Mar 17, 2011

Laundry Tip: Pre-treat with Tide Stain Release

Baseball season has just started around here, and of course I find myself washing white pants every week - white pants that have grass and mud stains all over, especially on the knees. After the first game, I had to wash the pants four times and I still couldn't get out one tiny little spot of mud.

After the second game, I was mentally prepared to wash the pants four times again, but I decided to experiment a little bit. Instead of pre-treating the stain with a spray like Zout or Shout, I used Tide Stain Release. It's a fairly new product that you add to the washing machine at the same time as the detergent, but the bottle says you can pre-treat stains with it too. I left the pants on the washer overnight, and washed them the next day.

I couldn't believe it when they came out completely white after the first wash. I was thrilled! I know I sound like a paid commercial for the product, but I don't think I've even gotten a free sample of this stuff. I did get a couple of bottles for free back when Vons stacked paper and electronic coupons, and now I'm going to have to keep an eye out for deals.

I don't know if this will work after every game, but I'm pretty excited that I won't have to wash the pants four times every week!

Mar 15, 2011

Tips for getting rid of and cutting down on paper clutter

As I've decluttered the house for the last few months, I've discovered that the worst culprit of all is paper clutter. I can't believe how much of it there is. Here are some tips for getting rid of it, and keeping it from returning:

1. Know what you have to keep and what can go. Here's a handy list of financial documents and how long you should keep them.

2. Start purging. Not everything needs to be shredded, but you'll probably find that the type of papers you hold onto are the kind that have personal information on them. So at your "purging station," you'll need a wastebasket for papers that can go straight into the trash, a box for papers that need a new home, and either a shredder or a box for papers that will be shredded later. I opt for the box for subsequent shredding, since I store my shredder in a closet for safety reasons.

3. If you don't have a shredder, get one. There's no easier or faster way to get rid of documents that contain personal information, and you can get a decent one pretty inexpensively these days.

4. Relabel your files if appropriate. I'm a cover-all-bases kind of girl, so I keep copies of payoff statements and such. Rather than keep each sheet of paper in a separate file, I recently created a "closed accounts" file to hold all of these papers.

5. Go paperless. As I've mentioned before, I'm starting to really go paperless. I started by eliminating hard copies of documents I really don't read, like the annual reports and prospectuses for investments I've committed to holding. I download and don't print e-statements for accounts that never sent paper to begin with (such as those with ING and Sharebuilder). I've now begun the process of completely switching to paperless with all of our banking statements, investment statements, and bills.

6. Have a digital backup plan in place and use it. I wasn't ready to make the full switch to paperless until I had a plan for backing up all of my saved documents. I do this regularly, at least once a week. And I've stored a backup of my backup in our safety deposit box at the bank. It obviously won't have the most recent documents, but at least if disaster strikes we'll have something. You may want to read this article on digitally storing financial documents.

7. Keep it manageable. Flylady has taught me that I can accomplish a lot in 15 minutes - even just 5 minutes. You don't have to go through all of your files at once. Keep the task in front of you small, and eventually the big task will be done.

Mar 14, 2011

Menu Plan Monday: Lame Frozen Foods Month


Maybe I don't really need to worry much about making room in the freezer, because this year's frozen foods deals are rather lackluster (usually they're terrific in March because it's "Frozen Foods Month"). But, most of my meat is frozen since I buy it when it's on sale, so I'll still be using food from the freezer. Except Monday . . .

Monday - Roasted Cauliflower and Sardine Pasta

Tuesday - Korean-style Slow Cooker Beef Short Ribs, Steamed Broccoli, Rice

Wednesday - Potato and Shrimp Frittata, Salad, Artisan Bread

Thursday - Chicken Milanese, some kind of veggie and side

Friday - Calamari, some kind of veggie and side

Saturday - Extended family dinner

Sunday - Another family dinner

See more weekly menus at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Mar 11, 2011

Five tips for getting reimbursed for faulty products

I love the internet, not least because of online contact forms. When there's a problem with a product, I just hop online and find the manufacturer or seller's contact form to let them know of the problem. Here are five tips to keep in mind when writing your note:

1. Be polite. Remember that the person who will be reading your note is likely not personally responsible for the problem, no matter how aggravating, and isn't deserving of a diatribe. I always start my notes Dear Sir or Madam, end with Sincerely, and use polite language in between.

2. Be concise. You have to explain enough of the problem so the reader understands the cause of your dissatisfaction, but your complaint may be overlooked if you ramble.

3. Provide product information. Sometimes the online form requires you to input the pertinent information - like an order number, product code, etc. If it doesn't, provide those facts that seem important to prove your complaint (for example, when complaining about a packaging error, I have included the UPC code, lot number, and location of purchase). Don't discard the product until you have heard back, since companies sometimes ask for items to be sent back (at their cost) so they can examine the defect.

4. State your desired remedy. Whether you want a full refund, a partial refund, a free product coupon to replace the faulty product, or some other remedy, you should state that clearly in your note.

5. Provide your contact information. In some cases, like with an online purchase, this may be unnecessary if you provide the order number because the company shouldn't need more info to issue a refund to your credit card. But if you requested a coupon or something that needs to be sent to you, provide the appropriate information so that the company can fulfill your request.

By following these guidelines, I save my family a few dollars per month, on average - and as we've discussed before, small amounts add up!

Mar 10, 2011

Extension of Flexible Spending Account Benefits

Some employers offer a tax benefit called a Flexible Spending Account or Flexible Spending Arrangement (FSA). Basically, money is deducted pre-tax from each paycheck and held in an account by your employer. If you incur a qualifying medical expense, you can then get reimbursed out of that account. You decide how much to deduct from each paycheck, up to $5,000 in a year, and if you fail to use up the money within the year, it reverts to your employer.

After the unexpected hospital stay in 2009, which quickly exhausted the funds in our FSA, we went a little overboard in 2010, figuring that we could use any extra funds to buy new glasses or do some necessary but not urgent dental work. While FSAs traditionally run from January 1 to December 31, some employers provide an extension of benefits into March of the following year. For us, the deadline is March 15.

And so I've found myself scrambling, because for some reason, I'd thought it was March 31. And I've put things off, because I thought we might be getting a somewhat hefty bill related to a procedure that was done last year. But that bill is still being sorted out - it's possible we won't have to pay any of it, and it's unlikely that it will singlehandedly exhaust the remaining funds in our FSA. So I just realized yesterday that we have six - now five - days to use up the FSA money.

Fortunately, our eye doctor was able to fit us in today. I explained the situation and that we need exams and glasses with a date of service of March 15 or earlier. This is definitely stress I could have done without, but I'm grateful that at least something could be worked out so the money won't go to waste. Next year, I'm definitely not waiting til the very last minute!

Note: A friend mentioned that when her husband was laid off from his job, they lost everything in their FSA that they hadn't used yet. So job security is something to keep in mind when creating this type of account!

Mar 8, 2011

Three tips for decluttering your email inbox

I recently whittled two email inboxes down from thousands of emails in each inbox to less than 30. It took a lot less time than I expected, and was way easier than decluttering paper (more on that another day). Here are three tips that worked for me:

1. Make the most of the organizing tools at your disposal. Gmail has labels and an archiving function, so you can make it easy to find emails you you want to keep but don't necessarily need in your inbox. Other email programs offer similar functions (Yahoo uses folders, for instance). Use these tools to "put away" email that doesn't need to be in your main inbox.

2. Start at the end. I found that it was easiest to start with the oldest emails, because it was easier to decide whether to delete or archive them, using one of the functions described above.

3. Keep the task manageable. When the count at the top of your inbox tells you there are 2400 emails, it can be overwhelming. So just dispose of 100-200 at a time. It'll go faster than you think!

Mar 7, 2011

A Reader's Advice on Decluttering

Last month, I mentioned that I have been decluttering like crazy and listed some of the items I'd gotten rid of. Reader Harvey emailed me with a few good points that I wanted to share:

On expired medication, he said:
I hope that you removed your name from the label leaving the description of the medication intact and then returned it to a pharmacy. Pharmacies are supposed to accept expired medicine as they have procedures for proper disposal. These medicines just cannot be thrown in the trash or flushed down the toilet as they will eventually get into our water supply and food supply.
I didn't know this! I'll do this from now on.

On expired food, he said:
Expired food is still good - unless it is spoiled (bulging can and jar tops, "pasta bugs" in the pasta, etc. It appears that in the past you liked to shop (probably for bargains on sale) but then you did not make a concerted effort to eat what you bought. Unfortunately, food pantries don't normally take donations of past the use-by date food. I would have used it up. I just used a can of soup
that was several years expired and it still tasted fine and I am still here to write you this e-mail.
And on food we're unlikely to eat, he said:
Again, the product of buying something on sale, I would assume. You should challenge yourself to use up all your food on a regular basis.

I like to buy bargains - with coupons - and I like saving money. Sometimes, that becomes just a thrilling recreation. I know that if I were a compulsive bargain hunter, I would probably develop a close relationship with my local food bank. If I could buy several hundred dollars of food for a few dollars, it would all go to the food bank. Then I would make a tuna salad sandwich using up one of the cans tuna of my two year supply in the cupboard.
I can't remember exactly what food I tossed, but a lot of it comes down to now using up what's in my pantry. After decluttering, I'm more aware of what's on hand, and I can make a more concerted effort to use what we have before it expires. But I do need a better system for keeping track of what I have on hand - the rotating-old-food-to-the-front thing just doesn't work for me!

I actually end up sharing a lot of food bargains with friends, and sending non-perishable convenience food via AnySoldier.com.

Thanks for these insightful tips, Harvey!

I'm not done yet - I'll have more on decluttering later this week!

Menu Plan Monday: Making Room in the Freezer Again


I did a good job a few weeks ago clearing out space in the freezer to make room for those whole chickens from Whole Foods, but the chickens have filled it up, as have the free Totino's pizza and rolls that I picked up at Ralphs (though those will be gone later today after I drop them off at a friend's house - she's laid up after surgery and the free food will be more important to her than to me). March is frozen food month, so I want to be able to stock up on the good deals that will hopefully come up in the next few weeks - I really want some reasonably priced frozen shrimp, and frozen potatoes help make for some easy meals. So here's what I'm planning this week:

Monday - French dip sandwiches, baked fries

Tuesday - Whole chicken roasted in slow cooker, copycat recipe of Zankou Chicken's garlic sauce (Alex's favorite; he refused my white bean dip last time), some kind of veggie

Wednesday - Shepherd's Pie, using leftover beef from Monday, maybe an extra veggie

Thursday - Pizza, salad

Friday - Chicken cobb salad

Saturday - Leftovers

Sunday - Dinner out

See more weekly menus at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Mar 4, 2011

The Most Important Step to Becoming an At Home Mom

It's been six months since I quit my full-time job as an attorney and became a work-at-home mom. I'm as busy as I've ever been, and I can't imagine how chaotic my life would be if I still had a full-time, outside-of-the-home job. And that's been the biggest difference for me, working for myself and spending most of my time at home - my life has less chaos.

I was thinking about this today, after talking with my friend K., who's under a lot of stress. She's had a series of medical issues for the last six months, so things at home are chaotic. Add financial pressures to that, and her life is super stressful.

I couldn't help thinking that she'd be able to relieve some of the chaos if she didn't have to work, but her family's financial situation won't permit that right now. That got me thinking about all the preparation we did that allowed me to decide to quit my job. We took a substantial loss in income. But our lifestyle hasn't changed much.

And I realized that the most important step we took that allowed me to become an at-home-mom was not increasing our living expenses as our income increased.

We paid off all of our non-mortgage debt in 2009 and saved like crazy after that, until we lost my income. So for about eight to ten years, we lived pretty minimally. Between the increased cost of goods and having two kids, of course we spend more now than we did eight years ago, but it's not that much more. Most of our increased income has gone toward paying off debt and into savings, which is what put us in the wonderful position we're in today.

We certainly didn't get to where we are today in just a month, or even a year. It took years of living well within our means to pay off all of our debt and save up enough money that we felt we could handle losing my income. But it's all been worth it.

Mar 3, 2011

Four small things I do to save money

I do a few things that result in small savings, but that psychologically make a big difference to me. Here are three four of them:

1. Buy gift cards at Ralphs for stores that don't offer rewards. My main credit card is an American Express Blue Cash card, which gives 5% cash back for grocery purchases (after the first $6,500 in total purchases each year). Ralphs Rewards gives me $1 for every 100 points I earn (usually 1 point per dollar spent; Ralphs is our Kroger affiliate here). That means I get 6% back when I buy gift cards at Ralphs. I shop a decent amount at Target and Amazon, so I buy gift cards for those stores there at Ralphs. Amazon doesn't participate in any cash back sites, so this is pretty much the only way I can save extra money there. And while Target offers 5% back every day when you use their credit card, I really don't want another card. So buying gift cards while I'm at the store anyway helps save me money.

2. Use online banking instead of sending checks. I save on postage by using my bank's online payment service instead of mailing checks. It also saves me money on checks, since I use fewer of them and need to reorder much less often.

3. Redeem cans and bottles for CRV (California Redemption Value - $0.05 for small bottles and $0.10 for large ones). We don't drink that much soda or bottled water, so it takes me 3 to 4 months to collect enough to redeem for about $10. But still, that's $40 a year I'm getting back, and it doesn't take much effort.

4. Use reusable grocery bags. Some stores give a credit when you bring in your bags, so I've become quite good about remembering them. The one exception is Target, where I find the cashiers extremely unreliable about giving me the credit, and where I have a hard time remembering to remind them (because I have kids vying for my attention, or there's a coupon issue that makes me forget, etc.).

I find that these small steps help me to be mindful of all savings, no matter how big or small. Each step by itself may not save much, but they all add up to a big savings in total.

What small steps do you take to save money?

Mar 1, 2011

It's that time of year again: Five ways to make tax time easier

I am one of those people who has to balance the checkbook to the penny - it's how my dad taught me, and I go a little batty when the numbers don't match exactly. It's mostly a fear thing, fear that somehow the whole checkbook balance will be off, I won't know exactly how much is in there, and I'll end up with a ton of service charges. It's not exactly logical, but it's how I feel.

I feel pretty much the same way about taxes. If I don't get it exactly right, something horrible is going to happen, like the meanest IRS agent is going to show up at my door and tell me I'm under arrest for tax evasion. I know there's no logic to how I feel, but nevertheless I feel that way, and my feelings make tax time overwhelming. I get stressed out just thinking about what I need to do, all the data I need to gather, and fear that I might have missed something.

In order to make things more manageable, I do a few things that might help you as well:

1. Keep a pocket folder dedicated to taxes. This is the single most important thing that I do - I use a multi-pocket file folder like this one and file documents as they come in according to category. I have sections for paystubs, charitable contributions, medical and childcare expenses, business-related income and expenses, tax documents like W-2's and 1099's, and a miscellaneous pocket that's a catchall for anything that doesn't fit in the other pockets. The wonderful thing about this system is that you can customize it to fit your needs, and do some tax prep throughout the year.

2. Use online tools. I love online banking, and I use my computer to save copies of important downloadable documents, and to capture screenshots of documents that can't be saved as a pdf. I have a folder on my computer that's labeled taxes and all tax-related documents go there. It's especially useful at the end of the year when companies make year-end statements available online.

3. Hire a professional. I took a personal income tax law class in law school, and I actually kind of enjoyed doing my own taxes. But a few years ago, our taxes started getting more complicated than I was comfortable with, so we hired an accountant to do our taxes for us. I don't think that we save any money in the form of credits and deductions I wouldn't have known about, but it's worth every penny for the peace of mind. If you're comfortable doing your own taxes, then consider using a program that walks you through the possible deductions and credits - it might find something you would have overlooked on your own (and do most of the math for you).

4. Be organized. Our accountant needs me to provide the information necessary to complete our taxes, so it's still up to me to pull all of that data together. And the more comprehensive and organized I am, the easier it is for him to do his job (and I assume that he consequently charges us less, though I've never actually asked). In the past I have tried to get that information together by mid-February, but I am running a couple of weeks behind this year. I will definitely be done by the end of the week, however. If you're doing your own taxes, then gather all of the information you know you'll need as early as possible, and don't procrastinate - it's not worth the stress.

5. Do a little at a time. Most tax-related tasks can be broken down into smaller projects. You can gather all of your charity donation receipts at one time, but pull together your childcare expense information at a separate time. You can even break up filling out your 1040 by the section of the form - calculate your income one day, then work on the above-the-line deductions the next. Before you know it, you'll be done!