Keeping your life in balance with your values

Each of us knows what is important to us. Whether it be our relationship with family and friends, getting out of debt, saving for the future, starting our own business or giving back to the community, it is something we each value and work at achieving. For me, it is saving for my goals and living a greener life. These are large goals and encompass many small steps.

I find myself focusing on the little things I can do every day to better align my lifestyle to my personal values. That means I create a spending plan each month, automate my savings, keep track of every purchase, consider whether I could either make it or fix it myself, and assess my net worth every month. When how I live my life is in harmony with my personal values, I am more positive and I want to strive to do better. When I am out of alignment, I am unhappy, short with others and resort to poor behaviors: spending more money on conveniences, letting the household maintenance fall by the wayside and spending too much time in escapist activities that only delay the inevitable. I have to deal with my problems.

Unfortunately, when there is dissonance, a gap between your values and how you live your life, it disrupts everything. For example, I am usually frugal and prudent with my money, but find myself spending more money eating out because it is just easier to go to lunch with a friend than eat what I have on hand. It seems easier to pick up some junk food and eat that than take the time to do the dishes that have been piling up and actually make a dinner. My patience disappears and everything my cat does irritates me and my colleagues seem to offend me a lot easier than normal. I lose my emotional and fiscal equilibrium where I make good decisions rather than abdicating for convenience and emotional displays more reminiscent of a cranky child than an adult.

How to restore balance? I find writing down my thoughts, asking myself what is going to be useful. Whatever is bothering eventually makes itself obvious and then I can consider rectifying the situation. For my issue, I realized I not only needed to catchup on my dishes, but also plan meals better. I have neglected to have a list of meals I can prepare and rely on the moment. That encourages me to make poorer choices. Therefore, if I know what I was planning on making this month, I am less likely to get off the plan. And clean dishes make sure I have all my cooking items on hand for whatever I choose to make. With a strategy, I am able to overcome the dissonance and keep closer alignment to my desired lifestyle.

Will you consider how to improve your life and alignment to your values?

Sometimes prudence does not win

I have been saving for a new computer and looking forward to this time next year when I would purchase a new MacBook Pro to replace my iBook G4. My Quicksilver G4 Tower despite being older, is not slated for replacement. I plan on keeping it as long as I can access all my electronic accounts and use the hard drive as a back up. However, after dealing with unexpected veterinary bills that added up to $700, my iBook G4 decided it was time to freeze because the cooling fan stopped running.

While alone, the fan does not seem like a big issue, I did not realize what the problem was at first. Unfortunately, I started seeing errors regarding start up files and the iBook was starting up suspiciously quickly. Frugal Pursuit goes into panic mode, starts backing up files to the G4 Tower and the backup hard drive. Then she realizes how addicted to using a portable Mac to access the web and visits the Apple Store to see what refurbished MacBook Pro models are available.

The bottom line: I spent $1,528.70 for a refurbished 15 inch 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro. After I receive the new computer, I will transfer all content onto the new Mac, confirm all the information is present and then sell my iBook G4 either on craig's list or on eBay. Someone else may want to tinker with the computer and I get it out of my house.

The MacBook Pro is a want but I have a nearly nonfunctional iBook and an insatiable desire for Web surfing on my sofa. While I do have to dip into savings for the new purchase, I should not have to buy a new laptop for another four years.

What do you think of my purchase?

So much for being responsible

Well, I was planning on discussing (bragging) about how well my financial life has progressed. I am saving money per my goals, contributing to my retirement funds, spending less than I earn, paying my mortgage on time and generally being a good frugal gal. And then I accidentally authorized two electronic bill pays for my mortgage. When I figured this out, I called my credit union to cancel the transaction. They took care of it, but I did not realize there was a fee involved. However, my mortgage company sent me a letter saying I owed them $20 for the canceled payment. When I called, the woman I talked to informed me that they were just passing the fee the credit union charged them to me. Well, I just decreased extra mortgage contribution by $20 the next month.

Yes, I am so organized and pay all my bills on time. In fact, I happily subtracted the amount of my car insurance from my spending plan because I had allocated the money for this semiannual bill. Turns out, I was so excited about having the money, I forgot to send the company a check. I received an overdue payment notice. Yep, when I checked my check register, no check to the auto insurance company. I immediately sat down and wrote the check, making sure the payment went out the next day. Oh, and clean up all the paperwork that keeps piling up. That certainly does not help me keep track of everything.

What is the lesson here? Even supposedly organized and financially savvy people can do stupid things like pay the mortgage twice and forget to send a check to the auto insurance company. Other than costing me some money and my dignity, I am reminded that I need to keep on top of my other-than monthly bills and double check my online bill pay transactions.

Any stumbling blocks on your way to financial freedom?

My regrettable chest freezer purchase

Recently, I purchased a chest freezer. I was motivated to buy a freezer as I was hitting the capacity limits of the freezer in my refrigerator and then I go on a "make-freezer-jam" spree. I had wanted to purchase a used chest freezer for a while, but was running into two major obstacles:

1. Finding one of the appropriate size


2. Getting the freezer to my house

My first preparation step was to measure the width of the doorway to my basement. If it did not fit, I could not purchase it. Then I did research on three retailers that delivered: Best Buy, Sears and Home Depot. After figuring the maximum freezer width I could have was 34 inches, I settled on a 5 cubic foot freezer.

To address the electrical issues, I had an electrician come in and wire a new outlet on a separate circuit for the freezer. He reassured me that my initial concerns were correct: putting a dehumidifier and a freezer on the same outlet was asking for trouble. Total cost of three new outlets, bringing the basement wiring up to code and installing two lights: $230. This is a good price and one less thing an inspector will note on his report as "bad" when I sell the house.

Reassured the electrical supply was adequate for my new house guest, I went back to the web sites, and did a survey of prices. Since I had only seriously looked once before the electrical work was done, I only had one price for comparison. I was thrilled because the freezer I was interested in was reduced in price by $20. Hurrah for me--I get to save money. While Home Depot had a similar price for a 5.5 cubic foot model, their delivery was only to my threshold. I needed delivery to the final location of my chest freezer-my basement. Sears was my second choice (and had the $20 savings). I choked on the delivery charge ($65), but wanted the freezer so I accepted the price. With purchase price, delivery and tax, it came to just over $237. This was more than I wanted to pay, but I had no idea what the delivery charge would be before I decided to buy the item.

So I have the freezer delivered, life was good and then I realize my first error: the width listed on the freezer was for the long side, not the short one. Depth was the measurement I needed to account for when fitting through my door way, and would have allowed me to get an 8-10 cubic foot freezer, a capacity range I wanted. The one I purchased is adequate, but for maximum use, I would have needed at least 7.2 cubic feet for all the items and garden produce I want to store in the chest freezer.

The second error: I should have taken more time to shop. I went to Sears.com three days after my freezer was delivered, and found my same freezer back at retail price ($40 more than I paid). However, they were offering a rebate for free shipping up to $75--starting one day after I had mine delivered. Since I decided I wanted a freezer and purchased it in a week, I had not systematically tracked the sales and rebates involved with them for any appreciable period of time.

So, what was the end result? I have a chest freezer, but smaller than I wanted. Because I did not read and understand the measurements correctly, I short changed myself for the long term. Since my window between deciding to purchase and actually purchasing was small, I sacrificed $25 for immediate gratification. Research and patience would have gone a long way to saving money and purchasing the right chest freezer for long-term satisfaction.

Lesson to be learned: take more time to research a purchase and ensure I understand the dimensions and my real limitations.

Small (and large) ways I disrupt my spending plan

As I wrote last week, I had purchased several personal care items from Amazon.com since they were cheaper than I could find locally. Combined with a virtual coupon and the ability to submit part of my purchase to a Flexible Spending plan, I could save nearly $50 versus locally purchasing these same items at the same quantity. However, this purchase took more money than the category "Personal" had allocated. This means I have to borrow from my savings account to pay the credit card bill when it arrives. In this fashion, I have blown my budget out of the water in a big way. Yes, this savings will show itself over the long run, but in the short term, it is a large chunk that needs to come out of savings rather than my spending plan.

Smaller ways I disturb the ordered nature of my spending plan: using other categories. For example, I visited a friend in a nearby city where they were having a city-wide garage sale. It was a nice way to spend time together, find some good deals and visit the local plant sale that was happening that same day. I purchased $0.70 worth of children's books to give to a friend's baby (subtracted from my "Gift" category), spent $1.00 on four pieces of women's clothing (easily part of the "Clothing" allocation), four tomato cages for $1.00 (subtracted from my "Miscellaneous" category) and a $2.00 book on quilting (from my "Entertainment" allocation). I did not need another book on quilting since I have not been doing much to pursue this craft recently, but decided to get the book anyway since it had both techniques and patterns. Subtracting $2 for a book from "Entertainment" may or may not be what others consider entertainment, but my "Miscellaneous" category does not have much left this month.

In addition, I purchased ten wooden hangers for $5.00, a pretty good deal. However, from what category do I subtract this amount? As I just mentioned, "Miscellaneous" does not have much funding left in it ($4.81 before visiting the garage sales). Because hangers are used to hang clothing, I decided to subtract the $5 from my "Clothing" spending. It is related and some might argue this is the correct use of my "Clothing" money, but the money in the "Clothing" category is just for clothing. So, rather than owing myself money or borrowing from savings, I chose to execute some category slight-of-hand and remove the money from my "Clothing" allocation.

Doing creative accounting like this may not seem bad, but performing this recategorization on a regular basis with $5 here and $10 there can really add up to overspending. My spending plan helps keep me on track, but using other categories like this indicates I am not living within my means, even if it is just in a single category, and the excess money in another category is spent rather than saved for the future. This analysis points out a flaw in my plans and reminds me to ask myself "Do I really need this item?" before purchasing it.

Technology, finances and poor decisions

I love my sister even if she is a frustrating individual. She and her husband have three children and income has not always been steady, making finances sometimes precarious. When I purchased my 14" iBook G4 in summer 2005, I rendered my perfectly usable iBook SE Graphite obsolete. Of course I wanted faster, better, shiner hardware! But I still had this iBook I did not know what to do with. Enter my sister and her husband! They did not have a computer and I thought "Hey, I can give them one for free!" They were under no obligation, but I did say if they did not need it anymore, I would take it back.

In preparation for the iBook's new home, I wiped the hard drive, reinstalled the system software, installed Appleworks and Office suite of software and gave them the pristine box complete with everything I had received when I first bought the iBook. Yes, I save my boxes and keep them in good condition. In addition, I offered my sister and brother-in-law free tech support, telling them to call me if they had any questions. They walked away with my iBook and I had one fewer computer in my life.

Fast forward to a month ago. My sister tells me she wants to buy a new MacBook. I was surprised since she already had a Mac laptop (the one I gave them) and I thought their finances were not robust enough to support the purchase of a $1,100 computer. She said they did not use the iBook, that it was packed away. I asked for it back and she seemed amenable to that.

A couple weeks later, my sister and her family came over for our monthly family dinner (switching off homes every month and it was my month to host). They forgot the iBook but my brother-in-law proceeds to tell me that there are keys missing from the keyboard. (They have small children and I guess the iBook was accessible to small fingers.) Well, I was disappointed that the iBook was not usable out of the box as one of the keys missing was the space bar, but was determined to use it anyway.

Unfortunately, I had already purchased an Airport card to install in the machine to add to my wireless network not knowing there were issues with the iBook. I looked up information online and a new keyboard would run me about $70. Not a large sum of money, but bigger than I thought I would need to run the iBook.

On Easter Sunday, I finally get the iBook. My pristine box has a big stain on the bottom and running up the sides by wick action. All the CDs and accessories I gave them were present. However, not only were there keys missing on the keyboard, more were loose and the DVD-ROM drive bezel was gone. I knew there was an issue with the bottom case as some of the vinyl had pulled away when I owned it. Of course it had pulled even further away. I was also unimpressed as the DVD-ROM drive, while functional, does not seem to have clearance from the case, making it hard to eject.

What really irks me about this whole thing? I wish they would have told me the full extent of the damage. I would not have bought the Airport card, an indulgence really. In the face of all that needed be repaired, I realized it was not worth it. However, my anger at the poor treatment of my beloved older iBook nearly drove me to make a poor financial choice. I found a newer 17" MacBook Pro on craigslist at a great price and I thought "I want it". I was going to put another laptop on my network and this was one way to do it, but did I want to spend $1,500 on top of what I already have plus dealing with the old iBook? I regained my senses after sleeping on it and decided to upgrade the RAM in my fully functional (if somewhat slow on certain web sites) iBook G4.

I learned two lessons here. One, do not lend anything to my sister and her brother-in-law if there is any expectation I will get it back. I am disappointed that my generous donation ended up a trashed and barely usable iBook. This machine would have been fine for basic functions like word processing, e-mail and web surfing even now with its older technology. Second, do not let disappointment and hurt feelings drive me to make a purchase that will not serve me well. I would have been happy with a barely used MacBook Pro, but I would not have liked to remove $1,500 from my savings account. I regretted showing interest in the laptop and I truly would have regretted making the purchase with its drain on my finances.

For me, family, technology, emotions and finances do not mix well and I will be more wary if a similar situation arises. Hopefully, I will protect my savings and plan better for a new laptop, however desired.

Buying a car can help you pay debt!

I was taken aback by a recent Hyundai commercial. A young man in his late twenties was driving one of the SUVs like the 2008 Hyundai Tucson with the salesperson in the back. (I cannot tell one SUV from another. To me, they all look the same--big!) The young man was enjoying his test drive as the salesperson was highlighting the vehicle's features. One of the last points made by the sales guy was the Hyundai model was less than another brand's comparable and along with the $2,000 cash back, the young man could pay down his debts.

Okay, you are telling a guy to buy a large, expensive SUV so he can pay down credit card debt? Nothing ringing a bell here? I know price point is part of a sales pitch for a car. It typically is price point and features (including safety ratings) that buyers pay attention to. However, the commercial was jarring because if a young man is debt, he is likely financing the SUV, not buying it outright. That means the "cash back" is a gimmick and the buyer goes further into debt, not paying down debt as the salesperson (and commercial) would have you believe.

I know that commercials are disingenuous and want to sell you something thereby adding to the company's bottom line. But in this time of credit crunches, tight finances and concerns about the markets, telling people to buy a new car to save some money is ridiculous. And in this case, save money as you drive a gas-guzzling vehicle--doubly disingenuous. I have only seen the commercial once so maybe Hyundai pulled it, but I was appalled nonetheless.

Wasted money hurts

One of my first posts was on a poor money choice I made. This was a small thing in the scheme of things, but it was emblematic to me that I did not weigh my choices and decide on frugality. It was not simply paying a few cents more per gallon of gas or that fact that I ate out. It is the realization that the convenience of takeout pizza does not trump taste and laziness dictating not turning left and already having the gas in my car.

I found I have several leaks in my spending plan. The main one--well-intentioned but seriously underestimated--is Frugal pursuit. Yes, I am the big leak in my spending. It is not that I spend too much outside a category although there are some I abuse more than others. I buy something with the best of intentions and realize it does not fit or it really does not work in my house or something similar later. While 15 cents here, 35 cents there is not a huge problem (I have wasted greater quantities of money), it still bothers me because I could have added that money to savings.

My recent trip to the thrift store yielded a plastic container to add to my collection and two undergarments. The stupid part: I looked at the tag on one garment thought "hey, that's a deal", found another garment, did not look at the price tag and bought two undergarments. Turns out the second one was 2.5 times the price of the first and neither fit me. That was a waste of $6.40.

An earlier thrift store trip, I found a shower curtain I had been looking at for years thinking it was cute. I bought it even though I have a perfectly good shower curtain at home that works well in my bathroom and I really like. I have no idea what I will do with this second shower curtain. It is not large enough to cover the window in my spare room. To compound my silliness, I found the matching wallpaper border and bought that. It likely will be enough for my bathroom but I have no plans to change the walls or curtain in there. My foolishness cost me $6.85. The only way to redeem this purchase: find a second matching shower curtain before I finally sew curtains for the spare room. Having to spend money to justify a purchase--ridiculous!

I have talked myself out of things. Currently, I am talking myself out of free food I never passed up before. However, the consequences of foolishness is immediate (my health) so it makes it easier (never easy) to restrain myself. With spending, I know I have enough money but these small purchases add up. That is money that could be put toward other things, and maybe that is my error.

My spending plan is rock solid, but other than making sure money goes into savings, I have no short-term goals. I talk about what steps I want to take in my life next like purchase another rain barrel for my house, but I have not taken action. Having a specific item like the rain barrel or task like remodeling my bathroom would help me weigh my choices. Do I want a second shower curtain or part of the cost of a new bath light fixture? Do I need two more undergarments or would I rather water my garden?

To be fair, I did restrain myself from buying additional wallpaper border for my bedroom. It was a wonderful pattern but there was no guarantee it would cover my walls nor match my paint. Obviously, I am not perfect and I want to do better. The less money I spend now, the better my long-term prospects are. These small missteps bother me because I do not want to be either penny foolish or pound foolish. On the whole, I make more good decisions than bad, but there is room for improvement.

How the purchase of a yogurt maker was not frugal

To contrast with my enthusiastic post about my bread maker, I will reveal why I believe I made a poor choice to buy a yogurt maker.

Not long after I purchased my bread maker, I decided to buy a yogurt maker. This decision was based on two premises. First, I wanted to eat healthier. By making yogurt and blending it with frozen fruit, I could have smoothies in the morning and increase my fruit intake. Secondly, I would save myself a lot of money by making my own yogurt for smoothies.

Therefore, I purchased a Salton yogurt maker, the kind with five individual cups, on eBay. After using the machine for a while, I realized this was not a great choice. I had more items to clean and more spilling of the starter mix as I try to pour it five different times. A 1-quart container yogurt maker would have worked better for my purposes.

For nearly three months, I happily made yogurt, created smoothies and even branched out into making my own granola and putting it on the yogurt for breakfast. In addition, I bought a second yogurt maker of the same type to help rotate out the yogurt containers and keep a continuous supply.

But then I continued to buy yogurt with live cultures in the store but the containers just sat in my refrigerator. The yogurt maker sat in my pantry and the extra one stayed in a box in my office. Right now, I have several containers of yogurt in my refrigerator and three bags of frozen fruit in my freezer, but no more smoothies. At least the honey is used in my honey wheat bread.

What is the lesson here? Truly think about the purchase of a single-use appliance. For a person that really loved yogurt or used it as a base in many recipes, the yogurt maker is a good purchase. Not only should she enjoy the yogurt but she should also not get tired of eating the same thing. However, if tastes change or she is following a fad, this may not be an ideal purchase.

My breakfast habits go in cycles. For two months, I ate nothing but oatmeal for breakfast. Now, the box sits in the cabinet untouched for 10 months. I have a yogurt smoothie occassionally (have to use up the excess yogurt somehow), but nothing to justify having a yogurt maker. Other than pancakes, there really is not a breakfast I never get tired of eating. Therefore, I could have saved my money and not bought the two yogurt makers. Maybe eBay will be my salvation.

What was your most recent poor money choice?

I pride myself on keeping within the limits of my spending plan, which enables me to save nearly 16% of my gross income (not including 401k and Roth IRA contributions). One of the harder sections is my "dining out" budget. It is not large ($50 per month) and I am generally in a squeeze by the time half the month is over. However, I came under budget in October so I was happy to go to a movie with a friend and treat him to lunch. (The theater serves pizza so we watched "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" and consumed our lunch. ) It was a bit expensive for one meal, but I was glad to spend time with my friend.

However, the poor choices came on the heels of that more-expensive-than-average meal. One of the local pizza joints had a coupon for $10 for a 15" two-topping pizza. I had just eaten pizza, but the coupon expired in a couple days. It was a good deal and I thought I recalled the pizza was quite good. (I had it once before ironically with the movie-attending friend.) Since the theater pizza pie was nothing special, I was tempted to order the pizza. I told myself it was better to save the money, that just because I had a coupon did not mean I had to use it. I resisted for about two days before I called up the pizza place and placed an order for pickup. It's about nine blocks away so I thought "I can combine getting gas with picking up pizza." In fact, the gas station/convenience store is two storefronts over from the pizza parlor.

To back up a bit, the price of gas had just recently took a jump. I had $2.77/gallon gas in my tank and most places were around $3.09/gallon. As I drove home from work prior to ordering the pizza, I passed a station that had $3.09/gallon, but decided I did not want to make a left turn into the place to get gas. So I went home, ordered the pizza and decided to make it a dual trip--gas and food.

I was surprised to find the gas at the convenience store at $3.14/gallon. I figured gas would go up another nickel overnight and while I was kicking myself a bit for not getting gas an hour earlier, I thought it was going to go up again so no big deal. I filled the tank, walked over to the pizza place, paid for my pizza and drove home. End of story, right?

Um, no. Turns out I chose the most expensive gas on my driving route. My usual gas station did not raise its price to $3.14 for another three days! The cheaper price taunted me for the next three work days! I lost out about $0.50, but my spending plan for gas is a bit tight as I am trying not to increase the budgeted amount for another two months. And the pizza--not so great. It was more than I needed, did not taste like I remembered and combined with the overpriced gas, really soured me on my lack of fiscal control.

Moral of the story: Get gas the first time I need to fill (even if I have to turn left onto a busy highway) and forget the carryout pizza even with a coupon. I could have saved myself $11 if I had only thrown the coupon away. That is $11 that could be used for house maintenance, future investing or saving for new used auto.