prime membership so it's often cheaper to purchase in bulk from Amazon then run to the store!) and order a few things- freezer Ziploc bags, freeze dried veggies, fruit and chicken. With the help of the link above I made the following meals for our dinners/lunches:

Sundried Tomato Pasta w/ Salmon
Fiesta Rice w/ Chicken and Veggies
Thai Peanut Sauce and Noodle Dish **my personal favorite**
Vegetable Curry

Each bag I wrote the instructions as to how much water and cook time was needed to make things really simple each night. You will notice that these are carbohydrate heavy. One reason for that is that carbs are great in making you full without tons of food. Carbs stick with you throughout the day. When you are hiking 5-8 miles a day something lighter is not going to get you through! Finally, carbs work great in these meals since they come dried, they are uniquely good at being the base in instant meals.

For breakfasts, I did something similar and made homemade instant oatmeal packets. Again for ease and speed, you could bring Quaker Oats instant packs, but if you really want to be horrified- check the sugar content in just one of those packs. In addition, Mr. FR and I combined would eat about 5 packs in a morning so over 3-4 days we would generate a bunch of garbage to pack out. Instead, I made 5 serving breakfast packs again with dried fruit and added cinnamon or one decadent morning cocoa powder. Each morning we boiled water and then threw in the one breakfast pack and a few minutes later had a meal ready.

For snacks, there was applesauce and summer sausage (some varieties don't need refrigeration until opening so we bought small ones and ate in one sitting). And of course, plenty of instant coffee.

The COST Breakdown (rounded for calculating ease)

Site Fees/Reservations- $60 for 3 night at $20 a night

Food Costs- $50- including left over freeze dried items for future meals. I gave myself a budget of $50 and stayed to it pretty exactly.

Gas-$40 - I put $20 in my tank on the way there and the way back, but never was fully empty so the actual gas price is approximate

Restaurant- $35- We did a very un-frugal thing on the way back and stopped for lunch. Being frugal is also about knowing when to splurge, and we couldn't resist the lunch spot with goats on the roof.

Total: $185

The NATURE

So in case you are asking yourself- why all this work? Was it worth it? Absolutely! These below images of the beautiful scenery we got to enjoy. Not only that, but we were completely relaxed most of the weekend, and were truly away from it all. We did not have any other campers nearby and were miles from other people. We were able to wake up each morning with a view of the lake from our tent and songbirds overhead.  Not only that, but I had a huge sense of satisfaction during the trip of being pushed out of my comfort zone, and at times, pushing our endurance. It reminded me that the best vacations are not necessarily the most expensive ones, but the ones that nourish your soul. Needless to say, we already booked our site for next summer!

After several days of rain the forest was a bright green, as only seen in spring- with wildflowers blooming in the underbrush.

Little garden snake. After Mr.FR painstakingly got close to this little guy, I almost immediately stepped on another one.

They were everywhere!

A tree with personality...

Your Next Cell Phone- Contract Versus Buying Outright

So unfortunately, the Frugal Rock Household just encountered the first unexpected large expense of 2016. My cell phone has been on it's last leg for a bit now. It's battery life has been waning for a while and would unexpectedly shut down when the charge was lower than 30%. Being a frugal lady, I just kept a charger on hand so that it was never low. In November, it fell out of an open pocket while biking and cracked the screen- but still worked! So I soldiered on- than recently I dropped it AGAIN (I know I'm still kicking myself) and this time the screen is truly done for.

I was not looking forward to this new phone purchase- I clearly have been putting it off for a while. I thought long and hard about going without a smart phone as I like the idea of being less attached to my electronics and the time-waster internet sites like Pinterest, Facebook, Buzzfeed, etc. There are days that between work and home, all I feel that I have done has been stare at screens. While I seriously considered going back to 1995 and living without my smart phone; traveling for work and the need to check emails pretty consistently between meetings during my day led me to realize that my dream of being smart phone free was likely unrealistic. (Sigh)

I am a fan of the iPhone and so if I needed a new smart phone, wanted to keep all of my apps and contacts easily transferable. The big question for me was whether to a do contract of purchase the phone outright. Now we often don't think about this- but when you purchase a phone through a carrier it is often highly subsidized by the carrier. Most cell phones are expensive- which in a way makes sense when you think about all the things we now expect our phone to do. Our mini pocket computers make calls, but they do much more than that now. Cell phone companies and producers, like Apple, market the next big change in phones in a way that leaves many consumers rushing out to get the next phone.

To make the purchase more palatable to consumers, they will charge you an upgrade cost and tack on an additional monthly payment to your bill. This makes it much easier to manage for monthly payments- and helps consumers avoid noticing how much their phone actually costs. This is a time tested marketing trick used by car dealerships, furniture stores and the shopping network. $30 a month doesn't seem bad, but really it's a payment plan for your phone. To give you some perspective, the current base IPhone model, the 5s, with the smallest amount of memory, retails for $450, other phone varieties can sell for between $600-800 to purchase outright.

 Now does buying it outright save you money in the long run? Short answer is: it might. The answer varies depending on your carrier. As an AT&T user, they no longer do contracts, so I didn't have to worry about the need to avoid signing another contract. If I was with another carrier, I would have been even more likely to buy outright to avoid having to get locked into another round of contracts for services I may not need. By buying outright I did avoid a phone upgrade charge, but this amount, while saved money, was pretty small- I believe our sales person said $20.

Being aware of how much you are actually spending is one of the first steps towards being a good consumer. It also gave me a different perspective on taking care of my phone. I probably shouldn't feel this way- but I will likely take care of my phone differently thinking of spending hundreds for it, as opposed to just a few bucks a month.

Introducing: A Frugal Household Rule of Frugality:

If you can't buy it outright- you can't afford it. Yup- if you can't see spending $600 outright for a cell phone, due to draining a bank account, I would hold off on that new phone. Now there may be reasons to re-sign a contract or do a payment plan depending on your plan and your phone company's current specials. You may get a deal that way depending on the carrier/time of year, BUT if buying it outright would create a hardship for your monthly finances, it's time to reprioritize, possibly buy a cheaper phone or wait to upgrade.

 Have you ever bought a phone outright or found a good deal on a cell phone? Would you ever consider purchasing your next phone outright?

 



Get Your Green's- Can Veggie Gardening Save You Cash?

                                       

Me: It's March 1st- that means it's time to think gardening!

Mr. Frugal Rock: Wait, what?! In the snow?

Last summer, I had my first raised vegetable garden...with some mistakes. One thing I learned that broccoli isn't easy to grow well. From one avid gardener, I was told that I watered them too much- from another I heard that I planted too soon. Seems like every gardener has an opinion. Either way, I'm hoping for a rematch this summer: Mrs. Frugal Rock versus broccoli. I did learn that zucchini, and beans do well- not to mention beets and radishes. Even two watermelon grew...much to my surprise..

So why start thinking about summer gardens now? First of all, spring is coming fast. To help reduce costs, I grow seedlings indoors starting 30-60 days before they need to be planted outdoors. Buying seed packets only costs less than 2 bucks for a lot of seeds. It's also easier to find greater variety of what type of plants or vegetables you want to grow. In the summer months, if you go to a big box store, they may have 1-2 varieties of cucumbers, but online there are TONS of different seed varieties to choose from. Don't want to grow indoors? You can always purchase plants from any garden store in May or June, but prepare for a higher price.

Here in the Midwest, where the Frugal Rock calls it home, May 15 is the general rule of thumb (green thumb hopefully) for outside planting. That means March 15 is my first day of indoor planting for anything that needs a long germination time. Last year, while I grew a lot of veggies, I didn't pay any attention to the actual quantity grown or how much was saved on groceries during the summer months. Anecdotally, I believe that we saved funds during the summer months, based on what felt like lower grocery bills but alas, scientific it was not! At the very least, it was nice to grow food for ourselves confident that they were free of pesticides, but this year I'll have my spreadsheets ready to go to see how much it cost versus saved. I love me some spreadsheets!

On a side note, for anyone out there with gardening interest, I use the square foot gardening method to maximize my growing space. This technique is where you plant each vegetable in it's own square foot of space (some veggies like carrots you plant 10-15 in a square, where others take up the whole square, or even multiples). I had an eight by eight space last year, and this year, I'm hoping to drastically expand that. It didn't take too much convincing of Mr. Frugal Rock to get rid of more of our grass for garden space. We have been slowly decreasing our grass space since moving into our home by adding a patio/pergola, some bushes and a raspberry patch, but I love of the idea of eliminating mowing, and using our yard space for our very own garden.

Here's the list of veggies I want to grow this year:

Tomato's (hope to make salsa this year)

Jalapenos

Onions

Beans

Radishes

Beets

Zucchini

Lettuce (a few varieties)

Carrots

Peppers ( a few other varieties)

Eggplant
Yellow/butternut squash

I plan to keep track of my spending all the way through, from the seeds I germinate, to the plants I buy. What I'm hoping to learn is whether the amount of vegetables I grow offsets my costs. Basically, if I grow enough that it saves me enough to justify the costs. Now of course there are other reasons that I began to enjoy gardening other than just trying to save money. I love spending time outdoors in the summer months and have always felt most content when working outside. The physical exercise is a bonus too, but I'm curious if an argument can also be made to garden for food to save money. Get ready for some veggie gardening- Frugal Rock style- as I try and answer the question, can a veggie garden save you money??

PS. I literally jut saw this garden bean tunnel online, and I'm in love!

Frugal Rock Travel- Road Trippin' on the Cheap!

I am excited to announce a new series here on Frugal Rock: The Frugal Rock Travel Segment! The first post of this series is on the frugal road trip. I hope to post on other travel ideas throughout the year, like frugal destinations, backpacking/camping and other travel tips.  

As I mentioned in this recent post, Mr. Frugal Rock and I spent the beginning of the year on the road for a week, hoofing it (not literally) to destinations in Georgia and Florida. With gas prices being so low, and our love of road trips- it made perfect sense for us to drive and avoid the hassle of flying. 2 people, one car, 22 hours of driving (one way), and roughly 1,200 miles. What could possibly go wrong? Surprisingly little, as it turned out!

A 'sherbet sunrise, during an early start'

While I've always loved the classic American road trip- I wasn't sure how it would really measure up price wise, compared to the cost of airfare. I was particularly worried about racking up additional costs along the way. Since we were traveling for a long period of time over two days, I figured that we could end up spending more on meals and possible hotel costs.

Road trips can be a good alternative for family travel, especially when your family starts growing in number and you have to look at purchasing 3-4 plane tickets. My family is just the two of us, so while ticket prices wouldn't be THAT outrageous, my hypothesis was that we could road trip it for cheaper, while also enjoying the time together for fun and hilarity. To be fair the only thing that probably would talk me out of road trips is if it ever became more expensive than flying, so I clearly already have a 'slant'- but don't worry, I will breakdown our spending for you so you can see for yourself how it compares, and can judge for yourselves.

Cost Break Down:

$200 in gas- this came out almost exact so I rounded it up to $200 for the way there and back. Note: We had ridiculously low gas prices this January, combined with a pretty fuel efficient car, kept gas costs lower than anticipated.

$0 for meals on the road. Our goal was to not spend any money on gas station food (you can keep your dried out and stale hot dogs Citgo!) or other fast food/chain joints (what the hell is the deal with all the Cracker Barrels between here and Florida anyway??! We counted- no joke- 23. Gross.)

$46 for meal prep. So we did eat during our road trip- don't let our no fast food costs fool you! As an incurable snack-er I made sure that there were plenty of go-to munchies for the trip, as well as healthy and frugal lunch ideas.

$86 for hotel costs, 1 night on the drive. This one I'm a bit ashamed of- Mr. Frugal Rock was advocating for us sleeping in the car for a few hours and than continuing on our way. But I'll admit, it was unexpectedly cool on our drive south and I wanted a shower. Luxury won over frugality this time!

Total Cost for the Road Trip: $332
*Note, I'm not taking into account our expenses for the remainder of the trip, as in theory they would be about the same, whether we flew or drove, mainly comparing the cost of driving versus flying here!*

Flight Cost Estimator: Using Kayak (a great way to travel cheap), I was able to look for flights on a variety of airlines to try and find the best deals. The flights that matched the dates we wanted to travel ended up being about $300 a person= $600 for us total. There are ways to get cheaper flights, leave on 'off days' avoiding weekends, Mondays or Fridays, and being willing to have multiple stops en route but in viewing this, I am ready to declare the road trip, the frugal winner this time!


Traveling by car can expose you to some great views!

3 MUSTS for a Frugal Road Trip

Ready to try a road trip? Here are the three things, that can make or break your trip (or your wallet).

1. Bring your own food-  the cooler is a must...

One of the things about traveling and vacation is trying new restaurants, so you are probably already eating out more than normal. Why waste your dollars on the fast food/chain places en route? I guarantee that avoiding these places will make you feel better in the long-run as well. For our frugal road trip I stocked our cooler and snack bag with:

-Fresh fruit, grapes, apples and oranges for snacking
-trail mix and granola bars
-peanut butter/jelly and a lot of bread
-fresh veggies and hummus, for wraps
-mozzarella balls, tomatoes and basil for caprese wraps on the go
-made ahead spicy curry chicken salad

2. Avoid hotels when possible...

Obviously, didn't follow my own advice on this one! Ways you can avoid hotels, may be planning your route so that you can stop at a truck stop or camp ground to park the car and get some sleep. You can also check out vacation rental sites or couch crashing options to keep your costs lower. If you have to stop, make sure you call around. When we stopped for the night, we saw 4 hotels on the off ramp, and in calling each found a high variance in pricing between equally nice looking places. It pays to call in advance, even if it's only two minutes in advance.

3. Plan activities for your car ride!



Local library for the win!

I can honestly say that I love road trips. But, if you are going to spend 20+ hours in the car, even with your most favorite person, you better be prepared! Mr. Frugal and I went online and picked our 4 books on cd- we made it through two of them. I would highly recommend Mary Roach if you haven't read her books. She is a fascinating science author, that often focuses on the unique people behind the interesting facts she shares. We also came stocked with plenty of music (road trip playlist anyone?!) and podcasts. Since Serial just came out with their second season, we saved up the episodes we hadn't heard yet and binged listened all at once!

Are you a fan of the road trip? What's the farthest you have traveled by car? Any secrets to a good, frugal road trip?

Home UpGraddes (With 2 D's For a Double Dose of Frugality)

One of my New Year's Resolutions found in this recent post was embrace my love of travel, but find a way to do it, frugal rock style! If you're new to this blog, you may not know quite what that means yet, but in summary it's embracing a low spending/high saving lifestyle. While this may sound like in proportion to our spending less/saving more our fun would go down- decreased spending, decreased fun. Not true!

Last week, Mr. Frugal Rock and I were kicking it old school- road tripping across the country. We were gone for a week, visiting friends and family along the way. I hope to gather my top frugal road trip ideas for you for an upcoming post- so far the frugal highlights have been a well stocked cooler with prepared snacks and meals so we could avoid the fast food pitfalls (also saving $$) and make good time since we can eat on the road. A close second was all the books on CD we checked out from the local library. I would highly recommend 'What If?' by Ronald Munroe for your road trip pleasure...It's not my usual read but it's perfect for car rides as Munroe spends 10 minutes exploring a question in detail before moving on to the next one! Ever wanted to learn if sticking a nuke in a hurricane could stop the weather event? How about the statistical probability of finding your 1 soul mate? Or my personal favorite- how fast would a steak need to fall through the atmosphere so that it was cooked when it landed on the earth's surface? While these three questions were not on my personal 'need to know' list- the answers were entertaining!

But anyway...in the meantime, here is a new article on easy upgrades to your home or apartment that can make a big difference- while also helping to save you green!!

When I was first looking for housing we toured a lot of homes- I actually made Mr. Frugal Rock and I clipboards with checklists of home features we were interested in and we took a lot of notes on the houses we liked. Without fail, the ones that stood out had nice upgrades that set it apart. Some were expensive upgrades that the owners probably never made their money back on selling the house, but others were easy ones that when we bought our home - we made sure to do right away. To save you the trouble of touring a whole mess of homes, here are my top 3 upgrades that you can do now! 

Keyless Schlage Deadbolt Locks

1. Upgrade to Keyless Locks

Never need to carry around keys again? Why yes please! Keyless entry pretty much rocked my world, and has led to me not carrying house keys 99.99% of the time. Keyless entry is very simple, you install the locking mechanism very much like you would install a normal door handle or deadbolt. The lock is battery powered so no electrical expertise is necessary. A major plus for me! At the Frugal Rock home, we have installed the keyless deadbolts on our front and back doors and use this exclusively for locking/unlocking. Since installing two years ago, our batteries are still running strong, since they are only engaged when you hit the keypad, very little power is drawn. Being a little bit of a nervous homeowner (did you hear that noise?), I did wonder about what would happen when the battery went out, but the operating manual assured us that it would annoyingly beep at us when it was time to change the battery.

The second plus is you can change the code at any time or even have a code that only works during certain timeframes. For example, if you have someone who comes to your house during the day- babysitter, dog-walker etc. you can have a different code that they use that wouldn't work on a night or weekend. A one time code, is an option for some models, works well if you have workmen or movers coming to the home. It's also very easy to re-set so if for some reason you want to change the code, it can be done in minutes. It's made things easy for us if we have someone stopping by the house to just give them the code, as opposed to getting keys made.

The cost isn't outrageous either- you can purchase on Amazon or at your local hardware store. The Frugal Rock home uses the Schlage keyless deadbolt, which retails for about $85 bucks. Other models may be over $100, but I've found our model does just fine. Now if you are moving into a new home and want to re-key the locks without spending $50+ you can try a re-key kit ($12.99 at Home Depot) or replace your locks for about $30 a piece, however the lack of hassle of going keyless has been great and it's an easy and cheap upgrade.
　
* On a side note- as I mentioned we were recently traveling, which is always an adventure. We had planned to stay at least one night at a friend's home who was out of town. We had a key in hand, and upon arriving couldn't get the key to work. After trying it in every exterior door (probably looking like we were 'casing' the joint) we surmised either the key had been made wrong or we had been given the wrong key- not hard to do by any stretch of the imagination. Keyless locks would have solved the problem, as we could have just called and gotten the code. Just a thought for you Air BNB folks out there!

2. Ditch the Dated Light Fixtures

Is there anything worse than a ceiling fan with faux wood blades?? How about the 90's trend of gilded light fixtures? Have great light fixtures- you probably hardly notice them, but bad lighting, and it's guaranteed to be the first thing everyone walking into your home notices. 

Replacing a light fixture is a homeowner must- as I learned shortly after we moved in...our bathroom light fixtures, and our bedroom ceiling fan were huge busts. Our bedroom ceiling fan was MASSIVE, way to big for the room, and the faux wood blades and gold needed to go! You can find great looking light fixtures without breaking the bank by checking out your local hardware or big box store- here Home Depot or Menards reign supreme. So Mr. Frugal Rock and I spent some time perusing both places before settling on the fixtures we wanted.

When touring homes, a simple feature we saw again and again was remote lighting in the master bedroom. Getting out of bed to turn out your overhead lights, is soooo 2008. We recently upgraded our bedroom with a ceiling fan that allows you to control the light and fan speeds by remote.

While ceiling fans or new light fixtures are often an under $100 upgrade, if replacing completely is out of budget, try upgrading your fixtures with a few tricks. Depending on the light fixture, you may be able to get away with replacing the bulbs to give the fixture a new effect- think replacing vanity lighting with a frosted bulb for a more elegant esthetic. If that doesn't work, don't underestimate the use of paint (yes, even on light fixtures) to make a big difference. You can paint metal light fixtures or old fan blades. If you are thinking of replacing them anyway, why not take a risk and see if you can salvage for just a fraction of the price of a new one?


3. Add Built-ins to Maximize Space

Small built-in's can really take a room from being ordinary to standing out. When we were house hunting and touring homes, I distinctly remember a home, that had a tiny kitchen but amazing, narrow, cabinetry in each corner that was built in. This increased function as well as created a key focal point, you hardly noticed the small area, because the space was so maximized.

I have fallen hard for built-ins in the past two years. Lucky for me, I have a few skilled trades folk in my family and Mr. Frugal Rock is pretty adventurous with power tools (also why we have a first aid kit always on hand). In our home, we added a large ceiling to floor built in bookshelf, that also acts as our TV cabinet, as well as built-in benches forming a banquette seating area (yep, that's the actual name for that type of seating- look it up!). The bookshelves and the benches were hand-crafted for about the same price as purchasing a removable option (think several bookshelves, or benches) but instead really makes the room look special. The benches also do a great job hiding all the junk that we store in them... they have taken on extra serving ware we rarely use and a plethora of other objects as well!

 If you have ever contacted a custom furniture company, you know that it can get really expensive quickly, but there are some key ways to save major $$ on the project. The first (and most obvious) is to DIY it. Now, I know a bunch of you are ready to leave this page thinking..."DIY...ugh, the trend that never dies..."! Give yourself some credit- while you may not be able to jump right in and build something massive, most tutorials have easy to follow instructions that break down every step along the way. Lack of power tools holding you back? Home Depot will often times let you rent the tools you need for a low price, which may be worth it if you can crank your project out in a few short days. Don't be afraid to ask around either, we've saved money in the past by borrowing specific tools from family and friends- and have shared what we have as well. If you are going to venture into the unknown, I'm a fan of http://www.instructables.com/, where DIY fans can upload instructions from the relevant to the insane. Prepare to do some digging, but it makes you appreciate all the creativity out there!

Mirrors in small spaces can help
the area seem brighter!

The other option is to purchase a ready-made item that can be made to look custom. When I began searching for a way to add a built-in wardrobe to our bedroom, I could not find anything more space efficient, low in price or as perfect for storage, as the Ikea Pax Wardrobe System. I kept mine 'as is' but there are plenty of examples online (check out this feature on Apartment Therapy), of more adventuresome design bloggers who have turned the wardrobes into expensive looking pieces of furniture. But isn't cheaper furniture well...cheap? I've been surprised with my wardrobe- the doors and shelving are heavy-duty and after two years show no sign of wear and tear. Having also purchased more expensive furniture that hasn't held up, I can attest to the fact that more expensive does not always equate to better when you are talking furniture!

If you definitely can't do it yourself, try utilizing independent contractors or a handy-person as opposed to a custom building company. Many construction jobs have 'off-seasons' when individuals may be looking for odd cash jobs.

Are you working on any home upgrades? What are ways that you have updated your home or apartment? Any secrets you have to save money on home improvements?

PS. If the title of this post leaves you wondering- check out the movie Idiocracy...you won't regret it.

I Hope You Get Gift Cards for Christmas (or How to Save $ From Someone Else's Disappointment)

Jimmy opens up his Christmas card form Grandma. He smiles in that grateful but disappointed way and says thank you, holding up his $50 gift card for Applebee's. What's wrong with Applebee's? Let's say Jimmy is a vegetarian and a foodie, and wouldn't be caught dead in an Applebee's. He goes home, goes online and sells the gift card for $35 and gets money instantly in his paypal account. He uses that to buy a years worth of Tahini for his homemade hummus and considers himself content.

Enter the world of re-selling gift cards. Is your mind blown? Mine was!

Having been the receiver of gift cards in the past to places we never go to, I can see how there is a market for it. Case in point: Baskin Robbins gift card? What the heck is a Baskin Robbins?! (Can I order bird seed from there?) However, I was shocked that it turns out some people are so eager for the cash instead that they will sell their gift cards for 5-20% off from a lot of major retailers. In a quick check of one gift card buying/selling site- (I spent the most time on Raise.com) you could pick up a $300 TJ Maxx gif card for $250. Check it out: https://www.raise.com/buy-t-j-maxx-gift-cards

A Robin Basking...

If you can find gift cards that are places you already spend at regularly through out the year you could save quite a bit of money this way. In demand gift cards for places like grocery stores, or Menards are harder to come by, but as a big Home Depot spender I'm keeping my eye on their gift cards. They are currently selling for 8%, less than cash value. Hoping it will hit 10-15% after the holidays.

Most major restaurant chains, clothing lines, etc. are also featured on these sites. Shop Express or Banana Republic? Gift cards for these places offer a nice chunk of discount. Target and Kohl's also seem to fluctuate between 5-10%. Not huge savings compared to other stores, but if you know that you typically spend about $500 in purchases at Target throughout the year (another reason it's good to track your spending!), why not buy $500 in gift cards in January at a discount and relish how smart you are throughout the year whenever you use it? You look pretty smart to me...

                                                         Why Now?

Turns out that there is a best time of year to buy almost anything. January is the top month to buy gift cards according to most economy trackers, and it's really no surprise. It may be folks selling their holiday gift cards, or returning gifts without a receipt and receiving 'in-store' credit in the form of a gift card. Either way, January is the perfect time to shop around for gift cards. Check out the graph, courtesy of Life Hacker.

On the flip, if you get gift cards for Christmas, you can also sell them on site like raise.com, but be prepared to take a hit. People shop these sites looking for deals so likely will only bite if the deal is sweet enough. Be prepared to take a loss. So here's hoping that a lot of people get gift cards this Christmas- as I'll be expectantly waiting for them to turn up on gift card selling sites!

Oh, and if you were considering getting a few gift cards for those last few nieces and nephews on your list...maybe just get them cash instead.

 

           Are you giving gift cards this year? Would you ever sell your gift cards online?

 

the philosophy of spending SMALL while living LARGE

In the past year, Mr. Frugal Rock and I have made some changes to our lifestyle that have greatly impacted our quality of life and decreased our spending. It wasn't a big conversation that prompted these changes, but we began considering and trying to be more intentional with how and where we spent our money (and our time). Looking back it probably first began with our decision a few years ago to purchase a smaller home, where we had to really look at the function, utility and beautiful-ness of each object or piece of furniture. Any person who is living in 1500 square feet or less can relate this problem. This led us to downscale from a dining room table the fit 10 to a small round table with home-made built in benches for cozy board games and exceptional amounts of storage in a small space*. It also reflected who we are and what we enjoy. I am not a hosting-a-big-dinner-party kind of person, but a quiet night with friends- totally my speed!

In the past year though, we have really looked at every aspect of our lives and tried to find ways to reduce. So where has this led? It led to a conscious decision to keep our heat low (even a few degrees can make a difference) and avoid additional electrical expenses- like putting up Christmas lights**. While some were big savings decisions, others were smaller lifestyle decisions that made less of an impact on our wallet. One of the major lifestyle changes was related to what we purchase. In the wake of an abundance of Black Friday purchases/Holiday shopping it can be all too easy to get sucked into the consumerism of the season. I myself am a sucker for emails from Amazon relating the AMAZING deals. But wait, you say, isn't it better to purchase something on SALE than on full price??

While that may be true- it becomes NEEDS versus WANTS. If there was something that you genuinely needed and it's on sale- here in the cold north, a winter coat comes to mind, I say go for it. However, for most of us there are already 2 winter coats in the closet and this latest purchase is the more 'stylish' in coat for this new season, than it falls pretty quickly into the WANT column. So why does that new gadget, item, piece of clothing have that allure for us? Advertising and marketing firms are working hard to try and sell you happiness- not a new coat, but the feeling that new coat will supposedly give to you. And most of us have felt that high after buying that perfect item. But how long does that last for? Here are three questions to ask yourself before you go online or brick' n' mortar shopping:

Do I own something that currently serves this purpose?

I caught myself at REI last week during one of their FREE classes (great for learning a new skill on a budget), looking at a new pair of snow boots. They were amazing- on sale from about $300 to $150- a huge discount. I probably tried them on initially because of the sale price, and than once they fit the sales lady was doing a admirably subtle job of letting me know all the ways that these boots were special. It took me a moment of walking around the store with the boots under my arm before I reminded myself that while $150 is much less than $300, $0 was actually the amount that I needed to spend on snow boots, as I had a pair that get the job done the few months of the year I need them, and while these matched my winter gear perfectly, lets face it, none of my neighbors will notice when we are all ankle deep in snowdrifts shoveling our sidewalks. While I was initially disappointed about not getting the boots, I haven't thought about them again until righting this post- a sure sign they were a want, not a need.

What am I hoping for from this purchase (will it help me achieve something, or learn something new)?

This comes from a desire to move away from buying stuff, just to have more. Recently, I have used the bar of what am I "hoping to achieve from this purchase" as a litmus test for spending. For example, I love being outdoors. I feel most zen and at peace when I can spend at least an hour outside doing something active and enjoyable. My favorite activity most of the year is going hiking, even for a short period, but day hikes are wonderful! In the past, winters have always been hard for me, I struggle with the days getting dark sooner, not being able to get outside as often, or as comfortably as you can the rest of the year.

While a lot of this is in our heads, and we can get out and enjoy long walks and time outdoors even in our cold Wisconsin winters, it can feel more challenging. As a result, I purchased our family snowshoes this year to push ourselves to get outdoors and to allow us to still get to enjoy our hikes through nature. This purchase has a few benefits for us- it allows us to learn a new skill and embark on a new experience (snowshoeing), enables us to get outside for more of the year, and encourages healthy physical exercise. That feels like a win! Of course we didn't go out and buy the most expensive ones. We also tried rentals first (to make sure we actually liked it) and ultimately shopped around before getting a good online deal. This passed the test of helping us achieve something new- in a way that a new video console system, digital cameral, etc. wouldn't. While marketing experts want you to achieve 'happiness' even for a short-time for purchasing their product, maybe think about if this item will bring you 'joy' or a long-lasting sustaining feeling of accomplishment.

What is my estimated use of this item?

What is the true cost of the item? This is something that takes a bit more time to figure out. When determining the cost or if any item is 'worth' the amount, I find it helpful to think of the amount as more than just a number. For example, I want a new dress and it's $200. If you make $25 a hour that's a whole day's work just to purchase this one item. If my intention is to where it once, that feels like an unreasonable cost, not only from the hourly wage standpoint but also from a time standpoint. 8 hours of work is a lot of time to commit to purchasing an item. However, if it's an item that I am going to use often- for example, almost daily, that $200 doesn't seem like such a high cost.

Another helpful way of looking at spending is to compare it to a normal monthly cost- for example the electric bill, mortgage payment, car or student loan payment. For example, $200 could be the equivalent of your student loan payment or 1/2 of a car payment. By stopping and reflecting that you could make an extra student loan payment or that it was nearly a car payment, it can help put the purchase in perspective.

Sometimes after putting the big purchases in perspective, folks still have a hard time realizing how those small purchases can add up. Even something like eating out once a week for lunch during the work week can add up quickly! As a former Cousins Subs junkie, I would relish the idea of going there for lunch despite the fact that this 'cheap' lunch was easily over $10 a pop. To really get a sense of what you are spending try recording each purchase you make a month- or for ease and sake of time, consider an app like MINT that you can link your accounts to, which will also easily break down your spending into categories, that you can choose or customize. If you are feeling really inspired, make a budget and MINT will email you weekly status reports on your spending and let you know how much you have spent in each budget area that month. As we learned from School House Rock: Knowledge is POWER.

 

 

 

So um...where does the LIVING LARGE part come in?

So we talked about ways to not spend money on purchases, and the importance of valuing both your dollars and your time. A lot of times financial advice sites talk more about what not to do, than what TO do. So we talked about ways to reduce spending, but what are some things that you can enjoy for free or low costs since you aren't spending your green on joyless consumer products. What are some good no cost or low cost ways to spend your time?

Go to free or low cost community events!

 In my city, there are an abundance to free or low cost community events. One local coffee chain, (Collectivo for the locals!) offers free musical events at their locations, that include musicians from the symphony or the opera. Now of course, you should at least buy a cup of coffee once your there, so you aren't taking advantage but $2 for a night out is pretty low cost! Another community great is Boswell Books, known for it's great local bookstore feel and it's HUGE event list. Almost every night there is a free event at Boswell with book clubs, local/national authors giving talks, demonstrations, etc. Also, if you are going to spend your money on a book, may as well buy local and than get the authors signature right away! Finally many local athletic stores, like Athletica or REI offer free yoga or instructional classes and experiences. While ultimately they may be wanting to see you the latest goodies, it can be a fun fulfilling night out learning something new! While it may take some research to find good, local events in your area, it is totally doable and may challenge you to try something you haven't thought to try before!

Get outside!

 If you live in the US, you should already be aware of our AWESOME national and state park systems. Many states have large state forests or park systems. While you can buy a day pass, if you plan to use it throughout the year, invest in a cheap yearly pass, and see how much enjoyment you can get out from $28. Having been a Midwest resident my whole life, and a long-time hiker/camper, I can say that there are still many parks and trails that I have yet to explore. In addition to the state/national parks, many cities have their own parks, bike trails, etc. that just need to be explored. Try taking a weekend and be a tourist in your own town- go on a walk or get your bike out and check out the trails. This past fall, getting outside and exploring trails, led me to find mountain biking trails in the middle of my city, in a very unexpected place. Sometimes the joy of discovery can make your day that much brighter!

*watch for a future post from Frugal Rock Finance with a tour of the Home of Frugal Rock

** I'm sure I'll get some flack for this one.

What do you think? Are there questions that you ask yourself before purchasing an item? Have you ever made a large purchase that you later regretted? What are some of your favorite ways to spend your time on the cheap?

The Origin Story (Or Why I'm So Damn Interested in Financial Independence)

This blog came out of a desire to do things differently. This was not a sudden change, but one that has been building for quite a while. After graduating from college, I pretty quickly realized some big financial mistakes that I had made pretty early on in my adulthood life, that while somebody (my parents) may have tried to tell me, I was not in a place to listen (ahhem, stubborn). I choose to attend an expensive private college, instead of one of Wisconsin's several public university's with national recognition. I choose a degree that was financially not a good decision and while that would have been okay had it been a long-time passion of mine, realized towards the end of my four years in college that this was not the realm for me. At the time it led to a real crisis of conscious about what and who I wanted to be when I grew up! So, what's a lady to do, with no real job prospects and a looming college graduation? Keep going to school of course! I went on to get my Master's in a field I was truly passionate about- social work and was even able to have my degree, fully-funded.

Even with this I graduated with a lot of student loan debt, and while it wasn't as high as the national average it still felt like a large (ie. soul-crushing) amount. I realized immediately upon graduation that I was going to have to pay back those funds (gasp!) on my small social worker salary (double gasp!). I also learned that I hated the feeling of debt. Being raised by very financially open and responsible parents, who hadn't been in debt since I could remember, any debt felt like 'bad' debt. While I started paying on my student loans immediately, and quickly began paying over the minimum, following graduation I experienced a condition all to common to new college grads and Americans in general- Inflated Lifestyle Syndrome. It's a very serious condition effecting millions every year.

 In all seriousness, the idea of increasing your spending as your income goes up is a real concern. All of a sudden with increased wealth (aka higher paychecks), people perceive increased needs (wants!) and their spending goes up.

I found this happening to me pretty quickly. I moved in with my long-time partner (now husband, referred to hence-forth as, Mr. Frugal Rock) and we had not 1, but 2 incomes to play around with. We purchased a new car, had a lot of toys (2 cars, 2 motorcycles) went on vacations, spent over $1000 a month on a nice, large apartment near the lakefront with two bedrooms, a garage and didn't think to much about the future. While no one else thought we were being irresponsible, and we certainly weren't buying brand new porsche's on our income, we weren't saving as much as we should have been. Things began to change when we began looking at houses. We began to ask ourselves, 'how much space do we really need'? And choose to live small rather than live large. We decided to get hitched and asked why does the average American need to spend $20,000+ on a wedding? We spent under $5,000.

While neither of us make huge incomes, (together we pull in about 100,000 a year) we find that we live comfortably and didn't miss the things that we were supposedly giving up by our choices to 'live small'. We found that we could put away 20% of our income into retirement easily without feeling the pinch- automated accounts helped as we never saw the funds (never missed them!).

Now we've been asking ourselves additional questions- Why do we need to work until we are 65-70? Why do we need to work full-time, 9-5? Why, ON EARTH, would anyone want to pay a mortgage for 30 years? What should we being doing with all this extra money we are saving? How can we 'live large' while also living small? Can you be eat healthy, while also trying to save? I hope you keep coming back to visit, as I try to answer some of those question.

Leave a comment! Are there any financial questions that seem 'normal' to everyone else but strike you as odd or unusal? What are your favorite frugal financial tips?