car·less

-noun
one without a car.

As I was walking to court yesterday and it was 90+ degrees outside, I thought how easy it would be if I had a car, to drive the 4-5 blocks to court, which is not unusual when it comes to my office.

But then I thought about how simple life is without a car. Sure, I have to depend on people for rides, but worse case scenario, I would walk the 4 miles home, but public transportation is very accessible as well. The bus stop is less than a block from work and it stops a block from my house. I haven't used it yet, since my boo always drops me off and picks me up from work. My office is conveniently located right off the freeway in Downtown Lincoln and he would have to drive right past it to get to his office anyway.

On Friday nights when Seth works at his other job, my future Mother-in-law would pick me up and we would go on a Friday night date off to the mall or other girl-friendly destination. Now we only live half a mile from each other, so it's super easy too.

Financially speaking, I'm sure Seth and I are saving at least $10K a year with one less car. No monthly car payments, maintenance, oil changes, gas, insurance, etc. I'm sure eventually I would get a car, but probably when it becomes a huge inconvenience or when we have kids. But now, it seems to me that driving is really not a necessity. There are tons of people in the world without cars. It's actually very nice not to drive.

cou·pon

–noun
1. a portion of a certificate, ticket, label, advertisement, or the like, set off from the main body by dotted lines or the like to emphasize its separability, entitling the holder to something, as a gift or discount, or for use as an order blank, a contest entry form, etc.
2. a separate certificate, ticket, etc., for the same purpose.

I love coupons! I have saved probably thousands of dollars off of them. I highly recommend restaurant.com and groupon.com. If you sign up for groupon, sign up with me by clicking here.

When my boo and I went to Baltimore, we saved $75 at restaurants. You just buy a $25 or $50 gift certificate for a deeply discounted price. Sometimes 70-80% off from the typical price and as long as you follow the fine print, like spend over $35, excluding alcohol, at least 2 entrees...blah blah blah, then you get that much off! Sometimes they add the 18% tip before they give you the check and sometimes they don't add the tip and then I usually tip them 20% off the original bill anyway.

In Baltimore, we went to LP Steamers and had a dozen crabs and some crab dip. The bill was about $50, but we walked out of there only charging $25 on my card.

Another night we splurged and spent $100 not including taxes or tip on raw clams and oysters, Maine lobster, king crab legs, cocktail shrimp, crabcakes and bread pudding, but walked out of there just under $75 including a 20% tip and taxes.

For non-food coupons, Groupon has daily deals from haircuts to pedicures to exercise and cooking classes. The only catch is there has to be a minimum amount of people who sign up before the coupon is activated. Say the coupon for today requires 50 people to sign up. If by the end of the day, only 40 people sign up, then their credit card is not charged and they don't get the deal. But most groupons have hundreds if not over a thousand people signing up. It's crazy!

I also clip coupons from the Sunday paper and use it at grocery stores.

You would be surprise how much you save by just planning ahead and resisting the urge to impulse buy!

mon·ey·head

–noun
1. a person who makes money a top priority.
2. my mother.
3. my fiance.

I live a very comfortable life, I always have, I have never been rich, but I would never consider myself poor. This is mainly due to my frugal Chinese mother and her cut-throat bargaining skills when it comes to negotiating cars and odds and ends in Chinatown.

My parents never lived on credit. They do have a Costco American Express card they use frequently and a few other credit cards, but always paid in full by the time the due date rolls around. They never leased cars, only paid in cash. They never had a car payment, they paid off their mortgage in less than 20 years, and yes, we live 5 miles away from the ocean in Orange County and that is impressive.

But, it is rather embarrassing when my mom is in full-bargaining mode.

My sister and I would call her a moneyhead because it feels like money is always on the mind.

I have learned a lot from my mother and that is why my credit score is so high. I guess that's why my fiance takes like my mother too. He always has an idea to make more money. Money, money, money.

Last winter, in the middle of the a blizzard, he was on the computer making fliers. These fliers were for his own lawn-mowing business. He said, it's never too early to get started. Really?! In the dead of winter? All the grass is dead!

Apparently he had this kind of business in high school, which made enough to buy his own car cash down. Impressive. But kind of annoying at the same time.

We are definitely in a good position for being 26... but having a moneyhead around is a bit frustrating when all I want to do is go out and spend some money!