We have been using rags instead of paper towel, and cloth napkins nearly forever. I used cloth diapers (not the flat-fold ones) until I discovered that our new, super efficient washer just wouldn't get them clean. Fortunately, that was with our last child!

I wouldn't do handkerchiefs, unless you are one who hands on to a tissue until it's well used (like I am!). I don't think carrying a used handkerchief around is sanitary. Of course neither is carrying a used tissue.

As painful as it is, a planned menu for the week can save a ton. There is so often left-over ingredients from one dinner. Well planned, they can all be used throughout the week. When you're more ambitious, I've read (flylady.com, I think?) that you can have a 5 week menu for each season that just gets repeated. You can switch the weeks around to coincide with the current grocery sales. One of these days, I'll have to sit down and make that up! If these 3 kids left me with some energy at the end of the day…

Jon
WanderingWwoof.com

I’ve looked into Dave Ramsey’s plan, but disagree with some of it.

First off, he wants people to pay their smallest debts of first, even though they might lose a lot of money on interest doing that if their larger debts have higher interest. I understand the psychology of it — since you feel like you’re making more progress — but I’d still recommend that everyone try to tackle higher interest debts first. If they can’t stay motivated enough, then they can try paying off a smaller debt here and there.

Also, while I’m glad he does recommend starting with an emergency fund, even the first one should be larger than $1000, imho. A bare minimum emergency fund should be enough to fund: repairing major problems with your car like replacing the engine (or buying a cheap used one if need be), paying the deductible on insurances (health, home, car, etc.), and/or paying your largest bill (even just in case you get double billed for your mortgage one month like happened to us!).

Also, the larger emergency fund should be larger for most people. A 3-6 month emergency fund is nothing these days when it’s taking many people much longer to find a job. Even 6-8 isn’t always cutting it — and remember, your expenses may be higher if you lose your job because you’ll have Cobra and perhaps other expenses your job covered. One rule of thumb I’ve heard is to take the unemployment rate in your area and convert it to months. 12% unemployment = 12 month emergency fund. Of course, it’ll also depend on the availability of your job in the area, your flexibility in taking other jobs, the minimum salary you could settle for, etc.

Also, I would not wait to pay off all debt before building the larger emergency fund if you’re more than a few months away from off all your debt. What if you lose your job? You miss a payment on one thing and all your interest rates will go through the roof! Plus, you cannot depend on credit cards in an emergency because they’ve been cutting limits and closing accounts — even if your credit scores are fabulous and you’ve never missed a payment on anything, ever! Trust me, I know! And you can’t depend on unemployment, either. Not only is it a pitiful amount, but more companies are fighting it by saying people were fired instead of laid off. And even without companies causing trouble, the unemployment offices are backed up! It took a friend of mine months to see her first check!

On the other hand, I don’t want to see anyone paying tons of interest. So, try to get those interest rates down any way you can, pay off the highest interest rate cards first, but also keep throwing some money into the EF. And the lower your interest rates get, the more you throw in the EF.

And finally, in some cases it might make more sense to pay off your home before saving for your kids’ college (if you even have or plan on kids!). If you have time to save later, if your interest rate isn’t super low, if you can pay your home off years before you have college age kids, go ahead and pay off the home. You’ll be able to save easier when you don’t have a mortgage, imho. And I wouldn’t ever put money into anything that is strictly for college and can’t be taken back out without huge penalties because you never know if kids will even go to college.
.-= Meg from FruWiki´s last blog ..Main Page =-.

Has anyone used either of Phil Lenahan’s or Dave Ramsey’s financial management programs? I”m investigating them partly because of personal need and partly because as a Catholic bookseller, I should know more about them!

Among other things, I’d like to know if they would be of use to someone who does not live in the US. IN other words, are the principals universal?

For entertainment, we take advantages of free concerts and community events as well as go to a matinee movie rather than an evening showing. Also, we are big fans of the local library for books, movies, etc. rather than purchasing. If we do purchase books we always look for gently used copies first rather than new.
.-= Nancy´s last blog ..My Kind of Weekend =-.

I’m currently in the process of examining the costs of square-foot gardening to see if this is a viable option to save me some money on produce and herbs. I like vegetables and I have an entire spice cabinet dedicated to my favorite herbs – which are all rather expensive. So, I’ll be doing a cost analysis on this to see if it is a good way to reduce expenses in the grocery section, but we’ll see.

Nice post!
.-= Kristy @ Master Your Card´s last blog ..It’s The Climb =-.