27 and Frugal » Expenses

Furnish Your Dorm Room or College Apartment for Cheap

leslie — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:00:42 +0000

Moving into temporary student housing (dorms, student apartments) is quite different from moving into an apartment. Often times basic furnishings are provided but nice-to-haves are not (carpeting). After living in student housing for five years and moving twice a year, I have become a pro at balancing minimal, affordable furnishings that are easily mobile.

Keep practicality in mind when going dorm room shopping. Here are some rules:

All items should easily fit into a car (not necessarily at the same time, but just size-wise). You will not need a moving truck.
You should be able to carry everything by yourself. You will not need a moving crew.
Small rooms and shared spaces. You cannot have a lot of stuff, period.

Keeping those rules in mind, here are my tips for practical, cheap items to furnish your student space.

First Aid Kit. Stock up a small container you already have at home with multi-sized band-aids, neosporin, gauze, and antiseptic. Keep it in a common area and let all roomates know where to find it.
Collapsible Laundry Storage. I don’t care if you use a pop-up hamper or a laundry bag, but whatever you do, do not buy a laundry basket! This takes up too much space and is not convenient to lug to the laundry area or carry out to your car.
Hanging Decorations/Photo Frames Do not bring knick knacks, photo frames that you cannot hang, or anything that is going to take up space without adding any value. Instead, use hanging photo frames to keep your memories near-by without adding clutter. Make your own with just string and hot glue!
Rugs/Curtains Your dorm is probably not carpeted, so add some comfort with a few cheap throw rugs (I bought ugly ones for $2/each but even prettier ones can be cheap). For “curtains”, I simply thumbtacked some muslin over my windows. It’s dirty but cheap and temporary! Both of these items are easy to transport, too.
Extra Storage Your dorm room and apartment should be furnished so I would not waste too much money buying extra furniture. If you do want to add something, look for multi-purpose items like this ottoman that doubles as a storage container.
Desk Lamp Bring one, good desk lamp that is small, easy to transport and adjustable. I bought a lamp similar to this ten years ago at Walmart and I still use it today.
Power Strip Bring a few of these and you won’t have to fight with your roomate over the only outlet near the bed. You should be able to get some on Freecycle.
Collapsible Organizers. Your closet is going to be small, even in an apartment. Use collapsible hanging storage for shoes, outfits, or any small miscellaneous items. Use collapsible drawers that fit right in your closet under your already-hanging clothes. It makes for a easy transportable dresser. Take advantage of any extra space possible with under-the-bed containers. Put your seasonal clothing there or even extra food (soups, snacks).
Bathroom Supplies. If you are using a community bathroom, you will need a little shower caddy to carry your items back and forth. You will also need a few towels, just bring some from home. There really is no need for anything special.
Mini Fridge Purchase one from Craig’s List or check bulletin boards at your college. At the end of the semester, a lot of people sell theirs.

What are your cheap must-haves for college living?

Do You Have The “Debt” Gene?

leslie — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 13:08:42 +0000

We learn a lot from our parents. Life lessons and skills but also their mannerisms and habits; both good and bad. If your parents have poor spending habits, is it more likely that you will?

Watch and Learn

As a child, I learned how to avoid creditors. In fact, I normalized the fact that creditors called the house at all. I was not the only child to have learned this behavior. My mother’s spending habits have been passed down to my brother. He is in his mid-40’s, yet his credit score is still suffering from the years he spent paying the minimum balance; something he learned from our mother.

Keep Digging

Having parents with money troubles is difficult for three major reasons:

You are without support. I am not referring to financial assistance, but simply asking my mother how to negotiate an interest rate is not an option. Asking her to help me set up a budget is futile. This makes it very difficult to learn new habits.

They can drag you down with them. It is a very odd emotion I feel when my father asks me for money. I know it is slightly embarrassing for him so part of me feels obligated. However, I am not in a position of having a ton of disposable income and have to make sure that I do not get too far under while trying to help my father out. I know his goal is not to put me in the same situation as him but if I am not careful, it could happen.

You have less access to money. The temptation of credit is greater because you cannot simply ask your parents for money/to buy you something. To keep up with peers whose family’s are in better financial situations, you will be tempted to use credit to keep up the appearance. This is likely how your parents got into debt in the first place.

How To Overcome Family Debt Problems

1. Educate. If you are reading this, that is a step in the right direction! You need to be pro-active by educating yourself about personal finance, interest rates, savings accounts and balancing a budget. Use personal finance blogs, books or any other informative guide you can to best assess the direction you should take.

2. Resources. If you cannot use family as a resource, take advantage of the other resources you can use. This includes emailing blogger’s for advice or more general information and chatting with close friends about how they learned about investments. Try to gather as much information as you can from the sources you trust.

3. Support. Have a friend remind you weekly to check your budget. Find a positive person you trust talking about your money issues with, to help support you emotionally as you get started. While being in debt is a financial problem, it has a huge emotional affect on one’s life. Having someone to talk to about it will be very helpful.

4. Confidence. You will not always be in debt, if you do not want to be. It is possible for you to pay it off. Don’t believe me? Take a look at several of the personal finance blogger’s who have dug their way out of hundreds of thousands of dollars of credit card debt! With a plan it is possible. You also need confidence to negotiate payment plans, interest rates and contracts. The more you learn about those topics, the more confidence you will have in knowing when company’s are taking advantage of you.

5. Patience. Although it might have taken you less than a day to spend all that money, it will definitely take you a while to pay it all off. It will be difficult at first because the improvement is a slow one. However, when you pay off your first high-interest bill, you will feel great, I promise! Having support is key for you to continue being patient instead of losing all hope.

6. Think Long-Term. Credit Cards have always been about the “now”; that is the entire idea of credit. So while you may be very happy right now, in a few years you will become miserable. If your parents were in credit card debt, it should not be too difficult for you to see how unhappy they were buried under bills, even if it made for a comfortable lifestyle. Always remind yourself of that and keep thinking of your long-term goals. Sacrificing to pay more than the minimum payment may not be fun now, but it will lead to many more years of less-stress and better investments.

Readers: Have you been influenced by your parents’ spending habits?

Weekend: July 9-11, 2010

leslie — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:30:45 +0000

Every weekend, I will detail my activities and expenses to provide an example of how to implement a frugal mindset while still having a fun and active life.

Friday

I had plans to meet up with some friends for dinner on Friday night. I fixed myself a grilled cheese after work and snacked on some cashews on the way over. I did not purchase anything at the restaurant but still enjoyed myself. It was nice chatting with friends, some who I had not seen in a while. After dinner, we went to a local ice cream shoppe. I ate a delicious chocolate chip ice cream cone and socialized some more with friends.

Friday Total Cost:$3

Saturday

My friends were married on Saturday, so I spent most of the day getting ready for and attending to wedding things. They had an open bar so no money was spent!

Saturday Total Cost:$0

Sunday

On Sunday, I went to the mall to see if I could get my dress fixed. The final result was a $140 credit and my dress was sent off to the seamstress. Afterward, I had lunch at Chipotle, then walked it off at the Ken Lockwood Gorge. Then put it all back on with some ice cream at Gronsky’s Milk House.

Sunday Total Cost:-$130.80

Total Weekend Cost: -$127.80!

Customer Service Experience with Lipsy

leslie — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 00:40:24 +0000

They always say “quality over quantity” right? That is exactly what I thought when I dished out $300 (the most I have ever spent on an article of clothing) on a dress to wear to some planned weddings later this year. The dress was from London-based company Lipsy. I fell in love with the dress and really liked the rest of their collection, with the intention to purchase more of their clothing.

So Much for Quality

I wore the dress for the first time since purchase, to a wedding over the weekend. It was comfortable the entire time and I received many compliments. I was enthusiastic to tell my friends the name of the company and where they could purchase similar dresses.

Then, I took it off at the end of the night and saw the zipper had broke off.

The Price of Losing a Customer

With receipt in hand, I went to the Lipsy section of Bloomingdale’s to ask what they could do. The manager was not very eager to help. Since I had already worn the dress, it could not be returned. The manager said she would call the seamstress to see how much it would cost, but the entire zipper would have to be replaced. She made sure to say that this type of thing never happens with their clothing and that the zipper must have been forcefully pulled to cause the break.

I shrugged thinking I was out of a dress and said, out of honesty, that I was extremely disappointed and would never buy another Lipsy product. Their quality just did not match the price.

At hearing this, the manager decided she could do something after all. She admitted to not wanting to lose me as a customer so she negotiated this:
I “returned” the dress then, since it was on sale, bought it again at its lowest selling price, $130! I still paid the $25 alteration fee and just hope that the new zipper still looks okay in three weeks.

I was credited a total of $140!

Honestly, I still am disappointed with the quality of this expensive dress but I am pleased with the way the manager handled it. I do not care so much about the money as I really truly loved the dress. I will be disappointed still if the new zipper does not match as well as the original one.

Lesson Learned

I have learned that you do not always get what you pay for but I will continue to look at Lipsy clothing, as it is the only dress I have ever found to fit me perfectly.

Readers: Have you made any high cost purchases that ended up being disappointing?

Weekend: July 2-5, 2010

leslie — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 18:00:11 +0000

Every weekend, I will detail my activities and expenses to provide an example of how to implement a frugal mindset while still having a fun and active life.

Friday

Since this was a long weekend, I took advantage of the extra day by doing nothing on Friday. I made a small dinner and got caught up with bills and things. Not too exciting, but it had to get done.

Friday Total Cost:$0

Saturday

I spent Saturday at the shore with some friends. I packed a lunch, brought a drink and some snacks. We took a route without any tolls and less traffic. An hour later, we were relaxing on the beach. My friends ate lunch at a place on the boardwalk where a slice of pizza and a drink was $8. I sat at the table with them eating my yummy sandwich.

Later that night, I had plans to watch the UFC fight at Buffalo Wild Wings. I knew I would eat there, which is why I did not want to eat out earlier in the day. Unfortunately, BWW changed their boneless wings into disgusting fried crap so that was rather disappointing. The Blue Moon’s helped washed the ickiness down.

Saturday Total Cost:$20

Sunday

I spent Sunday morning chatting with a friend at Pantera Bread ($2) then lounged around in the afternoon. I met up with some friends to watch fireworks in the evening. We had a great time! I had some pizza and beers there as well.

Sunday Total Cost:$7

Monday

I spent my long weekend day just being a bum. I made beer pancakes for breakfast and they were oh-so-delicious. Since, it was ridiculously hot outside, I stayed in and watched Zombieland on Instant Watch. Then made myself a quick dinner of grilled chicken, broccoli and a baked potato with my seasoning salt.

Friday Total Cost:$0

Total Weekend Cost: $27

2010 Goals: Six Month Check In

leslie — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 14:30:02 +0000

Back in December, I made some life goals for 2010. Since then I was laid off, unemployed for two months, found a new job and doubled my commuting costs (and time).

Amazingly, I have been able to cross some of the goals off my list! Let’s review:

Financial Goals

~~Pay off my car~~
Focus on reducing Student Loan

In progress

Focus on emergency fund

In progress

Start a travel fund

Personal Goals

~~Be out of high-interest debt~~
Take a real vacation to somewhere new
Increase skills in one hobby

In progress

Have a stable side-project
Build and maintain a new close friendship
Continue living life to the fullest

In progress

The Plan!

So now that my car loan and credit card (both high interest) are paid off, I am re-allocating more funds for my student loan and my savings. I have mentally started a travel fund by increasing my savings goal. I will separate this out later.

I am not sure how I feel about having a stable side project at the moment. Right now, I am being fulfilled by my job (both mentally and logistically), so I do not feel it is that important to have an ongoing side project. I would prefer to put my time into increasing my sewing skills, which I have started more recently.

I will focus on friendships for the second half of this year now that the stress of my high interest debt is out of the way, I feel a bit more relaxed in terms of socialization.

I kicked off the new year with a polar bear swim. If that’s not “living life to the fullest” I am not sure what is! I have also learned how to indoor mountain climb, improved upon my ice skating, and started working in NYC. There are definitely some opportunities I have missed, but for now, I have a balance and am happy with the progress of this goal.

So Readers…

The year is already half over, how do you feel about your life, finances, mental health, what-have-you thus far? What is going well? What will you improve upon or change? Share in the comments below!

Weekend: June 11-13, 2010

leslie — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 14:30:01 +0000

Every weekend, I will detail my activities and expenses to provide an example of how to implement a frugal mindset while still having a fun and active life.

Friday

I’m just going to warn you now, this was the most non-frugal weekend ever! Fortunately, all of the extra spending was budgeted. Friday night started out cheap. We stayed in, ordered Thai food ($7) and watched Shutter Island.

Friday Total Cost:$7

Saturday

I knew that Saturday would be an expensive day. I spent the morning getting highlights ($115) then stocked up on a prescription ($80). I came home in time to watch the World Cup game then headed out again to eat yummy Mexican for dinner ($6). After dinner, I played poker at a friend’s house and lost a buck.

Saturday Total Cost:$201

Sunday

I have been “window shopping” online for a dress to wear to two upcoming weddings for the past month but am wary to make such a purchase online without being able to try it on. It is getting close enough to the July wedding that I might not have enough time to return a wrong size, so I decided to take a quick stop at the mall and just see if anything caught my eye. After a disappointing run through several stores, I tried on two dresses at Bloomingdales. With the help of Twitter fashion gurus, I picked a Lipsy dress ($295…eeeek). I have never spent that much on clothing before but I budgeted the dress expense into this month, I do not have any special occasion clothes, and I know I will wear it twice at the very least. However, I am keeping the receipt and staying on the look out. If I fall in love with something cheaper, I will return it. It is times like these that I am glad New Jersey does not have sales tax on clothing!

Sunday Total Cost: $295

Total Weekend Cost: $496 (ugh!)

The Importance Of Asking (A.K.A. An Ode to Amazon.com’s Customer Service)

leslie — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:30:05 +0000

Back in March, I pre-ordered a video game and received $20 video game credit on Amazon.com. I went to use it just last week and noticed that the credits were not showing up.

So I went to Get Human to find their number. I waited maybe 4 minutes for a CR to answer.I explained the dilemma and was informed that the credits expired April 30th! I had no idea! I said that.

The CR offered (without me having to ask at all) to credit my account with a $20 general Amazon.com credit that does not expire for a year! I was quite surprised especially considering it was completely my fault for letting them expire.

The entire call was short, painless and had an excellent resolution without any struggle at all. Huge thumbs up to Amazon.com’s customer representative team.

So Readers…

It seems positive customer service stories are rare nowadays, share yours below!

Frugal Kitchen Quick Tips!

leslie — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:00:36 +0000

On Twitter, I try to share Frugal Tips about budgets, expenses and food! Here is the whole list of them so far.

When baking, save the butter wrapper and use it to grease your pans! This is a tip I actually learned in Home Ec in high school. You can take this one step further and freeze the butter wrappers to use later.

DIY Microwave Popcorn! Put 1/4C popcorn kernels in paper lunch bag, microwave 2 min. Pour melted butter & salt, shake, serve!

Don’t throw out your rock solid brown sugar. Put a piece of bread in the bag and in a day the sugar will be all softened up!

Honey never goes bad! Ever. Heat crystallized honey in the microwave for 10-30 seconds to get you smooth honey back.

Make your own hot coca! http://bit.ly/10TAKM

Make your own chocolate syrup! 1C wt sugar, 1C water, 1/2C cocoa. Boil for 2 minutes (while stirring). Let cool. Add 1/2t vanilla. I save a plastic squirt container (mustard, ketchup, etc) to store the syrup. This tastes so much better than Hershey’s it’s ridiculous! (And super cheap)

Always keep a snack in your car and desk at work to keep you from buying overpriced food when you have a craving

Made too much bread for toast? Just make your own breadcrumbs! This is where one of those slap choppers really comes in handy! If you don’t use bread crumbs much, just store them in the freezer. Use any plastic container to store them in.

Plan tomorrow’s lunch while making tonight’s dinner. Make extra pasta, rice, sauce, vegetables, etc.

Eat breakfast at home. Or make breakfast at home and bring it to work.

Declutter by Re-Purposing Household Items

leslie — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 14:30:38 +0000

When you are looking to purchase something new or when you are decluttering your home, it is important to think about re-purposing items that you no longer use into something far more useful! Here are some examples of how I re-purposed household items into new ones without paying a dime!

Jewelry Organization with a Belt

After losing umpteen pairs of earrings and having all my necklaces tangled into one big knot, I looked into purchasing a jewelry box. Unfortunately, I could not find one that met my needs and was not keen on paying $30 for something that can only hold 5 necklaces.

Instead, I took an eyelet belt that I hardly wear and hung it up on a hook behind the bathroom door. All of my earrings fit perfectly on the belt. They are not too crowded, I always can pair them up, and they will not fall out of a box. I have been using the belt as an earring holder for over a year now and have yet to find a better system. As you can see, I use the other hooks to hang earrings from.

I do realize that the belt is no longer a belt, but I really do not miss it as an accessory.

Easy Kitchen Organization

When re-organizing our kitchen, I saw a cutting board organizer at Target for ~$20. I immediately realized that i had the same thing at home that I never even used! It was a plastic folder organizer for your office. I planned on using it to organize my desk eventually… Well, I decided to move it into the kitchen and it works great!

Even though it is plastic, the organizer holds the cutting boards without a problem.

Shoe Racks Are For More Than Just Shoes

I initially bought the vertical shoe organizer to better use space in a small closet. Since then, I moved into a room with a larger closet and more shoe storage space.

Now I use the shoe rack for special occasion shoes and for general purpose storing. The little cubby is the perfect size for my iron! I have a mini ironing board that just hangs in my closet, so the two are always together.

I also found the sections to be great for keeping outfits together. I will put a pair of running shorts, a sports bra and a tank in one section. This way they are always together when I’m looking for work out clothes and wrinkles are not a worry.