Many of you know that I grew up on a family dairy farm in Pennsylvania. If you have seen the increasingly popular and ridiculous show Amish Mafia, then you have seen the backdrop to my childhood. Life was a lot of work, even with five pairs of calloused hands keeping our farm afloat. Under the weight of two milkings per day, fences and equipment repair, the planting of crops, the harvesting of them later in the summer heat, and tracking down newborn calves in the back meadow, we all groaned, griped, and whined. Having a grandfather who loved to bark orders at us did not help the situation, and made us rather resentful.

As I grew older and dug myself out of the manure trenches, I started to understand why my grandfather loved to bark orders from on top of machinery or from his apartment upstairs to us working-folk; it was because he had already put in a lifetime of hard labor. Through his 50s onwards he had a limp. And that limp was from doing 40+ years of precisely the type of daily, back-breaking work my family was subjected to.

I didn’t want that for myself.

Working day in and day out from before the sun rises until after it descends and seeing such little money stay in my parents’ pockets made me reassess the seemingly linear relationship between work and money. When you work yourself to the bone and you see little monetary return five, ten, and fifteen years out, you really change your perspective. You start to respect money. Money to me was never about being a vehicle for getting what I wanted; it was about keeping as much of it as possible to have something to show for all of the work I was doing. I didn’t want to hand crank the survival cycle of hard work and low pay for the next 30+ years. Don’t get me wrong, I was never averse to work and some weeks could be the poster child for a workaholic. But I wanted something more.

For all of my childhood and most of my 20s I was curious about people who did not seem to have to work themselves to the bone for pay. Not envious, just extremely eager to observe, learn, and implement whatever they were doing. While I dreamed that one day I would be able to sustain myself without having to work to the bone for everything—a pipe dream if my grandfather ever heard of one—deep down I just didn’t know if it was possible. And then something wonderful happened. I figured out that life didn’t have to be so hard, and that earning decent money did not mean I had to physically exhaust myself. This coincided around the time when Paul and I paid off our non-mortgage consumer and student loan debts and our cash flow opened up. Our bottom line grew, and with it our financial independence and security. Suddenly everything seemed possible, including early retirement.

Check out my recent news segment on Fox 26 news about Early Retirement Extreme–>Houston weather, traffic, news | FOX 26 | MyFoxHouston

You Need to Redefine the American Dream

As I mentioned in my recent Fox 26 news segment, if we want to be able to dream about and potentially live in early retirement, then we need to redefine the American Dream. Whose American dream is it to be mortgaged or financed? In whose dream is someone thinking about a scenario where they can rent-to-own? I would venture to say that no one would associate these financial terms with their American Dreams. And yet, many of us fund our “American Dreams” with loans that ensure we stay deeply entrained in the survival cycle. Under the current mainstream system of “buy now, pay later”, we are literally trading years of our lives in sometimes back-breaking work for trinkets and “luxuries” today. Trust me, these trinkets and luxuries on loan today will not shine so brilliantly when you are stuck working extra years in a cubicle and/or high-stress job.

So what does the new American Dream look like? It is paid for as you go, it is simple, and at the core are the true gems: financial independence, security and freedom.

You Need to Redefine “Retirement”

Most people within the extreme early retirement world are targeting not only an early age for retirement, but also a different kind of retirement than the traditional one. Retirement, in the traditional sense of the word, is when you resign from your last 9-5 job and take up, well, living. If you have saved enough money and can withdraw a decent income (from a mixture of savings, social security income, pensions, 401(K)/IRAs, etc.), you can do practically anything that you want to. That is, once you turn the typical age of 62 years or older.

So what could an extreme early retirement look like? The extreme part about it is that you will be much younger when it happens. This is partially achieved through a large sum of savings that you have set aside, and partially achieved by redefining the traditional definition of retirement. Retirement could perhaps be a second act of employment where instead of working a 9-5 job you only marginally enjoy to pay the bills, you are working an enjoyable part-time job, hobby job, or passion job to help buffer your retirement savings. Instead of living in a relatively expensive area and or country, you research and move to a cheaper area or a cheaper country that offers free healthcare. Perhaps you change your entire spending habits around like Jacob who saved more than 75% of his income for 5 years and has lived on just $7,000 a year for over a decade now.

Living the Principles of ERE will Redefine Your World

Not working in a 9-5 job for 40+ years of your life is truly a revolutionary and sometimes counter-culture idea. If you choose to go down this path, prepare to have your life change dramatically (they don’t call it “extreme” for nothing). Even if you don’t want to follow the path through to its eventual end, living by some of these principles will give you more financial security, more financial freedom, and less money headaches. It will also teach you that paychecks aren’t a life-sustaining force, growing and declining just enough so that we can feed ourselves.

On the “extreme” early retirement scale, my husband and I are probably considered moderate to extravagant. We still have vehicles, we have a home, we did more than go to the county courthouse when we got married, and we don’t even have a target age of when we would like to “retire”. That’s right; to us it’s more about living the principles of ERE and benefitting from it long term rather than actually retiring at a very young age. But compared to many people’s lives, we are considered extreme.

In the next article I will discuss the steps you need to take in case you want to start down the extreme early retirement path, as well as share with you more of our lifestyle to show you how it parallels with this concept.

What is your target retirement age? Are you on the path to extreme early retirement?

The post How Frugality Can Lead to, and Sustain, an Extreme Early Retirement appeared first on Frugal Confessions - Frugal Living.

Hello Frugal Confessions Readers, and happy friday!

Here is my frugal confession of the week:

I am not sure if you remember, but in the fall of last year I scored a $50 American Express Serve Prepaid debit card for $25. The reason that I took advantage of this deal was because, unlike other prepaid debit cards, this card has no monthly fees, no activation fees, and no maintenance fees involved (unless you use a credit card to fund the $25).

After spending that $50 I have not reloaded the card. It turns out that this was a good thing! American Express sent me a letter in the mail saying that they “miss me”, and presented me another great deal: if I load the card with $25, they will match it again with another $25! We are hosting a Memorial Day Picnic for family and friends, so that’s what I will be spending my free money on. I love receiving this kind of mail!

What is your confession of the week? I’d love to hear it!

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If you take the time to really delve into researching genealogy, then you will most likely end up with a few piles of information, photographs, and documents. It would be sad to see your efforts not shared among family and friends, or your information not passed onto the next generation. There are several ways that you can commemorate your family’s history and your hard work, and I’d like to take the time to discuss a few. Some of these may be out of the scope of your project, but I want to list them just in case there is someone out there who can make good use of the information.

Create a Family Tree or Pedigree Chart

Perhaps the simplest way that you can commemorate the information you uncover is by creating a family tree or a pedigree chart. Here are three that I found to be useful during my research:

• Family Tree Builder Software
• Martha Stewart’s Fan Pedigree Chart
• Pedigree Chart you can edit on your computer

Once you fill out the chart, you might want to make it more formal or decorative to give out to others. Perhaps you just would like to print it out and frame it for your wall (if you can, print your family tree on acid-free paper so that it will stand the test of time a bit better).

Research a Coat of Arms or Family Crest

If you find that your ancestors are from England, Wales, Northern Ireland and much of the Commonwealth (including Australia and New Zealand), then  you might want to research the possibility of a coat of arms or family crest within your family. A coat of arms is an emblem or a device which is displayed by titled persons, persons of royal blood, and their descendents. The origination of the coats of arms was on the colors displayed on soldier’s shields for the purposes of identification and recognition during the Middle Ages. Eventually the soldiers began including an embroidered surcoat over their shields, and it became known as the coat of arms. A Crest was worn by individual knights on their helm, and included part of their coat of arms. In 1483, King Edward IV established the College of Arms (aka Heralds’ College) to oversee and regulate the granting of coats of arms. Today, the College of Arms maintains registers of arms, pedigrees, genealogies, Royal Licences, changes of name, and flags.

Armorial bearings are hereditary, and you must prove that you are a descendent in a legitimate male line of the person to whom the armorial bearing was originally granted or confirmed (and they must be in the register of the College of Arms). You also must go through the Officer in Waiting at the College of Arms, who will assess a fee for attempting to identify your coat of arms or crest. Also, note that a coat of arms is granted to individuals and families and not to entire surnames.

Document Historical Landmarks

My Uncle Andy pointed out that I should look into registering our farm in PA as a Centennial Farm (actually, as a Sesquicentennial Farm, as we think it has been in our family for over 150 years). In order to qualify for our state specifically, a family member must be living on the farm permanently, the farm must consist of at least 10 acres OR the farm must gross at least $1,000 in annual sales from farm products (check, check, and check).

Do you think your home would qualify for an historical placard? You might want to look into local historical societies if you have uncovered specific historical information about your home or another building (if you need help researching your house, check out this article). You can start your research at the National Register of Historic Places Program, which lists a way to contact each of the State Historic Preservation Officers.

Write Your Family History

Depending on how extensively you have researched your family history, you may wish to write a family history book. This can chronicle stories, photographs, locations, or even family recipes. Two examples I could find are for the Bower Family, and for the Mulvaney Family.

You can also donate your family history book to the Library of Congress, a local library, or the Family History Library in Salt Lake City Utah so that future generations may find it.

Engrave a Family Member’s Name onto a Memorial

If you have a family member who came to the United States through Ellis Island, you can add their name to the American Immigrant Wall of Honor. Currently the cost is $22, and that comes with a certificate in an embossed folder. The engraving is done through The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc.

Contribute to the Veterans History Project

Thanks to Tracey, I found out that my great Uncle Pete is a part of the Veterans History Project. This project collects first-hand accounts of US Veterans from the following wars: WWI, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War, Persian Gulf War, and the Afghanistan and Iraq Conflicts. It turns out that my great Uncle Pete was a prisoner of war during WWII (thank you to Aunt Molly for sending me the transcript).

Have you conducted any genealogy research? What is some information you have found? Have you thought about how you want to pass on this information to others?

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I was fortunate enough to be able to visit family and friends for Easter in PA. Over the extended stay, I conducted a lot of the types of genealogical research that is easier to do in person. My grandmother and I spent several afternoons going through boxes of photographs, documents, and passing on family stories. We also had the opportunity to cook several recipes together in her kitchen, a memory I will cherish for life. My Aunt Molly and I spent a few hours rummaging through the attic at our farm (my father’s side of the family), a resting place for over 150+ years of Grossman belongings. Afterwards I was able to scan in hundreds of documents to preserve and use back at home in Houston.

My trip home provided lots of opportunities for genealogy research, which started me thinking: what if a research trip is out of the question for you? Are you bound to limit the scope of your research, not to mention more prone to feeling frustrated once you hit a wall?

I am happy to say that a genealogy research trip is not necessary. Fortunately for all of us, there are many inexpensive and free resources available in our genealogical pursuits that do not require a car trip, airplane ride, or gobs of money.

Submit for Copies of Documents

It turns out that you can actually contact depositories around the world and request copies of records (you pay the fee for the copies and mail). Having these copies can really help boost your research, start your research, and/or provide solid proof.

• US Military Records: The National Archives holds Federal military service records from the Revolutionary War to 1912 in the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C. Military records from WWI to the present are held in the National Military Personnel Records Center (NPRC), in St. Louis, Missouri. Standard Form 180 needs to be filled out in order to request most military records. Here is the current schedule of fees associated with military records as well as any records from the National Archives.
• Ship Passenger Arrival Records: You can also search the National Archives for ship passenger lists, and submit for copies of anything that you find. Records include foreign ports arrivals between approximately 1820 and 1982.

Visit Regionally-Located National Archives and Genealogy Centers

The National Archives has regional locations all across the United States. On top of requesting copies of records and conducting research onsite, you can also use their free online databases (such as their free online subscription to Ancestry.com).

There are also 4,500 FamilySearch.org centers worldwide that house genealogy records. You might want to search for a Family History Center located near you (there are five located in and around Houston).

Take a Google Earth Genealogy Tour

If you have addresses or locations of where your ancestors came from/used to live, then take a fun, worldwide genealogy tour on Google Earth. This may be the closest you can get to the actual location where your relatives used to live. Note that addresses have probably changed over the years, so you might just want to put a street or town in as the location and explore from there.

Solicit Free Genealogical Research Help

Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness web site,run by volunteers, allows you to ask one free question a month. You choose a volunteer from a list of people in each state, fill out a form describing your genealogical needs and as much information as you have, and let them take it from there. You are expected to reimburse for things like film, video, copies/printing, postage, parking fees. But there is no charge for the service! FamilySearch.org also offers free, live help with your genealogy research.

Finally, do you have relatives that live in the area where you are gathering information? Perhaps you can solicit their help in picking up documents, researching something specific, and scanning.

Use Email and Mail Extensively

Even though I was able to take a genealogy road trip, I still conducted a lot of the research over email and mail. I had specific questions ready to ask my grandmother, and after each deluge of questions I received a package of letters, photos, documents, etc. in the mail. Ask your relatives and see if anyone has completed genealogy research that they wouldn’t mind photocopying/scanning and sending to you.  My grandmother has since contacted a cousin who has conducted extensive genealogy research on her father’s side of the family. She is going to send me what her cousin sends her. You never know what you might find!

One day it might be nice to take a trip and visit where parts of your family originated from or lived. But for now, rest assured that you can use the resources above to dig deeper into your family’s history without the added cost of a trip.

The post Frugal Alternatives to a Genealogical Road Trip appeared first on Frugal Confessions - Frugal Living.

Hello Frugal Confessions Readers!

I must admit, I never thought I would be thanking Comcast (especially after the poor service we received before switching providers to AT&T three years ago). However, I now have reason to. They sent me an offer in the mail for a $200 prepaid Visa gift card, as well as a 12-month bundled package for $99 per month. Instead of taking the bait, I called our own provider and asked if they could match something to keep me as a customer.

And it worked! Not only were we upgraded to the next level of channels (oh dear…more channels…), but our bill after taxes and such will now be $25 less per month for the next 12 months. On top of that, we are going to be given a $50 prepaid gift card! In just a ten minute phone conversation I was able to save our household $300 over the next year, as well as snag a free $50 prepaid gift card.

So, thank you Comcast.

What is your confession of the week? I’d love to hear it!

The post Frugal Confessions Friday – The “Thank You Comcast” Edition appeared first on Frugal Confessions - Frugal Living.

As mentioned previously, I have been working on a genealogical project with my Hungarian grandmother since the fall of last year. To say that this project has been a satisfying, worthy undertaking of my time is a vast understatement. Not only have we produced a family heirloom to pass down for generations to come, but several pieces of interesting information has surfaced that never would have without the proper research. On top of all of this, I got to spend a significant amount of time with my grandmother as we had discussions, sifted through photographs and records, and cooked a few recipes over Easter.

The great news for anyone interested in genealogy is that while it can be an expensive hobby, it actually doesn’t need to be. There are a huge number of free resources available to you online as well as in person. I’d like to take the time to share some of these free resources with you, as well as a few tidbits from my own research.

Family Members and a Friend I Met Along the Way

Once I chose to pursue the Hungarian side of my family tree, the first stop on my journey—truly the most important one—was my grandmother. She is literally the only living link between me and our ancestors. The key information that I received from my grandmother included the following:

• Her last name Adorjan was changed to Adorian because people in the US could not pronounce it
• She found a letter from the 1950s/60s addressed to János Supek (a relative) in Marczaltő, Veszprém, Hungary
• János is Hungarian for John
• She gave me her mother/father’s names/birth dates/death dates, and her mother’s father and mother’s mother names/birth dates/date of citizenship/approximate date they arrived
• She let me know that her maternal side of the family was Catholic

In an event that cannot be brushed aside as mere coincidence, I met a woman named Agnes at a financial conference I attended in February. This is the same name as my grandmother, so I approached her and asked if she was Hungarian. It turns out that not only is she Hungarian, but she is first generation and still speaks the language! She offered to translate anything that we needed, as well as mentioned that I would have to get an old map of Hungary for my project. I had never really thought much about this, but Hungary has had quite the history. There was the Kingdom of Hungary, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and various border changes that at times included parts of Austria, Croatia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine, and Serbia / Yugoslavia.

Free US Record Resources

Records that you may stumble upon as primary resources include deeds, vitals (birth/death/marriage), census, tax records, military records, wills, court records, ship passenger lists, etc. The following is a list of several free websites to start your research for these types of records, all of which I have visited in my own research:

• USGenweb: This website is all about “keeping internet genealogy free.” Volunteers keep up the state and county pages, so each one will look unique.
• Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records Automation: This website gives access to Federal land conveyance records for the Public Land States with images of over five million Federal land title records issued between 1820 and the present.
• Ellis Island Ship Passenger Lists: Ellis Island operated between 1892 and 1954, so if your ancestors potentially entered the country during these years then you should conduct a free search. Remember that there were also ports of entries in Galveston and in Canada.

Free Global Resources

Finding information in the US through Census, passenger ship records, etc. was not too difficult once I knew where to look. However, I had no clue as to where to look for Hungarian records. Here are a few free resources to get you started on your global genealogical research:

• RootsWeb: This website offers individual guides for genealogical research in various countries.
• Cyndi’s List: While Cyndi’s List provides numerous links to US genealogical information, it also provides links to worldwide censuses. For Hungary, I was able to find a census from 1869!
• FamilySearch.org: The LDS Church operates the largest genealogy organization in the world. Here you can gain free access to digital images, as well as to the card catalogue of the Family History Library in Salt Lake Utah. This Library houses genealogical records for over 110 countries, territories, and possessions.

Free Forms and Software

All of this information has to be organized or categorized in some way; otherwise you might drive yourself crazy. These are some free forms and software to help you with that process:

• Census Extraction Form: These forms help you to see the format and column headings for various census years.
• Family Tree Builder Software: My Heritage offers a free, downloadable Family Tree Builder.
• Martha Stewart’s Fan Pedigree Chart
• Pedigree Chart you can edit on your computer

A Case Study in Preponderance of the Evidence

While I was not able to confirm some of the more colorful stories of our past—an opera singer who dropped dead while singing on stage, a woman on her wedding day dressed in white with a severe toothache who had to be taken to the dentist and died on his chair, etc.—I did have what I consider to be “big wins” as far as research goes.

Maria Supek’s sister’s (Nancy Ellis) funeral newspaper article said that she was born in Budapest, Hungary and immigrated to the United States at the age of 15. The newspaper article also said that her parents were Mr. and Mrs. John Supek. From this, you would gather that Maria, my great-great-grandmother, was probably born in Budapest as well. But I dug deeper.

My grandmother found a letter that her mother had written to relatives in the 1950s. She said that her mother always sent them letters, but that one day a letter was returned. After that, any letter she sent was returned. The letter was addressed to János Supek in Marczaltő, Veszprém. I was able to find online that the county of Marczaltő is Veszprém, and that Marczaltő is a town.

From talking with my grandmother, I knew that Maria Supek was Catholic. From her funeral announcement that my grandmother found in a shoe box, I now knew that her birthday was September 24, 1891. Miraculously (the starting point was the free ProGenealogists website), I tracked down “Hungary Catholic Church Records, 1636-1895” as well as Roman Catholic Parish of Marczaltő, Veszprém Megye, Hungary Baptismal Records. There were several Maria Supeks in this town who were baptized around the same time. Fortunately, I had all of this other information (including her father’s name of John/ János), and was able to find her particular baptismal record.  Her baptism was on September 24, 1891, the day she was born. But better than that, I was able to confirm that she was born in Marczaltő, Veszprém, Hungary and not Budapest. Also, the baptismal record gave me her parents’ names…a full generation back of information! This was a great treasure hunt with a happy ending.

Pictured from left to right: Great-great-grandmother Maria Supek; Great-Grandmother Agnes Adorian (Adorjan), Grandmother Agnes, and my mother Deborah

There are hundreds and thousands of other free resources to try out online. However, I don’t want to overwhelm you in what can be a very overwhelming task. Good luck to you, and I would love to hear about websites where you have had your own success!

Resources

The Online Genealogy Handbook, Brad and Debra Schepp, 2008

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Do you ever try to trace something in your present life back to the one thought that began it all? Following the web of synapses as your mind jumps from thought to visual to thought (in reverse) often uncovers associations and influences picked up along the way that you never knew had any effect on you. The one thought or object that connects the beginning and the ending of this maze is often quite surprising.

Enter a bright blue dish that caught my eye from my Aunt Anita’s mother’s home in Florida. Back in 2007 my aunt flew down to Florida in order to help her mother sift through decades of living so that she could move in with one of her daughters. Among other objects I gratefully inherited, there was this pretty light blue pitcher that I could not take my eyes off of. It was given to me that day, and I kept it during my 2008 move to Houston. Upon seeing this dish in my home several years later, my grandmother boxed up her mother’s dishes and gave these to me because they were the same set. Last year after we redecorated our kitchen, we dedicated two shelves to permanently displaying my great grandmother’s dishes.

A Catalyst to My Curiosity

This dish set became a fixture to our kitchen and to my wandering thoughts over the last year or so. What was my great grandmother like? What was that Hungarian prayer that my grandmother used to say at our holiday gatherings? Why do we eat things like Turkta Cobbasta (later found out this is Töltött Káposzta) at Christmas and something that phonetically sounds like Yedosh Kenyed at New Year’s? Why did my great-great-grandparents—only four short generations ago—decide to come to America?

My own maze of thoughts began when I picked up that original, eye-catching pitcher, and ended in a large genealogy project.

Our Hungarian Genealogy Project

My grandmother is 100% Hungarian. Her parents were both 100% Hungarian, and the parents of each of her parents actually came over from Hungary. I think it’s such a rarity in these times to have 100% of anything in the United States, let alone of an ethnicity, and this motivated me to permanently commemorate our heritage. After much thinking I came up with the idea to create a genealogy recipe scrapbook to include our history, our recipes (both Hungarian ones as well as Mom-Mom’s good ole’ recipes I want to make in my own kitchen), and photos of my grandmother’s life.

My grandmother and I embarked on this big genealogical project in the fall of last year. I’m sure she thought I was a little crazy when I first asked if she’d be a willing participant. However, I think we’ve both had fun working together. Once the project took shape I came up with various needs from my grandmother. She took the time to answer all of my questions, go through her belongings, and carefully write down a small book’s worth of information and recipes. After each task completion I received a wonderful package in the mail. One package contained all of our Hungarian family recipes, another contained 50+ photos of relatives, and a third contained memories Mom-mom had surrounding the various recipes.

Then I planned an Easter trip home to spend time with family and friends as well as to conduct some genealogical research. Over the course of two weeks my grandmother and I cooked several of her recipes together, talked about her past, recorded lots of information, and found a treasure trove of documents and photographs dating back to our family’s life in Hungary. We were even able to corroborate what I had found with my genealogy research online with newspaper clippings, stories, and photos that she had in her home. It was deeply satisfying, and a huge success!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Useful Tools

There are several tools that I used that would be very helpful to pass along in case I have planted a seed in your brain about embarking on a similar project.

• Free Pedigree Chart: I had a few issues finding a pedigree chart that I could type onto. In the end, I settled on this one. While it did not make it into the photo book (I have some more research to do before I feel comfortable about a few pieces of information), I am going to include it in the end by affixing an envelope to the front or back page and including it inside.
• Free Photo Scanners: It turns out that to have someone hand-feed photos into a photo scanner at places like Office Depot is really expensive ($2.99 per page!). So if you can source a photo scanner to use for free, then you will save yourself a lot of money. I was fortunate enough to be able to use several family members’ printers to complete this task.
• Photo Book: If you missed my article on 10 Unique Ways to Use Photo Books, you may want to check it out for information on how to score one for free. Also, see below for a photo book giveaway sponsored by Shutterfly.
• Free PDF to JPG converter: This free service was monumentally important to our project as it enabled me to convert any file into jpg format, which is the format photo book companies use.

Be careful what you surround yourself with, what you read, and the things that catch your fancy—you never know where they will take you. For me, I was fortunate to have that beautiful blue pitcher cross my path. The 100+ hours or so my grandmother and I have dedicated to this project has been well worth the time, effort, and potential early-onset carpal tunnel syndrome (she has handwritten around 50 pages, some front and back). We’ve lost our Hungarian language. But now we will never lose our recipes. And these preserved recipes will taste all the sweeter with our background story intact.

Come back on Wednesday for an article on lots of free genealogy resources.

The post Creating an Inexpensive Family Heirloom: Our Hungarian Genealogy Recipe Scrapbook appeared first on Frugal Confessions - Frugal Living.

Hello Frugal Confessions Readers!

This week I have another frugal confession from my fantastic trip home to PA: I did not have to rent a vehicle. My family graciously allowed me to borrow vehicles off and on for the entirety of the trip! This meant not only that I could see everyone that I wanted and go everywhere that I wanted to, but that I didn’t shell out hundreds of dollars in car rental fees (and I think we all know how expensive renting a car can be). A BIG thank you to Aunt Molly, Dad and Vickie, Mom and Teddy, and Cindy and Jason. You guys helped to make my trip affordable!

What is your confession of the week? I’d love to hear it!

The post Frugal Confessions Friday – Frugal Living appeared first on Frugal Confessions - Frugal Living.

As some of you may know, my father is a full-time Amish taxi driver in Lancaster County, PA*. One of my father’s main employers is a man named Leroy. Leroy owns a construction company and hires my father to drive him around to his in-state and out-of-state construction sites once a week to check up on his crews. On my past trip home I was lucky enough to be invited to tag along on one of their weekly business routes. Not only was I lucky enough to be invited, but Leroy was more than happy to answer some of my financial questions about the Amish.

Over the course of six hours we traveled on dirt roads and highways, through Amish country and into commercial zones, and also shared a lunch together at a diner my father and Leroy both enjoy. I got the chance to entertain some rumors I had heard many years ago, as well as further debunk Discovery Channel’s Amish Mafia show (does anyone really think that show is real?).

Rumor has it…

I had heard many years ago that when an Amish teenager gets a job outside of the home, they must give their paycheck to their parents. Their parents then give them 25% to spend and save the rest for their future. Once the child is married or “comes of age”, the parents hand over a nice, fat bank account to help the new couple begin their lives together. Not a bad idea, right?

Since Leroy has five children aged 3 to 21 of his own, I focused on learning about whether or not some variation of this story was true. My goal was to get the whole story about how the Amish deal with their children’s finances once they begin to earn money outside of the home.

Amish Teenagers and Earning Money

Leroy confirmed that Amish children generally go to school until the 8^th grade, at which point they graduate and apprentice with someone or otherwise find employment. Both the boys and the girls find employment, but Leroy said that the boys generally have more opportunity to do so. Leroy also said that some Amish kids find employment with “Englishmen”, but only ones that their parents trust and know. I took this opportunity to jab at my father, because earlier in the car ride he was asking Leroy if his son wanted to mow his lawn for the summer again for some extra cash. I guess my father is a trustworthy “Englishman”!

There is no allowance given to children. Leroy mentioned that they do give their kids spending money if for special occasions, but no money is given to them on a regular basis.

How a Child’s Paycheck is Divided Up

I asked Leroy whether or not the 25% spending rule was true. He turned to me in the back seat, chuckled, and said, “25% is too high.” I chuckled back at him, thinking he was joking with me. Turns out, he was being completely serious. In Leroy’s family, his eldest son works at a market on Saturdays earning $120 and then works on one of Leroy’s crews four days per week. He is allowed to keep 10% of his money for spending purposes. The rest goes to Leroy, who invests 10% of it for his son’s future, and puts the remainder towards the household. Each year the amount Leroy invests towards his son’s future increases by 10% (10% the first year of work, 20% the second year, etc.). The same percentages apply to both Amish boys and Amish girls. I wanted to know if this was a common practice among the Amish, or just in this particular man’s household. Leroy confirmed that 10% is a normal amount given to children from their paychecks for spending, but that the “more liberal” Amish will allow their children to spend up to 50% of their paychecks.

Part of the Percentage that Goes to the Household is Returned

Making your child contribute 80% of their income towards the household may sound harsh. At least that is what I thought, so I asked some follow-up questions. It turns out that parents give their children a used buggy and a horse when they are first learning how to drive, and then Leroy will purchase a brand new buggy for his son between the ages of 17-19. The purchase price for a brand new buggy? Leroy estimates the current cost is between $9,000 and $10,000, and that is without the horse (I’ve never even spent that much on a vehicle, which has the power of a team of horses!).

How the Money is Invested

I was very curious to learn about whether or not Leroy played the stock market or if he used a broker for his investments. It turns out that the Amish have a system set up within their community called Amish Helping Hands. Money is invested through this group in the form of low-interest loans (currently 3.25% for mortgages and 3.50% for farmers, which my father pointed out could be found on the open market right now as well) to Amish farmers and first-time homeowners. Interest is paid on investments twice a year or reinvested, and the expense ratio is 0.25%.

How the Money Will be Used

Leroy estimates that his son will purchase his first home between 18 and 19 years of age. The down payment of $15,000-$20,000 will be fully funded from the percentage that he has invested for his son. My father and I were very impressed with this. I asked Leroy if it was normal for Amish males to purchase their first home at the tender age of 18, and Leroy chuckled. He said “no, that’s a little young”, and then proceeded to set the record straight: it typically occurs at 21. My father and I stole a glance at each other at this point; boy is that young!

This house for his son will be a rental property, and he will continue to live at home until he is married. At the age of 21, he no longer owes any money towards the household and will live rent-free until marrying and moving out on his own.

This was a fascinating and eye-opening conversation with Leroy, and I am very thankful to my father for inviting me along. Our conversation left me wondering how the early adult lives of “Englishmen” children might change if their parents had divvied up each of their after-school and weekend paychecks between investments, savings, and household expenditures. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a large amount of money set aside for college, a down payment, first/last month’s rent, etc.? Then again, do you think teenagers would be willing to hand over their paychecks to their parents? Or do you think “English” parents would be wise in their dealings with their children’s money?

All things considered, I guess it depends on each individual, their household, and the parents involved. What do you think about this system?

* The Amish are generally not allowed to own or operate a vehicle, but they are allowed to hire an “Englishman” (that’s what they call the rest of us) to drive them for business, social visits, errands, etc. My father has made a great living from this, and I also found the profession quite lucrative over summer breaks and weekends during college semesters.

The post The Amish Next Door: How they Manage their Children’s Money appeared first on Frugal Confessions - Frugal Living.

Most of us have heard about the “latte factor”, a phrase David Bach came up with in reference to the accumulation of daily expenditures on things like newspapers, bottled water, candy, and lattes. By adding up all of these daily expenditures at the end of the month or the end of the year, suddenly you find a big hole in your savings worth hundreds or even a few thousand dollars. Then if you multiply that “missing” money by a rate of return over 5, 10, 20+ years, you come up with a tragically large amount of money that could have been yours had you nixed all of those lattes.

I actually love these kinds of scenarios, and am always amazed by how making small changes can really affect huge financial gains with a bit of discipline (the money that you “save” has to actually make it to your savings account). But in the end, this means you would have to give up some or all of your lattes. What if your daily latte habit makes you really happy?

Having it Both Ways with the Toiletry Factor

Perhaps with many of our daily expenditures we cannot have it both ways: get what we want while saving the money at the same time. But when it comes to purchasing many of our toiletries, we can. Toiletries are not daily expenditures. However, depending upon consumption habits and the number of people in your family, paying full price to replenish your supply of shampoo, toothpaste, and cleaning products can really eat a hole in your monthly budget.

So how do you get around this? It’s simple: you essentially wean yourself off of shopping at drugstores when you need something, and instead shop your own cupboards.

Playing the Drugstore Game

Most of the reason why people pay so much for toiletries is because they run out of things and then need to buy them as soon as possible. Chances are good that at the precise time that you run out of a certain brand of deodorant there is not a sale or a coupon available. So you end up spending $3-$7 instead of $0.50-$0.99. With the drugstore game, you time the market. You only purchase products at their rock bottom prices, with a coupon, and pay for them with the drugstore currency (specifically, CVS’s ExtraCare® Bucks, or ECBs). This will eventually lead to a huge stockpile of products that you can “shop” from the next time that you run out of something.

Before you dismiss this as an impossibility because of the potential time that it will take, or because of how complex it may seem, or because you don’t want to turn into an extreme couponer (who does?), know that you actually have nothing to worry about. I have been playing the drugstore game for four and a half years now, saving thousands of dollars for our household, and most of the work is done for me. Each week I only clip the specific coupons that I need (and I figure out which ones I need through bloggers who make it their job to provide free lists for all of us).

My New eBook

I took the time to write down the basics and take you step-by-step through the drugstore game, a clip-less coupon strategy, and how to score hundreds of free products this year for you and for your household. The way that I do this is from real life transactions from this past February using a new ExtraCare® Card with no purchasing history attached to it. Each of these transactions is broken down throughout the book as well as the receipts so that you can fully understand the process. Then I discuss advanced strategies as well as several other bonus chapters that should get you very excited.

Even though I started from scratch for the purpose of this eBook with no seed currency (the ECBs) to fund my first purchase, I was able to snag a total of $43.45 worth of merchandise for only $13.64 out of pocket (this includes 8.25% sales taxes paid). On top of this, I still have $4 in ECBs (CVS currency) to spend on a future transaction.

If seeing is believing for you, then be sure to purchase my eBook so that you can first see my real life transactions, and then learn the game yourself to save your household hundreds and thousands of dollars over the next several years.

The post Put an End to the “Toiletry Factor” and Shop Your Stockpile Instead appeared first on Frugal Confessions - Frugal Living.