Take a risk and do something crazy! Then everything else will be a piece of cake.

Look at that picture. That’s me. In the Atlantic Ocean. On January 1st. In 32 degree water. In a bikini. Seriously.

I survived the Coney Island Polar Bear Swim. I survived standing on a beach for half an hour in a bikini in January in New York. I survived swimming in 32 degree water. I survived not being able to feel my toes for a few hours. I survived and had a blast!

The experience made everything else I endured this winter seem like a piece of cake! For starters, I never complained about it being too cold! I learned that nothing is really as bad as it seems. I also learned it takes a really long time for toes to thaw out.

I know the big things are the scariest but overcoming that fear will make future scary things much easier to face.

Tracking savings allows you to see financial improvement; to see how successful your budgeting actually is!

Savings Tracker

I have created a separate worksheet just for savings within my budget spreadsheet. Savings and spending go hand-in-hand, so it really is important to keep these together.

My monthly budget & savings worksheet can be downloaded here: http://www.27andfrugal.com/files/easy_peasy_2010_budget.xls

If you already have a budget that works for you, simply copy/paste the Savings worksheet and use it on it’s own.

Ideally, the worksheet should mimic your savings account, so start with your beginning of the year balance. This sheet will be filled in automatically once you input your savings into the monthly budget sheets. Or simply manually enter in how much you are transferring to savings each month.

The interest does need to be entered manually from your monthly bank statement. Seeing exactly how much or how little interest you are earning every month may make you want to look into alternative saving account options.

The box on the right is the most important part of the whole sheet… your goal! Do everything you can to keep this goal in the back of your mind each time you make a purchase. When you are over 50% of the way to your goal, you will have incentive to put more into your savings every month.

Set a Savings Goal

It is important to have a savings goal. This will help curb your spending and help prioritize your spending habits. If you make a special “vacation fund”, then next time you are tempted to spend $12 on a movie ticket, you might stop and think that the $12 could be better used while onvacation. Or that you would rather eat out on vacation, rather than the same old restaurants around home.

You are on Your Way…

Tracking your spending is just one step in getting your finances in order. Being able to use this worksheet to track your spending will bring you even closer to seeing the balances you want to see. The idea of this worksheet is to be more aware of your savings account in general, especially if you make monthly automatic transfers. It is easy to forget about your balance and goal when you are not looking at it every month. You could make a similar worksheet to track a credit card. Just jot down your balance, each monthly payment and how much you have left to pay it off.

Failbread

My first attempt was a recipe for “Rapid Mix Cool Rise White Bread” that is in the recipe book that came with my mixer. I used it so I could get used to mixing times and speeds. My first loaf came out perfect! I was very very excited at the premise of making my own bread whenever I wanted!

My second loaf, did not rise. I killed the yeast with water that was too hot. So I immediately went out and bought a $5 digital thermometer at target. With that help, my third loaf came out perfect just like the first one.

After two good loaves of bread, I thought I had this baking bread thing down pact. So, I tried to make wheat bread. Boy was I in for a treat. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing and my first loaf did not rise.

So I tried again. Second loaf did not rise.

Two failures started to get me down so I switched gears to a white cinnamon swirl bread. Fail. I do not even know what went wrong with this one!

Even though I was definitely starting to get discouraged by this point (and annoyed at seeing all my hard work end up in the garbage) I did not give up.

I tried another white cinnamon swirl bread recipe and, finally, had success again!

I am a little nervous now to try other variations of bread. I want to try wheat again or maybe half/half. I want to perfect a sandwich bread and an eating bread. For now, I will stick with the two loaves that I can make and just hope that practice makes perfect. I now know how temperamental bread baking can be and will be better prepared for failures (and not get too overconfident by the successes).

Rapid Mix Cool Rise White Bread Recipe

This recipe makes 1 loaf of a delicious eating white bread with lots of flavor. Tastes great for plain toast, toast with fried egg on top, grilled cheese, and soup dipping.

3-3 1/2C all-purpose flour
1T white sugar
1 3/4t salt
1 1/2pkg (3 1/4t) active dry yeast
1/8C butter, softened
1C very warm water (120-130F)

Place 2 1/2C flour, sugar, salt, yeast and butter in mixer bowl. Using dough hook, mix on speed 2 for 20 seconds. Gradually add the water and mix a minute longer.

Add remaining flour 1/2C at a time and mix on speed 2 until dough clings to hook and clings to sides of bowl, roughly two more minutes. Knead with dough hook on speed 2 for two minutes longer.

Cover dough with plastic wrap and a towel. Leave it be for 20 minutes.

Shape into a loaf and place in a greased loaf pan. Brush with oil (cover with chopped oats if you’d like) and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Refrigerate 2-12 hours.

When ready to bake, slowly uncover the dough and let stand to room temperature for 10 minutes.

Bake at 400F for 35-40minutes. Remove from pan immediately and cool on wire racks.

White Cinnamon Swirl Bread Recipe

This recipe makes 1 loaf of a delicious soft white sandwich bread with a super yummy cinnamon swirl inside.

Dough
1pkg (2 1/4t) Active Dry Yeast
1/4C white sugar, plus a pinch
1 1/4C warm milk (100F)
1/2 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4t salt
1 large egg
1/4t vanilla extract
Pinch of nutmeg
3 3/4 to 4C all-purpose flour

Swirl
1T white sugar
2t cinnamon
2t cocoa powder
3T unsalted butter, softened

Put the yeast, pinch of sugar and 1/4C milk in a small bowl. Let rest for 3 minutes. The yeast may not have bubbled but it should be soft.

Place 1C milk, butter and 1/4C sugar into mixer bowl. Using paddle attachment, mix on speed 2 for two minutes. Add salt, egg, vanilla and nutmeg. Mix for another minute. The mixture will look rather “curdly”. Add the yeast mixture and mix on Speed 3 for a minute. Add 2 3/4C flour while the mixer is off, then stir just until combined.

Using the dough hook, add 1C flour and beat the dough for 2-3 minutes on speed 2. Add flour 1T at a time until the dough cleans sides of bowl.

Once that happens, knead the dough on speed 2 for 3-5 minutes until the dough is smooth and has a sheen to it.

Place the ball of dough into a greased bowl, turning the dough inside the bowl; then cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Put the bowl in a draft-free place until dough doubles in size; about 1 1/2 hours. (Optional: To help the bread rise, boil a pot of water and place it in the oven. Put the covered bowl on a rack above the pot of water. Keep oven door closed.)

Once risen, wrap the dough in plastic wrap. If you plan to bake that same day, freeze the dough for 30 minutes. If you plan to bake it later, refrigerate the dough overnight.

When ready to bake, prepare the swirl by whisking together the sugar, cinnamon and cocoa. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface into a 12×18″ rectangle. Using your fingers, smear 2T of the butter onto the dough. Then sprinkle the sugar mixture on top.

Roll the dough tightly, starting from the short side. Fit dough into greased loaf pan, seam side down and tuck the ends under.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and set in a warm place. Let the dough rise about 45 minutes.

Once risen, melt the rest of the butter and brush top of loaf. Place the loaf pan on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Then cover loosely with foil and bake another 25 minutes (or until inner bread temperature is 200F).

Let the pan cool for 5 minutes on a wire rack then remove from pan and cool loaf on wire racks.

I called Progressive and let them know that I am now the full owner of the car. Immediately, they were able to remove protection for financed cars decreasing my rate!

I was also interested in removing collision and changing some other aspects of my policy to get my payments down to ~$100/month. When telling the customer representative this, she asked me a few questions to check if I was eligible for certain discounts. She asked if I am a homeowner; I am not. She asked my highest level of education. When I said I have a Bachelor’s Degree, she said that qualified me for a deduction. Just that alone saved me $8/month!

So after removing the loan protection, collision, rental service and applying the education deduction, my monthly car insurance rate dropped to $95/mo! I saved $32 just by paying off my car and making a phone call.

That makes for a total of $250/mo savings now that my car is paid off!

Coupons are one of the most ingenious marketing techniques ever created. They use the same principle new businesses will use to attract customers; Give customers a deal so they are willing to take a risk.

Marketing companies know how loyal we are to our favorite foods, brands and toilet cleaning products. They know that we will not switch just for anyone. However, with the lure of savings, we will try anything!

Coupons Do Not Endorse a Healthy Lifestyle

When I used to clip out coupons, I tried all kinds of new processed foods and cleaning products. Unfortunately for the marketing companies, I no longer purchase processed foods and commercial cleaning products. Most of the items I buy at the grocery store are rarely featured in coupons. When was the last time you saw a coupon for celery? Companies do not care about your health or savings. They know that your $0.50 savings is nothing compared to the mark-up they just profited on your purchase.

Let me give you an example of the plethora of unhealthy food that coupons are used to endorse. I simply typed “coupons” into google and went to the first site that allows you to print coupons. Let’s see what we have:

• Save 40¢ when you buy any flavor Box or Pouch Betty Crocker® Potatoes – Can these legally be called potatoes? Take a look at the ingredients and tell me you want to eat that.
• Save 50¢ when you buy one any flavor Betty Crocker® Warm Delights® Bowls OR Betty Crocker® Warm Delights® Minis Bowls – Is saving $0.50 really worth ingesting HFCS?
• Save $1.00 on any one Jose Ole® product (16 oz or larger) – Might I remind you that 3 Jose Ole Taquitos has 440mg of sodium?
• Save 50¢ when you buy any variety 19 OZ. – 24 OZ. ONLY Green Giant® Frozen Bagged Vegetables – Finally! Some vegetables!

We all know it is much cheaper to make your own homemade baked goods and dishes than buying lower quality, processed convenient foods. Coupons do not make up this difference. It is still cheaper to make your own yummy brownie bowl (without the corn syrup).

Coupons Make Us Buy More Food

There is no doubt about it. The words “savings” and “deal” trick our brains into thinking we need the item. How many times have you purchased an item you normally would not have because you had a coupon?

Now, one argument for coupons is, “they are an effective way for people to purchase new products without taking a huge risk.” Unfortunately, spending $3.50 instead of $4.00 on poor-tasting cereal, is not a savings at all.

You might be thinking right now, “I only use coupons on items I already buy.” If that is the case, then awesome. And if you have the time to play the grocery game, where you match up coupons (of items you would normally buy) with store sales for huge savings, that is awesome as well! But as someone who does not have the time or motivation to put into coupons, the savings on the few items I would use coupons for is not worth it to me.

Don’t Let Coupons Control Your Eating Habits

Next time you are looking through coupons, stop and notice just how many are for frozen, pre-packaged, or sugar-laden foods. Do not let the savings tempt you to continue purchasing this junk. It is cheaper (now and down the road) to purchase healthy alternatives or make your own.

Stop Focusing on Diets & Debts

In the case of losing weight, dieting is very short sighted. While on a diet, you will count calories, routinely exercise, eat healthy, and be much more aware of what you are eating. These habits are successful and cause you to lose weight. Having met your weight loss goal, you might now think it’s safe to stop thinking about food. Now that you’re healthy, you will loosen the grip on your food habits; then become confused when the weight comes back.

This bad habit of a short sighted goal can happen when paying off financial debt as well. While aggressively paying off debt, you’ll constantly check your budget, be more conscious of your spending habits, and think more about your financial future. Then, once the debt is paid, you start to think of all that extra money you now have. Maybe you buy something as an reward. Then you find yourself losing track of your spending. It won’t be too long before you find yourself in trouble again.

Learning to be financially healthy and physically healthy is the same process: Make conscious decisions, plan ahead & be patient.

Make Conscious Decisions

To maintain physical health, you have to be conscious of what you eat all the time. This doesn’t necessarily mean counting calories, but simply being aware of what you’re eating and have eaten. If you ate a greasy burger on Monday, you don’t want to eat another one on Thursday. Spending habits are similar. If you indulged in a $20 manicure earlier in the week, you don’t want to make a hair appointment for just a few days later.

Staying aware of your spending and eating also allows you to treat yourself when necessary. If you’ve been saving up for an item that you really want, finally making that purchase (or eating that meal) will feel great.

Plan Ahead

Remaining aware of your spending and eating means you can plan ahead. If you know you will be eating out with friends on Saturday, you would skip buying lunch throughout the week. If you plan on doing a costly weekend activity, you will curb your spending earlier in the week. If you’re going to a friend’s house for a bbq, you might eat something healthy at home first so you don’t eat too much there. If you’re going out to a bar, you could have a beer at home first, so you only buy one once you’re out.

Be Patient

I know that small goals are great, I prefer them as well. But when it comes to your financial and physical health, this will be a long-term journey. Be patient. Weight-loss and debt removal is just the first step in the process to a healthy lifestyle. In this step, the lessons you learn (eating better & spending less) will be used for the rest of your life. These lessons will turn into habits and will hopefully result in an entire lifestyle change. Getting your debt and weight under control will mean that you have to change permanently. You are in these problematic situations because you were doing something wrong. If you lose weight, then go back to your old life and habits, the weight will come back; the debts will come back. This will be a permanent change that takes time.

Enjoy It!

With that said, make sure you enjoy the new habits; the new lifestyle! Don’t starve yourself! Don’t completely stop spending! If it’s fun, you’ll stick to it. I know that if I was on a grapefruit and applejuice diet and had to think about eating like that every single day for the rest of my life, I’d go crazy! You have to enjoy this change.

Forget about diets altogether and instead figure out ways to eat what you already like, in a more healthy manner. Forget about strict debt removal practices and figure out ways to purchase what you already like, for cheaper. Instead of paying $5 for that Starbucks coffee, make it at home. Love that Olive Garden pasta dish? Make it at home so you can control the butter, salt and calorie amounts. This is the only way to ensure that you won’t go back into debt or won’t put the weight back on.

Share your advice for beginning weight & debt wrangling below!

Back in December, I made some goals for the year 2010. One goal was to pay off my car.

I had a plan: To make a car payment of $500 in October & November (over double my minimum payment) then pay off the last thousand dollars in January; Six months ahead of schedule.

Then I lost my job.

My hopes of paying off my car anytime soon were gone. Instead, I used the extra cushion I made for myself in the previous months and didn’t make a car payment in December or January. During this time, I put as much money as I could into savings since I had no idea how long I would be unemployed.

In the middle of February, some light started to shine through. I received a federal tax refund that was close to my car pay off amount. I decided that I felt comfortable enough using the entire check to pay off my car instead of adding it to the savings. A week later, my decision was justified when I was offered (and accepted) a new job. I used my entire tax refund to pay off my car, leaving my savings intact.

And now… I own my car!

A Setback is not the End

My life did not end when I lost my job. Things had to change but that was manageable. Sure, I didn’t pay off my car when I thought I would, but in the end it worked out. It’s important to think through your finances and plan ahead when dealing with an unstable income. Stay rational. Don’t get discouraged that you’re never going to find a job. But don’t get overconfident that you’ll “have the money to pay that bill next month”. Make your budget one month at a time and focus on building your savings.

I will have a more detailed look on severely cutting a budget in the face of unemployment soon.

1. Lay out your fabric

2. Figure out what size you want each placemat. Mine are 18×12 which conveniently is the size of this cutting board. You can just cut a rectangle out of newspaper as well.

3. Cut out each rectangle. (Hopefully you’ll have a better sewing space than my make-shift one.)

 
4. Pin right sides of fabric together, making sure everything is even

5. Stitch with a 1/4″ seam allowance all the way around leaving an opening at the end large enough to fit a few fingers through.

6. Using the opening, turn the fabric inside out.

7. Your fabric will now look like this. Don’t worry, we’ll make it unpoofy in just a minute.

8. Fold the edges of the opening inside and pin so they are secure and even

9. Iron flat (You can iron right over the pins)

10. Topstitch as close to the edge as possible all the way around.

11. Stitch about 1/2″ from the fabric edge (or at the edge of the inside seam) all the way around.

12. Set the table! (Okay, these are a little bit too big for this size table but they are still cute.)

As you can see, I basically used the pillow method to make these. Another method is to skip steps 4-6 and instead just fold the right side edges over to the wrong side, press, then topstitch. This involves more pressing and less sewing. Just do whichever works best for you.

1. Develop a routine

Keep a weekly routine just as though you’re still working. Wake up in the morning (no sleeping past noon), eat some breakfast, search and apply for jobs, fix lunch, work out, make dinner then relax. Yes, there will be gaps in there and you need to be self-disciplined to use them wisely. In general, stick to a normal day-time schedule. Go to bed at a normal time and get up at a normal time.

Sure, you can stay in your pj’s for a while but the more you keep a real-world schedule the easier it’ll be to keep a healthy mentality. The easier it will also be to re-adjust to a work schedule when you find another job.

2. Set a goal

Set a goal in something else in your life that you enjoy doing. Now is a good time to spend more time with those hobbies that are often ignored. The idea is to keep yourself busy but still focused on something productive.

One example is to set a workout goal. Have you always wanted to run a 5k but didn’t feel prepared? Simply, budget out $25 and sign up for one. Schedule this training into your day and stick with it. Since being unemployed can cause you to feel down, meeting this goal will provide a nice boost to your self esteem.

3. Keep applying

Keep applying for jobs! Always always always be applying for jobs. Have one resume and cover letter template that you can quickly modify to apply for specific jobs. Applying is always free and won’t take you more than 10 minutes per position. You could have the-best-resume-ever-written but if you never send it out, you’re not going anywhere. Try applying to at least one job a day.

Be patient! Employers will contact you anywhere from a few days to a few weeks after you applied. Take note of the job posting date. Being one of the first to apply will definitely increase your chances of having your resume seen.

4. Learn

Spend some time during the week to learn more in your field. Perhaps your knowledge is slightly outdated due to previous work limitations. Maybe you have always wanted to learn a new technology in your field but didn’t have the time.

Read up on your industry to find out what you need to know to be a marketable candidate. You might want to take a class, earn a certification or just sit in on some lectures. Meetup.com is a great reference for learning and networking with others in your field.

5. Restructure your budget

If you’re going to be on U.S. Federal Unemployment, chances are your income will be greatly decreased from what you are used to. You will need to restructure your budget to account for this. It is incredibly difficult to balance having lots of free time but little money to spend. Stay aware of your budget and spending. Be sure to factor in job hunting expenses as well (specifically travel).

You will have to sacrifice. This will suck. You will have to eat out less. You will have to tell your friends that you can’t go out this weekend. Unemployment will cover all your bills but not much else. This means that your entertainment budget especially will take a big hit. While it’s enticing to go out on a weeknight, you really need some discipline here. This is also why keeping a normal-routine is important.

6. Save your receipts

Job hunting expenses are tax deductible, so save all your receipts!

7. Change It up

If you’re not getting any call backs after applying to jobs you know you qualify for, try changing your resume. Even something as simple as a layout re-design can make you stand-out more. If you’re not hearing anything after interviews, change up your prepared answers and find different ways to describe your past work history.

While it is easy to blame the economy, it really is up to you to market yourself better than your competition.

Have your own suggestions of how to survive being out of work? Leave them below!

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

Friday was another crazy day on the job front so I let loose on my budget a little and celebrated throughout the weekend. Friday evening, however, I just wanted to relax. I played some more Kingdom Hearts, watched the Olympic opening ceremony and had a relaxing night at home.

Friday Total Cost:$0

Saturday

I already had plans on Saturday night to go out to dinner to celebrate a friend’s birthday. I bought a six pack of Yeungling ($5.99) to bring to the restaurant (it was BYOB) and planned to use one bottle to make beer bread. Once at the liquor store, I got a little greedy and felt I deserved a six pack of Smithwick’s ($6.99) as well since the job hunt is going so well. I probably could have done without it, especially since I’ve only had one bottle but I know it will definitely get used up!

Dinner was great. We went to a cheap local place where my humongous burrito was only $4.50. I took 1/4 of it home to eat for lunch the next day. After dinner, I went to a bar with some friends. Again, I splurged and spent $4.50 on a beer just to be social. This doesn’t cause me to be over budget at all but I can’t help but know that it was a silly and unnecessary purchase. The evening overall was fun and I had a great time hanging out with friends.

Saturday Total Cost:$24

Sunday

On Sunday, I did chores around the house and went for a good run. I spent the evening watching the Olympics (what a great money-saver!).

Sunday Total Cost: $0

Total Weekend Cost: $24.00