frugal hacks

COVID-19 and retirement.

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In a piece over at Money Talks News today, I address a Pew Research Center study about COVID-19 and retirement. But I didn’t write the headline.

That’s because “7 unusual tactics to keep COVID-19 from derailing your retirement” was made up of tactics that I personally don’t see as all that unusual.

Then again, a lot of money tactics/frugal hacks that others think are offbeat don’t strike me that way.

Learning to cook. Delaying a purchase if it means saving either money or your budget. Stocking up on items at today’s prices ahead of the inflation that’s already taking place.

But as I learned from my early days at MSN Money: It’s always new to somebody. Maybe to a whole lot of somebodies.

During the 2008 recession, personal finance blogs were offering posts on topics like “how to pack a lunch” and “how to save money by going to yard sales and thrift stores.” These are things that strike me (and maybe you) as just basic adulting skills.

This morning DF and I were talking about these and other basic skills. I reminded him that a lot of success as an adult depends on what you grow up hearing. For example, no one ever said to me “it’s best to start saving for retirement early because of compound interest.”

I was well into adulthood before I learned this – and other people would probably have responded, “How could you not know this?” Because we don’t know what we don’t know, that’s why. What I heard growing up was, “Work hard, pay your bills and if there’s anything left over, put it in the bank.”

Had I known better, I’d be so much farther ahead when it comes to money. For that reason, I’m going to add a few more tactics that could help people with regard to COVID-19 and retirement. If they sound familiar or even oversimplified, remember: We don’t all start at the same place.

 

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Frugal hack: Homemade yogurt.

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I’m having a bone graft today, to prepare for a dental implant some months down the road. Generally I look at dental work as God’s way of saying, “Oh, go ahead – have a milkshake for lunch.” But since this isn’t just a filling or a root canal, I have no idea how long it will be before I feel like chewing. One milkshake is fine; several days’ worth sounds cloying. That’s why I made a fresh batch of yogurt over the weekend.

Greek yogurt with some of the rhubarb compote I put up last fall is a fairly satisfying meal substitute. Protein, with no need to chew! Turning some of the yogurt into a healthy smoothie is another option that I think will help get me through the owie-mouth days to come. (Seriously: No idea whether it will be one or two days, or lots longer. This is my first bone graft and, I hope, my last.)

As I put the new batch into the fridge, I was reminded once again how simple it is to make the stuff. Draining it adds an extra layer of complexity, but it’s not that complex.

And the cost can’t be beat. I can get about two quarts of Greek yogurt, plus almost two quarts of whey (more on that later), for $2.61 to $3.14, depending on whether the milk is on sale. When the milk is so close to its sell-by date that it’s 50 percent off, then I pay as little as $1.57.

By contrast: A quick search of supermarkets shows one quart of Greek yogurt going for anywhere from $4.29 to $5.99.

If I hadn’t drained it I’d have gotten almost a gallon* of regular yogurt. But I prefer the thicker texture and milder flavor of the Greek-style product.

Ready to learn how to do this? Keep reading. I’ll also provide a life hack for making Greek yogurt the easy way. 

 

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COVID hack: Use rewards points.

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According to a recent report from Bankrate.com, about one in three rewards credit cards holders did not cash in any rewards points in 2020.

That’s not surprising, given how many people save their points for air travel. Not much of that last year; only 11 percent of the 2,449 cardholders surveyed cashed in for flights.

On the other hand, 30 percent of those surveyed redeemed points big-time, to the tune of $300 or more worth of gift cards or actual spending cash.

When times are good, rewards points are a savvy consumer’s way of getting the most bang for the buck. And when times are not so good? That $300 cash-in can be a fine budget-booster.

“You could use it to defray big expenses or for small, everyday items to make your life better,” says Ted Rossman, a credit card analyst at Bankrate.com.

To paraphrase the credit card commercial, “What’s in your (virtual) wallet?” That is, what kinds of rewards points are languishing, rather than being given something to do? 

 

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Our daily bread.

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Bread-baking became a U.S. preoccupation during the pandemic. In some regions you couldn’t buy flour or yeast, not even for ready money*.

That wasn’t an issue for us, as we’d stocked up on both at Costco before the lockdown began. In fact, DF had been buying flour by the 50-pound bag for some time now. After all, he’d spent some of his formative years living in the Alaska Bush, with groceries delivered once a year. Having 50 pounds of ground grain just made sense.

In early summer we finally got around to trying a recipe I’d been meaning to check out for years: no-knead rustic bread. After we took our first bites, we understood exactly what the Internet has been bleating about since back in the oughties.

Damn, is it good. And damn, is it simple: four** ingredients, a bit of stirring, an overnight nap, a quick shaping and into a superheated oven.

The result is the best bread I’ve ever had. And we’ve become happily addicted to the stuff. “Daily bread” isn’t that far off: DF has been known to bake six times a week, depending on whether his grandkids have visited. Those two girls can eat more than a quarter of a loaf between them, with a slight gloss of butter (the preschooler) or with olive oil, salt and pepper (the sophisticated 8-year-old).

They stop eating only because we stop offering it. Yep, it’s really that good. 

 

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What I don’t spend money on.

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Note: Surviving and Thriving is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Recently I encountered an article called “Things we do NOT spend money on,” on the ModernFImily personal finance blog. Although we have some differences – they have a small child and universal healthcare, and they don’t drink soda – this is a post I could have written.

That’s because it’s the kind of thing I’ve been writing about, for pay and for my own site, since 2007:

How to have the best life you can on the money you currently have, without losing your dignity or your hopes for the future.

How not to overpay even when times are good, in order to make your money go further in terms of helping others

How to edit the noise in your life so you can focus on what matters to you personally.

Their post inspired me to make my own, and to invite you guys to chime in with your experiences. So here goes, divided into a few broad categories.

 

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Extreme Frugality: Waste nothing edition.

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(Note: This is one of an occasional series of articles on saving money.)

We took the second batch of apple rings from the dehydrator this morning. Made from windfall apples, they have a mildly sweet flavor that at first seemed bland. Yet after eating two or three, I was hooked. Really looking forward to snacking on these this winter.

The cores of those apples wound up in the slow cooker along with other cores from the freezer; they’d come from the previous batch of dehydrated fruit and from two batches of apple pie filling. When DF judged them done, he drained the liquid through a cloth-lined colander and poured the juice into wire-bail bottles, then stored them in the chilly basement.

And the gloppy pomace left in the colander? That went into the compost pit out back. One day it will become part of a garden bed.

Not everyone can (or wants to) garden, or to preserve food. But you can observe the “waste nothing” ethos in other ways, too.

Not-wasting is a central tenet of frugality. A life without waste is a life in which each decision means something. This doesn’t limit our choices, however. It merely refines them. Rather than drifting through life reacting to every trend or advertisement, we decide what’s really important to us.

DF and I didn’t set out to become Super Green Eco-Consumers when we chose to reduce, reuse and recycle. We were merely living the way we grew up, i.e., not spending more than we must on food, clothing, utilities, housewares and the like.

Sure, this affects our impact on the Earth, which I guess does make us eco-friendly. But it also dovetails nicely with my frugal mantra (which he now shares): I save where I can so I can spend where I want.

Because we’re careful with money, we can afford to save for retirement, which means we won’t be a burden to our families as we age. We can also afford to give to charity, help relatives and friends in need, and allow ourselves special treats (a trip to Phoenix, a massage, a really good meal at Kincaid Grill once or twice a year).

Living without waste makes our lives better. And one or more of the following tactics might make your life better, too.

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Extreme Frugality: Gardening edition.

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Note: This is one of an occasional series of articles on saving money.

Renee’s Garden sends me a press kit and a packet of seeds every year. This year’s freebie was a variety of gourmet kale called Purple Moon. Gorgeous stuff, and we haven’t grown kale for several years, so DF and I were pretty excited.

So is everyone else, apparently: Purple Moon is already sold out for the season.

(As a Renee’s Garden affiliate, I may receive a fee if anyone buys seeds through my link.)

It’ll be one of three purple plants in this year’s garden, joining red cabbage (which is actually a maroon so dark it might as well be purple) and purple carrots (part of a four-color carrot mix). Those deep colors are supposed to be full of antioxidants, which is great, but we mostly care about the flavor.

And the cost: It’s hard to beat free. For the first time ever I took part in the media seed program, paying only the postage for English and pickling cucumbers, edamame, sugar snap peas and onions. Will definitely be writing about these; we’re particularly intrigued by the edamame, since we don’t know if it will grow here (DF’s grandkids will be excited if it does, since they love the stuff).

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The low-maintenance preppers.

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th-2(Happy Throwback Thursday! This article was originally published on Feb. 27, 2014. But the subject matter seems pretty current.)

I just went shopping in our basement, bringing up several items that were missing in our upstairs cupboards: catsup and ibuprofen (both from Costco), a jar of homemade jam, a can of chicken soup.

It always tickles me to see how much we’ve got stored down there, from the kale we grew and dried to bedpillow-sized sacks of dried beans.

Since I live in a really seismic state, the stockpile also makes me feel safe and prepared. Well, as prepared as one can ever be for another Good Friday Earthquake. (And yes, I’ve thought about what might happen if the house collapsed into the basement: Anger, panic and finally rueful laughter.)

That’s probably why an Everyday Cheapskate post called “Don’t be scared, be prepared” resonated so much and got me thinking, once again, about food preparedness.

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Bonus earnings with the Fetch Rewards App.

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Recently a reader suggested I check out the Fetch Rewards app now that I’ve finally joined the 21st century by getting a smartphone.

At first I was skeptical, because DF and I simply don’t buy that much stuff.

Now I’m a believer, thanks to the 13,645 points in my account.

That translates to almost $14 worth of scrip at a slew of retailers and companies that provide entertainment, beauty, pet products, clothing, media, travel, spa experiences, office supplies, charitable donations, and even a prepaid Visa or Mastercard.

Full disclosure: Eight thousand of those points came from referrals. Which brings me to the point of this post:

From now through next Tuesday (March 24), the Fetch Rewards app is running a bonus campaign. For every person who decides to join using my referral code* (more on this below), I will get a whopping 4,000 points (instead of the usual 2,000 points).

But you’ll get something as well. Two somethings, in fact:

  • A 2,000-point welcome bonus when you successfully scan your first receipt, and
  • A referral code of your own to share – and if any of your family or friends joins, then you’ll get 4,000 points. Through next Tuesday, anyway, at which point it reverts to 2,000 points.

Here’s what you need to know.

 

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Found money 2019: Not a banner year.

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As found-money totals go, it was pretty dismal. The take was two $1 bills, seven quarters, 20 dimes, 7 nickels and 75 pennies, for a total of 6.85.

Last year’s total wasn’t much better: just $8.80.

Maybe it’s because people are using credit or debit to pay for their purchases. We’re not a cashless society just yet, but more and more people are opting for plastic. (Some people no longer carry any cash at all, which astounds me.)

Could be that people are experiencing personal economic downturns and thus picking up anything they drop – and anything that other people drop, too.

Or maybe I’m just not going out as much. In the past year I rarely walked to the post office due to weather (read: icy paths), busy-ness (not wanting to give up 40 minutes of a work day) or the fact that DF is now retired and makes a trip to the P.O. one of his daily chores.

I’ve found a lot less in Coinstar machines, too. Perhaps folks have wised up and are checking the coin slots when they run their change through – or perhaps other people have caught on and are checking the machine as they walk by.

 

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