Over the past 16 months my husbands’ job has required weekly travel.  In fact his job is in another city but he comes home on the weekends.  So Monday – Thursday I am wearing my “single parent” shoes.  Boy I could write a bit about that life (perhaps in another post )

Most of us wear TONS of shoes each day.  Along side my single parent shoes are my thrifty shoes.  I am after all his virtual assistant.  Handling flights, travel schedules, hotels etc. The travel expenses of his job are our responsibility. Since we are on a very limited budget I have had to get creative. The biggest blessing to help with the air travel came from a new airline we started using about the time he began traveling.

Southwest Airlines – You know the purple and orange planes with the REALLY cheap fares?

BY FAR the best airline you can fly.  Southwest is amazing.  First of all there are NO, none, zip, zilch nada charges for luggage.  Two bags fly for free with each passenger.  They have no change fees.  We change flight days/times left and right and have never been charged any fees.  We do pay for fare differences but no additional just for the hey of it fees.

I sign up for web alerts (Click-n-Save) to places we travel we wish we could travel to just in case a great deal comes along (which is has).  We are fortunate because my husband’s travel can be booked at $49 one way if we do it 7 days in advance.  It is really a wonderful airline.  You may be skeptical of their lack of assigned seating but let me assure you, all you need to do is go online 24 hours before your scheduled departure and you will be assigned a number.  That number will allow you to board in order and pick your seat.  It is not that big of a deal.

We signed up for their frequent flier program too which is based solely on the number of “legs” (one-way trips) you fly.  It takes 8 round trips to get a free ticket.  For those who fly a lot that adds up quickly.  Guess what?  We went to redeem the free flight  and we could do it WITHOUT fees and without black-out dates, without having to book the ticket months in advance.  I was shocked.  It was so easy and FREE.  (okay there was a $2.50 fee) but nearly free.

Southwest’s customer service is second to none as well.  I have called numerous times and am always wildly impressed with the people I speak to.  Let’s face it, THAT doesn’t happen very much these days.  So as you can see we are saving TONS of money by using this airline.  I know right now they are not in every city but growing by leaps and bounds.  Check out this link for details.

Next time you fly consider checking into Southwest.  You won’t be disappointed and you will probably save some money making your thrifty shoes fit a bit better!

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Using Southwest is working for me!  This post is part of the “WFMW” (Works for me Wednesday) over at We are THAT Family.

As we wind down 2009 and look to the New Year you may be getting a bit “stressed” about your holiday bills.  They will start coming in here in a few weeks.  I am so happy to say that I don’t have any holiday bills.  Yes you read that right – no extra bills to pay from Christmas.   That is not to say that I am  happy with my current financial situation however I can safely say that paying for Christmas this year was done with the money we had on hand.

One of the biggest sources of stress for many of us are financially based.  Believe me, I could tell you some stories about financial struggles.  We have a child with cancer who has been through nearly 5 years of treatment.  My husband is self-employed and has some significant slowing in his business.  Our insurance premium alone rivals most peoples mortgage payment.  The co-pays and prescription costs are enough to deplete any extra money we have at the end of the month.

I certainly realize that I am not in a position to dish out money management advice.  I have however, learned a few things along this journey about how to live on less.  Tips that can help you no matter what your financial picture looks like.   I believe the key to coping with financial stress is to stop using credit cards.  It is a HUGE step but a very important one. We have forced ourselves to only use money we have in our bank account and have been successful for over 2 years.  If we don’t have the money, we don’t buy the item.  It is that simple.  You may be wondering HOW on earth this works?

I keep a spreadsheet on my computer with simple columns – money in/money out and a running balance.  I keep my receipts and every couple of days I enter in the amount taken from our bank account.  I keep track of every penny.  I pay our bills (online) and then allocate the rest of the money according to our needs that month.

We are not in a position to save much money each month but at least we are not spending more than we earn.  If you “save” money but spend that much or more on a credit card you are really not doing as much “saving” as you might think.

I realize that in order to buy homes and cars you need to have credit established so never using a credit card in  your life is not what I am referencing here.  What I am talking about is each month buying a few more things on credit because you can’t afford to pay for them outright.  All of the sudden you have several thousand dollars on your credit card and a new “monthly” bill to figure out how to pay.  It is a vicious cycle that is so easy to fall into.

So for January I challenge all of my readers who want to save money to leave your credit cards at home or better yet get rid of them (if you can).  Only spend money you have in your bank account.

You will probably find that you are not nearly as interested in buying that new item when the money is being taken directly out of your bank account.

This idea is working for me and it could work for you.  I will be wearing my “thrifty” shoes at least once a month and plan to share more about how I cut costs and live on less.

This post is part of the WFMW (Works for me Wednesday) over at We are That Family