I just finished painting our hallway and our downstairs bathroom. Naturally, once you finish a project, it will now cost more money to decorate! For the hallway, my wife now wants new picture frames because the old ones do not “look good” with the new paint.

I understand her point. And I am willing to get them – but not until I have the money for them. Now, picture frames are not that much. But I would have to rob from another budget to get them now. If I wait a week – it can come out of the correct budget.

It’s a small thing – but I have found that it is the small things that add up and get us into trouble. We cheat a little here, a little there, and pretty soon we have a financial crunch. I would rather make a little decision now than have to make painful big decisions later!

Hi there - could you help spread the word about A Penny Saved? We rely on word of mouth to get new readers. If you would send someone a link, email, or even mention it to your friends, I would truly appreciate it. Delaying a Purchase is a post from: A Penny Saved, the best darn personal finance blog around.

A week ago a friend from church stopped me and said that because of everything our family has been through (medical issues and expenses, emergency house repairs, car dying, etc.), he was trying to line up some individuals to help us reshingle our roof that needs done! Wow! What a wonderful surprise. By having these individuals do our roof, he estimated that we could save about 40-50% on the cost of doing the roof (labor is about half the cost of any project like this). He was hoping to do it this fall when the weather is cooler.

If everything comes together, I would just need to order the supplies – actually I think two of the volunteers are self-employed consturction workers so they would order the supplies which is good since they could maybe get a discount plus they would be more accurate ordering than I would be. I am estimating that the cost of materials will be around $3000.

Because my emergency fund and house fund is tapped out, I will probably need to get a short term loan. So I have begun looking around locally and online to see about a line of credit. Since I will not know the exact cost, and I need to have something in place so I can pay for the materials, a line of credit is my best option. That way I can tap as much, or hopefully as little as I need. If we don’t have any more “emergencies”, I should be able to pay off any loan in about 6 months. Although I hate the idea of going into debt, the savings of having volunteers do the roof will far outweigh the interest I will pay – I will still be saving thousands of dollars!

Hopefully I will know one way or the other by August so I can line all the financing up!

Hi there - could you help spread the word about A Penny Saved? We rely on word of mouth to get new readers. If you would send someone a link, email, or even mention it to your friends, I would truly appreciate it. New Roof in our Future? is a post from: A Penny Saved, the best darn personal finance blog around.

Usually when you think of Anniversary’s, Birthday’s, and other Special Occasions, you think of spending money. That is true. But you can also save money while you are spending it! I think back to our Honeymoon. One day on our trip we went to a special restaurant that had a wonderful view overlooking a bay. The waitor headed us to a table with a not so great view – I spoke up and said it was our honeymoon could we have a better seat. Immediately he gave us the best seat in the room, and even gave us a free bottle of wine.

As I have mentioned before, in our area, there are a lot of restaurants where you can eat free on your birthday (or at least get a free desert!). It never hurts to let the waiter (or manager) know you are celebrating a special occasion (now be truthful!). This works for other places than restaurants. When I was younger I was buying a birthday present for my mom, I was just short of the amount I needed to buy a particular gift – I mentioned to the clerk that this was a present for my mom, the clerk gave me a discount and I was able to buy it. You just never know – so why not let them know and ask! Maybe you could save a penny!

Hi there - could you help spread the word about A Penny Saved? We rely on word of mouth to get new readers. If you would send someone a link, email, or even mention it to your friends, I would truly appreciate it. Anniversary’s and Special Occasions is a post from: A Penny Saved, the best darn personal finance blog around.

I have often wondered what Financial Peace University (FPU) by Dave Ramsey was like. Well, beginning this September, I won’t have to wonder anymore. Our church has decided to host FPU, and I will be the facilitator. So for 13 weeks on a Tuesday night I will be leading / learning from Dave. I am excited about this for several reasons:

• I’ve always wanted to know what he teaches (because everyone asks me!)
• Because I am the facilitator I get to go for free (there is a reason this is called a penny saved)!
• It’s good to review financial things just to refresh and get recommitted
• I will be doing this with my wife – we’ve never really gone through a financial seminar together

So far about 5 couples have signed up. I expect we will get close to 20 couples. The price is a little steep – $100, but then again it is 13 weeks and you get a lot of information. It’s funny to me how we will spend $100 easily on something else, but when it comes to learning more about finances we balk!

Anyway, I am looking forward to it and will try to blog through the series each week.

Hi there - could you help spread the word about A Penny Saved? We rely on word of mouth to get new readers. If you would send someone a link, email, or even mention it to your friends, I would truly appreciate it. Dave Ramsey and Financial Peace University is a post from: A Penny Saved, the best darn personal finance blog around.

Because I am a gardener, there are a lot of things I would love to have – tiller, thatcher, edger, etc. But for me, it is cheaper to occasionally rent the equipment than to purchase it. It saves me the upfront cost, the maintenance costs, storage costs, etc. Many times I can go together with a friend and we can split the costs for renting for a day. Even better is borrowing pieces of equipment!

On the flip side of renting from others is renting to others. The other day we received an email from a home-school email group we are a part of. A couple was looking to rent a pop-up camper for a weekend. They had called around to RV places and they wanted to charge $400 for a weekend to rent a camper! My wife and I talked about it and we called to meet the couple. So over Father’s Day weekend this couple will be using our pop-up! Now we are not “renting” the pop-up out – too many liabilities with insurance, etc. But it is still a win-win – they get the pop-up for a weekend, and we will get a few things fixed on it (he is a handyman)!

What items could you be renting instead of purchasing yourself? Or, to make money what items could you rent out? I would love to hear your ideas!

Hi there - could you help spread the word about A Penny Saved? We rely on word of mouth to get new readers. If you would send someone a link, email, or even mention it to your friends, I would truly appreciate it. Renting Equipment is a post from: A Penny Saved, the best darn personal finance blog around.

The other day I received a bill from a medical provider regarding my wife. The bill said that they had submitted the information to the insurance company and that they had denied the claim. So I checked online with my insurance company to see the Explanation of Benefits (E.O.B.) to see why the claim was denied. There was no E.O.B.

So I called the provider and told them that I had not received an E.O.B. yet and that it was not online yet. They reviewed their records – here they had keyed some information in wrong, which is why the claim had been denied, and why there was no E.O.B. So the medical provider  resubmitted the claim, and it went through.

The bill is for $160. Taking 10 minutes of my time and checking for the E.O.B. will probably save me over $100, maybe the whole $160 (we have met the deductible).

It pays to check on medical bills. This is not the first time I have been billed incorrectly for something. And once you pay a bill, it is extremely hard to get the money back!

Hi there - could you help spread the word about A Penny Saved? We rely on word of mouth to get new readers. If you would send someone a link, email, or even mention it to your friends, I would truly appreciate it. Update on Medical Bills is a post from: A Penny Saved, the best darn personal finance blog around.

Well we found out last week that my wife will have sinus surgery on June 1st. In the mean time she is on some medications to help her feel better and to hopefully clear up some of the infection. But she is still pretty sick, although she is getting a little better each day.

Our family, our church, and our friends have really rallied around us. Some have brought meals – I think we only had to cook once this week! Some have come and helped to do school with the girls (we homeschool). Some have done housework, others have baby sat so my wife could rest. Because of all the help I have only had to miss one day of work, and that was to take my wife to the doctor and we wanted me there (that was when we found out she needed surgery).

They not only provide physical help,taking care of the basics, but they are doing so much more. One person brought some mulch – he knew finances were tight so he brought a little over for my garden. Another person gave plants from their garden – they had extra (dividing), and knew I wasn’t going to do much this year. One brought gifts for the girls. Many are emailing, writing, and calling to encourage.

I would not wish all the bad stuff on anyone – cars dying, wife sick, things breaking, money flying out the door – but I do wish you could all experience the love and frienship that has been poured out on us the past few weeks. Friends are priceless. We are so rich!

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As I have mentioned a couple of times in other blog posts, this has been a rough 6 months financially. Now, we face another financial set-back and a bigger life  hurdle. My wife has been sick on and off (mostly sick) for the past three months. They would put her on an antibiotic, she would get better; but then as soon as she was off the medicine she would get sick again. So far she has been on 4 different antibiotics. After numerous tests, blood work, 2 specialist doctors, it appears that she will need sinus surgery in the next few weeks. According to the Ear, Nose, Throat Specialist, her sinus’s are really messed up and need some major work. At this point my wife is excited that there is hope for getting her better. We have talked to several people who have had sinus surgery and they all said it was worth it – they feel so much better. That at least is encouraging. We wont know the date of the surgery until later this week.

So far this year we have spent $2900 on medical bills and supplies. Our deductable for the upcoming surgery is only $750.  Still, we  really need to tighten our belts and put our savings to the max. We have used all of our Flexible Spending Account (medical savings), and we still need to get the girls to the dentist this year. I have already redid our budgets once, but I will probably have to tweak them some more. My new financial goal for this year is to make it through without having to go into debt!

Hi there - could you help spread the word about A Penny Saved? We rely on word of mouth to get new readers. If you would send someone a link, email, or even mention it to your friends, I would truly appreciate it. A New Financial and Life Hurdle! is a post from: A Penny Saved, the best darn personal finance blog around.

Like others, if  I see something in a catalog, I want it! I used to get a computer magazine “for work.” And every time a shiny new model or gadget was displayed, I wanted it! And most of the time I didn’t get it, but sometimes “resistance was futile” and I would purchase something. The answer to overcoming this temptation was to cancel the magazine! That sounds sort of extreme, but it saved me money, not just on the subscription, but also in computer spending sprees. Did I really need those computer items? Not really. My current computer is 3-1/2 years old and is working nicely. It is sufficient for what I need. And since I am not seeing all those shiny new sleek machines, I am not as tempted to upgrade.

I do the same thing in other areas of my life. I love to garden. But I only get one gardening magazine, one that does not have outside advertisements (it only advertises its magazine, products and books). I also only look at a few gardening catalogs. There are four catalogs that I will look at, the rest I pitch. It’s easy to get gardening fever with all the beautiful pictures. So I reduce temptation by only looking at a few.

The eye is the window to the soul. The eye also has a direct connection to your wallet or purse! Sometimes not seeing means saving!

Hi there - could you help spread the word about A Penny Saved? We rely on word of mouth to get new readers. If you would send someone a link, email, or even mention it to your friends, I would truly appreciate it. Avoiding Spending Temptation is a post from: A Penny Saved, the best darn personal finance blog around.

In my neck of the woods we are entering auction season. Everything from antiques, to horses, to houses, to junk is sold this way. Sometimes it is an all day event, even with food vendors set up at the location.

If you happen to be going to an auction in the near future you might want to remember this “tip” I picked up from a friend’s story the other day regarding one of his auction experiences.

He and his wife packed up a number of items to sell at an auction. While at the auction they decided they might bid on some things, and they went their separate directions to find “bargains”. He found a table he thought would be useful and proceeded to bid on it – and he won the bid! He was so excited and ran off to find his wife to show her. After finding her and showing her his prize, she was not so excited – he had just bought the table that they had brought to the auction to sell! The “prize” now sits on their porch.

When going to an auction it pays to remember what you brought to sell! It also pays to be on the same page with your spouse regarding things to keep and things to get rid off. Fortunately my friend and his wife still laugh about that event, but now they are a little more careful at auctions!

Hi there - could you help spread the word about A Penny Saved? We rely on word of mouth to get new readers. If you would send someone a link, email, or even mention it to your friends, I would truly appreciate it. Auction Tip is a post from: A Penny Saved, the best darn personal finance blog around.