The last time I bought glasses – in 2001 – I think it cost me about $200 for the eye exam and the glasses. I only wear them when I drive or watch a movie, so they don’t get a lot of wear and tear.  But I could tell that the prescription wasn’t quite right anymore, so I spent $59 on an updated eye exam a few weeks ago.  Then I ordered my glasses online, and spent $28 for a sweet new pair of glasses with anti reflective coating and super stylish frames.  Twenty eight dollars.

I bought my glasses from Zenni Optical (and no, they aren’t paying me to write this).  My mother had tried them earlier this fall, and was very pleased with the results.  She wears bifocals, and got a new pair for $32 (compared with about $200 if she had bought them at her eye doctor’s office).  She was so happy with that pair that she decided to order another pair just for reading.  They arrived this week, but had been caught in a post office machine and smashed.  When my mother called Zenni Optical to see about a replacement pair, they offered to start making a new pair immediately, and within 24 hours she had received three emails from the company, detailing the status of her replacement order (and there is no charge for the new glasses).  So not only do they provide good glasses for rock bottom prices (as low as eight dollars a pair), but they also have great customer service.

My new glasses arrived today (not smashed!) and I love them.  At my current every-eight-years rate of replacement, the $200 that I would have spent on an exam and glasses will last me until I need bifocals of my own.

One thing to note, you’ll need to know the distance between your pupils in order to place an order online for glasses.  Eye doctors measure this distance, but often don’t write it on the prescription.  I didn’t find this out until after I had my exam, and sure enough, that space on my prescription form (listed as PD) was blank.  My husband measured it for me (the website gives detailed instructions for how to do this if you need to), and it worked out just fine.  But if you want to get an eye exam and then order your glasses online, it’s probably easiest to just ask the doctor to make sure that space is filled in on the prescription.

When we bought our new house, all of the window coverings were cheap plastic venetian blinds.  There was no covering at all on the kitchen window, but our neighbors gave us a blind that fit that window perfectly.   In the bedrooms, the plastic blinds provided privacy, but did little to block light from coming into the rooms.  Our son’s room is at the front of our house, and there’s a streetlight at the corner of our property that cast a good amount of light into his room all night long.  A few months ago, I sewed two dark sheets together to make a double layer curtain for his room, and it works amazingly well.  I spent six dollars on the sheets at the thrift store, and we found a curtain rod for three dollars – his room is now almost pitch black at night, for a total of nine dollars and about an hour spent sewing and mounting the curtain.

Our own bedroom has two windows, both of which also let in a good deal of light at night.  I went looking for a solution at the thrift store a few weeks ago, and found a really neat-looking comforter that was big enough to cover both windows.  I cut it in half, hemmed the cut edges, and viola – two light blocking, insulated curtains!  I spent $15 on the comforter, and it took me about an hour to make the finished curtains.

Window coverings can be very expensive, but they don’t have to be.  Look around for creative solutions – you might already have stuff on hand that can be made into curtains and curtain rods, and thrift stores are filled with blankets, comforters, and sheets that are much less expensive than similar amounts of fabric purchased from a craft store.

I cut my son’s hair yesterday.  I’ve been cutting my husband’s hair for several years, but this was a different story.  My husband basically has me shave his head with an electric trimmer on the shortest setting.  All one length – as short as possible – and it takes about four minutes.  Then he lets it grow for a few weeks, and we repeat.  I’m proud of the money it saves us, but a trained monkey could replace me when it comes to cutting my husband’s hair.  (shhhh… don’t tell him I said that – he thinks I’m essential)

Our son has very soft, fine hair with a slight wave.  He has what I think of as surfer hair – a bit shaggy and all over the place, with little curls here and there.  I knew that the waviness would help cover any errors, so I headed in.  I put him in his highchair and distracted him with food and various kitchen utensils – otherwise he just wanted to grab the scissors out of my hands.  He’s a touch more wiggly than my husband.  And I really didn’t know what I was doing.  I remember reading a post Kelly wrote about cutting a little boy’s hair, and tried to keep the basics in mind.  But a 16 month old doesn’t sit still or tilt his head on command.  So I was basically winging it.  I trimmed around his ears and the back of his neck, and then started lifting sections around his head and cutting vertically (I figured that would help to eliminate the bowl-on-the-head look).  After about 15 minutes, I was amazed by the transformation.  Gone was my little surfer-dude, and in his place was a somewhat clean-cut little boy.

I was thrilled.  We saved $10 – $20 (depending on the place, that’s the range for a kid’s cut in our town), and I developed a little more confidence in my ability to do new things.  I had absolutely no experience with cutting hair without an electric trimmer, and our son’s cut turned out great.  He was a good guinea pig, since he’s a toddler who doesn’t have to impress anyone with his haircut.  By the time he’s heading off to school someday, I should be an expert and he should be much better at sitting still.  And since this attempt was successful, I will continue to cut his hair for as long as he’ll let me.

At our old house, it was only $4/month to add basic cable TV to our internet service.  So we did.  We had a handful of channels – I have no idea how many, because the only thing I ever watched was “Ice Road Truckers” (my husband picked that one…) and “The Office” (that was my choice, and I consider it an essential part of my life).  My husband liked to watch “The Daily Show” in the mornings while he drank his coffee, and there were a few other times when we would flip on the TV and watch random stuff here and there.  Overall, it was worth $4/month.

At our new house, it’s $30/month to add TV to our internet service.  We both agreed that TV wasn’t worth anywhere near that amount to us.  So we are TV-free.  We actually packed our 400 pound, 1995 era TV into storage back in April and stashed it in an empty house that my parents own.  It’s still sitting there, along with a few other things that we need to go pick up.  So I guess we’ve actually been TV-free since April, but we still got TV programming (and could record it using Windows Media Center on our computers) until we moved.

Now, all we have is internet.  But that means we have Hulu, and we can still watch DVDs on our laptops.  So far, we’ve been so busy since we moved that we haven’t been to Hulu at all, or rented/borrowed a single movie.  I’m thinking that once winter comes, we might have a little more couch time, but I think we’ll be just fine without TV.  We didn’t want our son to be exposed to TV during his first few years, and now it’s easy to make sure that is the case.  In our living room we have a couple of big floor pillows and lots of toddler toys in the spot where one might expect to find a TV.  We’re both very happy with this arrangement, and the $30 a month that we’re saving is a nice bonus.

How expensive would TV have to be for you to decide that it’s not worth it?

We decided to start taking our son to the pool this summer.  And that means swimsuits.  Our son has several cute ones, thanks to birthday gifts, and my husband is pretty comfy in his standard trunks.  I hadn’t bought a new suit in several years, but I have several that are in good shape, and I tried them on last week.  The bottoms fit just fine.  But the tops are, uh, a little tight.  And I think they will continue to be that way as long as my son is nursing.

So, a shopping trip was in order.  You all know I’m a huge thrift store fan, but for things like socks, underwear, and swimsuits, I prefer places like TJ Maxx, where the clothes are much less than mall prices, but new (it’s an off price retailer, and they have all sorts of name brand stuff at discounted prices).  We have a TJ Maxx just a few minutes from our house, and I went browsing through their swimsuit selection over the weekend.  I found a suit with it’s original retail tag still on it ($109 – yikes!), a perfect fit, and a TJ Maxx price tag of twenty bucks.  The tag said it was irregular, but I can’t find anything wrong with it at all.  Score.  Now I don’t have to worry about flashing the babies in the wading pool.

I also got a nifty sun shade for the jogging stroller, for five dollars.  Our son pretty much always rides in the Moby Wrap or Hip Hammock, but when I go for a run, I put him in the stroller.  I don’t really like putting sunscreen on him, so he tends to wear long sleeves and a hat when we go out.  The stroller is old (it was a hand me down, which we happily accepted) and just has an awning over the top.  The front was completely open, but my new sun shade clips onto the awning and works perfectly.  We were out for a couple hours yesterday afternoon while our house was being shown, and he was in shade the whole time.  Five dollars well spent, even if it was an impulse buy.

Last night I decided that we needed some new pajamas for our son.  He’ll be one in a couple weeks, and this is the first time we’ve ever had to go clothes shopping for him.  This is due to the generosity of a friend who gave me her son’s hand me downs (which were given to her as hand me downs – we’re really into recycling around here), and to the fact that I believe that it doesn’t matter what babies wear as long as they are comfortable (thus you’ll never find me at the mall looking for cute outfits for him).  Anyway, after nearly a year, we had run out of pjs that fit.  So we headed to our two neighborhood thrift stores today, on a pj mission. 

I found lots of pajamas (including two piece sets that have not been treated with flame retardants, one of which had never been worn).  In addition to the pajamas for our son, we found all sorts of other goodies.  We spent a total of $46 between the two stores.  Here’s a look at our loot:

Two pair of zip-up pjs, a sleep sack, and a cute little shirt.

A Columbia jacket for me, two pair of shorts for my husband, a big saucepan for our solar oven, a yoga band, a garlic storage container (I currently store all of my produce in one huge bowl on the counter.  So my garlic snuggles with my mangos.  Now the garlic will have it’s own little home), and a Hip Hammock.  The Hip Hammock was only $3.50, and I tried it out in the store before I bought it.  I still love my Moby Wrap when we’re walking long distances, but it’s not the easiest thing to put on.  The Hip Hammock took about 5 seconds to get on, and our son happily rode around in it while we finished our shopping.  I checked it out online when I got home and found that some had been recalled a few years ago, but this one is a newer model that hasn’t had any problems.  Not bad for $3.50!

And more stuff for the little guy:  Two sun hats, a pair of swim trunks, two more sets of pjs, a really cool jacket that I think is handmade (it doesn’t have any tags or logos in it.  It’s amazingly well made), a pair of little guy slippers, a soft book with all sorts of little person-friendly activities that our son didn’t put down the whole time we were in the store, and a sweatshirt.

All of that for $46.  Have I ever mentioned how much I love thrift stores?  I can’t imagine ever shopping anywhere else.  Even if we made twice as money as we do now, I think I would always see it as a waste of money to buy things brand new.  Not only are there bargains around every corner when you shop second hand, but I love the idea that you never know what you’ll find when you go thrifting.  It’s always an adventure.

Last night we were hanging out with a friend and he was showing us all of the cool things he can do with his new iPhone.  Yes, it’s a pretty cool phone, but he paid $200 for it, and another $90/month for service.  Our phone doesn’t do as many neat tricks (although it does have a camera and a mp3 player), but it cost $20 and we pay $45/month for service (we don’t have a landline – that’s our only phone).  He used his phone to show us a trailer for a movie that’s opening tomorrow, and asked if we were going to see it.  We said we might, but that we would wait until it came out on DVD so that we could get it from Redbox for a dollar.  We sat there trying to think of the last time we saw a movie in the theater, and decided that it was “The Longest Yard”, which was released in the fall of 2005.  He thought that was amazing.

Then my husband asked how much movie tickets cost these days, and our friend replied in an offhand manner that “it doesn’t matter”.  Now it was our turn to be amazed.  He and his wife just have regular jobs like us – they aren’t doctors or lawyers.  We assume they might have some family money, but we don’t know the specifics.  I suppose we’ve gotten so entrenched in our frugal ways that we just can’t imagine spending money without caring about prices or cheaper options.  For us, renting a movie for a dollar (or free if we get it from the library) is a far better value than going to the theater.  And if we watch a movie in our living room we can wear our pajamas, make our own snacks (much better for us than movie fare), and hit the pause button whenever we like.  And now that we have a baby, we only plan outings where he can go along.  So a movie theater isn’t really an option anyway.

Happy New Year!  Hope it’s off to a good start for all of you.  Ours is great so far.  I went for a long walk today with the baby and the dog (the Moby Wrap is amazing.  2.5 hrs walking, and I barely noticed I was carrying the baby at all).  And I made another diaper from my recycled thrift store fleece shirt and Cat In The Hat pj’s.  Feeling productive.

Yesterday I bought a used carseat for our son.  I know, I know – that’s the one thing that you’re not ever supposed to buy used.  Well, that and a crib (but we already got a used crib, so I figured I better go two for two and get the carseat too).

A few months ago, I orderd a Britax Marathon carseat online.  It was $220, which was apparently quite a bargain – every other place I’ve seen them they tend to be at least $250.  I love that carseat.  It’s solid and secure – it feels like it’s part of the car.  And it’s just buckled in with the seatbelt – our cars aren’t new enough to have the LATCH system.  But Britax makes an awesome buckle-in system, and I love how safe the seat feels.

We’ve been using an infant seat that my best friend lent us (gasp – another used carseat) in our other car.  Her baby is two now, and outgrew his carseat last year, just before our son was born.  But now she’s pregnant with number two, and we’re going to give her seat back to her.  Plus, our son weighs 19 pounds now, and the infant seats are only rated to 20 pounds.  So we needed another carseat for our other car.  It’s quite a process to get the seat secured into the car, so taking it out and switching it from one car to the other isn’t very practical (although I did actually consider that as an option).

I knew I wanted another Marathon.  They’re rated to 65 pounds, so they’re really the only carseat you ever need.  And I just like how safe they feel.  I was willing to pay full price if necessary, but I decided to just take a quick gander at craigs list first.  Sure enough, someone was selling a seat that was virtually identical to the one we have – for $75.  I got the model number and checked the Britax website to make sure that it hadn’t been recalled.  It looks like it’s never been used – the lady said it was the carseat in their second car that rarely got used.  The house was in a very fancy part of town and worth about a million dollars.  There was a brand new Audi in the garage and everything was shiney, new, and obviously well taken care of.  They assured me that the seat had never been in an accident, and I believed them.

So there you have it.  We got a super safe carseat for $75, and saved the world a bit by recycling rather than buying new.  Each to their own, and I’m sure some people wouldn’t feel comfortable buying a carseat used.  But it’s easy to check recalls online, and my mindset is to buy used whenever possible.  I know that we could get a new carseat for not much more than $75, but I prefer a gently used but top-rated carseat for the same price.  We rarely use my car anyway, but when we do, I’ll feel good knowing he’s in such a good carseat.

How about you?  Have you ever gone against the prevailing wisdom and bought a carseat or a crib used?

It is a cold snowy Sunday here today.  Perfect for sitting on the couch sewing felted wool sweaters into diaper covers.  Later on we’ll head to the gym, but other than that we’ll be staying indoors today.  I’ve been using my Moby Wrap to exercise with our son lately, and it’s working great.  Our gym has an indoor track and a set of stairs with 28 steps going down to the level below the track.  I put the baby in his wrap, grab two 9 lb weights, and hit the track.  I just walk laps, and I go down the stairs and back up on each lap.  I carry the weights while I walk, doing all sorts of bicep curls, tricep kickbacks, military press, etc.  We’re usually there for about 90 minutes, and by the end of that, I’ve had a great workout.  Nothing fancier than walking, stairs, carrying the baby and some light weights.  But it works well.  When it’s nice outside, we do the same sort of thing outdoors.  But today is a good day for the gym.  I love being able to get in a workout and snuggle my baby at the same time.  And it’s all free, since my job at the library includes a free gym pass.  Even though I’m just a sub at the library now, I still get the free gym pass. 

I’m getting much better at making wool diaper covers.  After I blogged about the one I made last week, Alissa left a comment with a link to a very simple wool cover pattern (thanks Alissa!)  I tried that pattern and I’ve made two covers this weekend.  I’m sewing them by hand with thick crochet cotton, and they’re turning out great.  It’s very relaxing to sit on the couch and sew by hand.  And the combination of the wool and the thick cotton thread means that they come together really fast.  I’d say it took me about an hour to make each cover.  Here’s a picture of the one I just finished this morning:

I’m still using old sweaters that a friend felted when she was making covers for her son.  I have two sweaters that I haven’t cut up yet, which should make four more covers.  That ought to do us for a while.  And I can also make long wool pants using the arms of the sweaters, so I probably have enough wool to make diaper covers to last until our son is out of diapers.

Last night I went shopping with a friend, and we ended up at the thrift store near our house.  I bought an extra-large men’s fleece sweatshirt that I’m going to make into diapers.  I’ve found that fleece is a great fabric for the inside of the diapers, since it’s soft and doesn’t stain the way knit cotton does.  I got the shirt for $2.50, and should be able to get at least four or five diaper liners out of it.

Around the Frugal Blog Network,

The Tight Fisted Miser writes about how he and his girlfriend divide their expenses.  She’s not as frugal as he is, but they’ve both compromised a bit, and it works for them, which is all that really matters.

Almost Frugal has written about her guilty pleasures.  We all have them, and frankly (unless your guilty pleasure is a Ferrari) I think they’re worth it.

The Frugal Duchess has a post about some of the financial schemes to which people are particularly vulnerable during bad economic times.

Frugal Zeitgeist has a very helpful post about getting promoted.  Any tips that lead to a promotion or a raise are good right now, considering how tough the job market is.

Not Made Of Money has details about some things you might not know about your credit score. 

I got a comment today on my post about our financial goals that I thought was worth further discussion.  Dave wrote:

“I don’t know much about you but it seems like you folks have plenty of money. Anyone know of a blog directed toward the working poor? Somebody making / surviving on $30K a year?”

Dave, you make a very good point, and one that I’ve thought about a lot as I write a blog focused on frugal living.  But as as recently as 2004 we were indeed living on about $30K.  That year, our savings amounted to $100/month into our IRAs and that was it.  We were frugal out of necessity.  When we found out that my husband would need $5000 worth of dental work that year, I took a second job at the library, shelving books for $8/hour to pay off the dental bill.

When I started this blog in 2006, we were still in debt and although our income had increased a little beyond $30K, it still wasn’t huge.  Over the last couple years our income has increased further, but our lifestyle has stayed about the same.  Yes, we could spend more money now.  But we choose not to, because we’d rather save for the future than spend everything we have right now.

We’re actually earning a pretty typical income for two college-educated professionals in our 30s.  But we’re still in the same modest house we bought six years ago (we plan to stay, and are paying off the mortgage as quickly as possible).  We still drive cars that were made when nobody outside of Arkansas had ever heard of Bill Clinton.  We buy all of our clothing in thrift stores (and rarely shop at all, even at thrift stores).  I think the last time we went out to eat was in September when my in-laws were visiting.  Yes, we have options – we could choose to drive new cars, upgrade our house, shop at the mall, and go to Starbucks.  But instead we’d rather pretend that we still earn $30K and save the rest.

In order to make our goals happen next year, our family of three will have to keep our monthly expenses to about $2500, including the mortgage and health insurance, which amount to about $1500 together.  I feel confident that we can do it, because we’re used to living frugally.  Being forced to make do on very little money in the past taught us that we really don’t need a lot of money at all.  Now that we have more money, we’re able to give to causes that matter to us and save for the future, since we’re still perfectly happy with our frugal life.

I remember when I started blogging, I read NCN’s blog and was amazed at how much money his yearly savings amounted to.  I remember thinking that he was saving nearly as much as we were earning in a year.  And that served as a huge motivator for me.   The nice thing about being committed to living frugally is that if you work hard and focus on increasing your salary, chances are it will go up as the years go by.  But although the cost of living will increase too, frugal habits will mean that your expenses won’t increase as much as those of the people around you.  I’m sure that people see me pulling out of the thrift store parking lot in my 91 Civic and assume that I’m poor.  And that’s fine with me.

I’ll open the rest of Dave’s comment up to my readers:  what are your favorite blogs written by people who are working to stretch small incomes?  And what about your own experiences – have you found that frugal habits you developed years ago have stayed with you even though your income might have grown to the point where you don’t have to be frugal anymore?  Anyone finding that well-ingrained frugal habits are helping them weather the current recession?  I think this is a great topic for discussion – are you frugal because you want to be, or because you have to be?  For us it started out as a necessity, and then just became a way of life.  My guess is that a lot of other people find the same thing – once they get used to living frugally, they notice that big TVs and shopping at the mall and cars and fancy houses no longer hold much appeal.