One Frugal Girl

Up and Running with WordPress

One Frugal GIrl — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 02:46:00 +0000

From what I can tell my transition from Blogger to WordPress has been pretty smooth. It looks like ten posts didn’t transfer, though I have absolutely no idea which ten. My comments didn’t all transfer either. The total seems to be off by one hundred or so.

I started writing this blog via Blogger in May of 2006. Since that time I’ve posted 1079 times and received 3711 comments! Now that I’ve taken the time to move to WordPress I have no idea why I didn’t accomplish the task sooner. It took me less than two hours to move everything and get redirects up and running. That’s two hours of actual time, which in ‘new-mom’ time took place over the course of ten hours when the baby napped.

While I’m happy to have everything up and running under my new domain I’m kind of sad that the sitemeter stats for my old blog are frozen in time. Something about that just seems so final.

I plan to make additional changes to the layout and design of this blog, but it does feel good to have it hosted on my own domain.

If you notice any issues or errors while reading and/or clicking around please let me know and if you link to my blog feel free to update those links to my new URL.

In the Process of Moving

One Frugal GIrl — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:16:00 +0000

I’m in the process of moving my blog to a new domain. While the new blog is up and running redirects from the old one aren’t quite working yet. I hope to have everything functional again in the next day or two. At least some progress has been made.

I Will Not Feel Guilty

One Frugal GIrl — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 04:40:00 +0000

If you buy me something I do not like or want I can almost guarantee you I will not keep it. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the gesture. I most certainly do. It’s just that I do not want to hold onto something just so that you can see it displayed somewhere in my home.

If I can return it, sell it or donate it to charity you better believe I will. I realize this may very well hurt your feelings. I don’t wish to sound heartless and uncaring. I understand that you took the time and and energy to choose this particular item specially for me.

You may have clicked on a website and had it shipped from far away. You may have driven to the store and dragged it back home with you. Regardless of how it was attained I will not keep it.

For much of my life I’ve felt guilty for finding new homes for unwanted possessions. I replayed a back-and-forth conversation in my head, which began by listing who purchased the item, where they found it and when they gave it to me. After remembering who, what, when and where I often felt too guilty to get rid of anything. It made me sad to think that someone spent their hard earned money to buy me a gift that I now wanted to discard. (To be honest it still does.)

I had clothes in my closet that I wouldn’t throw out because they were so expensive it felt like an absolute waste of money to give them away. In some cases I knew the gift giver had saved up quite a bit of their income to buy them for me and I felt too guilty for even thinking of getting rid of them. I displayed knickknacks and tchotchkes that gathered dust and took up space so that various relatives could see them displayed.

I even had a hard time getting rid of items I purchased myself. I had all sorts of reasons… “I just bought that,” “why didn’t I realize that didn’t fit before I purchased it” and “it feels like I’m throwing money right out the window.”

I defended the choice to keep these unwanted possessions. Some were pushed to the back of the closet, others were moved to the basement and some were boxed away, but they all remained in my home where I could pull them out on a moment’s notice if necessary.

One day I decided to face the truth. I simply didn’t want these things in my home. I owned enough and I would no longer feel guilty for parting with things I no longer wanted or needed.

It was initially quite difficult to purge. I thought, “Oh, so and so just bought this for me. I really shouldn’t get rid of it.” and “This still has the tags on it. How can I get rid of something I’ve never even worn.” But as I added item after item to the boxes and bags destined for charity my purging became easier.

Now I hold very little back from the donation pile. So what if I only wore a sweater once, if that vest still has the tags on it or the shoes were unbelievably expensive. I take a look at the article of clothing and make a realistic determination of whether or not I’ll ever wear it again. If I can’t convince myself of a time and place where it’ll be worn it goes into a box. If it doesn’t come out within 30 days it’s shipped off to charity.

The key is to learn from my mistakes. I make a mental note of my error. I should have tried that shirt on after I got home, I should have filed the receipt away so it could have been returned, I should have told my mom it didn’t fit when she gave it to me. In some cases I may have been able to prevent the error. In those cases I reflect on the problem, clear my conscience and send the item off on it’s merry way.

Other times there isn’t a whole lot I can do. I’m sorry that Aunt So-And-So won’t get to see her beautiful vase on my mantel. It was very kind and thoughtful of her to buy us this gift, but I already own two other vases. Oh and did I mention I can’t have flowers in the house because my cat always tries to eat them?

In these cases I make a mental note of the gift I was given. I count my blessings and thank God that I have such thoughtful people in my life. Then I take a deep breath and donate the item to charity. After all, Aunt So-And-So gave me this item to make me happy. If the item doesn’t make me happy, I think they too would want me to get rid of it.

A Journal for My Son

One Frugal GIrl — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:15:00 +0000

This question has little to do with personal finance, but I would like to hear from anyone with suggestions. I’d like to begin writing a journal for my son. While I’m with him I think of all sorts of things that I want to write down. Just various thoughts and moments I want to capture as he grows.

I started a blog while I was pregnant, and wrote at least once a week, but I’ve only blogged once in the three months since he was born. It seems that each time I attempt to type up my thoughts my mind goes blank and I can’t quite find the words to express my thoughts and emotions.

Perhaps I get writer’s block because I want this to be a journal that he can read when he gets older. Maybe I’m placing too much thought into exactly what I want to say. I’m not exactly sure what the issue is but I’m saddened that I’ve only captured one post in the past three months.

I am photographing and videotaping my son a few times a week, but I really want to write about my time with him as well. Maybe I should give up on typing my thoughts and move to a paper journal? I’m really not sure.

If anyone has advice for me I’d love to hear it. Any and all suggestions are welcome.

An Interesting Observation

One Frugal GIrl — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:25:00 +0000

My three month old son is the 95th percentile for height. I’m not surprised by his length, though many people I meet out in public seem to be. I’m over 6 feet tall and my husband is nearly 5’11”.

He fit into newborn clothes for two weeks, size three month for about 30 days, size six months for 30 to 45 days after that and now he’s wearing size nine months.

Every two to three days I snap pictures of him wearing his adorable little clothes. (As a first time mom I don’t want to miss a moment.) Friends and family blessed us with a lot of really adorable outfits before and after he was born, so I haven’t had to purchase much for him up until this point.

As he outgrows his clothes I’ve turned to hand-me-downs and the thrift store in search of cute little outfits that will fit. This week I went to a thrift store a little farther away from our home. It’s three times the size of the one I typically visit. Since I wasn’t exactly sure where to find baby clothes I wandered around a bit. Eventually I made my way to the infant and toddler section. There I found an entire wall of outfits for little girls.

I was astounded by the amount of pink and purple clothing lining that wall. The girls clothes ran three-quarters of the length of the building. There were hundreds of tiny dresses and skirts hanging from the rods.

In comparison the little boys section of the store took up less than a quarter of that same wall and contained at most a hundred articles of clothing. Some of the outfits were blue, but unlike the girls section, which was mostly purple and pink, the boys section was filled with clothes of many different colors. Granted a lot of those colors were rather drab. Lots of green, gray and brown, but at least there was a bit of variety.

Based on the amount of girls clothing in that store it certainly seems that parents are purchasing girls clothing in abundance. To say the least they seem to be purchasing much more clothing for girls than boys.

Of course, there may be other reasons for the difference. Perhaps a lot of little girls live near this particular thrift store. Perhaps little boys are harder on their clothes and thus fewer articles of boys clothing are donated to charity. (Although it would be hard to believe that infant boys can be that much harder on their clothing than infant girls.) I can’t say for certain.

As I looked at the difference between the racks of clothes I definitely stepped back and asked myself if I would buy more clothes for a daughter than I would for a son. Since I don’t have a daughter the question is completely hypothetical, but it does make me wonder if mothers plant the seed of style and fashion in their little girl’s minds right from birth.

Why was the rack of girls clothing so large and do all of those little pink and purple outfits have an early impact on the lives and spending habits of girls?

Do You Save With a Specific Goal in Mind?

One Frugal GIrl — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0000

I became interested in money at a very young age. When I was little I remember watching my father roll coins into those stiff paper tubes. He kept his coins in an old cheese curls can and I remember how excited I would get when he pulled the can out of the closet to begin his counting process. When I was old enough to count he would let me create little piles of coins equaling fifty cents or one dollar depending on what type of coin he was rolling.

I learned quite quickly to covet the all mighty coin and my mom helped me grow quite a collection of them. My mom was one of those women who carried an extremely large purse. She had a ton of pocketbooks in her closet and every so often she’d switch from carrying one bag to carrying another. One day I helped her switch purses and realized there was a ton of lose change hanging out in the bottom of her bag. I remember counting the coins and asking her if I could keep them. Of course, without hesitation she said yes.

Even as a small child I knew I was on to something. From that point on I constantly asked my mom for the coins I found in the bottom of her purse. Of course, every week without hesitation my mom permitted me to count and keep them.

To this day my brother believes I netted quite a bit of money from those old pocketbooks. I actually have no idea how much I found, but it’s not inconceivable to think the total might have added up to a few hundred dollars.

I know my brother feels robbed, but in truth he never thought to ask for that money and if he did he would’ve spent it in a heartbeat. I on the other hand would immediately roll the coins, write the amount on the outside of the wrapper and stow them away in a hidden place where my brother couldn’t find them and ask for a loan.

My brother and I had one big difference when it came to money. He always saved with a specific goal in mind. In the beginning he wanted new toys or games, then records, cassettes or CDs. As soon as he reached the magic number for whatever an item cost he went out and spent his money.

I on the other hand saved my money with absolutely no goal in mind. The more money I found or earned the bigger I wanted the total to grow. For me the goal was simply adding more money to the pot. The larger the total became the happier it made me.

As an adult I still feel the same way. Luckily my husband and I are similar in this regard. Neither one of us has any problem putting money in the bank without knowing how it will be spent. In fact, I wonder if we would have saved as much money if we had specific goals in mind. Would we spend money faster if we already had a vision of how we wanted to spend it?

What do you think? Do you save with a specific goal in mind or do you just save for the sake of saving and do you think your overall savings is larger or smaller as a result of the way you focus on saving?

A Few Things I’ve Learned From Watching My Son

One Frugal GIrl — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:35:00 +0000

I’ve been able to stay home with my son since he was born just over three months ago. Despite feeling a bit sleep deprived this has been the most amazing time in my life! What has been most surprising is how much I’ve learned from watching him in these last three months.

First, when you wake from a long night’s slumber or even a short cat nap reach your arms above your head and point your toes. Don’t be shy about it. Stretch as far as your body will allow. It’s funny that this is such a natural instinct, yet as adults we rush out of bed in the morning and never think to stretch our our limbs.

Second, every day is a journey and while you may do the same things day after day you can make them feel fresh and new when you live in the moment. Since my son is so young I find myself pointing out all of the sights, sounds and smells around us. When we go for a walk I notice the little flowers blooming, the smell of wood burning in the neighbor’s fireplace and the sound of the trucks lifting trash cans. I thought I was aware of my surroundings before, but now that I want to point everything out to him I realize just how little I was actually paying attention to before.

Third, communication is the key to survival. I can now tell when my little one is hungry or tired or just needs to be changed, but in those first few weeks I had absolutely no idea what he was trying to tell me. Now that he smiles I can tell if he’s truly happy and having fun or if he’d rather be doing something else. I find it funny when relatives tell me he’s tired. Most of the time he falls asleep because they don’t interact with him enough and he gets bored. As a result of being with him day after day I find that I am learning to communicate better with the rest of my family. I’m more in tune to non-verbal communication than ever before and notice the expressions and gestures that often say much more than their words.

Fourth, you don’t need much in life to keep you happy. We have two or three small, colorful, hand-me-down toys that my son plays with every day, but at this stage he is just as content to coo and babble with my husband and I. I read him books everyday, but he is just as happy reading the same book three times as he is if I read him three different books in a row.

Fifth, it’s important to treasure the time we have together. I can’t believe that my son is already three months old. Despite the long sleepless nights I feel like that time passed in the blink of an eye. As a first time mom I initially wanted to do everything just right. I wanted him to sleep in his crib, go to bed at 7 o’clock and nap for two hours at a time, but now I realize that he won’t be a baby for very long. Rather than fussing about waking every three or four hours to feed him, I’m happy that I can snuggle him close to me and listen to his breathing change as he falls asleep on my shoulder.

$600 Richer

One Frugal GIrl — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 04:10:00 +0000

As I mentioned a few days ago I am currently in the process of rolling my 401(k) into an IRA. My employer instituted a Roth 401(k) a few years ago, so some money will roll into a Roth IRA and the rest will roll into a traditional IRA. To be more precise roughly $100,000 will move into the Roth and $175,000 will move into the traditional account.

I planned to move the money to Charles Schwab, because that’s where my husband and I keep all of our accounts. In fact, we gave me up traditional banking years ago and haven’t looked back once since.

Well it just so happens that Schwab is offering a bonus to anyone who rolls a 401(k) into a new or existing IRA from now until April 17th. The bonus amount paid is tied to the amount of money you plan to roll over.

In my case since both accounts will be over $100,000 Schwab will deposit an additional $300 into each account. Given the amount of money I’m rolling over it’s certainly not much, but since I’m moving the money anyway it certainly doesn’t hurt.

Have You Ever Wondered Why You Crave New Things?

One Frugal GIrl — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Do you find yourself craving new things? New clothes, new furniture, a new job, new cell phone, etc. Have you ever wondered why you want all of that new stuff in the first place?

Winifred Gallagher attempts to explain the human desire to engage in things that are new and different in her book NEW: Understanding Our Need for Novelty and Change. Throughout the book Gallagher discusses ‘the love of the new’, otherwise known as neophilia.

Desiring new things is not always bad. Gallagher’s book explains how the desire for newness has pushed inventors to discover new technologies, researchers to create new vaccines and explorers to discover uncharted worlds.

However, as with all things in the life there is a certain yin and yang to newness. While the love of new things may spur great exploration and invention in some, it can cause out of control spending and addiction in others. The desire for new is not so great if it results in sky high credit card bills and closets full of unworn clothing.

The Internet age has added an even bigger sense of new to our lives. We are constantly inundated with new news, new blogs and new emails. In the book, Gallagher mentions the ‘new boredom.’ She believes that this constant influx of data and information is causing humans to become overstimulated. She believes this overstimulation causes us to become bored faster and that this boredom forces us to constantly seek out new things. Whether it’s emails or gadgets we quickly get bored of them and move onto the next newest and greatest thing.

Gallagher provides steps for diminishing people’s addiction to new technologies and data. By using timeout techniques, developing a limitation on emails and keeping a log of how often you use a gadget and how it make you feel.

I’m surprised how my own desire for new stuff has diminished to almost nothing over time. Rather than buying new things I now wish for more meaningful, fulfilling moments spent with those I love. I haven’t gotten rid of my desire for ‘new’ I just changed my desire from meaningless new objects to rewarding new experiences.

I can credit my new values on my minimalist lifestyle. I’ve always been a bit clutter phobic and with the addition of my son I now realize that I simply don’t have room for all of the extra ‘stuff’ I used to desire. Spending my days shopping, dusting and cleaning all of those new objects simply takes me away from spending time with the ones I love. Similarly I’ve cut out clicking on my email or google reader every few minutes. I want to take time outs for those throughout the day, but otherwise I want to treasure the time I have on this earth. Just as no one ever says “I wish I worked more” on their gravestone I don’t think anyone will say “I wish I checked my email more often.”

Joining the Yakezie Challenge

One Frugal GIrl — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:30:00 +0000

I have absolutely loved being home with my son these last three months, but I do miss the sense of community I felt going to work each day. Since I’m not going out much these days I decided to reach out to the digital community and joined the Yakezie Challenge!

I’m already a reader of many of the Yakezie members blogs, but I don’t often comment on their posts. I guess you can say I’m kind of like that secret lurker who loves what she reads, but doesn’t share her thoughts with the bloggers whose work I enjoy.

With this challenge I hope to open myself up to the blogging community and hopefully make some great friendships and relationships along the way!