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Best. Financial. Decision. Ever… ?

We just made one of the best financial decisions of our 25 years together, even though it involved signing up for new debt. For about $450 out of pocket now, we will be able save up to $450 per month for the next 15 years. Yes, we refinanced our mortgage. Based on the terms of the new loan, and a few other things we’ll talk about below, we will be able to save all this money without changing our anticipated payoff date. Of course, rather than taking the full 15 years and simply stashing the difference, we plan to put much of that potential savings into early principal payoff so we can really accelerate our path to being totally debt free.

How did we do it? As with most good things, it was not “luck”, but the intersection of preparation and opportunity, plus a fair amount of patience. While there are always many variables at play, anyone who takes the time and effort to be similarly prepared and watchful can have similar results. We’re sharing this account of our experience in the hope that it will help others.

Before continuing, we want to be very clear that we are not attorneys, mortgage brokers, financial advisors, or any other sort of financial professional. We are not giving legal or financial advice. We are not suggesting you refinance your mortgage. We are simply sharing our experience, as consumers, and our actions in our particular circumstances.

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Book Giveaway Time

As a HUGE thank you for blessing us with your visits, we are giving away your choice of one of the three financial books that I have done a review on for IG. Please know that these books were purchased used and then read again, so they are extra loved.

The winner’s book will be shipped via USPS media mail and we cannot guarantee that you will receive the book. Due to high shipping costs, we are so sorry, but this is only open to US residents. This giveaway is not associated with any author or Instagram.

All you need to do to be put into the drawing to win is:

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Reflection on our low-spend February

We did it, we completed the low-spend February and now that we are on the other side of it, I wanted to reflect upon what we learned as a family through this experience.

We saved a total of $285.00. That’s it. Why? Because we figured out this month that we truly are Seriously Frugal. If you look at this recent post, you’ll see that we are pretty hard core about saving money in all aspects of our lives. There is only one area of our spending where we could cut back, and that would be groceries. But, we eat at home almost almost 100 percent of the time and, with 4 teens, food goes fast. Plus, living with chronic illnesses, many of the less expensive foods, like grains or packaged foods with lots of additives or preservatives, I simply cannot eat.

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Seriously Frugal Endeavors

Being right, smack, dab in the middle of our Low-Spend February, it got us thinking about all the ways we have tried to save money over the years. Some of our endeavors were wins, some were things we tried two or three times, and some are things that we continue pursuing to this day.

Over the years we have engaged in some Seriously Frugal endeavors to help stretch our dollars, pay off our debts and become debt-free. We are currently debt free except for our mortgage, and we are now working on paying off the house, saving for retirement and saving for college for our four teens. We cannot place money in so many baskets without living frugally and, although we touched on some of these frugal ways in an IG post, we thought we would expand upon them here.

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February’s FREE Financial Reading

This month is our Frugal February and we are on a mission to spend as little money as possible this month. This got me thinking of free things we could do and reading was one of my first thoughts. Since we are trying to spend so little, I didn’t want to even drive to the library to search for some good reads. This encouraged me to search for finance and success focused books that are free to read on the internet. I was shocked at all of the great reading I found and wanted to share it all with you!

If there is a book that you have read that encouraged you in your financial walk and is free to read on the internet, please leave a comment below, we would LOVE to share it.

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You Gonna Eat That?

We all want to save money. We are working hard at our jobs and taking care of our families, and most of us are stressed out with a whole lot of stuff on our plate. Many of us, especially those of us who read (and write) blogs like this one have turned to budgets to help us reign in spending and give our money a purpose. While most line items have little room for negotiation, we often have some flexibility in our grocery budget.

If you are reading this post, you are probably already doing lots of things to save money on your groceries: coupons, sales, bulk when able, and shopping multiple stores. We do all of that, but one easy thing to do that saves a lot of money is simply not letting what you buy go to waste.

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You are already paying for it – use it!

What is it that, at least here in the U.S., you are already paying for and, in my opinion, is one of the most underutlilized resources for saving money?

Your local library!

While there are books a-plenty to be sure, there is so much more on hand at your local library.

I worked for a large library system for two years and now live in a small mid-western town where I use our library frequently. Even after all that experience, it still surprises me what can be found at a library. What amazes me even more is that most people don’t have any idea just how much is available at no cost, beyond any taxes you’ve already paid, of course.

By merely walking into a library, you probably wouldn’t be aware of even half the possibilities. It can take some time to truly learn what all they have through exploration, research, and talking to the library staff. To help you save time and, hopefully, some money, I wanted to share what is available to my family and neighbors at our local branch so you’ll have an idea what you may be missing.

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Happy Veterans Day

The FrugalSource would like to take a moment to thank our brave men and women in uniform for all they do for our country.  I, Mrs.FrugalSource spent several years working at VA Hospital and it was the best job I ever had. I was deeply touched by the many sacrifices and stories that I was honored to witness during my time there and it has forever changed the way I view the world and those that work tirelessly to protect our part of it. We are extremely grateful.

Below are a few links to sites listing numerous discounts and freebies that our offered for these brave men and women.  We hope all veterans will take advantage of as many as possible.

Veterans Day Freebies

Veterans Day Discounts

Veterans Day Sales, Deals, and Free Meals.

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Celebrating Christmas on a Budget

It’s not about the money we spend…

Budget.  That is not a word that most people like to use when they discuss their holiday plans.  Our society constantly shows us that the holidays are meant for excess in every single way; gifts, meals, celebrations, excursions, decorations, desserts and adult beverages just to name a few.

We have come to a point in our society that we need to step back and take a good look at why we are taking a religious holiday and turning into a circus. The holy days are such a beautiful time in the year and can be enjoyed while creating wonderful memories, even on a budget.

While raising our kids, we have always been on a budget, trying to dig ourselves out of medical debt and now our mortgage. So, over the years, I’ve needed to be creative and come up with ways to enjoy the season without breaking the bank.

I have shared many of the ways that we celebrated the Christmas season with our family in our new book, “Frugal Seeds Christmas Edition: 101 Ways to Celebrate the Holiday Season on a Budget”.  It is available on Amazon in both paperback and ebook and can be read for FREE with Kindle Unlimited.

Wishing you a happy and budget friendly holiday season.

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who doesn’t love a list?

“Failing to plan is planning to fail”
– Unknown

There is something about lists that make me intrinsically happy. I actually enjoy writing down what I hope to accomplish over a specific period of time, be it that day or 5 years from now.

These lists allow me to plan and to dump all the thoughts bouncing around in my mind and free up space. But what I enjoy doing even more than writing out a list is crossing things off. Yep, I actually get a small rush of happiness each time I take my pen and make a horizontal line through the achievement written on my index card, which is now my preferred way to write out my lists (using both sides, of course). Sure, I could create a list on my phone but then that would deprive me of drawing a line, and that is more than half the fun of creating a list in the first place.

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