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Feel Like We are Barely Getting by...

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FrugalRican
Blogger

Re: Feel Like We are Barely Getting by...


@haulingthescoreup wrote:

@FrugalRican wrote:

@IOBA wrote:

cassembler - I travel a lot....and do eat out some.   Lol - but keeping with budget, I have been known to bring food to the hotel (precooked),  have been known to bring a toaster over and a hot plate to the room to cook...

 

I am on day 5 in a hotel and still haven't eaten out.  (May change tonight, since I will be traveling right after work...)

 

OP - don't compare yourself to others!  Do what works for you.  It takes courage, it takes strength, but in the end, it's for you, for your family.



Ever tried crock pot cooking while at a hotel?


You take a crockpot through airport security??


I wear it on my head as a hat as i go through the scanner. They don't know the difference.

 

J/k

 

I mean on trips where you drive to your destination. I've taken a crock pot with me to a hotel to make stews and other assorted meals to save on eating out.

Follow my financial journey: http://www.frugalrican.com


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Message 21 of 53
IOBA
Senior Contributor

Re: Feel Like We are Barely Getting by...

FrugalRican - Not the crockpot - but I have brought a toaster oven, a hot plate, and a nu-wave oven (<------awesome!).  I usually use the crock pot at home and precook the food, freeze it, and then bring it.  If I need to, I will sometimes go grocery shopping near the hotel.  I have a picnic basket that I store the hot plate, pot, etc in that I take with me.

 

I have baked bread, make cookies, broiled steaks, made soups, etc in hotel rooms.  (Broiled steaks - in a pot, with hot plate upside down on top of pot.  Worked great!)

 

The housekeeping staff doesn't rat me out since they make sooo dang little and understand that it's too expensive to eat out a lot.  Plus I give them some of the food and don't ask them to clean my room.

 

So bottomline is we have choices.  While others may not understand or agree or go along wiht OUR choices, in the end I do what's best for me.

Message 22 of 53
FrugalRican
Blogger

Re: Feel Like We are Barely Getting by...

You've officially blown my mind. The baked bread I can see, but somehow didn't foresee the cookies one.

Probably because I've stayed at quite a few Hampton Inns (on discount, of course!) and usually the ones were they have cookies out in the lobby lol

 

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who has left a meal for some of the staff LOL

Follow my financial journey: http://www.frugalrican.com


EQ FICO (01/16/2012): 656 - EQ FICO (02/16/2012): 743 - EQ (02/24/2012): 760 - EX (04/28/2012): 739 - GOAL 2013: 800+

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Message 23 of 53
IOBA
Senior Contributor

Re: Feel Like We are Barely Getting by...

FrugalRican - I feed them while I am there.  Smiley Happy  Get great service!   And sadly, the majority of the hotels I stay at do not bake cookies.  Smiley Sad

Message 24 of 53
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Feel Like We are Barely Getting by...

I agree with everyone in this thread.  People like to keep up appearances, especially in Los Angeles.  Most of my friends don't know that IRA stands for individual retirement agreement, they don't know that there is such thing as a ROTH IRA, their idea of an emergency fund is a credit card, and they haven't realized that we, in our 30s had better start contributing to retirement soon or we'll be eating cat food out of cans in our 60s.  And yet, they drive BMWs (easily the most popular car here), live in lavish apartments, have maids come clean their apartments every week, they vacation at least twice a year, and they go to posh restaurants and throw down $300 per meal without batting an eye.  It's frightening, really.  Of course, many of them make sizeable incomes, but with they way they spend and accumulate debt, they'll be in trouble 20-30 years hence.

 

Better to be frugal now and enjoy the small pleasures.  

Message 25 of 53
IOBA
Senior Contributor

Re: Feel Like We are Barely Getting by...

FrugalRican - DH corrected me - I have brought a crockpot into hotels and used it for cooking.

 

Idiotsavant - it's hard for many people to be true to who they really are and to live for themselves, not for other's expectations.   DH and I really don't care what others want or expect from us.   If they want to go out, we usually suggest eating in.   If they REALLY want to go out, then we consider it, but often do not go with them.  As for family activities at family reunions - we don't do the expensive ones.  We invite family to go with us and do the freebies.   They often refuse and go for the expensive things that involve eating out and air conditioning.

 

One one sibling has set aside money for retirement but only cuz her DH made it happen.  One other sibling has some money kinda tucked away in the stock market.  He's 50 something and coming to us now asking about retirement!  The rest of the siblings (a total of 6 siblings) have nada set aside.

 

Do you have money set aside?  How do you interact with your friends with their expensive tastes/lifestyles?

Message 26 of 53
aussiesareforever
Established Contributor

Re: Feel Like We are Barely Getting by...

You guys crack me up. Crockpot to a hotel...awesome Smiley Happy


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Message 27 of 53
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: Feel Like We are Barely Getting by...


@FrugalRican wrote:

@haulingthescoreup wrote:

@FrugalRican wrote:

@IOBA wrote:

cassembler - I travel a lot....and do eat out some.   Lol - but keeping with budget, I have been known to bring food to the hotel (precooked),  have been known to bring a toaster over and a hot plate to the room to cook...

 

I am on day 5 in a hotel and still haven't eaten out.  (May change tonight, since I will be traveling right after work...)

 

OP - don't compare yourself to others!  Do what works for you.  It takes courage, it takes strength, but in the end, it's for you, for your family.



Ever tried crock pot cooking while at a hotel?


You take a crockpot through airport security??


I wear it on my head as a hat as i go through the scanner. They don't know the difference.

 

J/k

 

I mean on trips where you drive to your destination. I've taken a crock pot with me to a hotel to make stews and other assorted meals to save on eating out.


Oh, cool. OK, I can definitely see that. I've been known to do a lot of cooking and load it into the Crapperware, toss it in the trunk, and heat it up at the hotel. I don't go to hotels that don't have a minifridge and microwave in the room, or even a microfridge.

 

I have a Bunn coffee maker which I deeply adore, and I sometimes take it on trips with my bags of Peet's French Roast beans and the grinder, and I completely skip the little packets of coffee.

 

I love going to a good restaurant on vacation, but I don't want to drop a hundred bucks a day on food. I'd rather tip my chair back against the wall, listen to the ocean, and eat from something simmering away on top of the dresser inside. Smiley Wink

* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 28 of 53
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Feel Like We are Barely Getting by...


@IOBA wrote:

FrugalRican - DH corrected me - I have brought a crockpot into hotels and used it for cooking.

 

@Anonymous - it's hard for many people to be true to who they really are and to live for themselves, not for other's expectations.   DH and I really don't care what others want or expect from us.   If they want to go out, we usually suggest eating in.   If they REALLY want to go out, then we consider it, but often do not go with them.  As for family activities at family reunions - we don't do the expensive ones.  We invite family to go with us and do the freebies.   They often refuse and go for the expensive things that involve eating out and air conditioning.

 

One one sibling has set aside money for retirement but only cuz her DH made it happen.  One other sibling has some money kinda tucked away in the stock market.  He's 50 something and coming to us now asking about retirement!  The rest of the siblings (a total of 6 siblings) have nada set aside.

 

Do you have money set aside?  How do you interact with your friends with their expensive tastes/lifestyles?


I just paid off my last CC debt last month and I still have student loans and 1 personal loan to pay off, so I haven't been saving as much as I would like because I'm trying to zero out my debt and commit fully to saving.  Almost there!  I have 10k in retirement so far, like 5% of that is forced by my workplace, and the rest I slowly put in over the past 2 years.  By December, I will have paid most of my debt off, it's at a little over $6k.  Once that frees up my funds, I'll be able to contribute to the max to a ROTH IRA and my current retirement PLUS put money aside in liquid savings.  The waiting game is the worst!

 

I forgot to mention that I don't really say anything to them specifically because I am of the mindset: it's none of my business.  What I do is talk about my own fears of properly building up a savings account, retirement and making smart investments and 90% of the time it at least gets the ball rolling and I have noticed a few of them have at least started putting more money away, if not completely changing their lifestyle.  Baby steps!

Message 29 of 53
IOBA
Senior Contributor

Re: Feel Like We are Barely Getting by...

Idiotsavant - great!

 

Yeah, the waiting game is really tough.  I have xx amount set aside to fund my kids college (if he goes over that amount, it's out of his own pocket).   The amount also doubles as my emergency fund.  It also looks nice sitting there for the bank.  Meanwhile, I am working very diligently to pay off the zero percent interest loan I took out to accumulate that wealth.  Smiley Happy

 

I know, it sounds like an oxymoron.   I had the opportunity to borrow money, zero percent interest, no fees, if I pay it back by a certain date.   I borrowed the money, put it in the bank, then asked the bank for a higher interest rate (it currently earns .95%).  

 

I stick to my budget and am busy paying back the loan.  I am on track to have it paid back one month early.  (yea me!)   But meanwhile, I still struggle a little bit to stay on budget, I am still frugal, and as my son would say, I am "bare bones" living.   <---- that does NOT mean I am a nudist!

 

Meanwhile, every payday, I purchase a $125 CD.   And once a month, I purchase a $100 CD (long term) from Ally.

 

I have a settlement coming any day now...it's not much, but enough to *almost* pay off the loan or fund my IRA for 2012.   (If there was an icon of someone holding their breath, I would insert it here.)   The money has been "coming" now for weeks from the insurance company.   Ha!  Still have not seen a penny.  Smiley Mad   I haven't made any plans for the money and won't until it's in hand.   BUT I would probably apply it to the loan to get it gone.

 

You do what you can do.  I totally understand the whole goal of being debt free - I try to live my life that way.  If I can maintain budget, I can get through this challenging time without touching my son's college money, and then I will be good to go!  I plan to/hope to pay his college expenses out of each paycheck and leave the nest egg alone to grow, but we will see.

 

Don't focus on your 401k or your IRA now.  Pay the minimum in that will get matching employer contributions.  

 

Focus on a little emergency fund (like a $100) a paycheck and focus on paying off the debt as fast as possible.   

 

We CAN do this!!  Smiley Happy

Message 30 of 53
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