Pennies Not Perfection

Christmas is a wonderful holiday but the consumerism culture has taken much of the joy out of it and instead given us credit card bills, stress, and piles of junk. I’m not a fan of that so I try to give and receive meaningful and frugal gifts each year instead.

If you are looking for some frugal Christmas gift ideas, keep reading for my favorite frugal gifts!

We all know Christmas has wrecked many budgets and it is a particularly hard time for some people to say no to spending. With emotions high and sales pressure up, many of us spend more than we planned.

That’s why having frugal Christmas gifts on hand and ready to go is so important!

Frugal Christmas Gift Ideas

If you’re doing your Christmas shopping and need a list of frugal but awesome gift ideas, look no further!

1. Baked goods. Everyone loves baked goods during the holiday season so this is a frugal gift that is also a crowd-pleaser. You can make Christmas cookies or banana bread or any number of yummy edible gifts for very little money. Consumable Christmas gifts are a huge hit and many people appreciate not being given something that will contribute to clutter. This is a great option for any minimalists you know.
2. Scrapbook. Make a scrapbook or a photo book showing your most fond memories with someone. You can do this very cheaply with supplies you have around or can get on clearance at craft stores. Print out some photos and it’s very frugal but meaningful. Adding sweet notes of memories and inside jokes will mean more than anything you can buy.
3. Handmade Christmas ornaments.  You can make personalized Christmas ornaments for your friends and family for next to nothing. There are tons of great ideas on YouTube and Pinterest for ways you can cheaply DIY very nice looking items. Just because the supplies came from the Dollar Tree doesn’t mean this frugal gift can’t look expensive!
4. Regifted items. Let’s be real, regifting is a great way to do frugal Christmas gifts! If you’ve gotten duplicate gifts or items you’ll never use then there is nothing wrong with giving it away the next Christmas. Make sure you don’t regift to the same person, but otherwise it’s fair game. Just because you can’t use it doesn’t mean someone else won’t!
5. Recipe box. You can make a beautiful recipe box or buy an affordable one and fill it with blank recipe cards along with your favorite recipes. This can be especially sentimental if you collect family recipes or go with another meaningful theme. Go the extra mile to delight the gift recipient and make one of the meals to go along with it!
6. Photo Collage. If you’re handy with Photoshop or Canva, you can create a photo collage/montage, print it out and frame it! You could also do this the old fashioned way with scissors and glue. It’s a great way to give a creative memory that can be done for hardly any money.
7. Framed family picture. Take a picture of your family or kiddos, frame it, and give it as a gift! We do this every year for grandparents and they love it! It’s frugal but delightful for those who want photos renewed each year. You can get nice looking frames at many stores on clearance or just stop by a thrift store for one.
8. Coupon Books. Sure it’s a corny gift idea, but a personalized coupon book can also be super fun! You can go with classic  favorite coupons as “back rub”, “dinner” or “clean the house”. Or spice things up with adult themed coupons or go super silly with practical jokes. There are lots of options for personalization here and none of the items in the book have to cost money to do! Most people would prefer experiences and time with you anyway.
9. Family history. Put together a family history for someone with photos, written family histories, a family tree, a video and anything else you can think of that will bring their family history alive. This is an especially great gift you can give to siblings or a whole side of a family to knock out multiple gifts.
10. Appreciation book. Use a blank journal to create a book about how much you appreciate the person! You can fill it up with reasons why you appreciate them, gratitude over their qualities, shared memories, and photos. If you can’t fill up a book, try doing this in a letter form and list as many things as you can.
11. Your skills. Give the gift of service by offering up your skills as a gift. It won’t cost you anything but time. You can offer to cook a meal or offer your design services or tech support. If you don’t have any specific professional skills to offer, then offer up housesitting or babysitting.
12. Groupon experience. Groupon offers frugal experiences perfect for gift giving. You can give a certificate for an experience like a massage, painting lesson, or outdoor adventure. Keep an eye out for a huge discount deal on something that you know will make a great gift for someone on your list.
13. Card game kit. Buy a deck of cards, and a book of card game rules for different card games. You can have hours and hours of frugal fun once you learn multiple games you can play with one deck of cards. I loved playing card games on camping trips when I was younger and still love to pull out a deck of cards for good quality family time.
14. Book gift pack.  Look through the books on your own shelf that you’ve already read and put together a gift pack of books that you loved. You can package the books in a cute way that makes them feel like a special gift of hand selected books. Write a note about why you loved each book and why you think the recipient will love the book as well.
15. Breakfast gift box. Put together a cute morning breakfast gift basket with some cheap basics: pancake mix, syrup, and pancake mix-ins. These items don’t cost much but they are super handy to have on hand for most people.
16. Picnic gift basket. Grab some Dollar Tree utensils, plates, and tablecloth and then wrap the items up with a blanket inside a basket. Write a note inviting the recipient to go on a picnic lunch with you once the weather is nice. You could also pack snacks into the picnic basket as an extra gift.
17. Memory jar. Write down favorite memories of the person receiving the gift on small pieces of paper and add them to a decorated jar with instructions to open daily. This works best when you can get lots of sweet and funny memories!
18. DIY Coasters. You can make coasters for a very small amount of money and the personalization of using photos special to the recipient makes this a meaningful gift. DIY coasters are very easy to make, cost hardly anything, and can be a great sentimental item to give people.
19. DIY bath and body items. You can make sugar scrubs, face masks, body butters and natural skin care products from items you already likely have in your home like sugar and coconut oil. These are cheap to make but feel luxurious when you get to use them, so they make perfect gifts! My mom loves and requests my peppermint sugar scrub as a gift each year.
20. Change jar savings kit.  This is an especially great gift for young children who are just starting to learn about money. Give a child a change jar or cool piggy bank and some starter change already in it.  Then you can teach them about saving and spending their own money later in the year!

No matter which frugal gift you decide to give, remember that it is the thought that truly matters with the gift. Most sentimental and meaningful gifts are not expensive ones. They instead incorporate emotions, memories, and experiences. Remember that spending the most doesn’t necessarily mean the most!

Paying off your mortgage faster doesn’t have to include crazy schemes or huge extra payments. In fact, it can be very simple.

We are paying off our mortgage faster and saving thousands in interest by using two simple techniques.

Today I’m breaking down our monthly mortgage statement to show you how much we pay per month toward our mortgage, how much we’ve paid off in the first three years of owning our home, and the 2 ways we speed up our mortgage payoff every month.

A monthly mortgage statement provides essential information about your monthly payments and your mortgage balance. It’s the key to seeing your mortgage payoff progress.

If you aren’t taking the time to open up your statement each month and see where the money is going, you should do that this month! Take a look at where your money is allocated and see how much is actually going toward your mortgage balance principal. If you bought your house recently then it probably isn’t much!

Our Monthly Mortgage Statement

In the video above I break down what exactly we pay each month toward our mortgage according to our mortgage statement.

Our monthly payment is $1,128.36 which is broken down as:

• Principal – $273.96
• Interest – $426.52
• Escrow – $427.88

Because we round up to $1,200 for our monthly payment, we also send $71.64 to principal payments each month. This is one of the ways we are paying off our mortgage faster.

That means each currently $273.96 + $71.64 for a total of $345.60 goes towards our mortgage principal each month.

Escrow is the part of the mortgage payment that handles paying for mortgage-related items. These expenses are necessary with a mortgage and include things like property taxes and homeowners insurance. These things are only usually due once a year but most mortgage companies require you pay monthly installments to make the large yearly payment. It’s like a sinking fund that the mortgage holds for you in an escrow account. The mortgage lender makes sure these expenses are paid by paying them our of your escrow funds.

2 Ways To Pay Off The Mortgage Faster

We’re paying off our mortgage with zero extra effort or pain thanks to a couple small decisions.

1. Rounding up our payment.

Our mortgage payment is $1,128 a month but we made the decision to round up to $1,200 for our payment. This means each month roughly $71 is going directly to pay down the principal of the mortgage. Rounding up doesn’t hurt our budget overall but it guarantees each month we are sending extra money to pay off our mortgage.

That doesn’t sound like much when we are throwing $71 a month at a $141,000 debt. but when you multiple that $71 by 12 months, we send $852 a year to the principal of the mortgage. That will definitely speed up the payoff process!

Rounding up your mortgage payment to the nearest $100 dollar amount makes it an easy and painless way to quickly pay off your mortgage faster.

2. Biweekly mortgage payments.

We’ve set up our mortgage with biweekly payments to pay off our mortgage faster. This pays off the mortgage faster because you are actually making 26 payments a year but you only need to make 24 to cover the 12 months of mortgage payments. That means the extra 2 biweekly payments are applied to the principal as one FULL PAYMENT extra per year.

On our biweekly schedule we have a “half payment” of $600 go fully toward principal around May and then again later in the year. This adds up to one full payment going straight to paying the mortgage down faster.

Most mortgage servicing companies allow you to set up a biweekly payment plan where you have an extra payment per year which drastically speeds up your repayment of your mortgage.

Those are a couple of the ways we are paying off our mortgage faster and how much we’ve paid so far!

How Much We’ve Paid Off In 3 Years

In the roughly 3 years since we bought our house we’ve made a lot of payments, but have we made any progress paying down our mortgage?

Mortgages are set up so you pay more interest in the beginning so a large chunk of each mortgage payment goes toward interest. Despite this we have managed to pay off thousands from our mortgage so far.

• Home purchase price:  $158,900.00
• Mortgage start:  $153,596.00
• Mortgage current:  $141,194.46
• Mortgaged reduced:  $12,401.54

In the video below you can see how we’ve paid off more toward our mortgage by the mortgage payoff strategies.

Paying off a little bit extra each month moves us much further down the schedule of debt to pay. By utilizing these small mortgage payoff strategies we are drastically speeding up our mortgage payoff without feeling any pain!

Should You Pay Off Your Mortgage Faster?

Depending on which financial advisor you ask, paying off your mortgage is a good idea or a bad idea. Arguments can be made for both options.

In reality it depends on your financial goals and your risk tolerance level. Many people find that paying off the mortgage brings a huge amount of relief and peace of mind when you don’t have a monthly mortgage payment. The security of owning a home outright can be a huge positive for many people.

Paying off your mortgage also saves you money. You’ll save a ton in interest even with a small interest rate because the faster you pay off your mortgage the less interest you will pay on the loan.

Having your mortgage paid off also gives you more options. You’ll have extra money each month that you could use to save toward retirement or go on vacations or build wealth and achieve financial independence! Paying off your mortgage early is an amazing way to build your wealth and gain financial independence.

In the end, paying off your mortgage gives you more options and more freedom. Who doesn’t want that?

We love our house but we made several big mistakes when we bought it. As first time home buyers we thought we were prepared but we unfortunately still made several mistakes.

Today I’m sharing those 4 mistakes we made buying our first house so that you can avoid these common first time home buyer mistakes. Hopefully our home buying mistakes will lead you to have a very smooth experience!

Buying your first home can be a very nerve wracking process but it also can be one of the best financial moves of your life! Home ownership catapults many to financial security and can set up lasting wealth for generations. Buying a home is one of the biggest and most lasting financial decisions you’ll make. It’s best to avoid mistakes!

I’m happy to be sharing my experience buying a house for the first time to help others, both good and bad! These are the four mistakes we made during the home buying process as first time home buyers.

Did not save up 20% down.

One mistake we made buying our first house was not saving up 20% of the down payment. For our first home we only saved up 5% instead of doing a “full downpayment” of 20%.

While many financial gurus don’t yell at first time home buyers for not saving up 20% on their first house, it is a great idea to aim for that larger down payment. If you can save up 20% or more for a downpayment then you should do so. It reduces the amount you owe overall, lowers your monthly payment, and prevents you from paying PMI each month.

If you go with less than 20% down you will have to pay PMI (private mortgage insurance) each month. This does nothing for you and only protects the lender so it’s something you want to avoid if you can.

Saving up a large down payment can be difficult when you don’t have a lot of extra income, but there are multiple benefits to increasing your down payment: you will pay off the home faster, you’ll save money not paying PMI, you are actually more likely to get a mortgage, you’ll have smaller monthly payments, and you are a more competitive buyer too.

There are very few downsides to saving up a full 20% down payment!

Did not have a full emergency fund.

One mistake we made when buying our first house was not having a fully funded emergency fund in case something happened. This was incredibly risky and we could have ended up in a huge amount of debt when something broke or an accident occurred. We took a gamble that I wouldn’t recommend – it could have ended very poorly.

When you buy a house it is guaranteed that something will break eventually. You need an emergency fund for when that situation arises to lower the risk face financially. We luckily avoided anything major early on but not everyone is that lucky.

Some people drain their emergency funds to make the down payment on a home but this can be the absolute biggest mistake you can make. It leaves you incredibly vulnerable to emergencies and also unable to handle the maintenance costs that come with owning a home each year.

Did not shop around for mortgage providers.

When we bought out first house we were too nervous about the process to shop around for mortgages once we were pre-approved with one company. This was a huge mistake. We could have found a much better provider and deal with our loan.

Unfortunately not shopping around meant we went with the first mortgage provider our real estate agent recommended and they were not the best fit for us. Ultimately this was probably due to the fact that the first time I tried buying a house it didn’t work out. The fear that it wouldn’t work out again made me play it so safe that we didn’t shop around which was a mistake.

Shopping around for mortgages is a great idea when you are buying your first house because it allows you to get the best mortgage loan and rate. now that I’m past that initial fear I realize how important it is to shop around!

Don’t let the process intimidate you. You can work with a mortgage broker or research mortgage options on your own to find the best rate and service. There are tons of online resources that make it incredibly easy to shop for and compare different mortgages.

Did not look at enough houses.

One mistake we made in our home buying search was not looking at enough houses. On our first day of searching for houses we looked at 5 houses and ended up buying one of those 5! While we love our house, we should have toured more houses in person to get a better idea of floor plans and different amenities homes offered.

The reason this was a mistake is because we got the typical “house buying fever” many first time home buyers get. We saw a home we loved and we knew the hot market meant many homes were snatched up so we went with that first house very quickly!

It is easy to forget there are many more houses and there is no reason you can’t find another house you love if one doesn’t work out. Look at houses online and in person, go to open houses, get a good idea of what is out there in your market!

First Time Home Buying Mistakes

We love our house but we did make some mistakes during the process!

Luckily those mistakes educated me on what not to do when buying a hosue so others won’t make the same mistakes – and we won’t make them again.

If you’re buying your first home check out some of my other posts about the home buying process! The more you can learn about buying a home the better you will do during the process.

Here are some of the more helpful and popular home buying series posts:

• Our House Price & Mortgage Details | Buying Our First Home
• How Much Money Should I Save Up For A House?
• Extra Expenses To Consider When Buying A House
• 2 Easy Ways To Payoff Your Mortgage Faster

Remember also that a house can be a wonderful addition to your life but it’s not the end all be all. Homes are sold every day, people move all the time, accidents occur, and plans change. Your first home will likely not be your last home. Try to keep this in mind and be smart about buying your first house!