Tightwad August Frugal Chatter 2014

[bobbiegirl2010]

Inquiring Minds Want to Know!!!


Some of us have separate banking accounts for certain savings, payments, utilities, vehicle upkeep +++++etc

Would you consider and take all the monies from those accounts/savings and pay down a debt be it credit card, loc, school loan, whatever the case may be and start over and rebuild your savings account, bill payment nests, etc in and over time???? Would you do this To have this debt vanish or be a small fraction of what you currently owe?

If you don't mind share your reasoning for or against....

Thanks for all your input

Hmmmm.... I am not sure. As much as I believe it's important to pay down debt, I also believe it is equally important to have an emergency fund and savings.

Our strategy in the past had been putting all our extra money down on our debt but doing this we never saved any money. What keeps happening is we pay down our debt but something always seems to happen and we just keep adding back to the debt. So our debt is going nowhere.

So now I've started different accounts for the following: car maintenance, income tax (I do home daycare so I am self employed), kids sports, vacation, rrsp and emergency.

Now I put an equal amount of money on our debt and into savings so both are covered.

I personally would not take money from my savings to pay down debt because of my experiences. But then again I don't have much savings built up yet and I can afford to pay money into both debt repayment and savings. The interest rates on my debt are also pretty low so I wouldn't see much advantage in using savings to pay it off as long as I can afford the payments. But if we were struggling financially and were at risk of ruining our credit well then that would probably be the only situation where I would use my savings to pay it down.

[Retiree]

Re: depleting savings accounts to pay down debt......I would not completely deplete my savings accounts but would take a significant amount of it, provided I could make a commitment not to increase the debt again, and pay down the debt. My reason for doing this would be that I think that it is important to have something on hand in case of an emergency but the interest on debt is a real killer that keeps us from getting ahead.

When I had the bed and breakfast, I had about $30,000 on a line of credit for renovations and we had a mortgage. At the end of each month, I would take anything over $1,000 in the business account, divide it in 2 and pay that amount on the LOC and make an extra payment on the mortgage. Some months the extra payments were more than others but eventually I was able to retire the LOC and pay down the mortgage significantly. In the meantime, we didn't use the LOC again and felt that we were making some real progress on the debt.

[Natalka]

Please send the thunderstorms here!

I'll trade you our 30+ temps!



Hope everyone's day goes well.

[momof5boys]

Ahhh - also received some much needed rain...hope it rains for a couple of days straight!

[cath007]

I am deceiving...I called for Boost coupons and they dont offer some.I was refered to subscribe to their newsletter.
Neutrogena-Aveeno-Clean and Clear send 3,00$ off coupons...but for qc it is a mir form..Will continue my hunting another day.

[SassyAshley]

Good Afternoon All,
Nancy that is a tough one, my fear would be using the savings to pay down the debt only to have something happen and you end up incurring new debt. Is it an option to take a portion of the money and still leave some just in case money?

Did not get as much done last night as I would have hoped, the rain and storms are really effecting me, went to bed early as I felt a headache coming on. But the good news is I managed to make a very frugal and good for you dinner out my fridge. I made a Shepard pie and managed to the use the following from my fridge:
Left over Roast Beef and Gravy & gravy
Added carrots and celery I had cut up for last weeks lunch which I did not eat all of
add mushrooms that are starting to go soft
The heated up in a frying pan some grill zucchini, pepper and portabellos for aside.

I was happy to use up some of this stuff, make more room in the fridge and it was quite healthy with all the extra veggies.

Took a look at the early flyers does not seem to be a lot for us this week other than I see a couple things we did not get this week are actually cheaper next week so Mom's short shopping list for tomorrow just got shorter.

Counting down the hours until today is done, hope everyone has a great day

[Angela273]

My computer has been having issues and we haven't been able to fix it ourselves. I'll probably have to put it in the shop, not looking forward to that bill.

The 3yr old boy isn't here today because he was up sick in the middle of the night. The rest of us spent an hour in the back yard this morning. I nearly have the entire garden weed free (3 different raised beds). I have maybe one 5gallon pail left to pull. This makes me quite happy. Most things still aren't producing much, but I still prefer to have a "clean" garden, even if it shows the big empty spots where I don't have any plants growing. I bought 2 packages of bamboo supports for the tomato plants and I have already run out! The plants are doing wonderfully. This heat is getting more of the tomatoes to get ripening. I should try to have a salad for lunch today. We have more than enough veggies between the garden and the fridge. Tonight's supper is a type of chicken and veggie stiry-fry with the bean sprouts that I grew over the last week. It will be served with basmatti rice and milk. LO hasn't eaten very much over the last two days...just doesn't seem to be hungry. Although not the most nutritious, he usually gobbles the rice when it is fresh.

I have a load of jeans and shorts in the washing machine now. I've actually done laundry 4 days in a row at this point. I figure that even doing 1 load a day will help get caught up on things without getting the house too warm. We don't have a clothes line at our house, but I'm ok with it. I'd talked to dh about it other years, but it isn't very feasible with the way that our back yard is set up.

I'm thinking about going to WM tonight after I finish tutoring at 8pm. Someones post on SC reminded me that the WM sale recently changed, so today is the last day to take advantage of the sales.

I don't think I mentioned it in this thread. But I really loved the compliment that my brother gave me on Monday. He gave me a hug when he went to leave and said "You're getting skinny." He knows that I have been working on losing weight. I am 5lbs away from being at the top of my "healthy" weight category according to the BMI chart. I have lost 20lbs over the last year. I am 5'10" tall, dh is 2" shorter than me. We are planning our next baby, so being at a healthier weight will also help us with that goal. Dh has also lost some weight, but I'd really like is he lost some more.

edit:
The load of jeans and shorts in the washing machine are currently on a "hot" wash and "cold" rinse. I'll just have to wait and see how much they shrink down. Some of my clothes are too big, but I don't really want to spend money on more clothes. I've picked up some things second hand, but I also know that with the next pregnancy I can use some of these clothes as early maternity clothes. With my first pregnancy I was 19wks pregnant before I told my work that I was expecting, I wasn't really showing. I know that every pregnancy is different, but I'm not about to replace my professional wardrobe while only being a substitute teacher right now.

[Frugalbigmama]

Good dent on the basement. So happy! And realize that I didn't need to buy any school supplies this year. Had a bag full from last year. Oh well. Now I know. Cleaned out an old crayon a craft bin and have put supplies in there. Now I need a huge box for paper and spiral notebooks. Will look for the perfect one at FB next time I'm there.

[Crochetlady]

We got a very nice surprise this morning. The garage where we got our car repaired finally had the bill made out. We were expecting at least $700...it was less than $300. Now I can make an extra payment on my CC.

[Lynn49]

Please send the thunderstorms here!

I'll trade you our 30+ temps!





Hope everyone's day goes well.

We had 10 this morning, Nat...up to 11 now....I'll switch!!
Although...I do LOVE sweatshirt weather....

[Frugalbigmama]

It's been raining here all day. Need a sweater!

[MrsSunshine]

it was cooler here this morning. needed a sweater and a jacket. since warmed up a little.
headed out to Michaels due to a tip from a SC only to get one of the products. perfect for what i needed. plus a few extras to finish off christmas presents.

[coupon girl]

-yep just called my mom's old girlfriend she is 89 andchatte to her for a houri thik she enjoy he talk
-sold a small tote on kjiji for 4.00 more money slowley coming in

[jasperandchar]

We got a very nice surprise this morning. The garage where we got our car repaired finally had the bill made out. We were expecting at least $700...it was less than $300. Now I can make an extra payment on my CC.

what a wonderful surprise indeed, so happy for you.

[jasperandchar]

-yep just called my mom's old girlfriend she is 89 andchatte to her for a houri thik she enjoy he talk
-sold a small tote on kjiji for 4.00 more money slowley coming in

very sweet of you coupon girl, I am sure she was super pleased