The Housing Crisis

Besides the obvious foreclosure fiasco that is taking place right now, one of the phenomena I see going on right now is a decrease in rent for homes. Lately as I drive through my town I see homes that are sitting empty. Homes that once commanded a decent rent. I ask myself, why are these gorgeous homes still sitting empty? And then I think, probably because they have not adjusted their rents to the current economic situation.
Homes that once were selling here for $175,000 to $200,000 are going now for at least $50,000 less. Some friends of ours just found a home on an awesome piece of property for a song. But, because of the decrease in housing prices, I'm noticing that landlords are having to lower their rents.
So, if you are a renter who started renting before the economic crisis, maybe now might be a good time to start looking around for a new place. You will more than likely be able to find something for the same rent, but much much nicer. Or the equivalent of what you now live in, but for about $100-$300 a month less.
If you own rental property and have a tenant or tenants that have been there since before the economic crisis, hang on to them! LOL Otherwise, once they move out, you will need to adjust the rents to reflect the current situation. That could make it a bit rough on those who depend on that amount to meet the mortgage, but it is what it is.
Also, I think that in the next month or so, if you are in an adjustable ARM mortgage, speak to your lender about restructuring your loan. Sometimes when this happens, you do not make a payment for anywhere from a month to three months. That is time and money you can use to either get caught up on other bills, or use it to make repairs or upgrades.
I recently learned something that will help those of you who are beyond the restructuring point though. If your lender is foreclosing on you, I want you to remember these words, "Provide the note." What that means is this, you want to see the ORIGINAL loan papers that you signed. This can buy you time. Especially if your note has been sold a few times. Chances are they are going to have to dig and dig for it. This will stall the foreclosure process giving you time to possibly be able to catch up.

Basic Home Economics

During this rough financial time, some of us need to know how to handle the bills and such now that the money isn't there.
The first thing you should always do on payday is to go buy food. Next, pay your mortgage or rent. That is followed by your household bills, including car and insurance payments. If you cannot pay them in full, divide the money up, and pay each utility company a portion of what you owe. Yes, you do get behind that way, but it shows good faith effort. This way, they will be more willing to work with you than if you make no payments at all. Except the insurance companies.
The last things that get paid are things such as your credit card bills, things of that nature. Which I hope by now that if you cannot afford the bills I hope you have cut those cards up and are not using them any longer.
Which brings me to my next subject, cash. If you leave the credit cards, debit cards, and checkbook at home and take cash with you instead, you tend to spend alot less. With cash in hand, the reality of how much money you actually have, or don't have is right there in your face. This also helps to cut down on impulse buying. And don't forget those lists and try to stay out of those center aisles!

Shop Victorias Secret NOW!

For those of you who love Victorias Secret, now is the time to shop there. Not the stores, but online and catalog. They are having a HUGE 70% off sale right now. There are many many items that are heavily discounted at this time.
Some of my favorite items they have is on sale now for $12.99, the VS cotton bras. Love them. I really do prefer natural fabric clothing, and these fit the bill perfectly. They have lots of colors and sizes to choose from.
Also on sale now is the clothing. In fact, a pair of pants I've had my eye on now for awhile is currently marked down to $14.99! I'm amazed! I've never seen them discount this deep before.
Some of their higher priced bras are also on sale. So if you are in need of a specialty bra, ie; strapless, racerback, now is the time to start looking. Also, look for special codes for free shipping. Sometimes if you spend a certain amount, usually $100, they throw in free shipping. But otherwise, their shipping costs are about the norm. And they try to ship by the U.S. Mail, which I prefer. Cheaper and faster, go figure!

थे च्रिस्त्मस Tree

This year I had to decorate the Christmas tree with completely new stuff. We cleaned out a shed last summer and apparently the wrong box was taken to the dump. OH NO! What to do on a budget?
Well, first place I headed to was Wal-Mart. For $25 I purchased lights,purple and silver ornaments and white and silver garland. I still had $5 leftover from the budget of $30 I had set for myself. Off to the Dollar Tree I went! There I found some plastic icicles that are about 6" long, I bought 2 packs. I also bought a couple of spools of purple organza ribbon to go on the tree as bows, and some silver jingle bells.
One thing that did survive the dump trip was my beaded garlands. I have 2 sets, one in gold, and another in a clear opalescent. I used the later. Once we had the tree decorated, the lights lit, you couldn't tell that I had bought cheaply made ornaments! My tree is lovely.
These I will pack away in a plastic tub. One of the problems with some of the lights we did have leftover was that the Monster Rats that invade our property in the winter time had chewed a few strands. Not a good thing. I'm hoping to find a nice tub today on sale. Anyone know anywhere that they have them on sale?

Christmas On A Budget

Christmas isn't that far away. So, with the season upon us, and some of us with a limited budget, what to do? I do not shop on Black Friday either. First off, I'm food drunk the day before, so hungover from it on that day. Secondly, I'm also tired from all the cooking and socializiing. So, what is a girl to do? Hmm... Layaway. Some of you remember layaway, some of you do not.
Layway is basically this. You go shopping, but only have a limited amount of cash available. You put a small amount down on your purchase, and usually have to pay a small fee. The store then holds your merchandise, giving you a limited amount of time, say a month to three months, to pay the amount off. There can be a restocking fee also charged, but when you pay off your layaway items, you do get that back.
Wal-Mart used to have layaway. They did away with that program though about 2 years ago. But, K-Mart, Goodies, Marshalls, TJ Maxx, and Burlington Coat Factory are some of the stores that do have layaway. And, these stores have reported a large increase in their sales due to their layaway programs.
When my boys were little, we used layaway frequently. It was a great way to buy the gifts for them that we otherwised wouldn't be able to afford. Like all the game consols and accompanying games and accesories we've bought them through the years.
I also used it for school clothes and supples. I could start in June, and by the time school started, I had them outfitted and well suppled. I always saved shoes and pants for last. Darn kids had an awful way of growing over night on me. And it always seemed as if they did the most growing over the summer. Otherwise, we'd end up with pants and shoes considerabley too small!
This morning I read about a website called, ELayaway. Now, I've never used it, or even visited this site, so I only know what I read about it. Here's how it works. Elayaway has contracted with more than 1,000 local merchants across the country. For a fee of either 1.9% or a flat fee of $8.95, they will put merchandise on layaway for you with these merchants. Sounds like the trick is to figure out which fee will be the cheapest for you. So break out with the calculator...Ha Ha!
There can be a drawback to this though. The only payment option is a direct debit from your bank account. If you don't have the money at the time to cover it, you will be hit with overdraft charges, beware of that before hand.

Frugal Does Not Equal Cheap

I like to clarify that frugal does not necessarily equal being cheap! Quite the contrary. To myself anyway. To me, being frugal just means getting the most bang for your buck. That being said, lets move on to clothes shopping.
I love new clothes and especially shoes. Yes, I'm one of those, a shoe freak. I have to be a bit particular about my shoes though. I've had a foot surgery, and I've learned the importance of a good supporting shoe, the hard way. I can get away with a less supportive shoe, but only for a brief time My favorite shoe store is Famous Footwear. They don't always have something that I'm looking for, but sometimes I can hit the jackpot there. They periodically have a buy one, get one half off sale. Which by the way, includes their clearance items. That's where I get lucky. The thing is though, you can't go looking for a specific thing in the clearance section and always expect to find it. I usually just "check" it to see what they have. If they have something that I "just can't live without" and the price is just right, I'll buy it. I've bought several pairs of high dollar, name brand shoes for $15 or less this way.
For me, clothes shopping is a game. I try to see how much less than the original price I can get an item for. But you have to be willing to buy that sweater either a little later in the season, or much later in the season and save it for next year.
See, I know that some department stores are going to lower their prices close to Christmas time. That is usually your first discount time. Then of course, you have your after Christmas sale, and then your year end clearance sales. It just depends on how long you want to wait, and if you are willing to take the chance that the sweater will still be there.
So...sometimes I don't wait on one certain item. Instead, I just wait on the sale and see what they have. Unless of course it's something so so cute! For instance last year, our local JC Penney's had these really cute short sleeved car sweaters. Love them. They had them in brown, cream and burgundy. When they first appeared in the store they were retailing for $40. Well, just before Christmas, they were on sale for, get this, $15! So, I grabbed a brown one. Got home, wished I had of grabbed the cream one instead. Still liked the brown, don't get me wrong, I just realized I would of preferred the cream. Oh well.
Well, not long after Christmas I was in Penney's again for something else, and voila! Those sweaters were discounted again! This time though the quantities were limited, so I grabbed the cream one. The price tag read $11.99, but guess what? It rang up for $8.71 instead.
So...That's just a brief explanation of how I shop. I always always always hit the clearance racks first. Always. This years school clothes shopping for my son was primarily done at Kohl's clearance racks. I hit them at just the right time. For right under $200 I bought him 6 shirts, some t-shirts, some button ups. He got 3 pairs of jeans, one pair of Levis for only $7.99, skinny ones too, and I think 4 pairs of shorts. Not bad eh?

Hello, I'm the Frugal Frau. Actually, I'm just an ordinary housewife who knows how to make do on a limited budget. During these tough economic times, I thought I'd share some of my "knowledge". Ha Ha. But I do hope you find this interesting.

One of the things I've always done is to cook from scratch. Growing up, that is the way my mother always cooked, so that is how I learned. It's much cheaper to cook from scratch, plus it tastes so much better. I like it also because then I get to control the amount of salt and sugar my family ingests.

So, you want to stay away from your prepackaged meals, and those frozen, almost ready meals. Since you are reading this, I'm assuming you have the Internet. You now have access to literally millions of different recipes through the world wide web.

I'm not the grocery shopper in our family, my husband is. But he pretty much stays out of the center aisles, shopping mainly on the outer perimeter of the store. Unless of course if there is something in an aisle we need, such as baking supplies.

That's where they get you, in the aisles, and at the end of them. Impulse buying, big no no. He also is able to keep a running list in his head of what we need, but if you aren't able to do it, (I know I'm not) make a shopping list, and stick to it.

Bulk shopping is also a great way to save money. Most times any way. You really need to pay attention to the cost per unit to confirm if you are saving money or not. But, we do have one store in my town where they have a large selection of bulk items. Things such as all your flours, baking essentials, nuts, chocolates, cereals, spices, and mixes. I like to go there and stock up. I store my things in glass jars usually.

Don't be too afraid of buying off brands either. Not all are cracked up to snuff though. For instance, I will only use Crisco shortening. I prefer the butter flavored, but that's me. I think the off brand shortening have too much of a lard flavor. But I don't mind using off brand frozen vegetables. Not the cheapest though. That's where you have to be careful. Sometimes when you buy cheap, you get cheap.

Years ago, my husband took a leave of absence from his work to be with his mother who was dying of cancer at the time. I had a very limited income to work with, and I had also not grocery shopped in many years alone. It was a very scary thing for me. But that is when I discovered Wal-Mart shopping.
At the time, we didn't have a Super Center, just a regular Wal-Mart. I went there initially to buy our soaps, personal hygiene and paper products. What I discovered was that I could also buy my juices, cereals, coffee, and snack items there very inexpensively. So, I would go to Wal-Mart first, buy there what they had that I needed, then continue on to the grocery store, always sticking to my list. I found that I was able to not only stick to my budget, but I had money left over!
So, sometimes it's not a bad idea to shop at more than one store. High end grocery stores should be off the list for awhile, unless they carry a specific item that you have to have. And then, only if you know you can save money, and not spend that saved money on gas getting around.
Another thing that I do when we are looking for some of those large ticket items, or electronics at Christmas and birthdays is to comparison shop online. Some stores, if you bring in a hard copy showing a lower price, they will match it. Use that printer to your advantage at this point. Best Buy is one store that I know does this, up to 30 days after the date of sale. You just have to show proof.