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I signed up yesterday and I already have $60 in my account! I was hesitant at first to give out my Social (in)Security Number, but after researching it, I found that they are backed by some huge names in finance, along with a real FDIC bank in South Dakota. And the page is secure too, which is also reassuring.

If you want to get a free $25, please use my link or button, and I'll get $10 as well! It's only until May 15th, so get your free money while you can. :)

The Car's Not Selling

We are about at the end of the rope with the car... We've listed it online and had one serious looker, but even priced below every other car that's the same it just will not sell! It's been four months now, and we keep lowering the price.

In the meantime, we have been looking at cheap cars to replace our vehicle. One night, we thought we found the van we were looking for, and after arranging to meet the person, we drove two hours one way to find out he sold the van right an hour before we got there and didn't even bother to call. That was probably the most frustrating moment in the whole frugal journey. We are trying so hard, pushing to get out of debt, but we aren't in charge of it. We can drive four hours, and spend $30 in gas for a sure thing, just to have that door slam in our face.

So what are we doing now? We are waiting. Waiting for something to fall from the sky with God's name written all over it. We still have the car up for sale, but we aren't holding our breath. The only thing we know for sure is that God is in control and we have to trust Him. Who knows, maybe the day we sell our car we'll find out we sold our property, and we'll find a van far better than we ever dreamed. It's all in God's timing, I know.

Best Money Saving Website. Ever. :)

My favorite money saving website is MoneySavingMom- each week Crystal does a breakdown of deals at CVS, Walgreen's, Rite Aid as well as keeps you posted on the best deals on the internet. If you haven't been there before, you have to go! You'll save money just by reading it!

Decisions, Decisions

We have some big decisions to make at this point. We have a large sum of money from extra jobs and taxes that we need to put on something.

It's definitely a nice problem to have a decent pile of money, but rather sad when you don't get to keep it, and it goes to reduce another number on the screen. This time might be different as we have enough to pay down our car and buy another one.

If we sell our car outright to another person, we will have enough money to buy a decent car with cash. If we can't sell it to another person (which seems likely as we are a finance-only society) we might have to trade it in. If we do have to go with the trade in plan, we will have to wait until our stimulus rebate comes in or until we get another side job to be able to afford another car.

If or when we sell our car, we will no longer have a car payment, which means that we will triple our debt snowball on our other debt. Yeah!

We will be needing much prayer as we try to decide what we should do with our cars and try to find a reliable very used car. At least it's progress. :)

The Frugal Downfall of Price Snobbery

One of the biggest obstacles I've encountered in our journey to being frugal with our money is price snobbery. I realized this after I went shopping the other day at Old Navy. I was much more willing to pay $15 for a pair of pants there than I would anywhere I normally shop.

I wouldn't buy anything at Ross or Marshall's for $15 without really thinking about the purchase before I made it, but somehow, $15 at Old Navy was cheap to me, and it was easy to spend there. Why exactly? I don't think it was the clothing quality- Old Navy's clothing is on par with Ross or some Target clothes, but I wouldn't easily spend that money at Ross or Target.

I was being a price snob. I was changing my view of my money based on my surroundings rather than looking at it from the right perspective. If I were in Ross, I would carefully calculate whether this or that was worth $15, but since I was in Old Navy I felt that $15 for an item or two was really cheap.

I have to be careful to realize that no matter the store, $15 is still $15. Next time I go into Old Navy to buy something, I am going to ask myself- would I spend this much money anywhere else?

Frugal Confession- We Loved New Cars

We were huge new car fans. We held the theory that since we were going to be paying a car payment for the rest of our lives, why not drive what we want? All of our cars cost about the same amount, but we kept losing equity every time we traded. All we cared about was that monthly payment, but we didn't realize that payments were what were killing us. We only looked at the little picture- month to month, paycheck to paycheck.

It is a sad story- one with lots of great memories of beautiful, fast cars, but it cost us a lot of money. In the last five years we have had six different cars. SIX. Looking back, I can't believe we were so stupid. And as Dave would say, we've paid the stupid tax.

We could have bought our first car in cash and only bought future cars with cash. We would have saved ourselves so much money I don't even want to calculate it. We probably wouldn't have any other debt right now.

These days we are doing our best to change our car buying habits forever. We are trying to sell our current car, which we have paid thousands down on, and buy a cheap used car with cash. We are eager to put this new car-buying nonsense behind us now that we realize that a car is just that, and it's certainly not worth having a payment for the rest of our lives.

The Future Isn't so Bleak After All

We didn't sell our property like we thought we would. Instead the man bought a lot on another street. We were very disappointed. It is so hard to get your hopes up and then to have them let down. It really feels like God is teaching us a lesson in patience. And it's a hard one.

On the bright side, we started our taxes and it looks like with our refund, the stimulus rebate, and a few side jobs that are in the works we should still be debt free for the most part! If we sell our car at an even lower price (we have been paying it down with whatever we get) and buy a $5000 car or less we will be almost debt-free. We still owe some money to a family member from our college days, and we consider that the next debt in line.

All of this extra money would come in around May. So potentially, by May of this year we could be nearly debt free and still own our property. That was quite exciting, as we weren't planning on any money from the taxes or the new rebate! There still might be a glimmer at the end of the tunnel. ;)