Free From Broke

A Personal Finance Blog for Regular Folks

Frugal

Frugal Alternative to Microsoft Office

Published or updated by

So I got a new computer recently. The last one went back to the turn of the century and the screen finally died (the battery had already gone).  Anyway for all of the great programs on my new computer I didn’t have a good spreadsheet or writing program.  Of course the industry standard is Microsoft Office.  Office 2008 for the Mac on Amazon is going for a little over $100.  Pretty good but still expensive after already buying a computer!  I found out I could get a pretty good discount through work but a discount still means I’m paying for it.  That’s when I remembered an article 9 Tips to Save Money on your Next Computer which mentioned OpenOffice.org!

I was a little skeptical of OpenOffice.org at first. I mean, it’s touted as a free alternative to MS Office.  Could it really be as good if it’s free? I’ve used another alternative, Google Docs, a bunch of times.  Google Docs is also free and is nice in that you can access your docs on any computer where you can get Google.  It’s got good programs but falls behind in what MS Office offers.

OpenOffice.org , on the other hand functions almost exactly like MS Office!! So here’s our story: Last week my daughter had a science project due.  In true fashion we all waited to just about the last minute.  I hadn’t bought MS Office and didn’t use OpenOffice.org yet.  We needed to print out her project, titles, and a graph of her research.  Uh-oh!  So I went to the OpenOffice site and downloaded thier suite which includes Writer (Word), Calc (Excell), Impress, Draw, and Base.  I gotta tell you. I was surprised to see that it looked and operated just like MS Office would!  I am sold!  On top of the great programs you can also download templates and extensions to help you further.

Here’s the welcome page when you first open it:

openofficeorg-welcome-page

Here’s what a spreadsheet looks like:

openofficecalc-spreadsheet

Looks an awful lot like Excel, no?

Here’s what Writer looks like:

openofficewriter

Very similar to Word!

And here’s the templates and extensions screen:

openoffice-templates-docs

There are a ton of great templates to chose from!

I mean, whats more frugal than free?!?  And with the functionality of MS Office products it’s really a no-brainer!  Although I haven’t gotten to use it too much yet I’m really liking it so far!

If you are looking for a spreadsheet, document, or presentation program I really think you should give OpenOffice.org a shot before you go out and buy anything!

Have you used it?  What do you think?

I’m Saving By Bringing Lunch To Work

Published or updated by

the finished product

So as you know, we’re living off of one income now as my wife took off from her education job to stay home to raise the kids.  We’ve been looking for all sorts of ways to cut expenses to make my salary stretch a little farther.

One thing I’ve started to do is bring lunch to work a few days a week.

I work in NYC.  I don’t tend to go too crazy on lunches in general.  I tend to stay away from the expensive restaurants.  This was a habit before we were on one income.  But the costs of eating in Manhattan do add up anyway.  A sandwich is easily $5 at least if I go to a small deli.  More if I go to a bigger establishment.  Salads cost at least $7.  One thing to note is that I don’t eat at fast food places such as McDonald’s, Subway, or Wendy’s.  I could get cheaper lunched there but I gave up that food long ago.  I try to keep my eating healthy.  It could cost more at times but I think the payoff to my health is much greater in the long run!

So now my wife has been making lunch for me around three times a week. If I would have spent $5 on lunch then that saves me $15/week.  That’s around $60/month or $720/year!  And that’s if I only spent $5.  I’m saving more if my lunches were more expensive on those days.

I also don’t buy any beverages for lunch.  We have a coffee machine and water cooler at work which I use instead.  This also goes back to eating healthy since I wouldn’t buy soda or sugar drinks anyway.

So there’s one way we’re making our money stretch.  I’ll be telling you about others ways in future articles.

How do you stretch your money?

Sign up with ING Direct and get a $25 bonus

Creative Commons License photo credit: the prodigal untitled13

What We’re Doing To Adjust To One Income

Published or updated by

Contando Dinheiro

As I told you yesterday we’re moving from a two income family to one income. This will take some adjusting on our part.  If you’re considering moving from two incomes to one you should check out 9 Tips For Going To One Income from PT Money.

Among the things we have done so far to adjust:

  • Changed my 401(k) contributions – I was contributing more than the company match for my 401(k).  I’ve now lowered it to the company match.  Anything lower than the company match and I would be missing out on free money.
  • Roth IRA contributions – We lowered our monthly contribution to our Roth IRA’s.  Yes it’s important to save for retirement but for right now we need to make sure we can handle our new budget constraints.  If we find we have enough left over we’ll up the amount.
  • 529 Plans – Again, it’s important that our kids are able to go to college but having money now is more important.  We didn’t eliminate contributions, just lowered them.
  • Tax Withholding – With my wife not working I plan to change my tax withholding so I can keep more of my paycheck.  We’re waiting to hear back from our accountant for advice on what we should set my withholding for.
  • Health Care – Our health care was through my wife’s job.  I’ll have to switch it over to my company’s once my wife’s coverage officially ends.  This will cost us as my wife had free coverage and I don’t.  We had to keep this in mind when we worked out our budget.
  • Look for ways to trim expenses – The Starbucks days are coming to an end.  And now when we go to Target or BJ’s we’ll go in with a set list of things we need and not buy things we want.
  • Work on finding alternate sources of income – We’re keeping an eye out to see if there are any ways to earn some extra money.  I’d love to say this site would help support us but blogging isn’t as lucrative as some make it out to be.
  • Go through all of our monthly bills/expenses – We made sure to see where our money was going monthly.  We didn’t want to build a budget then find out we skipped something that would make us go over.  Make sure you check for any automatic contributions or payments you may have set up!

This will be a big adjustment for us but it will be worth it.  We’ve saved and planned and budgeted and I think we’ll be fine.  A little tighter than we used to be but fine.

Do you have any other ideas?

Sign up with ING Direct and get a $25 bonus

Creative Commons License photo credit: Jeff Belmonte

New York State Empire Passport – Summer Saving

Published or updated by 4 Comments

Summer’s here!  How are you going to spend your time? Will you go to the beach?  Maybe a pool or a lake is more your speed?  Maybe go to the park for a picnic?  How about camping?  Perhaps you’ll go for a bike ride or maybe a nice hike through the woods on a historic trail?

If you live in or near New York State then you have access to all of these activities and more in New York’s State Parks!

A great way to take advantage of all that NY State Parks have to offer is to purchase the NYS Empire Passport. For $65 you get access to most of NY State’s parks and facilities.  Consider this: parking is easily $8 for Jones beach.  That means the pass pays for itself with about 7 visits to the beach!  But what’s great is the pass can be used for so much more.  In fact it’s good from April 1st until March 30th of next year.  Using it 7 times over the year is easy!

My wife has the summer off as she works in education.  This gives her all summer to go to beaches such as Jones Beach or Robert Moses State Park.  We worked it out a couple of years ago and the Empire Passport easily saves us money!  You can also use the passport to pay for parking for concerts at the Jones Beach Theater (park in an adjacent lot and walk over, it will also be easier to leave after the concert)

Outside of summer beaches we’ve also gone to Harriman State Park, Bear Mountain State Park, Fahnestock State Park, and Valley Stream State Park.  Harriman and Bear Mountain aren’t too far from the Woodbury Commons shopping center where you can find some frugal deals.

I’ve gotta say, in putting this article together I’m seeing how much we can do and what we’ve been missing out on!  I can’t wait to get out with the family again!

You can order an Empire Passport online.  The site says it could arrive in 3-4 weeks but we got ours in a week.  You can also visit a state park office and buy it direct.  Check online to see which parks sell the pass directly.  The quicker you get yous the sooner you can enjoy all that NYS Parks have to offer!

How will you use your NYS Empire Passport?

This article is #14 of the Summer Savings Series from the Money Life Network. Check out the article on the MLN site to see how you can participate in the Summer Savings Series and possibly win a $100 Amazon gift certificate! You can see tip #13 at My Investing Blog. Article #10 will be at Milk Your Money tomorrow!

 

American Girl – Not Frugal At All (Or What’s A Smile Worth)

Published or updated by

Last weekend we went to the American Girl store in Manhattan to buy my daughter a doll.

Have you heard of this place?

It’s a doll store that specializes in making the doll purchase a full experience for your child. Among the doll choices you have is their Just Like You collection where you pick out a doll that has features similar to your own (or my daughter in this case; I would make one ugly doll).

From the site:

Just Like You dolls help girls share their stories with the world. Every girl can find a doll to match her spirit and look—inside and out. The hair and eye color, skin tone, and outfits and accessories help bring their story, and friendship, to life. These 18-inch dolls are for ages 8 and up.

Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?

Each comes with a story book and a music CD. You can buy girl clothes that match the dolls’; there’s a theater; a cafe; a hair salon; even a doll hospital! Yes, you can already imagine it isn’t cheap! The doll we bought (left) was $90!!

Let me go back a sec and explain how we got here.

Last Spring my daughter went to the American Girl store with her Girl Scout troop. They were able to get a doll’s hair made up and had lunch at the cafe. If you didn’t own a doll they gave you a loaner.

Well, my daughter immediately wanted one of her own!

It wasn’t too hard to say no to her since the dolls are so expensive. But we did strike a deal with her: If she behaved (as best she could) and tried hard in school we would get her one for her birthday. She agreed. Keep in mind we didn’t go overboard for the holidays knowing we would be getting this doll for her birthday. Also, besides the party at home, this would be her only gift from us.

Did I mention the place has like three floors?!?

I went in with strong resolve, vowing to buy only the doll! But man do I have ADD when I walk into a store. They have accessories and dolls everywhere. It wasn’t long before I was asking my wife if we she get another outfit or an accessory too. We came real close but my wife, having more sense than me, said we came only for the doll and that’s what we’re getting!

Yes, it was expensive for what is essentially a trumped up Cabbage Patch kid.

But did my daughter smile when we got home!

I took a picture with her and the doll and it’s one of the most joyful smiles of her I’ve gotten on film. I know this is no excuse to spend money. I don’t think we’re spoiling her since she waited so long for it and we made sure to explain to her that this is an extra special gift, the likes of which she shouldn’t always expect.

Here’s a few justifications for buying it:

  1. We made her wait a while before buying it to make sure she not only deserved it but would still want it and take care of it.
  2. It was the only major gift she’s getting from us for her birthday. We got her small gifts for the holidays but nothing expensive.
  3. Our son is turning one two days before her birthday. Although we do our best to give equal attention to both of our children it’s inevitable that the little guy gets a bit more attention since he’s a baby. The doll is a special present for her for being so great with him this past year.
  4. We had the money in savings and will not be in debt because of it.

If your daughter has friends that own an American Girl doll now might be the time to explain to her she can no longer be friends with them. Unless you want to buy her one too. (Just kidding of course).

What do you think? Are we spoiling her? Are we guilty of “keeping up with the Joneses?”