Dollars and $ense


       Okay, I admit it, I’m C-H-E-A-P!  But actually, I’m not embarrassed.  I love to 
broadcast my cheapness.  For example, I recently bought my husband’s birthday present 
off the ½ price clearance rack.  What really attracted my attention, however, was that 
everything on the clearance rack was another 25% off the ½ price.  But oh, no, that 
wasn’t enough for me!  I stood at the register for another 20 minutes applying for the 
store credit card so I could save another 15% of my final bill.  Okay, so now you know 
where I’m coming from as I write this.  I hope to share some ideas with others out there 
who weren’t just born with this cheap state of mind I was God-given.  Rather than title of 
“stay at home mom”, I have given myself the title of “Chief Financial Officer” of our 
household.   (Well, at least it makes me sound important!)
       To begin with, we track EVERYTHING we spend by using Quicken software.  
Using this, we have devised a budget which incorporates everything from groceries to 
utilities to gasoline to charity.  When we first sat down to figure our budget we had no 
idea what we spent each month on anything.   But now, you name it, I can tell you how 
much we spend per month on any category.  This enables us to know exactly what we 
can, or, in most cases, can’t afford to do.  For example, we have a monthly dining out 
budget of $50 and once that is gone, there is no more eating out that month.   But we have 
come to realize it is an invaluable tool especially when you need to figure out if you can 
make it on one income or change jobs or buy a bigger home.  When I quit working, we 
simply went to our budget and shed as much money as we could from each category to 
see if we could make it on just my husband’s income.  It would take a lot of sacrifice, but 
we could see in black and white that it was possible.
       We have also used computer software (Turbotax) to do our own taxes rather than 
pay a tax preparer and Willmaker to draw up a simple will rather than pay an attorney.   It 
was so easy!   I also found software called “It’s Deductible” in which you can list all non-
cash items (like clothing) you donate to charity and it will tell you what the fair market 
value is according to IRS regulations.  Normally, when you donate a bag of clothing you 
may value it at around $50 when in reality it could be valued at around $200.  This makes 
a great tax deduction tool! 
       We have also refinanced our house twice in the last 13 months.  If you haven’t 
checked into doing this lately, you are missing out on free money!  Also, have you 
shopped for home or auto insurance lately?  We just switched and found better deals on 
both.  Check out insweb.com to get quotes from several companies at once!  
       When it comes to groceries, Wal Mart can’t be beat if you take advantage of their 
price match offer.  Every week we gather ads from surrounding grocery stores and get all 
their advertised prices in one place!  It is a little bit of work in that you must have the ads 
with you at the checkout ready to show the cashier, but it is worth it  (that is, if you can 
tolerate the stares from those impatient shoppers in line behind you).  Our grocery bill has 
decreased by at least 20% since we started doing this. 
       Okay, here’s a quick run through of some of our other cheap tricks--About 85% 
of the kids clothes and toys have come from garage sales.  All our furniture is also 
second-hand.   Our vacations usually go no further than St. Louis or Omaha.  We rarely 
pay a sitter and frequently use the babysitting co-op.  We don’t have cable TV, cell 
phones, caller id, or call waiting.   Our cars have the old crank-style roll up windows and 
locks you have to manually push down.  Once a month, I open up “mom’s barber shop” 
and cut both my sons’ and my husband’s hair.  My husband, whose handyman skills are 
normally limited to changing a light bulb, has learned how to change the oil in our cars.  
It’s amazing how much each little bit of money saved adds up over time! (Don’t worry, 
we do splurge for running water and electricity!)   Not all of these ideas would work for 
everyone, but one or two of these suggestions could make a big difference in your 
family’s budget.  
       So now you see what I mean about being cheap.  I am the queen of cheap.  I 
sometimes reminisce about the days we could spend money without thinking or tracking 
or worrying.   But that is not our reality today and we have worked hard and sacrificed to 
make one income work for us.  However, because of these small sacrifices, our children 
are reaping the benefits of having those who love them most taking care of them on a 
full-time basis.