Free is NOT a DIRTY word

Ok here we go... a run down of our found  savings since we found out we were DEEEEEP in the hole. Yes..I count everything.
The first thing we did is contact all of our creditors since we are military and tell them that under the Service Members Civil Relief Act, it is a federal law that they have to LOWER our interest rates to 6% !!! Both of US!  My husband is the one in the Service, but under the SMCRA, we both are granted coverage under this law. Now this law covers all creditors we had before my husband entered the military. The creditors have to give back in credit the interest they charged you from your spouses start date. So, for us that was going back 7 months!
So this is what we started with:
Total credit card debt of: $ 1891.00
After the SMCRA: $ 915.99
That is more that half knocked off of our past credit card debt! So it is worth it to you to contact these creditors and do this. Some will be rude and drag their feet, but most won't. They don't have a choice frankly and they can get into serious federal trouble if they try to refuse you. Not to mention the fact that all of a sudden, YOU have the upper hand on them.

We live in state with EZ-Pass. We took another look at our contract and realized we could get commuter prices for just going a few times a week. We were paying $64.80, now we pay $18.00 as long as we use it at least 6x a week(like that will be hard).

I started making my own Laundry Soap. I spent $10.00 for supplies and about 30 minutes of work.
Felsnaptha soap, washing soda,borax, cheaper dollar store cheese grater. I got the 5 gallon bucket for free by just asking my grocery store bakery for their empty icing bucket.
I made the equivalent to Tide with bleach alternative for HE washers. It would have cost me $64.00 to buy that much Tide.
Also this detergent work on my husbands uniforms because it doesn't have added brighteners, so now I don't have to buy those special detergents just for him.
As an added bonus since I have sensitive skin, I don't have to worry about that either. Oh, and next time I need to make more, I still have so much of the ingredients left, I won't have to buy anything for the next 3 batches.
That's another $54.00 each time I make it back in my pocket!

I make my own Dishwasher detergent now. .80 for four lemon kool-aid, $1.36 for white vinegar, and the borax and washing soda I already had. What I paid before $10, now i paid $2.16!

I needed a new winter coat, so we went onto freecycle and got me a brand new coat that someone was given and didn't want for FREE! I found it at Walmart later on and found it costs $25.00.

We now make our own ice cubes. I always bought bags of ice at 1.49/bag. Now I use old plastic egg carton lids from the 5 dozen count. It will save us $77.48/yr. Everything you got to make this was FREE!

We make our own fire starters for BBQ's and fire pits: take old toilet paper tubes, stuff them with the free papers you get in the mail along with the lint from your dryer and you just saved $3.00 on lighter fluid or $5.00 on starter sticks. Everything you got to make these were FREE!

We even added back in our banks refund from using other banks ATM's, that's $2.02 ( I said we add everything). 

Our found free money has totaled: $1219.55

Well, those are my found savings this time. I'm diligently seeking new ones everyday. Good luck to you too.

The Wake-Up Call

    We were the typical American family. Sure, we had some credit card debt, car payment, medical bills... but nothing too serious.
     And then... it was.  We thought it was just one of those periodic tight spots until we actually sat down and ran the numbers. When we looked at an actual, written budget, we realized that we would be spending $1000 more every month than we were bringing in.
     If you can keep that going more than a little while, you're probably preparing for re-election.
     It took some hard work to get out of that hole start getting out of that hole - we've still got a long way to go, but we've made remarkable progress in a matter of months, and every time we tell people, they say the same thing: "Wow. You need to tell people about this."
     Which is where this blog came from.
     This is a way for us to tell people what we did and how well it's worked.
     More than anything else, we now see that debt cannot continue the way it has in America. The concept of "saving money" is gone; it's defined as "spending less" by today's society. We have pledged to get debt free and remain debt free. It's possible and it's desirable. Wouldn't you rather have the money that you've been giving to interest, monthly fees and (worst of all) late fees? Follow us and become debt free.