Tap Water – A cool refreshing frugal drink

Posted by Debt Destroyer on August 27, 2009

Water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink.

That’s how my wife and I felt when we first moved back to my hometown. Our rental house was right across the street from a creek which runs through town.

A stinky, smelly, slimy creek.

I don’t know if it was in our heads or if it was actually the case, but we could’ve swore the tap water tasted funny. We also thought it was stinky, smelly, and slimy.

Which was too bad because we had recently became big time water drinkers. The tap water in Minneapolis was pretty good, but we used a Brita Filter to make it even better. But this time when we broke out our trusty Brita filter the water was still gross.

So we asked around and it turns out that most people in this town bought their water. My wife gave me grief for not knowing this, but I told her I never drank water as a kid (I was a chocolate milk junkie) and had no idea it was such a problem.

So five years ago we started buying our drinking water.

When we became members of the local natural food co-op, we noticed that they had an ozone water filtration system in the store. So we decided to give it a try.

The water was and still is delicious! The only problem was that I had to lug around these big jugs to get it. We decided to keep a 3 gallon in the fridge, and have two other 5 gallon ones for convenience(unless you’re the one carrying them).

It costs $0.40/ gallon, but we figured that it was worth it for the many health benefits drinking water provides. Such as:

Helps Regulates body temperature
Aids with digestion
Lubricates joints
Helps kidneys flush out toxins
Been known to help with weight loss
And it can give you an energy boost

We’ve been doing this for 5 years. We thought our drinking water problem was solved.

But then my sister posted this video on her facebook page:

Even though we don’t buy much bottled water, the trailer for Tapped scared us because it mentioned 5 gallon jugs might have BPA in them. I remembered hearing about the fuss about BPA in baby bottles about a year or so ago. We ended up switching our son’s sippy cup as a result of all the brewhaha.

But we didn’t think of our water jugs at all.

And of course I watched this clip right after I just refilled 13 gallons. So I guess I’ll check out the store for some non-BPA jugs. If I can’t find any we’ll go back to Tap Water. Heck we might make the switch even if I can find the BPA free jugs.

Tap water is much cheaper(At least that’s what Zach Braf was been telling me).

And since I’m always looking for ways to trim our grocery expense I might have to break out our old brita filter again. Now if I can only remember where I put it.

How about you?

Do you embrace the fact that you are about 2/3 water and drink up, (tap or untapped) or do you hydrate yourself by other means? Do you think “Tapped” is onto something, or should I tell my sister to stop scaring me?

Until next time,

-DD

» Filed Under Frugality, Health

13 Simple Tips To Make Tent Camping Easier And More Fun

Posted by The Happy Rock on August 18, 2009

Last weekend we got back from a 4 day 3 night tent camping trip where it rained for hours on two of the four days. Actually the trip was supposed to be 5 days 4 nights, but we decided to forgo the first day due to heavy rain and tornadoes that hit Northeast Pennsylvania. Despite the weather the trip was a blast and we wished it was longer!

I have talked about how inexpensive it is to go tent camping before and this time was no different. My estimate of about $60-$70 a day for our family of 4 was right about on target including entertainment. We know that tent camping is a great frugal vacation, so I wanted to give my top list of tips to help make tent camping more enjoyable. I don’t claim to be a camping expert, but I have been camping a couple of times a year since I was a baby. Here are my favorite tent camping tips:

Attitude. Attitude is everything when it comes to vacation and camping is no different. Attitude is the number one factor that will effect your enjoyment of your vacation. You can camp in your backyard, but as long as you bring your go with the flow, relaxing, happy self it will be a blast. If you have trouble relaxing or let yourself be bothered by little things, camping can be a terrible nuisance. It is imperative that you enjoy the small walk to fill up your water container not be annoyed by it. Relax, slow down, and embrace whatever comes your way.
Be Friendly. Campers are a really friendly crowd as are most of the locals. The only exception is when you go very backwoods area; you are often seen as more of an intruder rather than a welcomed guest. Don’t be afraid to make friends with the neighbor campers. Ask to borrow the can opener you forgot, or ask around to find the great places to visit. Those relationships can positively change the direction of your vacation. Sometimes you even find yourself waving at every car that passes, because they wave at you and there just isn’t that many of them. It is a weird feeling for someone who is used to city and suburb living, but it part of the camping charm. Having the simple relaxed attitude from tip #1 really helps make you more approachable and makes you more willing to share with others.
One Pot Meals. This is the Rockette’s area of expertise and this is her number on cooking tip. Make meals that can be mixed in one big pot. It helps save fuel, time, and hassle. Keep it simple and prepare it at home if you can. Some of our meals from the last trip were Moroccan Chicken and Veggies with Couscous premixed and brought in a large freezer bag for the first nights meal. Rice and beans. Marconi and Cheese with broccoli. Oatmeal with the cinnamon and raisins and sugar premixed. The one exception would be meals that you can cook on the fire/grill like burgers and corn and potatoes.
Don’t Sacrifice. Camping doesn’t have to be all about sacrifice. If you are miserable or complaining then you aren’t doing it right. Just pick and choose the things that make you the most happy and make sure you bring them. One of The Rockette’s is an air mattress. I like a dining fly so that you can eat and play games without being bothered by bugs too much. Some people like to bring their bikes. We have a special lounge chair that is bulky, but really makes chilling and relaxing by the fire amazing. Maybe it is a special meal that is hard to prepare, but just brings a smile to your face. You will find your things with some experimentation. Just remember not to overdue it, because all excess adds stress.
Organize. I am not an organized person, but a little organization can go a long way. Things like packing a dirty clothes bag or having a special food box so that everything can stay in one place. Currently we use a camping box for all the odds and ends like knives, can openers, cutting boards, clothes line, etc. We also have a crate for dry food like snacks, bread, and the like. The cooler keeps pretty much everything else. The boxes make it easy to move things around and into the car at night. Just make sure everyone is on the same page and things will be where you expect when you need them. We also created a packing checklist for camping to help make sure we don’t forget anything. We also bring the checklist and add to it if we realize there is something that isn’t on there or there is something that we need to buy. Having the list removes a lot of the stress and mental gymnastics required when packing.
Leave It Behind. For us this means almost anything that has ties to home. Laptops, work, TV, PDAs, etc. It also means that you need to mentally leave the bills, deadlines, and stress at your door step too. If you aren’t good at this, try visualizing leaving all the ‘stuff’ behind while you drive to you destination. It can be a great de-stresser. Camping is a change in pace and you need to let it change you rather than try and control it. That submissiveness to whatever happens it part of the freedom that makes camping such an enjoyable activity.
Make It Special. Special goes way beyond don’t sacrifice. It means bringing the box of Swedish fish or your favorite soda that you don’t often get a chance to have. It means bringing your favorite board game or a new family game that you can enjoy. Special food(smores and the like) is often a big part of this, but it can really be anything. If it is the laptop to watch a special DVD that may be your thing. Just make sure it is something that is worth it. Last trip we took a journey to visit an awesome free admission family amusement park called Knoebel’s in central Pennsylvania which was the experience that the kids remembered most.
Dirt. Let dirt be your friend. You will get dirty, just embrace it. Go play in the rain. Swim in lakes. Play in waterfalls. Dig holes, whatever. The key is to not only accept that you will get dirty, but embrace it. Most parks have showers now a days, so just bring some shower stuff and a towel and you can still get clean. Often times with proper attitude you might even skip shower, because the dirt doesn’t bother you. Not much feels more satisfying though than the first shower at home after a long camping trip. Bonus Tip: No shoes in the tent. The floor of the tent is where you are sleeping take extra care to keep it clean. It will also reduce your cleanup time when you leave.
Weather. Be prepared for rain. Bring an extra tarp. Bring extra clothes and bring rainy day back up plans. Again the only choice is to embrace it and prepare for it otherwise it will make you miserable. On our last trip it started to pour as we pulled into the amusement park’s lot and wasn’t stopping anytime soon. We made a call or two and found a bowling alley and waited it out. It finally stopped 6 hours later and we were able to run the amusement park from 6 – 10 for only $6.50 a person. Because everyone had a great attitude we ended up bowling and going to the amusement park for the same price as a day at the park and it was a blast.
Research. Research can take a few different forms. Talking to friends and family that have been where you are going. You can even scour the internet for suggestions or tips on your particular park or area. You can talk to the locals or other campers once you are there. Finally, note the lessons learned for next time. One of our most useful tips is to walk new campgrounds before you leave and mark the good campsites on map so that you can get great site next time you come.
Car Rides. You can’t do too many things to make your ride shorter other than avoid traffic, so just take a great attitude. I know The Rockette got a special bag of goodies(snacks, games, and toys) from her mom on long road trips. Bring a deck of cards. Pack some good snacks. Plan a scenic stop along the way. Play eye-spy or the alphabet game. Make it fun. For younger kids try and plan the ride at nap time or bed time which usually buys you a few extra hours of ride time. Finally, don’t forget to bring a map. GPSs aren’t as reliable in the back country.
Go With Others. Find some camping friends or invite people who have never been camping. Usually the more the merry assuming they all understand tip #1. Sharing meals and supplies and fees also helps cut costs. This last trip there were ten of us, four adults and 6 children under 8 all in on big tent. All the people just multiplied the fun.
Attitude. Yes, this is a repeat but only to help reiterate how important it is. It is your attitude that really makes or breaks a good camping trip, not the weather or the campground or even what you do. External things do effect your trip, but attitude will trump it all.

If you have your own special tips or additions I would love to hear them in the comments.

» Filed Under Food, Vacation

The Library Still Rocks! Yes, I Like The Free Movies And More

Posted by Debt Destroyer on August 13, 2009

I love my library! I know, I know…I already wrote this post a few months ago. But indulge me.

The reason for my outburst is that my town is looking at replacing our library. A few days ago they held a meeting to gather input in what we citizens would like in a new library.

Me and a bunch of old ladies showed up.

I was relieved that they all had a wonderful ideas (meaning they wanted the same things that I did). Part of me was worried that the general public would think that the library’s time has passed. That we no longer need an actual “library” anymore now that we’re in a digital age.

Of course informational meetings are hardly attended by the general public. The only people who usually show up at these meetings are supporters. The critics come later.

But with that said, I was deeply impressed by how much these people cared about their library.

My own appreciation has grown since my last Library post. Back in March when I came out of the closet as an avid library user, I mentioned how we loved all the programs they had for our children. And we still do, but since then we have started to use it more for ourselves.

Mainly the movie section.

I wish I could say that I was checking out a bunch of intellectual books, but with me in school there’s little time for recreational reading. I did have a summer reading list but now that I’m down to a couple of weeks before classes begin again, I’ve decided that I’ll tackle that challenge next summer.

If only I read during the time Mrs DD & I would watch movies, I’d have had made quite a dent in that reading list. But instead we caught up on a bunch of flicks (off the top of my head):

Pan’s Labyrinth – Very imaginative visuals…not for kiddies.
Inside Man – A very cool Spike Lee joint. I love a good heist film.
Munich – I missed out on this Spielberg film when it was in the theaters. Turns out I didn’t miss much.
The Queen – My wife really liked this one. I thought it was OK.
Rachel Getting Married – This was on the depressing side of things, but we still liked it.
Wendy & Lucy – As a dog lover, I could relate.
Australia – Another one my wife really liked. I’m pretty sure it was because of Hugh Jackman (again I thought it was OK)
Happy Go Lucky – Should have been called Happy Go Boring
The Bucket List – Clever idea, but we thought it swung and missed (we felt the same about the current release Funny People).
Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid - A classic that I felt like watching again. If you have the time, I recommend the special features.

But in addition to a pretty decent, but very picked over movie section, my local Library also has a wide variety of TV shows on DVD available for checkout. One show in particular intrigued us because we’ve heard so much about it. But because of our limited rabbit ear reception we were never able to watch it ourselves.

Lost

We now refer back to June as “the Lost month”. We watched season 1-4 in about 3 1/2 weeks. Obviously we were totally hooked. We had all the signs of addicts.

Our sleeping pattern changed - Much like our Spring Break Adventure, we wouldn’t start watching them until the kids were in bed. With the sun staying out later, that meant we were hardly starting before 10PM. Next thing we knew it would be 1:00 AM, and we’d be zombies the next day…until we got our next fix.
It consumed our thoughts – Just because we’d go to bed at 1:00 doesn’t mean we’d go to sleep. We’d have to digest and discuss what we just watched. Looking back most of our conversations we had were about Lost. My wife even had dreams starring the Lost characters (she promises me that weren’t all about Jack).
We were willing to pay! – It wasn’t until we got to Season Three that we discovered something horrible. Other people were also checking out the DVDs. How dare they! Thanks to this development I figured out how to put items on reserve. But there were times that we didn’t have the patience to wait for our fellow fans to return the next disc. So we had to go elsewhere…BLOCKBUSTER. June’s expense report shows the damage, all $9.51 of it.

But we ran into a bigger problem. Season 5 is not on video yet. And won’t be until this December.

Nooooooo!

We were really hoping to catch up before Season 6 starts in early 2010. They have full episodes on ABC.com, but it looks like they only have the last 6, so we’ll have to go elsewhere. Like to my wife’s sisters house. Her and her husband happen to have season 5 on DVR. So a Lost Party is in our future.

I hope they are ready for a marathon!

Just today I was perusing the video section when a gentleman called his wife and asked her what show they wanted to get started watching. He brought up a few, including Lost. When he was off the phone I warned him that if he chose Lost, it would take over his life.

I think I creeped him out, so I grabbed a few movies( The Lucky Ones, Frost/Nixon, & Body of Lies) and got out of there before they asked me to not come back.

But that’s one of the great things about a library. Getting to mingle with the public.

Earlier this summer, Flexo @ Consumerism Commentary had a great post talking about how much money a person could save by using their library. There was even a calculator which showed how much you saved. According to it I save $186.50 a month. I think that is a little high(the books we get are usually kid books), but I don’t question the fact that I do save a considerable amount.

As I sat there in that meeting with the old ladies, I had the thought of saving money and all the other advantages of using the library in my head. I was ready to throw them out there if needed. But like I mentioned earlier, everyone there loved the Library just as much, if not even more than I did.

In fact they had some unique ideas to add to the new one(if we get one).

Indoor playground – It gets awfully cold here in the winter, so they thought it would be nice to give the kids a place to hang out. The hope is that they’d read just as much as they play.
Music Practice Rooms / Private Study Rooms - As a former band nerd (trombone) I would’ve never even thought about this as an option. I just figured everyone tortured their family like I did when they learned an instrument.
Coffee Shop – They thought this would help raise money. Currently they have a free will donation for coffee, I guess that must not be bringing in too much.

I have to admit being blown away by the blue haired crowd. I would’ve never thought of any of that stuff. Now I’ll also admit that the fuddy-duddy in me thinks that only the Study Rooms are a good idea. I don’t like the idea of a playground, or a coffee shop. As much fun as I think the library is now, I don’t want it too be too much fun.

Does that make any sense?

What I mean to say is, that I’d be tickled pink if they just kept what they have and expanded it a little. But clearly that’s not thinking outside the box. I guess I need to call up my grandma to get her opinion.

While I do that, how about I ask you,the trusty Happy Rock readers, what would be some features of the perfect library if you could design one? Do you think that a modern library with a bunch of bells & whistles would be utilized more than a traditional one? Do you utilize your local library? Do you even know where the nearest library is?

Until next time,

-DD

P.S. Remember that I haven’t seen Season 5 yet, so please no spoilers in the comments!

» Filed Under Frugality, Money Savers

New Jersey 2008 Homestead Rebate Due Date And Other Information

Posted by The Happy Rock on August 5, 2009

If you were wondering when the New Jersey(NJ) 2008 Homestead Rebate application is due or if you are eligible for the property tax rebate you came to the right place.

The deadline for filling the NJ Homestead rebate is September 1st 2009. The application packets were mailed the week of July 27th and everyone should have them by August 11th. For those that didn’t receive a packet then go to How To File Section for more information.

The easiest way to file is to use the NJ Homestead web filing application. You will not need any other information than your id and pin from your Homestead paper packet and your Gross Income for 2008.

NJ Homestead Rebate Explanation

The Homestead Rebate Program provides rebates for homeowners and tenants who occupied their principal residence in New Jersey on October 1, paid property taxes on that dwelling either directly or through rent, and whose gross income for the entire year does not exceed certain limits.*

The rebate is for a portion of the property taxes paid one a dwelling, so it runs a year behind just like filing for regular taxes. The application for the 2009 Homestead Rebate will be filed in 2010. To make it even more confusing the 2008 rebate is based on the dwelling’s 2006 taxes not, not the 2007 or 2008 taxes.

Income Limits

NJ also lowered the income limit this year so more people will be excluded. You will only get a rebate if you make $75,000 Adjusted Gross Income for a household/couple not per person. We were able to file last year and normally get about $600 back, but the new limit pushes us out since we are a one and a half income family that makes more than $75,000 gross.

How much will you get back?

Basically the NJ rebate boils down to 20% back on your first $10,000 of property taxes paid in 2006 if you gross under $50,000 and 13.34% if you gross between $50,001 and $75,000. Here is the link to the table if you want to see it more clearly.

When will I get my check?

The checks are expected to be mailed/deposited in October. Mailing for Senior and disabled tax payers began July 31st as their deadline wasune 1st 2009. You can check your NJ Homestead rebate status on the NJ Taxation site although the online system hasn’t been updated with the 2008 information yet.

If you have any questions that I didn’t cover, leave a comment below and I will update the post to include the answer.

» Filed Under Real Estate, Taxes

DD’s Monthly Expenses – July 2009

Posted by Debt Destroyer on August 4, 2009

Was your July as hectic as ours?

My wife shot three weddings, I was in two tennis tournaments, and we had a big 4th of July weekend too.

Uffda, no wonder we’re so tired.

For any new readers just joining us, I track my family’s monthly expenses. Below is the tally for July 2009:

$840.39 – Mortgage
$759.20 – Health Insurance
$407.58 – Groceries
$177.00 – Babysitting
$166.71 – Gas
$125.99 – Tennis
$125.00 – Student Loan
$121.53 – Electricity
$107.67 – Dinning Out
$86.80** – Daycare
$69.66 – Internet & Phone
$60.41 – Dog
$58.62 – Water, Sewer, & Garbage
$53.00 – Donations
$31.25 – Kid supplies (diapers & such)
$20.00 – Medical
$19.57 – Clothing
$14.00 – Haircut
$13.17 – Household Misc
$10.59 – Shoes
$5.00 – Kid fun
$2.11 – Cosmetics

Grand Total of $3275.25

Now we’re talking. This is one of our lowest months ever. I guess it pays to do nothing but play tennis all month.

Seriously though, this is good news. We need to be closer to the $3500 range than the $4000 range. Hopefully we can maintain this level of spending for the next several months, or at least until I’m working full time again.

Biggest Budget Busters:

$759.20 – Health Insurance – I already wrote about why this is higher this month. With all the talk about health care reform, I certainly hope something gets done. But I haven’t really heard of any cost cutting measures so I won’t be holding my breath for the savings to be arriving anytime soon.
$407.58 – Groceries – As I mentioned in my coupon post, we’ve been making great progress in this area. So what happened? 4th of July that’s what. My wife’s family’s big celebration together is the 4th. And we chipped in $75.71 towards groceries.
$125.99 – Tennis & $107.67 – Dinning Out – Tennis seems high but it’s for two tournaments, 1 mixed doubles league, and a racket for my son. And one of the tournaments was out of town, so that meant going out to eat four times. So that one trip blew two categories(3 if I wanted to count the gas too). Worst part is I didn’t even play that good :(

Biggest Budget Breakthroughs:

$86.80 – Daycare** – As I’ve already mentioned, soon this category will go the way of the dodo bird. This months total represents an outstanding balance we had. Bye Bye Daycare.
$177.00 – Babysitting – In my Daycare Dilemma follow post, I mentioned we had some friends of ours kids lined up to help us out this summer. The parents decided that we could go ahead and pay them hoping that it would teach the kids about money. Its’ worked out alright I guess. It’s obviously much cheaper than daycare, but my wife still gets interrupted plenty. I guess you get what you pay for.
$13.17 – Household Misc – Much like last month, this total is lower than usual because I took your advice and started to break down what I consider misc. As you can see, this month it wasn’t much at all.

Since I’ve been keeping track of this stuff for over a year now, how about we have some fun with numbers shall we? In other words…

~Let’s do the Time Warp~

Last July we spent $3875.84. So clearly we did much better this year. But I think not having daycare contributed more to the difference than us actually spending less did.

Looking back, I see that we’re still spending our money on basically the same things that we were a year ago(Tennis, Dining out, & the Dog).

I especially got a kick out of me justifying/complaining about our grocery bill.

Oh well, I guess some things will never change.

Until next time,

-DD

**UPDATE** 8/5/09 Just yesterday I received yet another bill from daycare for an outstanding balance which was closer to our normal monthly expense of $600+. I guess there was some kind of billing mix-up. I thought it was weird that our last bill would’ve been so low, but I didn’t want to look a gift-horse in the mouth.

If you take this into account, our monthly total would’ve been in line with other months. But still under $4K. Now August will be higher, but that’s how it goes sometimes.

» Filed Under Spending