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QUOTE:
 
 
Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times
FRUGAL GENES: Kim Estrada, right, recently took a second job at Starbucks and daughter Michelle, 16, is doing without a car to help keep their family’s finances afloat.

'Educate yourself about the economy'

Frugal genes
Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times
FRUGAL GENES: Kim Estrada, right, recently took a second job at Starbucks and daughter Michelle, 16, is doing without a car to help keep their family’s finances afloat.
A family watches pennies to get by: 'Educate yourself about the economy'
March 9, 2008

» Discuss Article    (66 Comments)

Kim Estrada works two jobs, has two children at home and one in college and makes time to monitor mortgage interest rates, keep tabs on the consumer price index and take note of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke's utterances. "I think the best way to take out the stresses is to educate yourself about the economy," the 45-year-old Saugus resident says.

But it was daughter Michelle who really taught her a lesson. After seeing her mom fret over the cost of used cars and insurance, Michelle volunteered when she recently turned 16 to do without four wheels and ride a bicycle, saving her folks $400 a month. The Estradas -- Reuben, 51, is a firefighter -- were so pleased that they bumped her weekly allowance to $30 from $10 so she could save too. The nest egg will go toward an economy car when Michelle turns 18.

 
"It's like a family project," Kim Estrada says. "She's forgoing something now to get something better later."

The Estradas have an edge over many. They earned $160,000 last year, mostly from Reuben's salary but also because Kim, a part-time medical transcriptionist, took a second part-time job at Starbucks -- partly for the lattes. "That was my little luxury," she says, "and I hated to give it up."

She shops selectively, collecting food staples -- eggs, milk, cereal -- from Trader Joe's and household items -- toilet paper, toothpaste, paper towels -- from Target. She used to buy produce at Ralphs, but that was before she saw iceberg lettuce for $1.99.

"I was, like, $1.99?" she says.

She snagged a pair of black barista pants at a Goodwill store for $6, the same slacks she had purchased earlier at Ann Taylor Loft for $49. That was crafty, but one of the savviest moves came in January when the Estradas bundled their first mortgage and an equity line of credit into a 30-year fixed-rate loan at 5.25% interest, saving $500 a month.

They upgraded the minutes on their cellphones and stopped making long-distance calls from their land line, saving $35 a month. When they get their tax rebate, they'll save that too. They wash their own cars, mow their own lawn and clean the house together. He mops, she vacuums.

When Kim Estrada worries, it's mostly about the next generation. Where will they live?

"The one thing that troubles me the most," she says, "is how will these young adults, even out of college, afford homes?"

--

Leslie Earnest





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Discussion

What are you doing to beat the high cost of living today?
 
1. Bonz - I was in a similar boat - no health insurance because I am self employed; then I got Blue Cross; guess what? Now I have $50K in medical bills - blue cross denied most of the bills - said they weren't covered in my policy; I had gotton the blue cross because my son had to have an apendectomy & we had no insurance -medical denied us. So I am hoping U don't get ill or have an accident; as far as the high cost of living; I know people losing everything right now - their homes, everything. Because our work was related to the mortgage industry.
Submitted by: JaneBryant
5:39 PM PDT, Mar 11, 2008
 
2. To LA Transplant...I agree with all you said, except...where did you see homes for $500k?? I lived in Thousand Oaks and our TINY 1,00 sq. ft. post war crackerbox bungalow that needed to be gutted sold for about $700K!!! (we paid $300K but that was 8 years ago) We had a 12 year old Honda Accord and ZERO debt. TOTALLY frugal. Husband made about $125K a year and that BARELY paid our BASIC bills. Condo's were running in the $500K's at least...
Submitted by: Maggie
8:27 AM PDT, Mar 11, 2008
 
3. I wonder how many people here are paying down debt or saving money? In my experience it's very few. They always talk about how they are saving money by doing this or that, but they still can't make ends meet. Why is that? It's almost always because they find another way to spend it! An extreme example of that is a 50,000 dollar car. LOL Oh, by the way....... I know this is off-topic, but my diet is going great! I have lots of great tips to help you lower your calories. As a matter of fact, I did so good today that I going to celebrate with an ice cream bar. Oh....... it's LOW calorie! I can have 2 or 3! Yeah!
Submitted by: Bryan Bates
2:38 AM PDT, Mar 11, 2008
 
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