Shopping for Contact Lenses - hint Costco was the winner

We don't carry insurance for health, vision, or dental.  All expenses are paid out of pocket which means each item is carefully considered.  

About a year ago, my oldest asked for contacts.  I told her she needed to wait until her 16th birthday and she was very prompt on reminding me of this after the school year ended.  Our beloved Walmart optician had retired so we called up the first recommended independent optician in the area and booked an appointment.  

The first fitting didn't go well and we had to delay until after our summer trip.  The 2nd fitting went super well and Charlotte was able to put the contacts in within 5 minutes.  Then came the tricky part of finding out cost for astigmatism contacts are significantly higher than regular contacts.  The prices sounded high but having no experience with this type I knew I needed to shop around.  I always ask for a written prescription to have the flexibility to order contacts for the best price.

Here is a breakdown of 4 sources:

The interesting thing is that I use 1800contacts for mine, so I originally assumed they'd have the best price, I was shocked to find Costco beat their price by $200 (after rebate).  Always shop around, and every year it can be different.  I've had years where Target had the best price, one time Walgreens had the best price.  I don't think I've ever checked Costco before, this came up after putting Charlotte's contact brand into google.

I've already bought my contacts for this year, I paid $259.96 for a years supply and got a $40 rebate.  I've just compared to Costco and I think I'll be switching my contacts to Costco as well:

1800contacts has great customer service and will replace any torn contact lens without question, but for the price difference, I'd rather go with Costco.  

I did have a little trouble getting the Costco website to take Charlotte's doctor prescription, but after a call to their online 1800 number, I was able to get it figured out.  I put in her doctor's name, the website couldn't find it, then I had to click on the "unable to find doctor" button, put in the doctor's address and phone and then the system found the doctor.  When I called, they also suggested I clear cache so that might have helped.  

Happy to have found one more reason to love Costco!

Why we went back to Costco

In 2021, I documented the pros and cons of keeping Costco.  It's 30 miles from our home, we were not getting the benefit of discounted gas, and I thought we could find similar items at our local Sam's Club.  

We held out for one year before we went back to Costco for these specific foods that we love, and cannot get at Sam's club:

* Sukhi's Tikka Masala - 2 pack (Sam's has a different version that is not as good) - it's a meal staple that we have every two weeks with Rice, Garlic Naan from Aldi, and homemade Mango Lassi's.  It's quick and honestly feels like a meal out!

* Costco Chicken Breasts (I don't know what they do, but they are huge and less fat than everywhere else).

* Costco Cheese Pizza 4 pack (I literally never find frozen pizza at Sam's, it's a helpful Friday lunch meal for the kids).

* Starbucks Breakfast Blend 2lb coffee - I can find Starbucks coffee at Sam's but this blend is exclusive at Costco.

* Costco Espresso 2lbs - I buy it online at least once every two months, it's literally the best deal on espresso, not counting Cafe Bustelo (which I don't care for).

* Panko Coated Tilapia - another meal staple that we like to have with tater tots or fries and call it 'Fish and Chips' night.  Sometimes we change it up with a bag of frozen veggies that can be microwaved.

* Tasty Bite Madras Lentils - we have this with the Tikka Masala.

Costco also has great deals on items throughout the year, especially around Christmas.  I like getting 32 winter leggings/tops every few years, they eventually wear out because I wear them every day in the winter. 

In my bio, I mentioned our meals are 95% homemade, well the above quick items are part of the 5%.  There are some days that need quick meals, and these are some of our favorites.

In summary, I'm glad we took a year off to be sure this was really important to us.  We go every 2-3 months and by 2-3 of each item depending on when we want to go back.  We did keep Sam's club for the local discount on gas, which does pay for the membership, and there are a few items that we can only get at Sam's, so I've justified keeping both clubs.  

Buying Contact Lenses

It seems like every year it changes as to who has the cheapest contacts.  I buy Biofinity Energy lenses and before getting a years supply, I made sure to cross check with three suppliers:

Target Optical –

• Rakuten 4% cash back
• 6 pack $229.96
• 5% back from Target card, $11.50 savings

1800contacts –

• Rakuten 6% cash back, $11.90 savings
• 6 pack $198.37
• $40 rebate (cash card, claim it when contacts arrive, takes 6-8 weeks)
• Still cheaper than Target even if I somehow miss the deadline
• Used Discover Miles which earns 1.5% back

Walgreens -

• Rakuten – no discount
• 6 pack $263.96

I used to get a discount with State Farm insurance for Target contacts which gave them the best deal, but after that was dropped, I started searching other sites.  Last year Walgreens had the best price, now this year 1800contacts is the winner.  I almost missed the cut off date for the rebate card.  I assumed it would come in the mail, but after logging my monthly purchases, I looked up the receipt and realized I had to go to the 1800contacts rebate page, print it out and mail it by the 23rd.  Hurray!  I'm getting it in the mail today.

I also found an excellent detail - 1800contacts will replace torn contacts!  I tear at least one set per year so this is pretty cool.  Target also used to replace them for me so I like having this option.  

1800contacts for the win!

As a side note, I still haven't caved and bought Vision Insurance.  I've researched it and know I could write it off on my taxes, but it comes up to just under $300 per year, and with the discounts I would pay $200 more per year so it's not worth it to me.

Sam's Club VS Costco

We've been Costco members since 2006.  We became members because I had a college class that took us on a field trip to the local Costco where the store manager gave a tour and told us she made over 100K in salary.  I believe this was to show us the variety of ways we could use our MBA upon graduation, prior to this tour I might have assumed a store manager would make 50-60K max.  As a side note, I dropped out of the MBA program after four classes when I realized it wouldn't benefit me at my job but that's a story for another day.  Anyway, she really sold me on the awesomeness of Costco, so much so that we've been members for 15 years and have only recently begun to question our membership.  

I recently began a Sam's membership to compare prices.  They offered $45 reimbursement in product, basically making the first year free because annual membership is $45.  

We've decided we cannot keep both memberships so the following is an exercise in determining which is the better option for our family.

Which warehouse is more beneficial in terms of distance?  

We live 3.6 miles from Sam's Club and 27 miles from Costco.

Conclusion - Sam's wins this easily.

Can we get the same products at Sam's and are prices comparable to Costco?

I don't know if Sam's offers the following yet, I consider them "extras" that were great deals but they are not part of the core reason we use a warehouse membership.

1. Classic Lego set 1500pcs for $39.99 - this makes the price per brick $0.026 per piece.  On average, Lego's cost $0.104 per piece, so this is a pretty incredible deal for a Lego collector.
2. 32 degrees tops and bottoms - bought in November with $3.00 off coupon for $12.99, I live in these during winter.  
3. Kids clothing - over the years I've found great coats and mittens and usually from great name brands.  
4. 3 storage containers for 11.99, making it basically $4 per container and these are 21 x 13 x 10", this is definitely something I've never found cheaper anywhere, except sometimes being given away free from a neighbor, just found 6 in January!  

Costco is also great for gourmet foods, but we've recently begun to cut back on these so I don't think it matters as much if we can find them at Sam's

1. Boom boom shrimp - an appetizer which I used to get at my favorite sea food restaurant Bonefish Grill.  It felt like we were saving by buying these and not eating out but they cost $13.99 per box for two servings.  I'm at the point now where if I want it badly enough I'll figure out how to make it myself. 
2. Tikka Masala - this recipe takes two days to make from scratch so I prefer to buy pre-made, but not at the price of keeping a membership for one item.  I'll find an alternative.
3. Chicken Taquitos - I can get the same brand at Walmart but haven't found at Sam's yet.  
4. Madras Lentils - I'm going to try to recreate these myself.

Outside of extra's and gourmet items, I narrowed down our monthly purchases to 24 items and of this list, only 3 items could not be found at Sam's.  When I compared the remaining items line for line, the differences was $16.70 more at Sam's.  

Costco Membership is $60

Sam's Membership is $45

Hence they are basically at a break even point for me when only considering comparable cost of similar items.

Gas prices - currently Costco in Frederick is $2.22 per gallon and Sam's Club is $2.33, our typical gas tank fill up is 27 gallons so we'd save $3.06 at Costco, but the 54 mile round trip would not make the savings worth the drive.

Conclusion:  if we can live without the "extras" and gourmet items, we can probably make it work at Sam's.

Is it really worth the money to still buy in bulk?  

I've been under the illusion for 15 years that buying anything in bulk at warehouses equals savings.  When we first became members in 2006 this may have been true.  We lived in Fort Lauderdale and shopped at Publix or Winn Dixie until Aldi arrived in 2012.  In the early days I remember Aldi not having good produce, having a very small selection to the point of needing to shop at both Aldi and a main grocery store.  In the last two years, I've noticed Aldi has expanded their store footprint and has significantly increased their offerings so that I'm down to a handful of items needed elsewhere.  

Recently I've started breaking down every item to see if it's worth buying in bulk and I've realized many items are not worth it.  For example:

• 12 pack Tomato Paste $5.99 = $0.50 each at Costco
• 1 Tomato Paste at Aldi - $0.29

It's the same story with Nutella VS Aldi store brand, canned corn, canned green beans, unsalted cashews, butter sticks, cheddar, milk, eggs, etc.  The only reason to keep a membership is for the cheaper gas and any name brand products we are still buying.  Warehouses do tend to have much cheaper gas than local gas stations.  I use the Gas Buddy app to compare prices and in our area the typical savings is $0.15 - $0.18 from Sam's VS local.  

Conclusion - warehouses are only worth it for gas and name brands.

How does Costco credit card compare to Sam's?

Sam's is better for gas, and if you are a Plus Member, which cost $100 per year, then you can get 3% back on purchases.  I'd say Costco has an edge on this area because they offer 2% back for the basic membership.  Sam's is really pushing their Plus Membership and you can only do their Optical and Pharmacy with this membership.  We use GeniusRX to get discounted prescriptions so I'm not concerned about Sam's holding out on their Pharmacy.  I've never had the opportunity to use Costco's optical so I cannot effectively compare the two.

Conclusion - I'm happier to get 5% back on gas and get Sam's lower gas prices, I think this will pay for the membership price of $45 in less than six months.  

Final conclusion - we've chosen to not renew our membership with Costco at the end of this month, thus ends a 15 year relationship.  If you're reading this Costco management, it's purely down to location and our frugal attitude to not drive 27 miles to get your awesome products.  We've also pared down our purchases of gourmet goods considerably so all your tasty treats are just a distraction from our end goals.  Trust me when I say we've truly loved being Costco consumers but it doesn't fit our lifestyle goals at this time.  I don't chose Sam's because it's better, it simply meets our basic needs at this time.

This has really been an eye opener for me in terms of comfort level and familiarity with a store, Costco, and pushing myself to consider other options.  It's so easy and comfortable to say "this is the way we've always done things, no time to reconsider other options, etc". I feel like I've broken one more cycle of repetitive behavior that has cost us more than I had ever realized. I will miss Costco, but I feel at peace with canceling our membership at the end of this month.

Mindful Changes

2020 was a tough year for the toy industry, I could tell early on that business was slowing down for the toy company I work for, international clients were closed for large portions of the year, new development pushed out to 2022, it didn't take a genius to see the writing on the wall.  We redid our personal budget in April and saved as much as we could possibly save while reducing our spending in every single category in anticipation of a salary cut.

In November 2020, I received notice that my salary would be reduced 30%, we were already living well below that number so we felt prepared to weather the storm.  I was advised to expect this to last for at least a year.  While it's hard to give up that much salary which means no savings for IRA's and less savings, I've gained an extra day off per week.  At first I wanted to make up the difference by finding other work, but in November my mom got sick with Covid, and while she did recover, she's still regaining her strength.  I found myself less motivated to find replacement work and used my day off to help her with errands and to work with the kids on their at home lessons while also getting all of us ready for Christmas.

This year I've been reading multiple financial books to see if I've missed any possible detail in our number crunching and I'm pleased to say we've done quite well.  I've been reading Frugalwoods and signed up for her January spending challenge, so far I haven't read anything new but I do find it inspiring to be reminded every day on saving money.

I think we're down to what I'd like to call "mindful changes" which are:

• Working with the light off in front of a window that provides adequate light - I'm a total light hog, I don't like dark rooms, I turn the light on to walk down the hallway, etc.  Today I'm working with the light off, hoping to cure myself of my desire of super bright rooms.  My room has five very long windows, but it's January and overcast so it feels a bit shadowy.  
• Shorter showers - that's a tough one, I love long showers every single day.  
• Heater set at 65 - my preferred setting is 70, today I've added a lap blanket and am feeling quite cozy.  We keep the house thermostat at 67, but with my office/bedroom having 5 huge windows it's always a bit chilly in here.
• Using less butter - I actually wrote a post about butter because I was so shocked at how much we were consuming, my baking habit got a bit out of control!  I'm working hard at keep it to one box per week and proud to report I've stuck with that so far.  

I'm not expecting huge changes to our bills, but every little bit helps.

Other areas I plan to tackle are:

• Sam's Club VS Costco - on my next day off I'd like to go to Sam's Club to see if we can get everything we enjoy at Costco.  I've recently narrowed down the items I get at Costco, removing bulk butter, green beans and canned corn because they're cheaper at Aldi.  It's funny how we can get into habits just because we've done it that way for years and it takes a scrupulous willpower to go through every purchase line by line.  
• Reasons for trying out Sam's Club - the annual membership is $20 cheaper and they are local whereas we drive 30 minutes to get to Costco, so even though we've narrowed it down to going every two months, it's still a drive we might not need to make if we can switch to Sam's Club.
• Costco has a credit card with great money back rewards, but I want to see if we can find something that offers better rewards elsewhere.  I can't blindly accept it's the best card just because it impressed me three years ago.
• Cell Phones - we are switching from Cricket to Tello - savings $32 per month for the same coverage, the only trick is husband needs to get a new phone that works on the Sprint network so researching options.
• Pre-made foods - we buy many pre-made foods for lunches and sides and I'd like to replace these with more homemade and/or healthy options
• Frozen Costco pizzas are $2.00 per pizza
• Appetizers/Sides - Taquitos, Jalapeno Poppers, Mozzarella Sticks, Cheesy Broccoli, Madras Lentils
• Kid lunches - Pierogis, chicken nuggets, pizza rolls
• Canned beans - replacing all with dried beans

Last year we cut back on dining out, which was easy because we couldn't eat in restaurants due to Covid-19 so we just had to cut back on take-out.  After comparing our annual food expenses to 2019, I was aghast to see we only saved on average $20 per month on food (including dine out) in 2020, I really thought we'd done better than that.  I think we ate more pre-made foods to make up for not dining out.  This year we will beat the 2020 number as we work towards "mindful changes" in all purchases.

In summary, just because we managed to live on a budget within the 30% lower salary isn't a reason to slack off on ways to save money.  We want to increase our savings despite the salary situation and that means cutting out all unnecessary expenses.  What if a bigger salary cut comes through, well, I'd probably end up taking another day off and definitely getting a second job!  Or what if this salary cut isn't rectified?  Regardless, I remain optimistic this year will improve once people worldwide can get the vaccine, then things should slowly start going back to normal - until the next calamity!  I guess that's optimism with a dose of prepper mentality.

Our thriftiness knows no bounds

I just got an email from Chick-Fil-A saying our most favorite item on the menu in 2020 is - WATER!  That's right, the free item on the menu is our favorite.  This is a result of requesting 6 waters every time we go to CFA and as a result it accumulated as our most ordered item.  

Why I did not renew our Prime Membership

This year I've been on a campaign to cut unnecessary spending as much as possible.  I've been a Prime member for many years and like most recurring expenses, it continued because it was convenient to order online and receive items two days later.  There was also the idea that Amazon was cheaper and originally they were!  

This year I noticed packages were not coming in two days and more importantly, Walmart and Target have been price matching or beating Amazon so why wait two or more days for packages?  

What about the other services Amazon offers?  Their Prime selection of new content is mostly rated R with sexual content I don't want to watch or language I don't want to listen to so after a series of disappointing shows, I had no reason to keep Prime for their new content offerings.  

I canceled Prime in July and since then I have realized I could still order with free shipping as long as I spend $35.  Walmart does the same thing for Pick Up orders so I'm used to this.  It may take 5-7 days to get an item but if I order it on Prime, it's because it's a unique item I can't easily find elsewhere and I'm willing to wait for it.  

Frugal Living - Investing Year 1

2019 was our first year to to invest in the stock market.  Prior to this year we had never had significant funds to invest.  In 2018 we held money in a money market account for down payment on our house.  Prior years money was tied up in a renovation house that was not meant to be, but once this was sold, we were happy to finally try our hand in the stock market.  Despite dour warnings at the end of 2018, we jumped in with much excitement.  We invested with Vanguard and put 30% in energy bonds and 70% in high earning ETF's.  It was surprisingly addictive.  At first I checked our accounts daily, by mid-year it was once a week and by now a few times a month.  

The biggest mistake we made was putting all our reserve funds into ETF's.  We got a little carried away with the idea that all available money must be working money and when there were times that we had to pay off a big bill for vehicle repairs, it was a hassle to sell funds and move it around.  This year I plan to keep our reserve account separate so it's available when needed.  

We've set up money market accounts for our kids since they were born and they were earning pennies each year.  We put all their money into separate accounts in Vanguard and invested each into ETF's.  It was really fun to watch their money grow throughout the year and I've been working with the two oldest to teach them investing basics.  If they can learn at a young age they could be set for life.  This year I want to put money into each account for their birthdays in addition to whatever presents they get.  I think that could be a good tradition.  

Frugal Living - Annual Memberships

I'm not an official finance blogger, but I like to write about what works and what doesn't work.  If it can help someone then great!

Annual Memberships - we started cutting back in March 2019, and we haven't missed the two items cut.

• We switched back to an old disk software of Microsoft 2013, as long as we can keep this edition working, we won't need an annual membership.  We use it for a few basic household charts:
• Chore Chart
• Menu
• Favorite meal list
• Bills - we've made our own excel checkbook and monthly budget
• Executive Costco - got talked into it once by a fast talking manager, never needed it, haven't missed it.

This year I've cut my annual membership to 4-Word Women.  It's a fantastic organization - if you live in a city and can enjoy the events, but I live in a small town and the closest gatherings are in Washington DC.  I have literally never been to a single event as it's 1.5 hour drive, plus meal expenses and they always pick fancy restaurants so the anxiety of dressing for an event, making it on time, and then socializing is just too overwhelming.  I work from home, if it were local coffee house meet ups I'm totally there.  I actually did one coffee shop meet up in Winchester, MD with someone who was trying to build up the chapter, but I never heard from her again.  I haven't read their newsletters in two years so basically I have no reason whatsoever to continue this membership.  

The only memberships we have left are Costco and Amazon Prime.  I've debated these all year and continue to renew, however, they are still under discussion.

• Costco - we have to drive to Frederick, 30 minutes away over mountains, not an attractive option in the winter, and time consuming.  I plan to try a free pass day at Sams, which is local, to see if I can get similar products.  I'm considering doing Costco quarterly for our favorites and just stocking up.  I really love their credit card, every year our rebate check gets bigger as we put all our expenses on the card and pay it off each month.  They offer 4% back on gas, 3% at restaurants, 3% on travel, 2% for Costco and 1% on all other purchases
• Amazon - do I really need stuff in 2 days?  I think the days of them being the cheapest are gone, I price compare everything and it's getting harder to find a better deal at Amazon.  I think I only buy from them so I can skip a store run!  I don't watch Prime Video because the offerings are just not that interesting.  I do have their credit card and the cash back almost pays for the annual fee.  This one renews in July so I guess I have some time to evaluate it's value.

Summary - only keep the memberships that are actually providing value to your family!  

Loan Refinance and when it's a bad idea

Earlier in the summer I started getting calls from our mortgage regarding loan refinance.  We hadn't even had our loan for a year yet!  I grew suspicious when they tried to increase the pressure, and they kept calling at weird hours, or when I was on a business call, so after 7 or 8 missed calls they finally stopped pestering me.  Curious though, I contacted the mortgage broker who set up our original loan, which differs from our actual loan company.  I trust this guy as he's always been straight forward with us.  We started by saying we want to sell in 2-3 years.  He immediately said have a nice day!  He said it was useless to continue because we'd spend more by adding 4K to the back end of our loan and the $100 or $150 savings per month on loan rate reduction would not pan out. 

I've learned this in business - ask questions, especially when you don't understand something and if someone won't answer the questions find someone who will.  The lady from my loan company wanted to make it sound like we needed this, when in the end, we didn't.  I'm glad I never returned her calls! 

Frugal Living - May Edition 2019

We really blew our budget in May!  Too many trips to Farm and Family along with Lowes for home improvement supplies.  I tell myself it's an investment into the resale of our home so chill out on the budget for a bit.  In all actuality it was more the trip to Luray that squeezed us tight but I don't care, we've worked very hard in other months to budget so it's fine to miss the mark on savings for one month.  We still follow our rule of paying all bills within the month so as long as that's followed I can rest easy at night.

One thing we'd like to look into is a pull along camper that sleeps six.  We've been talking about it for several years and we finally have a vehicle that can pull one.  We're getting tired of expensive hotels and still not having enough room to sleep six and with growing kids we are having a harder time finding rooms big enough; many hotels will advertise a suite but it's still too small for three beds.  I told husband whatever is not invested is free to use for a camper so he's on the hunt.  Let's see if he can manage to find something before our trip to Texas!

We think it will save us in the following areas:

• Food - eating out is expensive and I can only pack so much in a cooler, which is cumbersome to drag into a hotel and ice down every morning which gets many foods soggy.  We are up to $60 at Cracker Barrel and $35 at most fast food places.  With three days on the road, we can easily spend several hundred dollars on food before we reach Texas.  
• Hotel rooms are costing us over $100 per night, many campsites are half this price or less.

We think these areas might cost us more:

• More gas in pulling a camper
• It will probably take an extra day to reach Texas because we can't go as fast
• We will probably need to fix up a used camper, hopefully not too much
• There are always unseen costs with a new to us purchase

In addition I'm looking for more than savings.  I find it very stressful to take 4 kids into a hotel room after a full day of driving and expect them to stay quiet.  Hopefully they can let loose a little more with a camper, at least we're not sharing walls with another family.  We are also tired of taking a huge pile of stuff into a hotel, unloading, reloading the next day and doing it three days in a row.  

Not sure what stress may come with a camper but right now it sounds like a good transition for us.

Frugal Living ~ Earth Day 2019

Isn't it wonderful how living a frugal life often goes hand in hand with environmental goals?  By making many foods from scratch, you save money and buy less metal and plastic containers!

Here are some of our frugal/environmental habits:

• Make homemade yogurt 
• Make homemade iced coffee
• Use dried beans to make multiple meals, I've written about black beans and pinto's
• Plant a garden from seeds, not starter plants that come with plastic pots but if you really must buy a starter tomato plant, then at least keep the plastic pot and reuse it for as long as possible
• Wash and reuse zip lock bags, I can't bring myself to stop buying them completely but I can and will make myself wash and reuse them.
• Cut out paper plates - sure they are convenient but wouldn't you rather have that money in the stock market gaining compound interest until retirement?  Oh yeah, I've been reading Millennial Money's Financial Freedom book.  Side note - I've even tried buying what are called compostable paper plates but we know from personal experience they take forever to break down and we end up throwing them in the trash which is just very sad.  It's a completely unnecessary cost so we've banned buying paper plates this year.
• Compost all degradable food wastes, we live in the city with a very small backyard and we are still committed to this habit.  How does this save money?  We don't have to buy dirt for our garden!  My butternut squash are a testament to how big and happy food can be when it's given composted dirt.
• Shop at Aldi - it will force you to bring your own bags and not use plastic shopping bags just because they are there and convenient.  Aldi is cheaper than Walmart so it's kinda a no brainer in the frugal world.  

I'm not a hard core "no plastic" kind-of-girl, but I do want to do my part in cutting back on our trash contribution to the planet.  I love that it goes hand in hand with our frugal goals.  

Other areas we are looking for savings in both cost and environmental:

I'm psyching myself up for canceling our Prime membership to Amazon $119.  It's set to renew in June or July.  I keep thinking about the cost to the environment to ship often times one item I have to wonder if it's worth it to me to continue.  I also am not sure it's really saving us that much money and we never watch anything on Prime streaming or use the Prime reading options.

We are also considering consolidating our Costco runs to every two months.  We love Costco, but it's a 30 minute trip and we currently go once a month.  Next month we are going to see how it goes to buy for two months.  

In summary, we would like to wish all a Happy Earth Day and Happy Savings Day!  :)

"Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship." Benjamin Franklin

Frugal Living ~ Annual Memberships

As we continue to drill down into our expenses I've come across two unnecessary expenses:

1. Microsoft Office $99.99
2. Costco Executive Membership $60

We haven't used our Microsoft Office and don't really see the need for it so it seemed like a good candidate for cancel but it was bought through Best Buy so the annual renewal was going through their Geeksquad group and the email was going to one we didn't use anymore so it took some effort to get this canceled.  They tried to say we were over 30 days but I pressed hard to have the entire amount reimbursed as we had not used it and I called as soon as we got the credit card bill. 

I think the most frustrating thing is that we can no longer buy and own software, it's now on an annual membership fee so that makes it an ongoing expensive investment.  Whereas before we'd have paid potentially $400 and held it for 10 years, we would now have to pay $1000 for 10 years of usage.  Unless we are using it professionally I can't see continuing this kind of investment.

At Costco, someone at the register convinced me that I had to have Executive membership so we signed up for it 3 years ago, big mistake, I called to cancel and the guy frankly told me the first year we only made back $4, the next year a little more, and now this year $47.96.  The whole idea is that you make 2% back and if you use all the associated services it will pay itself back the entire $60 but we were not utilizing the services so we overpaid.  They were nice enough to credit the difference for the past year but I regret the prior 2 years of not paying attention to this renewal.

The take away is - pay attention to those renewal membership fees and evaluate each year if they are still necessary.

Frugal Living ~ Direct Primary Care

We gave up on traditional health care insurance in 2016 by switching to Samaritan Ministries for myself and husband.  It was an easy decision for us because we paid $450 per month plus we saved $200 per month to cover routine doctor visits and at the end of the year we usually had $1,000 left over to put into savings. 

This year we had to add the kids on the Samaritan program when they lost MCHP.  I made a spreadsheet of four kids routine doctor/dental/eye doctor visits and it came out about equal to a bronze insurance plan offered through Maryland Health Connection but the deductible was so high that we'd end up paying more.

Samaritan Ministries wrote about Direct Primary Care in their January monthly newsletter.  DPC is a network of doctors who have decided to offer a flat monthly fee for routine and sick doctor visits.  There is no third party billing so the cost is lower than having traditional insurance.  We found a provider in our area, Franklin Family Medicine, and have spent the past two months getting integrated into their system.

We pay $70 per month for adults and $10 per month for each child.  They require at least one adult in the system to help defer the costs of offering such a low price for children.  I updated my spreadsheet and remarkably we are only paying $500 more than our total medical in 2018. 

Our constant goal with Frugal Living is to find a balance between living frugally and a quality of life that doesn't sacrifice family needs.  I feel so much better having found Franklin Family Medicine because now we don't need to ask ourselves, is this illness serious enough to pay urgent care or doctor visit of $200?  Our DPR has told us to call or text any time of the day or night if we have any serious issue, seriously, who does that anymore? 

In summary, we have Samaritan Ministries who will cover any illness or injury that exceeds $300.  We have the DPC for all routine and sick needs.  We pay out of pocket for dental and vision. Our estimated annual total is $10,498.00. 

Frugal Living ~ Pet Care

Is there no end to the things in our lives that we can reduce our cost on?  I don't think so.  This year we are tackling vet care.  We've used Petsmart for almost 18 years, this is partly due to the fact that my husband worked there for 10 years so I guess you might say we're brand loyal.  The last few years our pets have aged or we've gotten new ones, we've had to go more frequently and I've really started to chaff at their prices.

Three years ago we got a new dog named Penny and to get her spayed cost just over $1,000.00!  I was really confused by that and super frustrated.  Sadly she passed away from a fast moving cancer so we got another dog in the fall of 2017.  Scared from that experience I held off on neutering until he was over a year old and it became extremely necessary due to his behavior when walking.

First I started with a local clinic that never returned my calls.  Then I started calling vets in the area to get a range.  I was shocked at the wide range.  One vet quoted in the $300 range, and the other was $100 + shots of $20 each and he needed two shots.  Both significantly lower than Petsmart.

Today we needed to get our 18 year old cat to the vet as she stumbled while walking and her hip seems to be in bad shape on one side.  I called our new vet and they had an opening today at 4:30, they basically told us the same thing the Petsmart vet told us a year ago but also gave us a supplement to help her discomfort and shaved a matted spot that might be causing trouble, total bill $66.  The bill from Petsmart last year $196.74.

I'm so in love with our new vet!

I think vet care is something that I was reluctant to switch because our cats history is with Petsmart and we really like them, I guess I just assumed pet care was probably similar cost everywhere.  Boy was I wrong on that regard!

2019 Savings Stratgy

Five years ago, when we moved to Maryland, we had many future expenses that we needed to save monthly for.  Some of these were:  

• Furnace Oil - two or three fill ups per year, depending on how cold it was, approximately $500 each
• Dental Insurance - quarterly
• Water/Sewer - quarterly
• Summer Vacation
• Used vehicle repair - $200 per month based on a history of what we'd spent in prior years
• Pet Vet care - $100 per month - two elderly pets required more care
• Annual memberships - Prime/Costco
• House Taxes - that's a big one

We would save this money each month in a separate bank account called "Reserve" and pull the money out as it was needed.

After five years of discipline, it finally dawned on me that we were living so close to our budget, that we no longer needed to separate out this money in its own separate account.  I've decided to lump it in with our three-month emergency fund where as one bigger sum, it can earn more interest in a money market account.

I read recently from another blogger who had 17 different savings accounts to save for different things.  The time it would take to maintain that many accounts is daunting to me.  I fully believe we are finally disciplined enough to stick with our budget and not mistakenly use up these reserve funds and I feel better about putting it in one location where it's available but can earn more interest.

Giving Generously

I've learned to give generously as an adult, both through my Christian faith and heartfelt desire to help others.  I don't think one needs to be a Christian to have this desire, I've got many friends who are not religious and very generous, but for me it's a combination of both.

One of my favorite verses is this:

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.  Luke 6:38

I don't attend a prosperity church, so I'm not of the mind that giving must be to the church, I feel it should be given to whoever you meet who is in need and you have the available resources to help that person.

We've gotten to a point where we give easily and without hesitation throughout the year but it still came as a surprise when this year, especially recently, we began to get many things in return!'

When we left Florida we gave away most of our furniture, some was old, some was fairly new but we were moving to my mom's fully furnished house and didn't have room or want to store things for years.

After moving to our new house, we had no chairs and living room furniture.  Family stepped in to give us a couch, recliner and chairs for our table.  These items felt like a huge blessing because we had so willing given away our own things 5 years ago!

A couple at church gave us three very nice high quality polo shirts for my son, just as I started thinking I needed to get him something that wouldn't need ironing.

In December, I noticed my daughter's coat was looking too thin for winter and started thinking I had better get her something warmer when suddenly an older girl decided to gift her a beautiful red coat that was just gorgeous and perfect.

We've wanted to get our youngest a beanbag as we only had 3, but 4 kids.  I'd looked but hadn't found any yet that were a color she might like.  Suddenly someone wanted to gift us a purple and white one!

Recently I started thinking about how much I loved macadamia nuts from my days of working at Bucks County Nut & Coffee company but thought they would cost too much right now with Christmas expenses.  Suddenly I got a bag from a co-worker who didn't even know how much I loved these!

This past summer we were given cowboy boots and a Wii system!  The boots were very needed as my husband's prior boots had a hole that we hadn't managed to get fixed.

My best friends from high school give us clothes their children have grown out of twice a year.

Recently we offered to help a school mom out by offering to let her child stay with us for the weekend while she went out of town to work and she dropped off what seemed to be over $50 in groceries!  Our fridge was filled to the max and we had more than enough for us and the child for the weekend plus the entire week!  We really didn't expect anything like that and had honestly offered with no expectations of anything. 

We live frugally, meaning we don't buy something the second we think about needing something.  This has helped in many cases that we think about a need, wait a few weeks and then suddenly someone gifts us that very item.

I don't give expecting to get anything in return, I'm probably the most surprised of anyone at how many things we've been given and sadly I feel that I'm forgetting a few things.

It's with a very grateful, thankful heart that I write this post and I hope this can serve as an encouragement to others to give freely; it feels good to meet needs and it feels great to have needs met in return!

Fired by Pinecone Research

At some point I stopped getting research requests.  I finally wrote to them to ask if I could be included in more surveys and got a vague respones saying from time to time they update their panelest and if I had been removed then I couldn't be reinstated.  I was kinda sad!  I liked doing their surveys but some were quite time intensive.  I see them constantly promoted in these blogs that like to suggest easy money making deals so just thought I'd put this out there that it might not be a long term gig.  Mine lasted about one year when I started noticing it taper off.  I think I made $23 in total and got a bag of free dog food for a review.

I paid off our student loans and vehicle!

I just felt this had to be announced publicly!  I'm 42 and my student loans are paid off along with both our vehicles. 

We sold the fixer upper property that we had bought end of 2015.  It had become clear to us that renovating that home and paying a mortgage on our new home was not possible so we sold it in October and I've used that money to pay off both student loan and our new-to-us vehicle bought in May/June this year.  We will invest the remaining balance in Vanguard.

So we are down to one debt, our mortgage and after reviewing the payments and seeing only $141.58 goes to principle I'll be happily throwing the money we were spending on student loan/vehicle on the house which is an extra $500 per month.  With the help of Dave Ramsey's mortgage payoff calculator, I see this will shave 6 years, 3 months and 45% savings on interest! 

We made 4 vehicle payments of $288.67 and when I paid off the vehicle, the interest had made it where we had only made a $100 dent in the loan amount.  If that doesn't freak you out enough to make double payments or pay off loans as quickly as possible I don't know what will!  It certainly drove me crazy. 

I hate debt with a passion.  I know some debt like a mortgage is necessary, but I'm counting down the time until that is paid off - 14 years!  Maybe we can get that down to 10 years!  We can only do our best. 

We sold our fixer upper house

It was hard to part with this house after putting so much time and effort into planning renovations, but the fact is we don't have the money or time to continue putting into this house. 

Our plan at the beginning of the summer was to get another loan that might allow us to continue working on the home but in the end, it was easier and faster to get a loan for a better condition home then to continue working on this one.  Once we had made the decision to buy another home, it just didn't make sense to continue putting money into the fixer upper.

I'm very disappointed in Maryland Washington County contractors for their complete lack of professionalism in not calling us back regularly, this is something you don't hear about in TV fixer upper shows.  The cost was always considerably more then what we'd budgeted for and not knowing the business of construction made it very hard to project manage our renovation. 

I don't like to give up but I think it's important to know when to walk away and this was one of those times to let it go. 

We sold the house for 50K, 10K more then what we bought for at the end of 2015, but 10K less then what we had put into it.  It's okay, we'd have lost more in taxes and insurance if we'd continued to hold until spring to hope we might get a little more.  We can now use this money to pay off debt and invest the balance which makes me a very happy person.