Money Saving 101: 20 Ways to Dealing with a Bad Day for Free!

If you are anything like me, when you are having a bad day, a couple things come to mind to make it better. My favorites are shopping, going out to eat, shopping, Starbucks, ice cream, a movie, and…..did I mention shopping? 

There is just one problem with these solutions to my crummy day – they cost money. None of these things are items I need to spend money on, but, when that Thursday afternoon rolls around and it’s been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, I run to Target where they usually have a Starbucks too! 

So the question becomes, what are some things I can do to make my day better without spending money on unnecessary things? Here are some solutions and best of all, they are all free!

1. Go for a walk (Especially if it is nice outside!): There is nothing like some fresh air and good music on your iPod to help make any day better

2. Have a cup of tea: My grandmother’s solution to anything was a hot cup of tea, and it works!

3. If you don’t like tea, have a cup of coffee: If you’re a Starbucks addict like me, you’re probably more likely to want a cup of coffee. The heat of the drink helps you relax. I like to sit on my back porch and enjoy a nice day with a cup of Joe.

4. Read something: Whatever will help you stop thinking about your day and get your mind of something else (libraries are free!)

5. Phone a friend: Sometimes talking it out and venting is the solution. Call a good friend or your mom or whomever is your go to person for venting

6. Workout: Get your blood flowing and endorphins going, you will feel better. Yoga is my personal favorite!

7. Count your blessings: Thinking positively can go a lot farther than you think. I like to make a list of all the good things in life.

8. Sleep: We are a sleep deprived society and a little sleep can go long way. Nothing wrong with taking a nap.

9. Cook: Forgo your classic depression food of pizza or Chinese and go to the kitchen. Trying a new recipe or baking your favorite treat not only will occupy your mind and hands but you get a delicious meal that is healthier and cheaper.

10. Take a bath or a hot shower: It will help your muscles relax and your mind.

11. Do something nice for someone: There is a reason people volunteer. It will make you feel amazing.

12. Watch some TV: Sometimes zoning out is the thing to do!

13. Find a hobby: If you don’t have one, spend the time thinking about a hobby you could have and actually go about starting it. It is said that people with hobbies are happier (healthier too!)

14. Laugh: Laughter is the best medicine!

15 Play a video game: Some people enjoy video games as a way to relax. It’s a way of vegging out and becoming part of another world.

16. Put on some comfy pajamas and put those headphones on: This is one of my favorites. I put in my ear-buds, lie down on the floor in our library and just relax.

17. Go for a drive: If I’m stressed, sometimes I just like to go for a drive. Concentrating on the road and enjoying the sites helps me calm down.

18. Turn on the stereo and dance: Be silly. Being silly makes you laugh and, as I said before, laughter is the best medicine.

19.Spend some time with your pets: People with pets live longer because petting a cat or dog lowers your blood pressure and keeps you company.

20. Remember it is only temporary: Bad days are bound to happen – it is just a part of life. The important thing is to remember it will pass, be stronger than your circumstances!

I hope that some of these tips are helpful. Do you have any more tips for things we can enjoy for free? Make a comment here or email linvilleb@fswp.org.

30 Day Challenge: Week 1 is DONE!

We’ve had a couple of dilemmas this week, but so far, the first week of the 30 Day No Restaurant Challenge has gone fairly smooth. The first dilemma was the filet-o-fish crisis, which we solved with some awesome fish sandwiches at home this past Sunday. The other was on Friday. What happens when a family member offers to pay for dinner? We spent Friday early evening with my boyfriend’s brother-in-law and niece at the mall. The brother-in-law asks if we’d like to grab something to eat in the food court while we are there. *DILEMMA* What do we do?? Well, we told him about our challenge and that the point of said challenge is to not spend any money eating out so we can not only save money but prove that we can make some pretty awesome food at home. The brother-in-law offers to pay so we won’t break our challenge. Needless to say, I wasn’t sure what to do, so I called my mom. Mom is the key to a great many decisions I make, as she is wiser one than I. She said, and so did my dad, “Well, if the whole point is to save money, and you aren’t paying for it, I don’t see a problem with it.”

I wasn’t very hungry to begin with, so I declined anything but an Orange Julius, which I love and haven’t had in a long time, and the boyfriend enjoyed a nice fast food dinner with his brother-in-law. We decided that spending time with our families is more important that refusing just because I am writing this blog. In the end, I didn’t end up spending any money and neither did the boyfriend, which is the whole point in the first place. Family is more important than anything in the world to us.

We didn’t end up having a traditional date night this weekend, but I’m finding myself satisfied with the weekend I had being with the boyfriend.  I also spent some time with the boyfriend’s sister and sister-in-law on Sunday, so that ended up being the thing I looked forward to this weekend.

Other than the filet-o-fish and family food court dilemmas, this has been a great week. We’ve made some really great meals at home from things we already had in the pantry and went grocery shopping yesterday for some extra fruits, veggies, meats and other things to supplement our pantry. Below, I’ve put our menu for the past week. I’ve learned that having a menu planned for the week, even if you decide to switch days around or have leftovers one night instead of cooking, makes for a much easier meal cooking experience. You aren’t worrying about what to make or asking each other and saying “I don’t know.” There’s a decently set plan, which keeps the “I don’t know” from turning into a “Let’s go to Taco Bell.”

Our menu for the past week:

Sunday 2/19: Filet Mignon wrapped in Bacon, Baked Potatoes, Broccoli

Monday 2/20: Cheez It Chicken, Baked Potatoes, Broccoli 

 Tuesday 2/21: Red Beans & Rice (In Honor of Mardi Gras!)

Wednesday 2/22: Pierogies with Butter & Onion Sauce, Broccoli

Thursday 2/23: Leftovers

Friday 2/24: The Boyfriend’s Meal was a food court meal paid for by his brother-in-law. I ate a small snack when we got home since I wasn’t all that hungry to begin with.

Saturday 2/25: Spaghetti with Meat Sauce & Texas Toast Garlic Bread

Sunday 2/26: Fish Sandwiches, Baked Potatoes

Financial Wellness Courses in the Pittsburgh Area

A program we are offering is MoneySmart classes. MoneySmart is an FDIC developed and approved training curriculum that teaches participants a variety of financial wellness topics such as banking, debt management, credit, budgeting and more.  We have just completed the first sessions of classes and one thing we have seen, even in the short time, is how much financial literacy is needed in our communities. No matter what your knowledge, income or situation, it is something we can all benefit from and should be a lifelong learning process. 

Classes are proving to be very lively and people are enjoying them. Five to twenty people are in attendance at any given class and we look forward to see our numbers grow as time goes on. People are gaining new knowledge and are able to refresh on topics they were previously familiar with as well. As the classes continue I believe we are going to see some interesting topics and questions raised. We find we can learn a lot from each other and well as from the curriculum. 

Classes are currently being held throughout Westmoreland and Allegheny counties and locations are continually being added. Below are some of the current classes. These classes are free and open to the public!

• Tuesdays 9:30a -- McKeesport Salvation Army (Starts March 20), 821 Walnut Street, McKeesport, PA
• Tuesdays, 5:30pm – Greensburg Office of Family Services of Western PA, 211 Huff Avenue, Greensburg, PA
• Thursdays, 10:00am -- New Kensington YMCA (Starts March 29) 800 Constitution Blvd, New Kensington, PA
• Fridays, 2:00pm – Brackenridge Salvation Army, 917 Brackenridge Avenue,  Brackenridge, PA

All are welcome to join a class! Please call with any questions or to reserve a space (412) 820-2050, ext. 419.

We will update you with new classes as they are scheduled! Please feel free to call if you'd like to schedule a class at your local community center or group. 

Money Saving 101 #1

Money Saving 101 will be 1-2 short segments each week about ways to save money. 

Today’s topic is saving change. What do you do with that change in your pocket at the end of the day? Do you throw it in a jar? Do you keep it for spending later so you have exact change? I know a lot of people that throw their change in their cars and it sits there for years. I’ve also seen people that just leave their change in the little “take a penny” jars at the gas station or wherever they may be. Some people keep the spare change around for the times when they want exact change.

When it comes to change, I’m a saver. For a long time, I’ve been saving my change in a Nalgene bottle. It’s the perfect size for change and, with the BPA in Nalgene bottles, I didn’t want to use it for drinking. Whenever I clean out my purse or my pockets, I dump the change in my bottle. When the bottle is full, I take it to the bank and cash it out. Most banks will do this for free. If your bank doesn’t do this for free, the Coinstar machine at your local grocery store will do this for a small fee. Sometimes Coinstars will change out your money for free if you choose a gift card instead of cash at the end. In the end, I usually have $100 in my bottle depending on the type of change I put in there. 

My boyfriend has been keeping a large vase full of change for a long time. To put it in perspective, the change jar is a couple feet tall and at least a foot and half in diameter. When we counted it out, it was about 4 inches full. It took us a good hour to count and roll the coins into paper tubes for the bank. At the end, we had about $325 which my dear boyfriend put into his savings account. Not bad for just putting spare change in the jar at the end of the day! 

Side note: We discovered, after we had spent so much time counting and rolling the change, the bank will actually take the change without it being rolled. I’d check with your local bank to see what they say regarding whether or not your coins need to be rolled before you waste all your time. We were watching a pretty good movie though, so it wasn’t totally wasted.

30 Day Challenge: Our First Obstacle

We’ve encountered our first obstacle in the 30-Day No Restaurant Challenge on the second day:  McDonalds filet-o-fish sandwiches.  

Why filet-o-fish sandwiches? Why those disgusting fish sandwiches that taste like a sponge? 

The answer: my boyfriend loves the weirdest foods, and when he finds something he likes, he becomes obsessed.  Since Christmas, he’s been raving about how he can't wait for Lent (even though he doesn’t follow the Lent tradition) because McDonalds has two-for-one deals on filet-o-fish sandwiches.  Every year during Lent he buys as many filet-o-fish sandwiches as his body can stand.  I guess when I proposed the challenge to him, neither of us realized that it would include Lent and his beloved filet-o-fish sandwiches.  Needless to say, he was devastated. 

The BF and I talked it over that night at home and we realized two things. One: I can make fish sandwiches at home for much cheaper and they’ll be MUCH better quality than those sponge sandwiches from McDonalds. Two: Lent is longer than the 30 day challenge, so when the challenge is over, he can still go get one, if he truly wants one.

Here’s the math:

1 filet of fish: We can buy one box of ten fish filets for 2/$6 at our local grocery store right now. We bought two boxes. That makes each fish filet approximately 30 cents.

1 bun: We can buy a package of 8 buns in the bakery section of our local grocery store for about $3. That makes each bun about 37 cents. 

Tartar Sauce: You can buy a bottle of decent tartar sauce for about $2. An average bottle of tartar sauce has 12 ounces in a bottle or 24 1 TBSP servings in it. One serving of tartar sauce would be 8 cents.

One delicious homemade fish sandwich is $0.75. The average price for spongy fish sandwiches at McDonalds around here is 2 for $3.33 or $1.66 per sandwich. This is average around here, your local McDonalds may be different.

Not only is the homemade sandwich better for you, it is 91 cents cheaper. That doesn’t include the gas it takes to drive to McDonalds or the damage to your body from all the chemicals, fat, etc. that is in the average fast food chain’s food.

30 Day No Restaurant Challenge #1

Inspired by Get Rich Slowly, a blog by JD Roth, I’ve been inspired to try my own 30 day NO RESTAURANT challenge. Currently, my boyfriend and I eat out at least twice a week. Usually there is one meal of $15-30 and one more expensive meal for date night on Fridays for $60-75. This is a total of $75-100 PER WEEK just spent eating out or $300-400 per month. That doesn’t include any other stops at Taco Bell, our favorite easy dinner/snack, or the McDonald’s breakfast that I buy at least once every two weeks. That $75-100 doesn’t include our very full pantry and fridge either.

Right now, I’d estimate we spend $40 per week at the grocery store randomly picking up items to supplement the $150 every two weeks when we go, as my mom always called it, “big grocery shopping.” Grocery shopping plus an average of $100/week on eating out is a whopping total of $860 per month on FOOD. That’s a mortgage payment plus some! Holy cow!

Today, we started the 30 Day NO RESTAURANT challenge with a few simple rules:

1. We will cook all dinners at home for 30 days beginning Feb 19 and ending Mar 18.
2. We will use all items possible from our already busting pantry and fridge/freezer
3. We will eat leftovers at least one a week.
4. This also means NO Starbucks for me. I can get a box of instant coffee at the grocery store for $3.39 that makes about 15 cups of coffee. That’s cheaper than 1 Starbucks Caramel Latte.
5. I will keep a menu for 30 days. This will help me stay on track.
6. I will update this blog at least once per week to update you all on how we’re doing. We both love our sushi.

And a few simple goals:

1. I would like to put all the money we aren’t using into our respective savings.
2. Learn to cook different meals and find new recipes.
3. Challenge myself.
4. Learn to be creative on our date nights besides a dinner out. We live together, so we see each other every day. Date night has become a staple of my week and something to look forward to. Let’s see what we can do without spending a ton of money on sushi.

Our first night went really well. We picked up the following items:

Filet Mignon Wrapped in Bacon: $5.60
Potatoes (Already in the Pantry): $0.30 (This is based on a 10 lb. bag of potatoes for $4 with an average of 25 medium potatoes in the bag.)
Steamed Broccoli (Already in the Freezer): $2.00 (These freezer steam bags run between $1.50 and $2.00 at our local grocery store.)

It was delicious and we only spent $7.90. This same meal at any local restaurant or chain would be $25 per person plus drinks. This meal in itself would have been approximately $65.00 if you add in tips and drinks. We saved a total of $57.10.  

New Initiative @ Family Services of Western PA

Financial Wellness is a brand new initiative through the Integrative Processes Department at Family Services of Western Pennsylvania. Wellness is more than just being physically or mentally fit, it is being financially healthy as well!

We are offering many different resources, classes and programs for individuals and organizations throughout Allegheny and Westmoreland counties including the following:

·         Money Smart is an 11 session FDIC developed and approved training curriculum that teaches participants a variety of financial wellness topics such as banking, debt management, credit, budgeting and more.  This service is available to staff, persons served, and local community members.

·         Budget Counseling provides confidential 1 to 1 meetings with a financial trainer for those who may need some extra help to write and implement their own budget.  

·         Entrepreneurship classes are also available. This intensive curriculum occurs over several weeks and is designed to teach the budding entrepreneur and new small business owner the skills necessary to start and maintain a successful business.

A full calendar of events is available on our Facebook page.  Please feel free to contact our department for additional information and updates. Our email is linvilleb@fswp.org.

Our blog is going to be a collaboration of our staff to bring you weekly updates about being financially well starting with Saving Money Tips 101 & the 30 Day No Restaurant Challenge.