If you use a lot of Bisquick or other baking mix for your cooking and baking and pancake making, you'll appreciate this tip. I wish I could claim credit for this, but my wife actually found it in a 1950s cook book. Mom really did know best. This will save you a lot of money over the cost of buying the store-bought mix:

Ingredients:

10 cups of flour
1/3 cup baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
4 tsp salt
2 cups of shortening (crisco or generic)

You'll need a large airtight container to store the baking mix. It will keep for up to six weeks on the shelf, or up to six months if you freeze it. Just take what you need out of the freezer and thaw before using.

In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. With a pastry blender (or wire whisk or fork) cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. If you're using a wire whisk or a fork, make sure you mix it well. Mix it until it looks like...well, Bisquick.

That's it!

Many thanks this week to No Credit Needed for including my post on using a financial windfall to reduce debt in the 121st Carnival of Debt Reduction. You'll find other savvy advice in this week's carnival, including:

Paid Twice has a great post about dealing with debt reduction ups and downs!

The Digerati Life has some thoughts about folks who have major debts. Interesting read.

Finance and Fat has some information about debit cards.

One of the first things I did when I adopted a lifestyle of Savvy Frugality was to take a close look at the money I was spending on recurring expenses, such as groceries, household bills, gasoline, etc. I figured if I could save even $20 a week by ensuring I was paying the absolute lowest price for these items, I would be well on my way to living below my means.

I started using what a lot of frugal zealots call a "price book". For me, it was a simple spiral bound notebook that I used to keep track of the prices of items like a head of lettuce, a can of coffee, cereal, bread, milk, etc. After writing down the price that I usually paid at my favorite grocery store, I kept my eye out for prices that would beat it. Eventually, I was able to identify the 2 or 3 stores that consistently had the lowest price on the items I normally bought. Often, it was a store brand, but sometimes it was an item I could get during a sale, or with a coupon.

This method can be used for non-grocery items as well. I kept track of my monthly phone usage, and then found a VOIP plan which consistently beat the cost of my land line phone. I even kept track of the price of socks and underwear. That may sound extreme, but I have been able to save hundreds of dollars each year by keeping track of the lowest price, and only shopping at the stores which offer them. Those "convenience" trips for bread, milk, eggs, etc. can be budget busters. I eventually got to the point where I had a lot of prices memorized, and didn't need the price book.

Now I'm about to revisit the price book. I have a couple of major ticket items at home which will need replacing within the next year. My refrigerator is a model I purchased used for $80. It still works, but it's becoming more difficult to regulate the temperature. The items in the back on the top shelf freeze if they are left there too long. I can't help but think this older model is also costing me more money on electricity. And, since we are moving, my wife wants to get a new refrigerator which has an ice and water dispenser.

This isn't an expense I take lightly. I'm going to start saving $50 from each paycheck, and keeping track of the price of refrigerators in my price book. Once I locate the store which consistently has the lowest price on the model I want, I will make a purchase when I have saved enough money for it. I won't be putting this on a credit card. I'll pay cash.

The other items we'll need in the next year or so are a TV set and a computer. They both work, currently. The TV is 11 years old, and it the tube-type model. My last TV, which was a similar model, lasted about that long before the picture tube went out, so I figure it is just a matter of time before it will need to be replaced. The computer is also several years old. It works, but doesn't have the features, disc space or memory newer programs require. I'll also be setting aside money for these items as well, and keeping track of the best prices in my price book. Between these three items, I should be able to save several hundred dollars by being patient, shopping around and buying when the time is right.

The price book method isn't for people who want instant gratification, but it can definitely save you a lot of money in the long run.

My house looks like a war zone. I'm in the process of packing for a move, and it's taking longer than I would like because of all of the papers I have to go through while packing my moving boxes. I'm not talking about newspapers. I'm talking about the boxes of financial files, unopened bills and assorted other crap that I apparently packed the last time I moved, and then never looked at again. Until now.

I found bills and unopened mail and other paperwork that was almost seven years old. Seven years! Shameful. No wonder my financial life was a shambles back then, something I detailed during a previous post about why I chose a life of Savvy Frugality.

As I looked through the boxes of papers, I also realized how much money all of this clutter has cost me over the years...in late fees, negative entries on my credit report, higher interest rates, etc. If I had tackled things head-on before I had even packed those papers (something I did start doing about five years ago), not only would my finances have been a lot different, but I wouldn't have all of these papers making my shredder work overtime tonight.

Some people choose to deal with their problems by ignoring them, hoping that someday things will work out. However, "someday" never comes, and things never just "work out". I know, because I used to live that life, as evidenced by the boxes of papers currently stacked in my living room. I had to take an active role in digging myself out of a bad situation. It wasn't pretty, and it wasn't fun, but in the end it was totally worth it. I was recently able to get an auto loan, and today I received a pre-approved offer for a platinum card...something that seemed impossible five years ago when I was staring homelessness in the face.

If you were like me, if you have "boxes of clutter" hiding in your house, it's time to dig them out, develop a plan and take a good, long, hard look at what your finances are REALLY like. I know, it's scary...but not as scary as what could happen if you continue to ignore the clutter in your life.

Clutter costs money.

With oil prices recently hitting $100 a barrel, and gasoline expected to average $4 a gallon for regular unleaded, driving a car is about to become a lot more expensive. As I filled the tank of my mini-van last night, and paid $53 for the privilege, I fondly thought back to the days when I didn't even own a car.

I'm not talking about my high school days, although I didn't own a car then, either. In fact, I didn't own my first car until I was 23 years old, and I was just fine without one. I had lived in Norfolk, Virginia, which has a great public transit system. Back then, a five mile trip on the bus from the Navy base to Military Circle Mall was 50 cents. If the place I needed to go to was within a mile or two, I walked. I walked a lot, and I was in great shape back then, too.

I lived in New York for awhile as well, and there are literally millions of people in the city who don't own cars. They either take a train, a bus, a taxi or they walk to get to where they need to go. It wasn't until I moved to Minneapolis that I needed to buy a car. They have buses there, too...but I needed a car for my job and to drive home on the weekends, which was 120 miles from Minneapolis. For the most part, in a major city, you probably can get by without a car.

Our cars represent a bit of independence, a "home away from home" and many people are reluctant to think about not having a car, or using theirs less. But, that's exactly what I have decided to do. I do need my mini-van so my wife can get to doctor appointments and for work-related activities, but we will be using it a lot less. After I spent $53 buying gas last night, I informed my wife we would be grouping our errands for the week into one day. Grocery shopping, doctor appointments, errands around town...they all need to be scheduled on the same day as much as possible, to cut down on individual trips all over town.

In about two weeks, I will move to a new home which is located about half a mile from my job. I will be walking to work most of the time, and riding my bike in the summer. The gas in the van can be used for errands and to take my son to school, which is located about 10 miles from where we will live.

In Oklahoma City, where I live, there are other options to driving as well. The city's transit system has a bus pass which allows people to ride the buses an unlimited number of times for $40 per month. That's less than what I paid for a tank of gas. I'm going to get one of these for my son, so he can take the bus from school to his job. It will save me plenty of money in the long run. A tank of gas currently lasts me about five days. Since a tank of gas costs about $50, well...you can do the math. I'd rather not continue to pay $300 a month for gasoline.

With gas prices on the rise, now is the time to develop alternative transportation plans. If you can't give up your car altogether through public transit, carpooling, walking or bicycling, you can at least use some or all of these methods to CUT BACK on your reliance on your car. It's not as convenient, but it will save money...and you might even get into shape while you're at it.

As I have mentioned here before, I wear reading glasses. They were recommended to me by my eye doctor. However, I did NOT buy my reading glasses from the eye doctor. I spent $4 at Dollar General for 1.25 magnification reading glasses. I showed them to my eye doctor, who told me that he could get me nicer frames and they would be covered by insurance, but that the lenses were BASICALLY THE EXACT SAME THING HE SELLS, although for a lot more money. I told him I would stick with the $4.

Well, I have moved up in the world. I have a much nicer pair of reading glasses which I purchased this week from CVS for the princely sum of...$22. The reading glasses from the eye doctor's office would have cost me $150.

But what if you need prescription eyeglasses, but not the big bill which comes with them? You can't exactly buy those at Dollar General...or any other dollar store. But you can buy them at Zenni Optical.

Zenni Optical is an online seller of prescription eyeglasses with prices started at $8. That's right, $8. All you need is the prescription from your eye doctor or optometrist (they must give it to you if you ask, you are not required to buy glasses at their office). Fill out the online form using the information from your prescription, pick your frames, and your glasses will be shipped to you. Zenni even offers UV and scratch-resistant coatings, which would cost you big bucks at the eye doctor's office. There are more expensive glasses on the site, but I didn't see anything over $46, and they look comparable to the glasses I've seen at eyeglass stores in the mall.

If you shop around, you CAN find good deals on necessities like eyeglasses!

Disclaimer: Savvy Frugality has no direct business relationship with Zenni Optical. This is NOT a paid review for Zenni Optical. I just like to note services like this which can save people a lot of money.

If you unplugged your cable or satellite TV service and went with the good ol' rabbit ears for free TV reception, you may be in for a rude awakening in about a year. Full power TV stations currently broadcasting in analog will make the switch to digital television broadcasting on February 17, 2009.

What this means is this: if your TV gets reception using an antenna, that will come to an end next February...unless you buy a converter box. The converter box will cost about $50 to $70, and it will work with your antenna. You'll still need that. If you do use cable or satellite, you don't need the converter box.

The government-run web site dtv2009.gov is offering a coupon worth a $40 discount off the cost of the converter box. There is a two-coupon limit per household, so you'll want to request those as soon as possible if you're using antenna reception for your television at home.

If you live near the Canadian or Mexican border and get most of your TV reception from those countries, this conversion to digital won't be such a big deal because they are not switching to digital TV broadcasting yet. But, if you get most of your reception from stations in the U.S. of A, you'll need the box...unless you watch all of your TV shows online.

Plan ahead, and your conversion to digital TV can be both painless and cheaper!

I hate the word "budget". Yes, I know having a spending plan is important, but calling it a "budget" automatically implies that you are depriving yourself of something...sort of like the word "diet". It is far better to have a "spending plan" or a "savings plan" rather than a budget. Savvy Frugality is not about living without things that make your life comfortable. It is about living a good life with the resources you have.

But, what if you are struggling to make ends meet NOW? You say "but, I don't have any money left over after paying bills to save or invest for my retirement". What this really means is you either need to:

A) Make more money,
B) Spend less money, or
C) Both

Where do you start? By allotting a certain percentage of your income to each category of your spending plan, such as rent (mortgage), food, auto, insurance, etc. There are a number of resources online where you can find budget...er, spending plans...with the percentages already built in. I like to give a certain amount of money to charity each year. Other people tithe their money to a church (I do both, but split the money between the two). Therefore, I use the Spending Plan Calculator I found at Crown Financial Ministries. For purposes of this demonstration, I'm going to use an annual salary of $45,000 as a hypothetical situation. Statistics show that half of all Americans earn about $46,000 or less. However, Middle Class America donates a greater percentage of its income to charities than other income classes. According to the Crown Financial Services calculator, the spending plan looks like this:

Gross Income:	$
Tithe	$
Tax	$

Printer Friendly Version
Need More Help?

About the Online Budget Guide:
With increasing technology on the Internet today, Crown wishes to take advantage of this technology to help bring information regarding biblical stewardship to the Internet audience. The online budget guide is only a guide. We realize that all families do not fit the same criteria.

Instructions:

1. Input your pre-tax /pre-giving income into the box labeled "Gross Income."
2. Input your giving.
3. Input your taxes.
4. Click the Submit button.
5. You will receive the results on another page.

Results:
You will see your income listed at the top with four columns below. The Category column will list the 12 to 14 sections that Crown recommends. Next, you will notice a Suggested Percentage column, which gives a recommended percentage for the given category section. Next is the yearly allotment for the category. Finally, the monthly allotment is given next.

If you wish to input another income figure or choose another family scenario, click your browsers Back button or the Start Another Budget button.;

Category	Suggested Percentage	Annual Amount	Monthly Amount
Net Spendable:Monies remaining after all taxes and charitable giving are paid.		$33,500.00	$2,791.67
Housing:This expense should include mortgage, insurance, gas, electricity, maintenance, and phone.	36 %	12,060.00	1,005.00
Food: This expense includes your basic grocery list. Do not include eating out in this category.	12 %	4,020.00	335.00
Auto:This expense includes auto payment, insurance, maintenance, and replacement.	12 %	4,020.00	335.00
Insurance:Life, health, and other.	5 %	1,675.00	139.58
Debt:This category, if needed, should not be overlooked. Getting debt eliminated is a very important goal of any budget.	5 %	1,675.00	139.58
Ent/ Rec:Eating-out, vacations, and activities should be included.	6 %	2,010.00	167.50
Clothing:Do not overlook this category. Many persons do not budget for this category. The minimum amount should be at least $10 a month for each family member.	5 %	1,675.00	139.58
Savings:A wise option. Regardless of the amount, a regular savings plan is crucial. Even if it is only $5 or $10 per month.	5 %	1,675.00	139.58
Med/Dental:Dentist, physician.	4 %	1,340.00	111.67
Misc:This category is generally for items that do not fit any other category. This category can be the most dangerous as far as budget busting if not kept under control.	5 %	1,675.00	139.58
School/Childcare*:Tuition, day care, and related expense. This category is added as a guide only. If you have this expense, the percentage shown must be deducted from other budget categories. The School/Childcare category is added as a guide only. If you have this expense, the percentage shown must be deducted from other budget categories. Remember, all percentages must add up to 100 percent.	6 %	2,010.00	167.50
Investments:Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and other.	5 %	1,675.00	139.58

* The School/Childcare category is added as a guide only. If you have this expense, the percentage shown must be deducted from other budget categories. Remember, all percentages must add up to 100 percent.

Of course, your own particular situation might prevent you from strictly following this plan. You will have to adjust the percentages to fit your particular situation, but those percentages MUST total 100 percent. This will at least serve as a starting point or a guide for your spending plan. My own spending plan is slightly different from this one. In my household our medical bills are higher than most because my wife is diabetic and my wife, myself and our two children all take prescription medications. Also, this spending plan allots 36 percent of monthly income to housing. Personally, I suggest trying to keep that number to no more than 30 percent. Also, I prefer to increase my savings and debt payments to 10 percent each, rather than the 5 percent suggested by Crown. Using frugal living principles, you can save money in other areas to increase your savings and debt payments. Hopefully, you do not have outstanding debt, but if you do, being able to increase spending in other areas of your life will serve as incentive to eliminate that debt.

Other organizations also have their own spending plans, but they are very similar to this one, with the exception of the tithing category. If a financial disaster hits your household, such as a job loss, hopefully you have emergency savings in place to temporarily absorb the loss of income, and you can adjust all of these spending categories accordingly.

You can adjust the calculator at Crown Financial Ministries to fit your own income, and go from there, but at least it is a starting point, and we all have to start somewhere.

*Disclaimer: Savvy Frugality has no direct business affiliation with Crown Financial Ministries, and this article is NOT a paid review. I just happen to like their spending plan calculator.