In response to an entry posted on Somer's blog at

http://somer.savingadvice.com/ I mentioned something my mother used to say to me, generally after a discussion of wants vs. needs. After she'd coached me about knowing the difference between a want and a need, complete with examples from her own life, she'd pause then say, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without!"

Oh, how I detested that momism! It was something I absolutely dreaded hearing and each time she said it, I'd roll my eyes (inwardly of course, I didn't dare roll them visibly!) and sigh a little. After all, I knew that as a single parent receiving a small amount of child support she provided most of my support. I knew that although she had a good paying job, it couldn't be easy raising a girl or two or three. She made sure we had a nice and safe place to live, electricity, water, and food, bought us good quality clothes, and gave us allowance. And she always had a good car to drive, carried nice purses, wore nice clothes, and seemed to have money for extras, too. Another momism she would pitch at us was "Quality over quantity!". But we weren't rolling in the lap of luxury, by any means. We wore our clothes until they were outgrown or not good for much but the rag bag. We ate well but we didn't eat expensive foods. Our houses were safe and in good parts of town but they weren't large or new. Most of our furniture was in great condition and was treated well so that it could be sold later at a garage sale.

It wasn't until years later that I learned that although we got brand new clothes, her own clothes often came from thrift shops. And that most of the nice purses she had were given to her by friends. And that a lot of our furniture and household goods that were sold at garage sales came from garage sales. Or that she wore her nice looking thrift store shoes until they had no support left, at which time she'd throw them out and get another pair. I suddenly understood why she used foil and plastic wrap several times if she could, why she saved the brown paper bags from the grocery store, and why she insisted that although we could have two servings of the main course at dinner, we couldn't pig out on it. She apparently took "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without" seriously.

As the years passed and I married then became a stay at home mother of three kids of my own, living on the small income from my husband's job, I greatly appreciated the momism I'd detested so much in my youth. I found myself remembering it when I was tempted to buy something we didn't need. I even said it to my own children a few times, though not many. I did try to teach them that when they wanted to buy something, it was good to not buy on impulse and to just wait awhile before purchasing it. I also taught them to consider if they already had something that would do the job of the thing they wanted to buy.

Now that my kids are grown and it's just me and my husband trying to pay bills and save for the retirement we always thought we'd have time to save for later (see my previous entry entitled "The best ways to ensure you'll be and stay broke") I think of those words my mom practically drowned me with as a kid and I'm thankful. I'm very thankful.

I think of them every time I wipe clean a piece of foil, dry it, and save it to use later. And I think of them every time I buy clothes at a thrift shop. Each time I add a few more cents to my challenge money, I hear those words and appreciate them again.

So here's to moms and dads and other folks who irritated us with their sayings and adages about money and thrift. May we irritate our own kids...and theirs..and theirs....

I was perusing the web for creative ways to save money and found some sites that have helpful information. To a lot of us, the suggestions given at these sites aren't news but here they are, in no particular order:

10 Easy ways to stash away thousands -

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/SaveMoney...

20 small ways to save big -
http://www.kiplinger.com/features/archives/2007/02/savebig.h...

20 ways to save on a shoestring -
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Savinganddebt/Savemoney/...

101 Creative ways to save energy - http://www.powerhousetv.com/stellent2/groups/public/document...

Save big on a tiny income -
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/SaveMoney...

Spend wisely to save money -
http://www.earticlesubmit.com/64652_62_Spend+Wisely+to+Save+...

Creatively frugal ways to save -
http://www.countingthecost.com/cf/cf125.htm

Maybe the ideas you read at these sites will spark something in you to save even more! But even if you learn just one new trick and it saves you a few cents here and a few dollars there, add it to your challenge money or save it for a rainy day. Every little bit helps.

DH and I sat down this evening to evaluate how the envelope system is working for us. There isn't enough in any of the envelopes to pay that bill but there's money in each of them and we have two to three weeks to get the money for the current bills and that should be very doable. It's only been six days but it appears that the system is definitely working for us.

While we were discussing this, DH told me that he wants to try to pay the bills from shop income and save at least half of what I earn. Wow! If we can do that, we can have some decent savings in short order! The shop is making enough to cover all the bills but only if we stop frittering away money. We still do that and although we do less than in the recent past, cutting back on that more will ensure we can pay our expenses with the shop money and save a good portion of my income.

Frittering - it's so easy to do! We eat out too much which isn't good for the pocket book or the health. And DH likes to buy soft drinks and snacks while we're out and those are hard on the budget and health, too. I admit I do it occasionally, too. But if we just cut back on eating out, that will make a big difference.

I think if we keep track of every penny we spend for awhile it will show us again just how much money we're frittering. When we did that before, it stopped us in our tracks and caused major overnight changes. But that was a few years ago and we're complacent again, I think. Now if I can just talk him into doing that again. But that's the kicker. He knows we blow too much and he knows we need to stop so he will probably remind me that he knows those things and say there's no need to track every penny again. If he does, I won't bring it up again.

I'm grateful, though, that he's working to improve our financial situation and is aware and willing to work on it with me. Yaaaaay for husbands who man up!

You know, a lot of the blogs here deal with saving and investing and those things are so important. Some of the members are real financial pros in my opinion. I hope to be like Julie (Ima Saver) when I grow up and be able to save money seemingly with each breath and have investments for the future. But I'm not there yet.

It isn't just that I never learned how to save, though that is a factor. It's also that for most of my life I've lived at, just below, or just above the poverty level. I make minimum wage or slightly above and my other half has struggled with several failed businesses. Technically, we're poor. He tells people we're so poor that where we come from it's spelled poooor. He jokes but there's some truth to it.

The 2007 poverty guidelines show this for a family of two:

100% of poverty is an income of 13,690, 120% is 16,428, and 133% is 18,207. For the last few years I've generally been somewhere around these figures, sometimes a little higher. But you get the picture.

It's not easy to live day to day with that kind of income, much less save. Yes it's manageable but it can also be incredibly stressful and wreak havoc in lives.

I'm really working to improve the saving issue and am making headway on it. But it's an uphill battle because, simply put, after bills are paid, food is bought and gas is put in vehicles, there's precious little money to save.

There are things we do, though, that help us not just get by but get a little put back here and there. It's a work of progress, learning to save and the folks here at SA have helped me tremendously. Someday I'll need advice on investing and when I do, I know where I'll look. In the meantime I want to share some suggestions that can help anyone, rich or poor, get by just a little better. So my next entry will be Part 1 of Thrifty Ideas.

DH wanted to open an account at a bank closer than the one we use now so we went out to do that. Although we didn't get that done, I did add another dollar to my savings amount.

We stopped at a convenience store and DH got a drink and 5 granola bars. He asked if I wanted something and I told him no thanks but that I'd like a dollar when he got a minute. He immediately handed me a dollar bill with this quizzical look on his face and said, "What do you want?" I told him I didn't want anything and he said, "Yes, you do." I think I was grinning!

When we got in the truck I told him about the challenge and that I wanted the dollar since I didn't get anything to drink or eat. He just kind of ignored me and started up the truck...

Men, gotta love em! And women, gotta love us, too!

So, I'm up to $3 so far for today!

I'd love to have $100,000 saved but the thought of doing that is just too big for me to even consider. I do much better if I break large goals into small ones I can manage. So, I don't even look at the large amount of money I'd love to have saved and focus on more manageable, reachable goals. Saving that amount of money is going to take me a long time and can't even get started until I tend to some other things on my plate. So, I'm in the process of emptying that plate!

One of my goals for this year is to have $2500 saved by the end of July. Right now we have about $1100. The thought of saving $1400 in six months is overwhelming to me so I have to break the goal into mini goals and minute steps. It might be pie in the sky to think I can come up with $1400 in six months but I don't think so. I'm going to give up just a few things in an attempt to meet my savings goal. Here's how I plan to do it.

I have 15 pay periods between now and the end of July. If I save $25 from each of those pay periods, I'll have $375 at the end of July. That helps but is a far cry from $1400. I don't think I can afford to save $50 from each check but if I push the limit a little and save $35 from each check, that gives me $525 at the end of July. Much better but I still need another $875.

I have to get creative with this and come up with ways to save a little more here and a lot more there. And it wouldn't hurt to throw in some things that will improve my health, too, so for every meatless meal DH or I eat, I'll add $1 to my savings. I generally eat at least 5 meatless meals per week but I can increase that to 10, I think, without it being a burden. There are 29 weeks between tomorrow and the end of July so If I do that, I'm $290 closer to that deficit of $1400 and now I need $585 more. As long as I'm thinking health and wealth, I'll add $1 for each time I don't stop for a soft drink or snack while out and about. If I can keep to that, I'll have a minimum of $5 more a week which puts me $145 closer. I still need $440 to meet the $2500 goal.

It's getting more complicated now as I have a husband who loves meat (hey, so do I!) and will only tolerate so many meat-free meals and thinks little about stopping at a convenience store for a drink and snack. However, this challenge is MINE, although the money is OURS. I'll reward the savings account with these small amounts of money even if he isn't really on board. As long as I don't indulge, I'm doing well.

While composing this, my stomach started growling so I prepared eggs with a slice of cheese, topped them with salsa, and added some avocado slices. And DH had scrambled eggs with toast earlier so cha ching, there's $2 so far today! I work late tonight and am taking vegetable soup so that's $1 more.

So, I still need to cut back somewhere to close that $440 gap. Any ideas on that?

I used to sell on ebay, half.com, and Amazon but those have petered out for me and I don't think I want to try them again. I might but I don't see it happening right now. I'm considering babysitting to earn extra money for the challenge but that's just a thought at present. Our cell phones are down to bare bones now and we don't have cable television or subscriptions or dues to cut. We eat very few items that we find coupons for so adding coupon savings won't help much though it will add a little. I do plan to learn more about CVS savings and if I get that rolling, the savings will be added.

If you have ideas on other ways I can shave a little here and a little there, please share!

Okay, I've given the $20 challenge some serious consideration and here's my plan.

Tomorrow I'm going to put $20 on a gift card at Target. I think it needs to be $20 a week but I'll start with $20 for two weeks and see how that goes since the goal is to save, not spend. That's my 'at work' spending money. I don't shop there a lot but do get drinks and occasionally a snack when I'm on shift. I'll take drinks, dinner, and my snack in the attempt to spend less of that $20. What isn't spent during that two weeks goes into my savings jar. If there is none left at the end of two weeks, I won't be surprised. But this is an experiment so we'll see what happens.

By the way, I don't know if this is true at most retailers but if your Target gift card gets lost or stolen, the company will issue a new one if you have the original receipt for the card. So, if you buy Target gift cards, keep the receipts!

I'm also going to continue to put my change in the change jars, one for pennies, another for 'silver'. Once a week I take the quarters out and use those for laundry and that's a necessity so I won't change that but I'm going to not spend any of the other change and keep adding to it. Every two weeks I'll roll that and deposit it into savings.

Also, for every meatless meal I prepare and we eat, I'll add $1 to my challenge money. This won't be very easy as DH and I both are meat eaters and though we're happy to have meatless meals, he'll likely fuss if I serve too many. Right now he is eating a meatless breakfast so cha ching, there's $1! Ha ha, I just mentioned something about thawing ground turkey and he just said, "For sausage? That would go good with these eggs right about now." See?

I'm still thinking about this and will add changes as I figure them out.

I had more no spend days this past week than I've ever had in my adult life, I think. There were four! Why? I planned better than I normally do.

I ran errands one day and took care of whatever I thought might come up during the week and that seemed to do the trick. I know it won't always work but if it works most of the time or even 50% of the time, it will be of benefit. I use less gas, spend less money, and have more free time. That's good all the way around.

I should get paid about $104 for miscellaneous online work I did this week. Most of it goes into the bank for November bills but I'll put $20 in savings. November is quickly approaching and it's time to start the cycle again!

A friend of mine wanted to go out for dinner so we went out and had Tex Mex and she paid. I left the tip but that was only $4 and that's all I spent today so it was a frugal day.

I couldn't pay the electric bill because I hadn't received the paper bill yet and that's required to pay it at one of the local stores. But I got the bill in the mail today so I'll go tend to that tomorrow.

I did some more online work today and made another $20 or so. Not big money but it all helps so I won't say no to it. It goes into the regular checking account to help with the bills in November.

I've been managing to save about 10% of everything that comes in and while it isn't anything to brag about I do have a little cash saved. It's nice to know I have that. Apparently I'm a slow learner but I am learning.

Well, today is another no spend day for me. Woohooo! I do love 'em!

I made the Chocolate Snickerdoodle Coffee Mix earlier and had a cup or two of it. It's too warm to drink it often but when it cools off that will make a great cup of coffee to help stay warm.

I had my breakfast sandwich for dinner with half an apple. It was very good and filling. The other apple half I'll probably have in the morning or with my lunch tomorrow.

I did a little online work today and earned about $5. Not a lot but it will go into savings when I get it. Every little bit helps. If I can do more later tonight, I will, but right now I'm watching the Cowboys/Bills game.

I guess that's all my excitement for the day. Tomorrow should be another no spend day but I really need to get to the storage unit and if I do, I might stop by the CVS on the way to get a couple of small things I need.

There are a few money-related things I need to work on so I've set some goals for myself for the month of October. They are:

1. Learn more about maximizing coupon use via thegrocerygame.com, CVS ECBs, and other methods. I've paid for membership with GG for October, November, and part of December and that should give me plenty of time to decide if I like it and if it's worth the money to me.

2. Keep my grocery spending at or below $125 for the month. Normally I go for $100 but with Thanksgiving approaching I'll need to buy a few things for the family get together.

3. Cook less and make better use of leftovers so little to no food is wasted. It's difficult to cook for one after years of cooking for a horde - or even a few people who eat like a horde!

4. Look for a local part time job.

5. Have at least two no spend days every week.

6. Put aside for savings 10% of all money I bring in.

There are other things I need to work on but if I try to do too many, I won't succeed at any!

Could someone please explain to me, in layman terms, what Emigrant and ING are? I've read references to them and did some searching but my brain just isn't comprehending what these two things are.

I certainly don't have money to save right now but hope to in the future and maybe one or both of those will be options for me.

I didn't quit smoking on the 1st as I'd planned but I did quit on the 2nd of January. This is what my quit gadget just gave me:

17 hours, 55 minutes and 29 seconds smoke free.

60 cigarettes not smoked.

$7.00 and 11 hours of your life saved.

Wow, $7 saved already! Impressive

I have 3 cigarettes left and have decided not to buy anymore. Our quit date was set to be January 1 but it's silly to spend almost $2 to buy cigarettes later today when tomorrow is my last day to smoke. So, when these 3 are gone, they're gone.

DH has a few cigarettes and wanted to buy some more a bit earlier but I expressed how I feel about buying more when we're about to quit and he agreed and didn't buy any. So when his are gone, they're gone.

I'd forgotten all about the $1 tax going into effect Monday. That's yet another reason to quit smoking. The cigarettes that now cost us about $1.45 will cost $2.45 and that's just ridiculous. That means that if we continued to smoke we'd spend about $280 a month on cigarettes!

We can't afford to smoke and it's horrible for our health so that's it. No more smoking when these cigarettes are gone. No more smoking, no more smoking, no more smoking...