Hello friends! You may notice a change in my blogs from now on. I am still focused on running, but I also have a new focus: saving money. My husband and I learned this week that we have more student loan debt than we realized. (You may ask how we did NOT know how much debt we had? Well, that's a story for another day. It has to do with compound interest and a somewhat deceptive student loan private lender.) Instead of feeling sorry for ourselves, we have decided to take action. It's time to clean up our spending and put money to the highest interest loans first. As strange as it sounds, I am excited about it--in an odd way. Maybe it's because I like a challenge. I also like learning, and I am learning a lot about how to save money. I honestly think this challenge will make us better people.
We have set an ambitious goal to pay off the student loans in 5 years. I've done the math (over and over and over), and I really think we can do it. Although I am the one who takes care of finances, Bill is totally on board and probably more gung-ho about it than I am. Right now, with Bill living in Denver, we pay to support two households, and it's difficult to have a lot of extra money to put toward the loans. We think he will be back here in the fall. Our plan is to live on my income and put his entire income toward student loan payments.
In the meantime, we've made a few changes. We are certainly not deprived--and we live better than most people in this world by far. We are not in danger of losing our home. We don't have to sell it and buy a smaller place. We don't have to go down to one car. Our changes are things like cutting back our cable to a more basic plan, shopping at Aldi's, quitting jujitsu (for Bill), eating out only on occasion, using coupons, etc. I should add that I did NOT want Bill to give up jujitsu. Thinking about that makes me want to cry. However, as he pointed out, he lives in Denver and there is no shortage of free outdoor activities for him to participate in.
I am working on refinancing our home loan. That will save us about $170 per month. I'm also re-evaluating credit cards to make sure we get the best rewards program. I have a new card that has 0% financing for 6 months (not important if you pay it off each month) and that gives 5% cash back on many types of purchases. Even though we typically pay our credit cards each month, we do use them a lot. And we should be in the best rewards program possible.
I've opened an account at Mint.com. I highly recommend this website. It tracks all of your finances in one place. I'm actually quite amazed by it. I heard about the site from Clark Howard, the money guru on CNN. It's completely free and has been very helpful thus far in tracking our finances.
Bill is looking for a part-time job in Denver. I want him to find something fun. He does have some free time, and he gets a little bit bored and lonely. If you can find a place to meet people and make a few extra bucks, I'm okay with it. (I was against him getting a part-time job a week ago.) He is particularly interested in bartending. On this end, I will be taking on a few more aerobics classes each week. I get paid about $16 a class after taxes are taken out. That's a pretty decent amount for just working out for an hour. And I would be working out anyway. (And if I wouldn't be, I should be.) The good news is that another instructor had to have rotator cuff surgery, so I can take her classes for the next couple months. (I guess that's not good news for HER.)
I am realizing that we were paying WAY too much for many things, particularly groceries. Bill and I have both been impressed with how much money we can save just by doing more comparison shopping. We plan to stock up on stuff when it's on sale and just be smarter overall. I did some research, and it appears that Aldi's is the cheapest place to buy groceries in our area. Well, hello Aldi's. I am debating whether or not it would be beneficial to get a Sam's Club membership. I've done a little research, and it appears many things are cheaper at Aldi's.
I've also found a cool website: www.ebates.com. This site gives you cash back on almost anything you order online. I will never order anything online without going to this website first! It's totally free to sign up, and you get a check every three months. Highly recommended!
I also found the Dollar Tree website: www.dollartree.com. You can order stuff in bulk and pick it up at your local Dollar Tree. By bulk, I mean 24 boxes of powder laundry detergent for $24. Or 24 body washes for $24. You pay a $4.95 handling fee no matter how large your order is. This would be a good deal, and a good way to stock up, but the quantities may be too large for us on some things. I mean, how long would it take us to use 24 deodorants? I could also buy some stuff at Dollar Tree, like cleaning supplies. Honestly, I've always liked dollar stores. I could wonder around in them for hours, but I had sort of forgotten they existed in the last few years. I am actually looking forward to paying a visit!
My point is that there are lots of ways to save money that are pretty painless. We just need to take advantage. We don't have kids, and that makes this a lot easier. We do have six 4-legged friends to take care of, and if you know us, you know that getting rid of them to save money would never be an option. But we can do some simple things to even save money on pet costs--our dogs won't know if we used a coupon to buy their food. Some of you may also know that one of our dogs, Murphy, goes to daycare. He will continue to go, but only half as often.
There is a show that I've been watching on TV called "Downsized." It's about a family who was living high on the hog (where did that saying come from?) until the recession hit. The husband was a contractor making a million dollars a year, but now he can't get a gig. What I like about the show is that the family makes some lifestyle changes. For instance, the kids give up their extracurricular activities to save money. The show has also given me some ideas about how to save a few bucks here and there.
I need to make it clear that we are not poor. Lots of people live in poverty, and we don't live in poverty. We have a modest but nice house. We drive reliable cars. We have no problem buying food. We have student loan debt, but we are fortunate that we have jobs to allow us to make payments--and more than the minimum payments.
With the economy, lots of people graduate with student loan debt and no means to repay it. We have good jobs because of our education and those jobs will allow us to pay back the debt. And that's the way it should work. It is frightening me that many people graduate with student loans and have to get jobs at places like Starbuck's. That's not us. I am very positive about this whole journey. I feel a sense of accomplishment already for making the changes we have already made and taking control.
My mom mentioned an interesting idea today. She said I should write a book about attacking student loan debt. I am considering it. And you know how I'm always talking about needing to find a hobby? Well, this saving money thing may just become my hobby.
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