Friday, June 3, 2016

Frugal Friday

In this case, it's probably more like "Unfrugal Friday". :-)

It's been a very expensive week, particularly around the car side of the budget! Here's what's been happening around our parts, but I'll start with the positives:

Frugal wins for the week:

  1. Biked to work one day (crazy schedule prevented more) to reduce commute costs
  2. Plan to come home early today to save on nanny costs
  3. Did lots of cooking over the weekend that led to planned leftovers this week
  4. We decided to refinance our vacation house from a 15 year loan to a 30 year loan. Although this is not a normal path to saving money (both because we've extended the life of the loan, and because we will get a slightly higher interest rate), it's a good decision for us. It reduces the monthly outflow required for this loan, freeing up more cash for a house in California. Due to our outstanding credit, we're getting a very good rate. 
  5. I used an Amazon gift card (converted from air miles from work travel) to buy a couple of gifts for M's birthday. 
  6. Not frugal in the truest sense, but I'm very aware of the fact that we will be moving in a year, and I'm actively going through the house & finding items to donate, recycle, sell, etc. We had movers (covered by the relocation) when we moved to California, but when our lease expires, we will be self moving. Need to make it as easy as possible!
And, the less frugal things:
  1. While I was traveling, a bill from the DMV was misplaced, and the renewal for M's motorcycle did not get submitted. Not only did I have to pay the original amount, they tacked on a very steep $65 fine. Wow. Very sad to pay this.
  2. We also did the 40,000 mileage tune up (or, whatever mileage that is) for my primary car, to the tune of $521.35. 
  3. M was in a car accident recently (in the middle of a three car pile up) & we had our car fixed. I know you're wondering why we're responsible for any of the expense, given we were the middle car. We've followed up with the insurance agency for more details, but nonetheless, had to pay the deductible - $1500. 
  4. Our dishwasher is broken, and our landlord is on vacation. It's been a super crazy busy week, and we did contact a repair person (at the request of our landlord) to get  it fixed. They were unable to fix the problem. I'm not pleased, as it's been almost a week, and it's 90 degrees here. Washing dishes in the heat is no fun. I lazily opted to go out last night, rather than cook. 
  5. The soccer tournament was originally planned to be included in our league fees (our team parent made a mistake, however) & I had to pay $90 for the tournament unexpectedly. 
And, that's pretty much it. It's enough, I think. ;-) I'm heading to Seoul on Sunday, for my 4th international trip of the year. Not feeling that great about it, as usual. I'm determined to enjoy tomorrow with the kids, and not get annoyed & bothered by the upcoming travel. Let's see how I do!

6 comments:

  1. I think going through your things and paring down is frugal.
    Oh, I know the travel is work, but Seoul sounds so cool right now:).

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    1. You are right! Just sold an old sleeping bag on my local Facebook swap for $5! It took about 2 minutes. :-) But, it also just feels so good to get crap out of my house.

      Seoul is a cool place, but there's never time to explore. Airport, hotel, office, hotel, airport. :-)

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  2. Our soccer club stopped the one tournament fee as part of registration a few years ago, but some parents haven't really caught on to the change. Boy were they no happy with me having to collect additional money but the alternative is it sat on my credit card. I still need to collect from two and the credit card has been paid for a week+.

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    1. Yeah, I'm not sure where the snafu originated, but I definitely paid the team parent right away. He didn't communicate properly, but certainly shouldn't be out the money. Plus, being the team parent is a ton of work! Hope you get the money back asap!

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  3. How long do you have to be in Seoul? I used to love business travel but the challenges of leaving one of us parents alone with an active toddler and not much available childcare has made it seem like a logistical nightmare.

    When the car accident is finally ruled 100% not your fault, you SHOULD be reimbursed that deductible by the other drivers' insurance. It should be as the middle car in a 3 car pile up! Last Christmas we were struck by a careless driver and she was clearly at fault. We still had to pay our deductible to get the car repairs moving but after something like 4 months the other insurance coughed up a check. Hoping you get a check in much less time!

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    1. With all of my international trips, typically six days. Leave on Sunday morning, and back on Friday evening. :-(We don't have help in the area, so it's super hard, even though our kids are a bit older. We normally have a schedule where I go into work much earlier in the morning, and my husband gets home from work later. It's particularly challenging on him, because he gets less office time.

      Our insurance agency has said you are always responsible for your deductible, which I'm convinced isn't accurate. It's been a long time since I've been in an accident, but I agree - I thought you get the deductible back once it's ruled that we weren't at fault at all. Fingers crossed!

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