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Welcome to Centsable Savings Stories and Struggles!
This week we are featuring Heidi from Little People Wealth. Thank you for sharing your story, Heidi!
My Family
I am Heidi, wife for 5 years and mom to one.
My History
I come from a large family. I was the oldest of 10 although I have had 2 siblings pass away in their early teen years due to Cerebral Palsy. Coming from such a large family meant that I learned how to save money from a very young age. My husband and I made less than $10K for the first two years of marriage, but we did not take on any debt. We moved to Kansas City in 2005. My husband currently works for a non-profit so despite his master’s degree he makes about $25K. Our goal is to be able to live off of only his income in two years, but I want to still be able to take vacations, give gifts, etc. To do that we are working hard to pay down our mortgage, increase our retirement contributions and decrease our budget.
My Struggles
Let’s see, my current challenges in budgeting…. My office goes out to lunch usually 4 out of 5 days a week. I hate to be “anti-social,” but I try so hard not to eat out with them because lunch is usually $7-$8 a day if I go out which adds up pretty quickly. I would say my other budget challenge is saving for retirement. I am trying to “max out” my retirement contributions. I know that logically this is a good time to do that because I am not yet 30 so time is on my side, and because the market is so low right now it is probably a great time to get in. But, it is so hard to be putting money into a retirement account (or any savings vessel) just to watch it disappear. I think I’ve lost more than I’ve put in this past year!
My Blog and My Stores
I have been blogging for about 4 months. I started blogging to keep track of my spending and I was getting more and more people contacting me asking about the deals I was getting so I started posting them! Little People Wealth is the title of my blog. The “little people” I write for are the low and middle income families that don’t want to be caught in the rat race of money. It seems like all the blogs I read focused on how you could be frugal, thrifty or miserly. I wanted to focus on wealth instead. We are wealthy, all of us; it is just a mindset. I don’t want to be frugal, miserly or thrifty because I have to; I want to be wealthy because I can.
I cover Price Chopper, Hy-Vee, CVS, Walgreens and Nature’s Pantry on my blog.
Some of My Best Deals
Many of my followers found me at Christmas when I showed them how I bought gifts for 23 people with an average retail value of $30 each for less than $100. I spent an additional $80ish on my husband and son for items that retailed well over $400. I drives me batty to watch “living frugal” shows on television or read about families in magazines that show people how to live frugally when their definition of frugal is still out of reach for many low/middle income families. If a deal is not at least 75% off I generally don’t go for it. You can get a good deal from a sale, but that deal does not become worth it until you match it with coupons and rebates. Then all of a sudden the good deal becomes a steal! I post those steals in a step by step fashion so anybody can follow them.
This year I am writing a series on how to make money on eBay. In 2006 I had a contest with my husband to see who could turn $10 into more money by the end of the year using eBay. My $10 became $980 by December! I didn’t use any tricks. I just bought items at yard sales and turned around and sold them on eBay.
Each week we feature a different shopper’s story. Centsable Savings Stories are the stories of people just like you who are working toward reducing their budgets, bargain hunting, living a more frugal lifestyle and constantly learning along the way. If you are interested in sharing your family’s successes and struggles, please contact Katherine at centsable.katherine[at]gmail [dot]com. Blogger and non-bloggers are both welcome to participate. Click here to read the stories of shoppers featured in the past.
Now it’s time to share your great deals for the week! Leave a link or a comment below.
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