Fearlessly Frugal Day 8: Cutting Back

Today's post is about cutting back on unnecessary spending and maximizing savings. Now I know we've got our gym membership when we could be going on base for free but we chose to sign up for this because 1) it's 5 miles from home versus 25 miles and 2) this gym has air conditioning where the one on base does not. Very important when the average temperature is in the 80's and 90's during the summer. But I know that when I start our IVF next month that I won't be able to work out. Which is why I had Nurse D type up a letter that I can present to my gym so they can freeze my account for that month. Money Saved: $30.

Next I took a look at our car and renter's insurance. We use USAA for both, paying $589.13 every six months for our two vehicles and paying $192.14 a year for our renters insurance. Today I decided to increase our deductibles from $500 to $1,000 on our car insurance. My reason for this is because we have the money in a savings account and neither of us has been in a car wreck in 10 or so years (I've never been in a wreck, Brandon had a few as a teenager). So I increased the deductible for collision and comprehensive coverage and then realized something else: our cars aren't worth much. I checked online and it was true. Brandon's car is worth about $2,000 for a trade-in and mine is worth about $3,500. If we were to damage our cars that cost $1,000 to repair then it wouldn't seem prudent to repair the car at all. I read in an article somewhere that if a car repair costs more than 20% of the value of the car then its time to get a new car. So I decided to decline coverage for both collision and comprehensive on both of our cars. Now that I think about it, I should have done this long ago. Our cars have been paid off for almost two years. But hindsight is 20/20. Money Saved: $642.94 per year. I also changed the deductible on our renter's insurance to $1,000. Money Saved: $17.10 per year. That's a total savings of $55 per month just on our insurance.

With that money we plan on putting it into our savings account to save up for the day when we'll need a new car (probably in the next year). By then we hope to have a decent down payment. Now I'm sure you're thinking that $55 a month in savings won't earn much interest but I've done loads of research to find the best interest rate for our savings account. We used to use ING Direct but every time we would make a deposit they would lower our interest rate. I finally got tired of it and that's when I found Capital One's InterestPlus Online Savings. I love it! We earn 1.35% interest APY and every 3 months we get a 10% bonus on the interest earned. With ING Direct we were only earning 1.10% (which kept going down with every deposit we made) and with our NavyFederal Savings account we were earning .40%. There's a few rules though: in order to qualify for the 1.35% rate you have to open the account with $1,000 or more, otherwise the rate is only .10%. Second, in order to qualify for the 10% bonus you have to use a Capital One credit card monthly or have at least $10,000 in your account. This would be especially helpful for couples who have money saved up for adoption expenses and are waiting to be matched. With our account Brandon and I earn about $20-22 in interest each month and about $7 for our bonus every three months. Brandon never thinks it's that much money, saying that we spend the same amount eating out at a restaurant, but it does add up over time. We opened up our account in March and we've earned over $116 in interest so far!!! I'm really happy with this account so far and I hope that the rate will continue to hold steady. In fact, it's earning more than my 401k this year! Not too shabby. If this rate is better than the one you currently have with your savings, then it's worth checking out.

By the way, do you have lots of pictures that you'd like to put together in a photo book? Check this out! Picaboo is offering a free 20-page photography book, now through August 31st. They have different layout options with various costs but you can make your book up to $40 in value, you just pay the $9 for shipping. I love free stuff AND it's giving me something to do! (I know, I know it's not technically free when you pay for shipping) But the whole website Hey It's Free is worth checking out. I signed up to get some other free stuff like gum and a coupon organizer (but I'm still on the lookout for a no-shit, awesome, trendy coupon organizer). I'm scouring the site for free magazines as well.

And while I'm here I suppose I should give a spending update. Brandon and I went on a "spending spree" the past couple days. After driving home from the dog park on Friday we splurged on a couple snack-size McFlurries from McDonald's. Cost: $3.58. It's funny how you remember the cost of things when you on a spending diet. We also had to stop by Staples so I could fax some paperwork and purchase a new ink cartridge for our printer (the result of printing Brandon's credit report and all my internet coupons). Cost: $18.54, though I'm supposed to get a $2 coupon in the mail for recycling our old cartridge. I think that brings our monthly spending total to about $30. Not bad but I didn't realize how many "needs" you have throughout the month. But I'm doing better than I thought I would!