90-Day Life Challenge: 6 Things I Will Only Ever Buy At The Dollar Store

I love my local Dollar Tree. In fact, there are 3 locations within close proximity to my house. I love saving money, but sometimes, it just isn't realistic to spend the time, energy, and upfront cash to stockpile certain items (even through couponing), and that is where the Dollar Tree comes in. So, here is a list of 6 things that I will only purchase at the Dollar Tree for the rest of my life.

1. Bread - Regular 20 oz. loaves of Nature's Own wheat and whole grain breads are all $1. Contrary to popular belief, these loaves have not expired yet. I tend to buy 5 or 6 loaves at a time and stick them in the freezer.

This is now a part of my monthly routine. At the beginning of the month, 

I run out to the Dollar Tree and grab the needed bread rations.

2. Rough Scrubbing Pads - The Dollar Stores sell these in packs of 10, which I cut in half and use for about a week before throwing them away. This means that I really only have to spend about $3 per year on scrubbing pads. Not too shabby at all.

3. Snack Foods (specifically, crackers, peanuts, and jerky) - The savings depends entirely on how much you eat snack food. I'm constantly on the run so...yeah...

The best snack items I pick up at the Dollar Tree are:

Planters 6-packs of peanuts

Lance peanut butter crackers

"Squeezy fruit" (as I son calls them) 4-packs

4. Toothbrushes and Toothpaste - This is one of my favorites. Since it is a non-perishable item, you can stock up with several years worth at a time. But the main reason this is one of my favorites is that the Dollar Tree near me takes coupons (yay!), and often I find $0.50 to $1 off coupons for Colgate products. In theory, you can purchase 6 months worth of dental supplies for your family for less than $5.

True story, I got some great $2 off 3 coupons for some Crest toothpaste, went to the Dollar Tree and got 12-4.6oz tubes of toothpaste for $4. It was a wonderful moment, I was so proud.

5. Flip Flops - For $1, you can't do better, and though they are not the most durable things in the entire world, they are perfect for keeping an extra pair or two in your car--or "to go" bag--in case you need them.

6. Plastic Organization Bins - There are so many different sizes, materials (plastic, canvas, and flexible rubbery plastic), and colors that it is so much better than going to Target and spending $5 or more on each bin. I use them for everything--from storing produce in the refrigerator, to K-cups in the pantry, to cleaning supplies under the sink.

I'm going to have to go back for more now that we're organizing our new home.

I am always on the look-out for other supplies to buy at the Dollar Store, but these are the best investments I have found to date. Let me know if you find this list helpful or have other items you like to buy.

Happy reading,

Your Devoted Friend

90-Day Life Challenge: Say Yes to Tap Water

Drink Tap Water to Save Money

I can only speak to the grocery trends in Raleigh, NC, but here, bottled water tends to run around $4-5 for a 24-pack. Not too shabby right? Well, it depends entirely on how many you drink per day and whether or not you reuse the bottles. Assuming you typically use-and-reuse once from a water fountain, you will still spend roughly $200 per person annually on a free resource. In comparison, a 4-pack of Rubbermaid 20-ounce water bottles is $15--not on sale. Most reusable water bottles no longer contain any BPAs, but if you choose to replace them annually, your cost will max out at $60 per year per person (or less if each person chooses 1 bottle).

Drink Tap Water to Protect Your Body

According to the "Facts About Water," from the Drinking Water Research Foundation, water provides numerous health benefits, including:

• Moistens tissues
• Protects organs
• Regulates body temperature
• Improves digestion
• Aides kidney and liver function
• Stimulates metabolism
• Improves brain function
• Lubricates joints
• Carries nutrients/oxygen to cells

Not too shabby. And as if this isn't enough, water also helps improve your sleep. Of course, energy drinks, sports drinks, and vitamin-infused juices may claim to give your body what it needs, but really, all they accomplish is giving your body something else to process. Save the money and the drama. A simple daily multivitamin and water will do the trick.

The Alternative Argument About Bottled Water

To show I intend no bias, I will pull my information in this section from the International Bottled Water Association.

First, as the IBWA correctly points out, all bottled water containers are 100% recyclable, and have the smallest carbon footprint of any "packaged drink" (i.e. soda, juices, and water). Now I know what you're thinking...I recycle all of my water bottles, so how is this wasteful? Well, according to the IBWA's own website in 2013, it was estimated that 1.39 liters of fresh water are required to produce just 1 liter of bottled water. Why the waste? If you drink the recommended 64 oz. plus per day, you will need to have 4-20 oz. bottles on hand (which includes that you did not drink from the last bottle). This translates to 1.6 liters of wasted water per day or 580 liters of water wasted each year. And that's just for one person. Anyone maintaining a passing knowledge of the current environmental crisis knows that fresh water is a precious commodity we are running out of.

Secondly, what about the cost of producing the bottles themselves? If used more than 10 times, the environmental cost of packing bottled water in your own reusable bottles will lower, almost to the level of tap water; however, bottled water is packaged in containers only designed to be used for a week at most. The reusable water bottles (e.g. Brita, Rubbermaid, etc...) are designed to be refilled hundreds of times. This is what you want.

My Personal Mission

Starting today, I will no longer buy bottled water for drinking. I will stockpile a small amount for situations such as a power outage, but I will not purchase drinking water. In fact, no more soda, sports drinks, energy drinks. It's 1 gallon of good, old-fashioned tap water for me. Let me know if you're with me.

Happy reading,

Your Devoted Friend

90-Day Life Challenge: Savings Goals

This was a big step for me today. I have a tendency to refrain from planning out my financial future because I'm too worried about having the money that I need on a daily basis. I've always saved for the future, but I don't typically feel like its ever enough or that the saving would ever end. The fact of the matter is, there should be measurable goals that we work towards as a family.

My 7 Essential Savings Goals

At the moment, I only have around $500 per month to devote to savings, but I know this won't be the case forever. I've got extra work becoming available starting in September, and DH's business has started to pick up, so he's able to contribute a few hundred dollars a month to our financial freedom. 

1. EMERGENCY FUND - I set our emergency fund goal at $2,000. My thought process was that this would cover tires for both cars and a month's worth of rent at the same time.
2. 6-MONTH JOBLESS FUND - Sometime around 4 am a few weeks ago, I happened to catch the Suzi Orman show. She suggests upwards of a 9-month fund, but that isn't really realistic to me. We are a 2-income household with a lot of family support in the event of an emergency. To cover 6 months of essential spending, we would need roughly $15,000.
3. HSA - Ideally, I would like to see at least $25,000 in a Health Savings Account. This would help with any surprise medical bills that I--or my little "dare devil"--might accrue.
4. 529 PLAN - Obviously, DH and I will want to be prepared with Wee-One is old enough to go to college. Like his father and I, Wee One will be asked to live at home, work part-time, and attend a local university, which will definitely help with the overall cost. In addition, we invest in a small personal account for him on a regular basis, and his grandparents have set up a custodial account as well. We settled on $25,000 as a reasonable goal.
5. NEW CAR FUND - Another $20,000. We are not specifically saving for a new car since both of ours are running beautifully and just had tune-ups, but we want to have a large lump sum set aside for major necessary purchases (i.e. new car, air conditioner, family emergency, appliances, etc...).
6. HOUSE FUND - Now, this is where it gets personal for us. This would be a good place for anyone to store their down-payment savings, but we have decided to go another route if possible. We want to buy a foreclosure property outright. No mortgage, just standard bills. Considering that a 2 BR/1BA, 900 sq. ft. home on 1 acre in this area goes for around $110,000, we feel that $90,000 should be able to purchase a reasonable foreclosure and allow us some wiggle room to fix problems or customize as needed. 
7. RETIREMENT - The most important piece of future planning in anyone's savings portfolio, but easily the most daunting. I highly recommend reading Retire On Less Than You Think by Fred Brock. It's a wonderful read, and gives great perspective about how to prepare for retirement logically--as opposed to catastrophically. I'm aiming for $500,000.

Here's an image of my own Savings Plan. As you can see, I used grid paper and a simple "bullet journal" style of charting. It just seems to work better for me if I am visually pleased by the charting process.

Cute, But How Is This Going to Work?

So good of you to ask, I asked myself the same question the instant I finished the Savings Plan. I'm restarting with my Emergency Fund. Like I said, I have $500 each month (approximately) to put towards savings. I am going to split this and put $400 towards my Emergency Fund, and $100 towards my 6-Month Jobless Fund. I generally do prefer to work on more than one thing at a time and have a little bit of that Dave Ramsey "snowball effect." It should take 7 more weeks to finish filling up the Emergency Fun, and then I get to deposit the full $500 into the 6-Month Jobless Fund. In October, I will begin depositing $25/month into each of HSA, 529 Plan, and New Car Fund accounts. It's not much but I will still be able to feel like progress is being made.

As more funds become available in October, I will immediately begin depositing $150/month into my local Credit Union Roth IRA. Why a Credit Union? So I can never lose the original investment. Why a Roth IRA? So I won't be taxed on what I withdraw from the account during retirement. As the other savings goals are met, I will end up deposit their full amount into the IRA, roughly $750/month. Of course, this is assuming that my income is fixed.

The last component of my savings is the House Fund. It's easily the most daunting because we so desperately want to find somewhere to call home. Everything else we bring in goes here....Who knows? Maybe this blog will take off...

Thanks again for "listening" to my pontificating and supporting me on this journey. As always, I welcome criticism and suggestion, from anyone.

Happy Reading,

Your Devoted Friend