A new post.

So, I haven't updated my blog in quite some time.  I am blessed with a beautiful daughter that was born in February of this year so she is just over 7 months old.

Here is what I have discovered so far on the cost of having a child.

- Use cloth.  It virtually eliminates the ongoing expense of diapers and wipes.  Though there is a large initial upfront cost we used some of the money we got as gifts to lessen that cost.

-Shop consignment stores.  Name brand stuff at cheap prices.

-Don't buy too many clothes.  I have fallen for this one.  When you go to the store have in mind what you want and buy that.  Try not to get tricked by the other cute things.

-We got toys given to us as baby gifts and from people who's kids had outgrown them/had too many.  Really they don't need THAT many toys.

So far she has been fairly cheap, however, "they" tell me that this cost will go up slowly but surely.

Cleaning My Oven

So, this will be a bit of a different post than what I normally write.

I have been thinking recently about cleaning my oven with vinegar and baking soda which I have seen on several sites online.  When I thought about the cost of an oven cleaner, even a "green oven cleaner" I thought it couldn't do any harm to test out the vinegar and baking soda option.  Here is a before photo of my oven.  It is sprinkled with vinegar and baking soda in this photo.

 

And here is an after shot of my oven which as you can see is clean.  At least, clean enough for me.

So, how did I do it.

1. I put some plain white vinegar from my pantry in a spray bottle and sprayed the whole oven with it.
2. Then I took my box of baking soda sprinkled the whole oven with it.
3. I waited about half an hour.
4. I took my metal scrubbie to the oven and with a little bit of elbow grease ended up with the above.

If you choose to do this method to clean your oven, here are my tips.

• I took the oven door off after I had cleaned it to make cleaning the inside of the oven easy.  Your oven door should come off with a simple lift.
• Make sure that you get a good reaction out of the vinegar and baking soda before you wait the 30 minutes or so.  To me, this is key.  I did not do this and had to re-vinegar and baking soda parts of the oven.
• When you spray the vinegar you may end up breathing some of it in like I did.  Remember it is just vinegar.  However, you can use the old tissue over the mouth and nose method if breathing the vinegar bothers you.
• Also, the first time you turn your oven on you may get a slight smell from the cleaning like I did.  However, I reminded myself that it was just vinegar and baking soda.  I didn't use any nasty chemicals.

So, hopefully, now you will have a clean oven, even at nine months pregnant like I am.

Budget Categories

So, last time I promised a post on my budget categories.  Here they are with explanations if necessary.

Tithe (or Charitable Donations)
Mortgage (or Rent)
Power
Heat
Grocery
Telephone
House Maintenance
Car Maintenance (anything except gas)
Large Bills (Property Taxes, Vehicle Insurance, Professional Dues, etc.)  (This is actually a different savings account in my bank account so the money I put in there every month goes on this line.)
Car Gas
Truck Gas
Clothing
Restaurants and Entertainment
Pets
Christmas/Birthdays (This is gifts!)
Vacation/Unexpected Bills (This account operates similar to large bills.  I have also written a post about this account.)
Husband Spending (This category and the next are for lunches out on our own or fun stuff we buy for ourselves.)
Wife Spending
Husband Work (My husband goes away for work and gets reimbursed for meals at a set rate, so I track it to make sure that he is spending less than he gets like he thinks.)
RRSP (Monthly Contribution)
Misc (Everything that doesn't fit somewhere else and bank fees)
Pharmacy (Could be considered health care - eye glasses, prescriptions, etc.)
Kid

You can make up your own categories as applicable but those are mine.  The important thing is to be consistent about what you put in each category as some can overlap.  For ex, if I don't want to cook one night and we buy a frozen pizza from the corner store, then I consider that Restaurants and Entertainment but it could be considered groceries which is where I put that same pizza if I buy it during regular grocery shopping.  So, you just have to decide in your own mind where certain spending goes and be consistent about it.

New Year, New Goals

Happy New Year!  

So, obviously it's the start of a new year which means the start of a new budgeting year.  So, if you tracked your spending last year, now is the time to look at some yearly comparisons. (It doesn't matter if you didn't track your spending the whole year, just use what you have.).  

Some simple comparisons that I did are that I added up the actual spending in each category and the budget in each category.  Then I subtracted the two to find out how I did on a large basis at estimating my monthly spending in each category.  Next, I divided my actual spending by the number of months I tracked my spending (in my case 8).  This gives me a monthly spending total in each category.   These are then used to make the new budget, with revisions if there was unusual spending.  For example, we had cable for 6 months in 2011 but we cancelled it so I would take that out of my monthly budget for 2012.

BUT, before you make up your budget for 2012 the most important thing to do is sit down with your family (if you have one) and come up with what you want to do this year with your money (a yearly goals type thing).  For example, do you have debt you want to pay off, do you want to make a major purchase like a house or car, do you want to go on a holiday, how much do you want to spend on birthdays, how much do you want to spend on 2012 Christmas, etc.  You see there is no reason to make a budget to just track spending.  That is a whole lot of work for nothing.  If you make a budget to reach your monetary goals that otherwise seemed out of reach without going into debt, that is a whole different story.

Then write your budget and stick to it and see your goals, hopefully, come to pass.

Next time I'll write about some of the categories I have in my budget, if you are starting a new budget.

Laundry Detergent

So, I recently read in a Consumer Reports magazine that basically the powder detergent was just as good as liquid detergent. 

Recently I ran out of my liquid detergent (which I switched to a few years ago due to white detergent spots) and since the liquid was more expensive per load, I decided to give the powdered detergent a try again.  Well, it's been going well.  I think so far I have had one load with white detergent spots and I've probably done between 5-10 loads of laundry with it.

Pregnancy Spending to Date

So, I'm pretty sure that you all know that I am pregnant.  I have just over two months to go.  So, I thought I'd go through my budget book and add up all the spending so far on the kid for you.

The first thing we bought was for $3 at a garage sale for a nursing pillow.
$1 at a garage sale for a front baby carrier
$20 for a crib from friends that came with the mattress, some blankets, and a girly bedding set we aren't going to use
$274.38 for a jogging stroller/infant car seat combo and $136 for a starter set of 6 cloth diapers, a cloth diaper bag, and a girly outfit that we received a cheque from my husbands parents for.
$7.08 for nail clippers and disposable nursing pads
$13.48 for a pair of neutral cords and 3 boys tops from a consignment store.
$75 for prenatal classes

As gifts from my husbands parents we have also received some towels, blankets, bibs, etc. and my husbands change table and dresser from when he was a kid.

As gifts from my parents we have/will recieve the bedding set, rocker, baby bath tub, various clothes, play pen, etc.

On holidays this year for fun we purchased a towel and a nursery calendar.

So, that is most of our nursery items...  I feel like we most of the items we need but that we have spent very little on them.

Truck Insurance

In a prior post I wrote about how we were thinking of cancelling the insurance on our truck for the winter.  Well, we did it last week.   We got all our firewood in and no Christmas tree yet but we got about half the money back on the insurance so I'm sure we can figure out how to get a Christmas tree home some other way.  In addition to the insurance savings, I do not have to budget for about a tank of gas a month on the truck.

If we absolutely do need to use the truck, we will put temporary insurance on it but that should not cost the amount that we got back in insurance.

Bank Accounts

Let me start with the basics to me. The first thing that I recommend is that you know what kind of main account you have, and therefore, the related fees, transaction limits, etc. Then find out the same thing on your other accounts (savings, etc.). This will help you to not spend any more than is necessary on banking fees.

The second thing for you to know is that in Canada, any savings that is linked to your chequing should be free. If you are paying something for it, well, then you are either making debit card purchases or something else to incur fees on the account.

OK, so you think those things are pretty basic. Good news! Then you are at where my husband and I are at. We have the appropriate type account for the amount of transactions, etc that we do a month, however, we can't figure out why we should have to pay fees on our bank account. So, we have two options that we see. Option one is to change to an account and reduce our transactions to an account that is cheaper/could be free. We are not sure that we want to do this. Option two is to change banks to an account that will allow us to do what we do and charge us less/not charge us anything. This does exist but we haven't made up our mind yet. I will let you know.

Hosting a Dinner Party

Hosting a Dinner Party – October 18, 11

So, a couple of Saturdays ago I hosted a dinner party at our house.   Now, I am not going to write that it is the cheapest thing to host but there are some ways to keep costs lower.  Here is what I did.

The weekend before the party was Thanksgiving and even though I did not have the menu, etc planned at that time there were certain things that I knew I would need for the party regardless and they were on sale for Thanksgiving.  This was items like sparkling grape juice, pop and juices to make punch, and fancy pickles and olives.

When I planned the party it was a fall themed party so accordingly the menu followed suit.  This helped me save costs by being able to purchase some in season menu items.   I planned a boneless skinless chicken breast main course.  Expensive, yes, but less expensive that some other cuts of meat.

Also, when I went shopping for the menu items I wrote a list of the items that I would need to buy and on certain of the specialty items I put quantities.  This helped me to buy the exact amount needed for the dish.

The best thing about a dinner party, of course, is the leftover food.  YUM. YUM.  Of course, that saves money as why would you want to eat out when you have this fancy, yummy food sitting at home that only needs to be reheated?

Wood Stove

Our house has natural gas heat as well as a wood stove.  We enjoy the wood heat very much and in the winter there are few things better than sitting in front of the nice warm heat on a cold day. 

It's not winter yet, only fall.  Let's not rush things here!  The reason for this post is that these days it is around 10'C so not to cold but definitely a chill in the air.  Now we could just turn our furnace up and have it come on occasionally but we have the wood stove.  So, we take advantage of the “free” heat and keep our house as warm as we want too!

However, there are other ways to take advantage of the wood heat.   You may tell me it's heating my house, saving me money on my heat bills; isn't that enough?  Maybe for you but I think there is at least a couple of other ways to take advantage of that heat.

The first is dry your clothes with it.  It's pretty cheap to buy a clothes rack or an indoor clothes line and put it up right next to your wood stove.  It's going to save you money in the long run and if you are like me you are used to hanging your clothes to dry on the line in the summer anyway.  The best part, no clothespins.

The second way is to cook your meals on it.  WHAT?!?!? Now I am not talking all your meals or anything like that, unless, of course, you want too.  However, in the winter with company we will often hang out in the wood stove room (downstairs in our house) as it is very warm there.  So, I bring my kettle down and heat up the tea there.  It's just as easy and we aren't in a hurry.   Also, if you are making turkey soup, chili or something else like that that has to sit on the stove for a long time on low heat and needs to be checked on every now and then.  You can do it on your wood stove.  You have to add fuel to your wood stove anyway every now and then so just check/stir your food while you are at it.

Holiday Update

We went on the driving holiday to Yellowstone National Park and it looks like it came in for costs right around the $2,000 mark so right on our budget in the end.  Not only did it come in on budget is also scored well on the fun holiday quota.  What could be better?

As to how the plan from above worked, one thing that really helped us was that whenever we spent something I would write it down in a notebook.   About every page of spending I added it up.  This helped us to know where our spending was and if we could afford to splurge or if we needed to cut back.  In our case, it enabled us to splurge and not feel like we couldn't afford it.

Specifics on the plan:

Meals:

For breakfasts we bought muffins from the grocery store when we purchased our dinner food.  

Lunch was a sandwich out or a sandwich from the grocery store.  

For snacks we often did items we had picked up from the grocery store; fruit, cheese strings, cookies or granola bars. 

Dinner was a frozen dinner that could be cooked in a frying pan, deli food (fried chicken, etc), or pre-seasoned meat and vegetables.  We had very little trouble finding reasonably healthy, yummy dinner food when we had a whole grocery store to pick from and a camp stove.  We also borrowed a cooler that had a fan to keep the food cool when you plugged it into a cigarette lighter.

We enjoyed the food and felt we had variety, etc. 

Pre-Trip Library Sign Outs:

We took Lonely Planet USA and Lonely Planet Yellowstone (both of which I signed out from the library).  Both of those helped us to plan our trip (since we didn't go on the trip with a detailed plan (just a destination)) to see the cities/towns we felt would be interesting, to find good value places for lunch, to know what we were seeing in Yellowstone, to know what to expect, etc.  In the end, those two books enhanced our trip and, therefore, saved us money.

We also signed out from the library several books on CD.  We only ended up listening to Charlotte's Web but in the end it helped to make some of the long hot drives more bearable and enjoyable.

Places to Sleep:

We had no problem finding campsites.  We did have a bit of a problem finding campsites that weren't next to train tracks or the highway or, yes, BOTH.  We also found some great campsites with swimming pools, free showers, or other amenities.  So, I guess we took the good with the bad. 

One thing that helped us to enjoy almost two weeks in a tent was that we bought a $75 air mattress that pumped up using the cigarette lighter in our car.  It paid for itself several times over. 

We also got one hotel before Yellowstone and one hotel on the way home.   Both were a nice break from the tent. 

For costs, our cheapest tent site was $10 and our most expensive campsite was $40 to give you an idea on actuals.  Also, one thing that helped us a bit was we stayed at a KOA campsite one night and there we got a free book on all the KOA campsites.  This helped us for peace of mind and finding a campsite one night.

Summary:

In the end our holiday was lots of fun, very relaxing, etc.  Exactly what a holiday should be.  Here's a couple of pictures to prove it.

The 6 man tent we borrowed for the trip.

 Me cooking dinner in Yellowstone. This dinner was pre-seasoned chicken, rice-a-roni, a package of prefrozen asparagus and milk to drink.

 The token picture of Old Faithful.  Yellowstone is so much more...

Blender and Stove Update

I mentioned a while ago that we bought a new part for our blender rather than buying a new blender.  Well, the part did not work and it looks like we have to buy a new blender.  It was a $20 part including shipping so not that bad for something that did not end up working.

Also, our new stove has arrived and it works great.

Holiday Costs

So, I know this post is probably a little late in the year as most of you have probably gone on holidays but as we have not yet, here is how I expect the money to work on our holidays.

I wanted to go a big holiday this year but not too major and not too expensive.  My husband was more on the not too expensive side but he also definitely wanted to go on a holiday. 

The first possibility that  both my husband and I wanted to do was a 7 night cruise out of New York, to Halifax, NS, and St. Johns, NB and a couple other stops.  Sounds fun.  I thought so, but here are the costs.

$1,300 – Cruise

$1,100 – Flights out of Seattle

$80 – 2 tanks of gas to get us to Seattle and back

$50 – Hotel in Seattle (which would have included parking for the car)

$100 – Meals not on the cruise (2 days worth)

$75 – Dog Sitting for our dog

$300 – Estimated for trip insurance

$3,005 TOTAL

Now that was very close to our total budget for the trip and did not include any optional excursions or spending.  So, we went back to the drawing board.

Our second idea was to go to Yellowstone National Park for two weeks.  It would be a driving holiday where we tented.  It is quite a long drive for us but being that we are taking two weeks it is doable.  Here are the costs.

$450 – 9 tanks of gas

$350 – 14 nights of camping

$70 – 14 days of Breakfasts

$140 – 14 days of Lunches

$210 – 14 days of dinners

(Our plan to keep the cost of meals down is to pack granola bars, etc for breakfasts, stop at grocery stores for sandwiches for lunches and while we are there get food to put in our cooler that can be cooked on a campstove for dinner.)

$140 – 14 days of dog sitting

$1,360 TOTAL

Now that cost does not include spending or admission into attractions but since our budget was less than $3,000 and ideally less than $2,000, that still gives us lots of room to stay in a hotel a night or two if we get tired of sleeping in the tent, do fun excursions, etc... 

So, since this holiday better matched the budget this is the holiday we have picked to go on and we are leaving in less than two weeks,

So, there is our holiday plans, hopefully yours were/are going to be just as fun and within budget.

Appliances

Remember that post about the unexpected bills.  Well, we are having one of those take place.  In the last month our stove has started coming up with an error message.  When we looked it up on the internet it meant that the control panel was going.  This error message isn't that bad except that it makes the stove beep and that you can't turn on the oven when the error message is up.  OK, so maybe it is bad... 

According to the internet a replacement control panel would cost about $150.  When we took off the back of the stove to check things out, we discovered we would also need to hire a repair person to replace the control panel.  Considering the fact that our stove is six years old and appliances are expected to have a 7 – 10 year life these days, we decided to replace our stove.

So, two weeks ago we went looking at new stoves.  We found one we like in town at a price that was decent but decided not to buy it yet and see how often the error message was actually going to happen.

Well, last week we decided the stove was not going to get better on its own so we went back to that store to buy the stove, they were having an even better sale and when it actually came down to ordering the one we wanted we saved about $90 off the original sale price.  Happy for us. 

So, our new stove is on order and yesterday I made gingersnaps in the toaster oven...

More on Renovations

Today I was getting quotes on a renovation project that we are probably going to do and I was thinking that when I was working that we wouldn't have a time to do this.  So, in this short little post, my advice is do your internet research and get your quotes.  You could save a lot of money.

Ex: $20 for a new blender part vs. $50plus for a new blender....  or getting a $200 cheaper quote for a nicer front door....

Yes, those are two recent examples that I have been looking up.

Home Renovation - Edited to fix percentages

Those who know me know that I like to upgrade our house...  Well, obviously that's a bit harder to do on one income than it is on two. 

My first piece of advice comes from Gail Vaz-Oxlade (I like her advice for the most part) who has said that you should plan to put about 8% - 10% of your home's value into it every year.   So, take the value of your house, divide it by 10% (because it's easy), then divide it by 12.   (I was watching her show the other day and it's actually 3% - 5%,  (OOOPS!) so divide your 10% amount by two.  ) There's your monthly budget.  I like this advice because my husband is at the stage in his career where we could be moving within the next “however-many” years.  So, that 10% will keep our house looking decently updated and therefore if we do have to sell, it should sell for it's appropriate value and if we don't have to sell, well, then we have a nice looking house.  Also, that 10% should pay for the regular maintenance on our house.  

Just because you have figured out a monthly budget doesn't mean you have to spend it every month...  You may spend 3 months budget in one month and nothing the next 2 months... If you want to spend something the next 2 months, it should be absolutely necessary, not an “I want” item.

My second piece of advice is one that I have learned/am learning the hard way....  That is when you decide to do a renovation project, you (and, especially I, as the writer of these steps) should follow these steps:

Step 1.  Prioritize if you have more than one project that you want to do.  One project at a time here.

Step 2.  Figure out the cost of what you want and write it down. This is where you go dreaming to the store with a notepad...  Try not to buy anything this trip.  It's also a good idea to bring measurements.  If you are going to change it, measure it and, preferably draw a sketch to go with the measurements.  That way if you are lost you can show it to the sales person and they can figure out the details you didn't know you were supposed to measure/know.

Step 3.  Write all the costs you have collected down so you can see how long it will take to save up for this project – Hint – Include taxes and a contigency for the random little supplies.  This is also the time to start thinking what can I do without, downgrade/upgrade, etc.

Step 4.  Wait for things to go on sale and buy them at that point in time -  The first three steps but especially this step is where my husband and I have gone wrong in the past.  We decide we want to do a project so we go out and buy all the supplies.  BAD IDEA!  I have estimated we have spend 10%, maybe more, extra money on a project for not thinking and planning. 

Step 5.  Start and complete the project.   The complete is the big thing....  Don't start it until you know you have time to complete the project.

Now let me tell you how we are putting these steps into process.  We have decided that we want to replace our tub in our main bathroom, and, also renovate our downstairs bathroom.  So, two projects.  First we prioritized.  We want to do our main bathroom tub first.  But what about the horrible downstairs bathroom and that we have a temporary boarder coming to live with us...  Well, we took some upstairs bathroom paint (from a previous renovation project) and painted, changed some lightbulbs, took a spare shower curtain and rug and put it in.  Ta da.  A facelift for zero dollars...  No not permanent, but it will work.

So, back to the main bathroom and following the steps (or not). 

Step 2: We decided we wanted a white tub (rather than the beige that is there now).  Did you know that tubs come in porcelain and enamel?  I didn't before but while doing research I learned that and the price difference between the two.  We decided to tile the tub surround, rather than put in a new 5 piece insert.    So, what kind of tiles...  If you ever look at photos of bathrooms you know the options are many.  After looking and comparing prices we decided on big white ones with a small accent border. 

Step 3:  You know that temporary boarder I mentioned.  Well, that is what is paying for the renovation, so now we have a way to afford it outside of the 10% yearly home renovation money I mentioned. Also, we decided not to replace the tub faucet, lever, and shower head.  It seems like a lot of money for very little benefit, especially when they seem to work fine.  This is also where the contingency could come in if it turns out we do have to replace them(but apparently I don't follow my own advice and we don't have a contingency...). 

Step 4:  Just recently there was a sale on tubs, so I spoke to my parents who assured us that it was a good price, so we bought the tub.  Again, I spoke to my parents about the tile (which I know doesn't really go on sale) and they knew a place that had good priced tile so we went there and got the tile and only 2 expensive accent tiles.  This is where the calculations/measurements come in handy, as those two tiles will do one border 3 tiles wide around our tub.  We purchased these tiles on the looking trip when we probably would have been wiser to wait a month or two until we had the money in hand.  It turned out fine but still not wise.

Step 5:  This project is not even started yet as we will not have time, nor do we want to take the time to do it until the fall.

Hopefully, those steps will help make your renovation dreaming come to life.

Fruits

So, this post is actually going to include some prices which is rare for me but I think these are useful.  They are Canadian and I think they're fairly good for across western Canada.  So anyway...  A good general rule, that I have found, is less than  $1/lb for most fruit, but for berries less than $2/lb.  Fruit is best when it's cheapest and in season, which I think is super great.

Here is what I see is good prices for specific fruits:

Cherries (in season about now) - 1.99/lb
Peaches/Apricots/Plums (in season later in the summer) - the closer to .99/lb the better, if you can get them for less even better
Apples (fall) - less than $.99/lb, but the closer to $.49/lb you can get the better price they are
Grapefruits (in season in winter) - $.49/lb
Oranges  - Same as grapefruit
Strawberries (just out of season) - 1.49/lb at their cheapest, but I start buying them at $1.99/lb

Now, I know that isn't every fruit but that should give you a good starting point.

Also, last year cherries came closer to .99/lb.  It doesn't happen every year but last year, I'm pretty sure, was a bumper crop so they were in the stores longer and were cheaper than they usually are.

So, enjoy your healthy (cheap) fruit.

Unexpected Bills

For some preamble:  You may or may not know but only the last couple of months have we gone to a single income and I've become a housewife.  Now I will let you know that my husband and I have been planning since we got married just over 2 years ago that we would eventually live on one income.  Also, I like my savings accounts (I think we have about 5 plus a chequeing account.)

So, earlier this month I was thinking about something which is that in the last year or so we have had to put new all season tires on my car (approx $600) and we ended up replacing our patio door (approx $500).  Both of these expenses were paid out of my cheques when I was still working more full time.  So, now that's really not much of an option and I know that our appliances will likely need replacing sometime in the next couple of years and who knows what else.  That's where the unexpected bills account comes in.

This is a small amount (ours is $150/paycheque) that we put in it's own savings account.  This is to cover those things that we just can't cover on a paycheque to paycheque basis.   It's not meant to be dipped into every cheque, nor is it our emergency fund, nor is it for paying things like car insurance and property taxes.  These should have their own accounts.  It's for those things that aren't part of the emergency fund but still don't happen every month.  Things that I view this fund for are emergency repairs on the house and car repairs (outside of regular maintenance), other items like that.  “We want” items don't necessarily qualify. 

So, obviously this account won't be used all the time.... Hopefully, only once or twice a year.   By next summer I am hoping there will be enough money in that account that we can take a vacation with that money.  Yes, I know I should probably technically have a separate account for that but, I don't. Instead, this is the way I have chosen to do it.  Leave at least $1,000 to $1,500 in the account and then use the rest for a vacation or a “we want” item.  Peace of mind and a vacation on a single income, how much better can that get. 

Going Away on a “Quick” Day/Overnight Trip

You know those.  The ones you “have” to go to or the ones you decide you want to go to and are committed to but in the end you've been away so much you don't want to go so you make it quick.  Our situation was the second this weekend.  It was a wedding about four hours away from where we live.  The wedding did not start until 3pm so we drove down in the morning.  This is my first cost saving trip.  Can you leave in the morning?  The second and obvious cost saving tip is eat breakfast before you go or pack it with you to eat on the road, also pack your tea/coffee, etc.

Writing of food, that can be a huge expense on any trip, especially a quick trip.  Ways that my husband and I often minimize that is that we pack snacks, like juice boxes, fruit snacks, fruit, etc.  As you can see they are usually healthy “munchy” type snacks, which helps in the eating healthy on trips and on the frivolous snack spending.  

The other food thing we do is that before we go I often make a pan of granola or snack bars (there are lots of recipes on the internet – pick one that looks good).  I pack the pan and a sharp knife to cut them with.  VERY SIMPLE.  My husband and I both like to eat breakfast fairly soon after we get up and it is annoying to have to find a breakfast place so we eat the granola bars for breakfast right after we get up.  We also eat them for a sweet snack during the day.  Granola/snack bars are fairly clean to eat too when you are worried about a disaster in your vehicle..... 

The other thing that my husband and I did this trip is that we stayed overnight...  Oooh, expensive you say... Well, we didn't stay in a hotel.  We camped.  Yes, you read that right camped.  It cost a whole $20 plus tax for the night and all it required for packing was sleeping bags, our tent, foamies, and our pillows (don't forget the pillows!).  Very simple.  Easy to pack, easy to crash when you get to the campsite and are tired, simple all around. 

One thing that we did is that we stayed halfway between our house and the wedding.  So, we were going to come back after the wedding and check into our campsite then.  Instead, and this worked out to be a great stress reliever, we stopped by our campsite on the way down, checked in and put up our tent.  Then it was even easier when we came back after the wedding as the tent was already set up.

In the morning we got up, packed up and I will confess that we didn't pack a pan of snack bars for this trip so we stopped at a bakery for scones.  YUMMY and still cheaper than fast food.  Then we drove home.  Quick overnight trip done for hopefully a little less money.

Libraries

Let me just put this short and sweet, use them. 

Ok, now that I've told you that, let me tell you why I like them so much.  I want to research a topic...  I like to look at a book, rather than the internet.  Yes, I'm old fashioned!  So, I go to the library, sign out two or three books on the topic, come home.  Read the books, keep the one I like for the full time or if I really like it I'll even renew it.  Now I've researched my topic for free....  Book clubs and libraries get along well together.  You're not sure you'll enjoy all the books, so sign them out, read them and then return them.  If you really, really like one of them, buy it.  At least you'll, know it will be a book you enjoy.

The other thing I sometimes do is sign out a book on, for example a home renovation project, months before I plan to do it.  Then when I actually plan to do it, I'll sign out the book again.  The library doesn't care that I've signed the same book out twice or three times...

I am a reader.  I enjoy reading, especially novels.  However, I own almost no novels.  Why?  Well, mostly because I don't like the clutter and reading can distract me from what I really need to do.  So, I use the library.  I also take advantage of friend's libraries.  These are even better than the public library as there is no 3 week or 6 week (if you renew it) limit on keeping the book.  Make sure you DO return the book though.  Also, if a friend has read it and enjoyed it they can recommend the book or help you expand your horizons.  They also will often like the same books that I do, so unlike the public library I know I can trust the books from my friends.

What about the fines?  I see it this way.  I usually end up paying about $2 a year in fines.  The way I see it $2 is a whole lot cheaper than even one book.  So, you pay a few fines, first try and return your books on time (take advantage of email notifications, etc.), however, it's still a whole lot cheaper than buying all those books brand new.  Also, I feel like I am supporting the library buying more books for me (and others) to enjoy.