Gails Blog

Y’all have been very patient, waiting for the numbers I promised at the beginning of the week. When you worked out what you’ve been spending, were you surprised? Think about how you have been managing your money for a minute. Have you been keeping track? Are you aware of where your hard-earned bucks are going? Do you know exactly how much is going where?

According to The Stats Man, the average household spends $53,160 a year. For y’all who don’t make that much, I don’t want you to just shut down and go away. We already know some people make more - and spend more - than others. This is an average. But we also know that how much we make has very little to do with how much we spend; not since the advent of credit.  So keep reading.

If you’re a member of a family with two grumps and children, you’re spending even more: $72,030. If you’re a lone female parent, you’re spending $42,060. If you’re a couple over the age of 65, you’re spending $40,390. And if you’re a singleton, you’re spending $29,680.

Surprised by the numbers? Hey, I don’t make ‘em up, I just report them. Since these are averages, there are people who will be below these numbers. But there will also be people who are above - which is what “average” means, right?

So what do you think the average family spends on food? On clothes? On shelter? Do you spend more or less on transportation if you’re a renter? Some of the numbers are counter-intuitive - they’re not what you’d expect. Some just make me scratch my head.

BTW, people are always asking me what they should be spending on food and my answer is always the same: I don’t know. I don’t breakout for these categories because they’re so dependent a whole bunch of other considerations including how much you make and what you’re spending in your other categories. The big breakout I use is for LIFE, into which all these things fall. On LIFE, you should be spending no more than 25% of your net income - unless, of course, you have no consumer debt, in which case you can scoop the 15% from debt repayment and add it to your other categories. See, there’s huge benefit to being consumer debt free: You get to spend more money on the stuff you want. 

Now that y’all have seen the error of your ways and are determined to become debt free, I’m getting LOTS of questions about how best to consolidate debt.

You’ve watched me tell people to consolidate their consumer debt on their mortgages. This is a good idea when you have some equity built up in your home, and can take advantage of that equity to reduce the cost (the interest rate) of your borrowing. Some couples have mortgages coming due fairly soon, and can do their equity-takeout then. Some couples choose to use a “blend-and-extend,” which lets you take more money on your mortgage, but you’ll pay a different interest rate on the new “loan.” If your financial institution tries to charge you a penalty on the blend-and-extend, they’re stupid and you should either negotiate away the penalty or forego this strategy and then move your business when your mortgage does come up for renewal.

An alternative to using your mortgage is to get a line of credit tied to the equity in your home. In the biz it used to be called a Home Equity Line of Credit - although I don’t know how many people still make the distinction. Since the line is secured by your home equity, your interest rate should be very low.

If you already have a line of credit and you also have credit card (or other expensive consumer) debt, then use your line to pay off your expensive credit.

If you don’t have a line of credit and can’t get one, you may have to use an installment loan. This is when you go hat in hand to a lender and say, “I promise to turn over a new leaf. Please help me.” You’ll have fixed payments, usually for up to five years, and then you’ll be all paid off. Yeah!

Okay, one more thing about consolidating. Some people consolidate, work the payment into their cash flow (if it’s on your mortgage you may not even notice much of a difference) and then go right out and run up more debt. I’ve seen people do this two, three, four times. What dopes!

The reason this happens is that they haven’t actually looked at their budgets and figured out where they’re overspending. You have to do this step, or you’re just asking for even more debt. Once you cut back so that you’re not spending more money than you make, you can get on the way to being debt free.

If you do consolidate on to your mortgage, don’t breathe a huge sigh of relief and then ignore your mortgage. Since you’ve added to the principal, you’re going to end up paying a whack more in interest over the life of the mortgage. The only way to avoid this is to set up a savings account where you set aside some money every month so that you can make a principal prepayment against your mortgage every year to mitigate the extra interest costs.

BTW: Did y’all see the announcement by the Feds of a new tax-free account? The Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) could arrive in 2009 and would let you save up to $5,000 for any purpose (now you have NO excuse for not setting up an emergency fund) and not pay any tax on the income earned in the account. So whether you’re saving for a home, planning to get married, or saving for a car,  all your interest will stay in your hands.  If you didn’t use the whole $5,000 in one year, you could still use it later. And if you withdrew money — say to pay for your wedding — you could still accumulate up to $5,000 for the year. 

I got a question the other day that I’ve decided to blog on. I’m a big believer in the old adage, “If it looks too good to be true, it probably is,” which is what triggered me to blog this question. A young lad who is planning to buy a home with his girlfriend at the end of the year thinks the Manulife One looks too good to be true.

He’s not the only one. I did a call-in show in Saskatchewan and this type of account was a big topic of conversation. As a result I got another flood of questions about this type of account. So, while I don’t do product endorsements, here’s what I have to say about the Manulife One account.

This is a terrific account as long as you, and everyone else who has access to this account, live by a strict budget.

The Manulife One combines both sides of your balance sheet into one: your debt, like your mortgage,  credit cards, loans and your assets, like your income, savings and chequing accounts, into a single multi-purpose account. Short-term savings and chequing account balances are applied on a daily basis to any outstanding debt, reducing your total interest cost.

When you deposit your pay cheques into the account, the outstanding amount of your loan is immediately reduced. Eventually you will need the money to pay your expenses; when you take it out, the loan balance goes back up. But for as long as the money is in the account, the interest clock doesn’t tick on that money.

This account is a GREAT place to keep your emergency fund. If you’re paying 5% on your mortgage and you accumulate your emergency money in this account, it’s would be as if you were earning 5% return, after taxes on that money.

Because of its very structure, you can make lump sum payments whenever you wish without the limitations of a conventional mortgage. Over time, this can mean significant savings in interest costs.

The plan isn’t without its limitations:

• the interest rate on the debt portion is variable so in periods of rising interest rates, more of your money will be going to interest. You can set up one fixed rate sub-account that would allow you to lock in a portion of your borrowings - up to 75 per cent of the current balance - at a fixed rate. So if you’re concerned that variable interest rates are on the rise, you could shelter some of your debt while avoiding the need to close the entire account.
• Manulife One isn’t broadly available. I live north or Cobourg, Ontario and bank in Cobourg, Campbellford or Brighton, and I can’t deposit my cheques to the Manulife One account in any of those places.

One further proviso… and this is a BIG one. If you don’t have the discipline to manage this account in the way it was intended… as a way to pay off your debt faster… don’t even think about this product.

How will you know?

If you use overdraft protection, this product is NOT for you since your discipline and organization are questionable. Ditto if you pay anything less than the full balance on your credit cards, if you use your line of credit to meet monthly expenses or if you borrow money from friends, family or anyone else who will listen to your sob story.

This product has been designed for smart, focused, disciplined people. If you’re that person, have fun and save with the Manulife One.

Statistics Canada has gobs of interesting information about how Canadians are doing financially. If you’re from the U.S., we’re doing marginally better in the north, but quickly heading into your kind of trouble.

Did you know that 25 years ago, 39 percent of us were spending MORE than our pre-tax income. Uh-huh. More than our pre-tax income. What were we thinking?

Things are better now though. NOT.

Nineteen years later, 47 percent of us were spending more than our pretax income. Wow! That’s almost half of Canadians spending more than their gross income. How is that even possible?

Credit.

Yup, you can spend more money than you make if you have access to credit. And most of us do.

Well, we’ve had a booming economy for the last six years, so things are probably better now, right?

• In 1999, Canadian families had over $29 billion in line of credit debt. By 2005, that had grown to almost $68 billion.
• In 1999, Canadian families had almost $16 billion in credit card and installment loan debt. By 2005 that had grown by over 58 percent to almost $26 billion.
• In 1999, Canadian families had over $33 billion in vehicle loan debt. By 2005 that had grown by over 41 percent to over $46 billion.
• In 1999, Canadian families had over $17 billion in student loan debt. By 2005 that had grown by almost 16 percent to almost $20 billion.

 Source: Stat Canada

Add it up… $68 billion + $26 billion + $46 billion + $33 billion + $17 billion = $190 billion in debt spread over approximately 7.5 million Canadian families. That doesn’t include mortgages! And since there are lots of us that don’t have huge debt loads, think what that means for the poor people who do.

So, are you a credit sap? Are you one of these statistics, spending more money than you make, living beyond your means, buying today’s goods and services with money you may or may not earn tomorrow? And are you happy about the amount of interest you’re paying? Do you even know how much interest you’re paying?

You don’t have to live in debt. You can change your life. But you have to really want to. And you have to accept that you’re going to find it hard to do.

It will be hard. But if you have the gumption, you can do it. I know you can.

The first thing you have to do is take all your credit cards but one and cut them up. Include your department store cards. And unless you’re getting a discount on gas, include your all your gas cards too.

Next, take the credit card you’ve kept and put it somewhere hard to reach - freeze it, bury it in the backyard, throw it behind the refrigerator.

Now you’re on your way.

What’s next? You’ll have to make a budget, create a debt repayment plan, and rebuild your credit history (if you’ve made it messy). And you should negotiate with your creditors to either consolidate your debt at a lower cost, or reduce the amount of interest you’re paying on your various forms of credit.

Most important, you have to stop shopping. Make a promise to yourself that you won’t buy another unessential thing (so nothing beyond what it takes to keep body and soul together) until you’re out of debt.

All the tools you need to achieve a debt-free life are here on this website. If there’s something you can’t find, let me know (through Questions) and I’ll try to help.

So, are you ready to be debt free? Is 2008 the year you’re going to do it? Great! Make me proud.

BTW: I know I still owe you an answer from yesterday’s blog, but you’ll have to be patient. I’m giving all the people who are figuring out what they’re spending some time to do their numbers. Stay tuned.

People are always scratching their heads about where their money goes. I know because they tell me. And because I’ve only worked with one person out of 130 on the show who actually knew what she was spending. Imagine. That 0.76% of people who knew what they were spending. Astounding.

So, do you know what you’re spending every month?  Guess what Statistics Canada says the average Canadian spends a month (based on 2005 numbers).  Go ahead, guess. No, I’m not going to tell you yet. I want you to figure out what you’re spending first, and then I’ll give you the average, and how it differs for couples with children, lone parent female families, and one person families. 

Don’t even know where to start? Grab your last month’s bank statement(s), credit card statement(s), and line of credit statement(s). Now, break every transaction into one of the following categories:

• shelter (mortgage, rent, hydro, heat, taxes, maintenance)
• services (cable, telephone, security, home-cleaning, cell, internet, childcare, health, pets) 
• food (everything you put in your mouth and swallow, including restaurants)
• Shopping (any STUFF you bought for yourself and anyone else — EVERYTHING)
• transportation (car payment, gas, repairs, highway tolls, taxis, bus, train)
• entertainment (movies, books, magazines, hobbies, gym, club, sports)
• bank fees (service charges, ATM fees, NSF fees, DON’T INCLUDE INTEREST)
• interest costs (from everywhere)
• debt repayment (don’t worry about splitting out interest and principal, just add all your debt repayment amounts together)
• savings

Don’t want to be bothered spending the time figuring out where your money is going? Go away then. That’s right. Scram! Keep on digging yourself into a hole. When you’re ready to put some effort into making things right, you’re welcome to come back. I’ll be here, and I’ll be happy to help. 

Of course, once people figure out how much they’re spending, they might find they’re just not making enough. Which brings me to my next point. I got a question this week from a woman who writes:

I would love to hear about people’s second and third jobs. I need to be able to work from home evenings and weekends as much as possible, but I want legit employment! I am not interested in starting my own business (I would need a really good idea; none yet). So I need options! I used some of my holidays for a second part-time and temporary job last year, but that opportunity may not present itself this year. I agree that if you want to spend it, you gotta earn it!

What a fabulous question. I’ve watched lots of people work from home in some pretty unique ways:

• medical or legal or other types of transcription,
• online data entry
• at home fast-food order processing
• sales: think clothing, toy and houseware parties website creation
• freelance writing
• dog-walking
• house-sitting
• meal preparation for shut-ins
• personal shopping
•  on-line board hosting

Since I’m not the keeper of all the good ideas, I’m opening this one up to y’all. Write your best ideas for this chick and let’s see if we can get her some more work! 

People keep writing to ask about the percentages I use in the Life Pie - y’know, where I say how much you should be spending on housing, transportation, life, saving and debt repayment. All the percentages are on the Interactive Budget. Look there. As for the questions about how much you should be spending on food, clothing, and all the other stuff that goes into the “life” category, I don’t know. It depends on what you can afford. If you make a little, you spend a little. If you make a lot, you can spend a lot. You have to prioritize. You have to make choices.

I’ve also had a few questions recently from people who owe the taxman money. Oooh! Not good. He’s the guy that can dip into your account at will and take money, even your mortgage or rent money, if you don’t stay on his good side.

My best advice for dealing with the taxman is to write, explain your circumstances, create a repayment plan you and he can live with, follow-through, and get the mess cleaned up. He is one credit who will NOT go away. Deal with it.

Lots of people want to know how to get into the financial advice business. It’s nice that y’all are inspired by the changes you’re seeing people make and want to help. How you go about helping is really a matter of whether you want to be a T-4 Grunt (my husband’s term for an employee - he’s always been a T-4 Grunt) or self-employed.

If you’re just starting out and need to make money while you grow your career, you may have to start by getting a job with a financial institution. Look for one with whom you share values. If you want to help people, and they want you to sell mortgages, you won’t be a happy camper. Try the smaller, community-based institutions - think credit unions, trust companies, and the like. Keep upgrading your professional accreditation and eventually you’ll have the experience and expertise to hang out your own shingle and charge for your financial planning advice.

Keep in mind that most of the people I help, couldn’t afford to pay me. That’s why I do it on TV, where I can hit a huge audience all at once, or for free here on the website.

You could also begin building some experience working with family and friends, setting up “groups” where you watch the show with other people and then work on setting goals and supporting each other as you move through the process together. As a Gail Disciple, you’d be the official butt-kicker and information disseminator.

Which brings me to one of the questions I get most often: What exactly can a financial planner do? And when is it time to speak with a financial planner.

A financial planner is supposed to know everything about money: how to manage your cash, your debt, your investments (not necessarily what to invest in, but how to make the choice), how to mitigate your risks, plan your estate and deal with all the changes life brings. Sounds like a big job, doesn’t it? It is. And, while there are some really good planners out there, there are also a bunch of dopes with designations (letters behind their names that say they know what they are doing) who haven’t got the good sense god gave a goose.

So how do you find a good one? Ask for a referral from friends, family, work mates, your boss, your dentist, your doctor, whomever you know and trust. Should you pay for this advice? How unbiased do you want it to be? If you want to ensure the planner is only interested in what’s good for you, you have to pay her for her advice. After all, she has kids to feed too. If you don’t want to pay for advice, then you can find good planners working for companies who have things to sell. Just be aware of what you’re dealing with.

People have been asking about how I get the numbers I use on the show. When I tell people how much debt they are going to be in five years down the road, I:

• add up all their debt,
• include how much they’re overspending monthly, and
• compound it at 9%.

When I tell people what they’re going to have when they retire, I:

• use the amount I’ve set aside for savings,
• add in any extra I recommend they set aside once their debt is repaid, and
• compound it at 7% for as many years as they have until retirement (age 65).

And finally, to respond to the young person who wrote to tell me that bankers are saying 27 is too young to start an RRSP, I say: They are stupid. You don’t want to deal with any financial institution who is too dumb for words. Here’s my for instance:

Last week I took a cheque into the CIBC to deposit to my CIBC Wood Gundy corporate account. They wouldn’t take it. It was too big to go through the machine and no one behind the counter could figure out how to use the CIBC VISA card I’d been using as my bankcard for the past 10 years. When they finally drew up my information (it took two trips and a discussion with the bank manager), part of the confusion came from the fact that I have a numbered company with an operating name… too many things for the bank to deal with. His recommendation: I should dump my corporate branding and make it easier on the CIBC by only using my numbered-company number. So instead of being the very recognizable Gail, I should become 1234567 Ontario Limited, because that would be easier for CIBC to handle. See what I mean about stupid.

CIBC has been working hard to lose my business. They should be very proud of their accomplishment. Now my challenge is to find a less-stupid financial institution that can actually give me what I want: service. Let’s face it folks, all the products are pretty much the same.

Anybody want the job?

I’ve started a small whirlwind on the site by reporting that federal/provincial student loan debt is not reported on credit histories. I might be wrong. Gawd! Say it ain’t so! 

I was told that federal and provincial student loans were not reported on credit histories. That only applied to federal/provincial guaranteed loans — not to private student loans offered through financial institutions, or to loans where federal/provincial student loans have been consolidated. And I’ve seen dozens of credit reports that do not contain information about federal/provincial student loan debt — not even when those loans have gone into default! Go figure.

But Blaine has. As a watchful monitor of my site — and former lender — Blaine says that he’s seen reporting on federal/provincial student loans in Canada.  He says:

I was a lender for over 6 years and I can tell you that they certainly do appear - at least Transunion tracks them for sure. Also, MANY of them were showing R5’s in their history too. Beware - the government student loan centre is notorious for losing paperwork for interest relief and payment setup.

 

  So I’m looking deeper. Here’s what the Coalition for Student Loan Fairness says: 

Once your student loan goes into repayment (whether it is a provincial, federal, or integrated loan), it is reported to each of the major credit bureaus monthly.   

 Canlearn.ca says:

Should you default on your loan, the NSLSC, your financial institution and the Government of Canada or Ontario will take steps to recover the debt, which may include reporting you to a credit agency, using a private collection company, and/or taking legal action.   

Comments on canadastudentdebt.ca seem to reinforce what I was told about non-reporting of student loans. However, once again, the non-reporting seems to be sparodic at best, and punitive at worst.  So while some people have experienced the non-reporting of their student loan repayments, it isn’t consistent. And while some credit reporting agencies seemingly do not show student loans on their credit reports — particularly those ordered online — this, too, is inconsistent.

I officially take back everything I’ve said about student loan reporting and am now working with the rule: All debt is reportable.  

I got a letter the other day from a young lass who wrote:

My sister and I are adults that still live at home because of student debt. How can we pay off our student loans and still save to get out of our parent’s house? How much should we salt away in our “move out jar” when we only make $19000/year at a call center?

So here’s what I don’t get: Why are some people dotty enough to go to school and rack up student debt if they’re going to settle for a job that pays $9.50 an hour?

I meet people who won’t do certain kinds of jobs, and are willing to settle for making way less money because the job they have is “cleaner.” That’s fine if you’re happy. But if you’re not happy, why are you sitting on your duff, whining about your lack of cash, when you could be out working your buns off?

I also meet people who believe because they’ve got an education - an expensive education - that they should be able to get their dream job right off the bat. Really? What ever happened to the concept of paying your dues? And if paying your dues means you aren’t making tons of money right away you can either live a simple life, or GET ANOTHER JOB… a second job, a third job, a better job.

And then there are the people who pay a whopping amount for their education, with no plan for how they will use that education. A case in point: A woman wrote to me for advice on how to deal with her $45,000 student loan. She’s working as a waitress.

You’re kidding me, right? Why would anyone be daft enough to rack up $45,000 in student loans only to become a waitress?

Then there are the people who know what they’re doing wrong and just keep doing it anyway. Here’s a case in point:

I am 54 and shop because I am depressed and when I feel I have no money. I am in debt and don’t seem to get ahead just keep afloat. Is there a way I can pay you to help me get myself together and on the road to financial freedom?

So here’s what I don’t get: If you know you have a shopping problem, why do you go where you can spend money?

Sure, you have to go into a grocery store from time to time for food, but if you only take the $100 you plan to spend in cash you can’t do too much damage. Every other trip you make to the grocery store, to your local fashion haunt, to the mall, to the drugstore, to the dollar store, is just an excuse to scratch your shopping itch. Are you so addled that you just keep on whacking your head against the wall, no matter how much it hurts? And how would paying me … are you shopping again?! … get you out of this habit?

And then we come to the people who are spending money like there’s no tomorrow and scratching their heads about how to pay off their debt. To my point:

How do you start nipping away at debt when you have debt of about $75,000, rent at $3200 a month, 3 kids 11/16/18 (in university) and payout about 16,000 a month to live (includes rent)?

So here’s what I don’t get: Why would anyone pay $3,200 a month in rent? Since this person did not mention her income, I can’t know if she’s within the 35% range on the “Life Pie”, but I suspect from the amount of debt she has that she’s a tad over. And, while I know life is expensive, where exactly is the other $12,800 a month going? Is this a case of spending money on “needs” or on “wants”? If you’re really serious about paying off your $75,000 in debt, what are you prepared to give up to do so? And would you like to come on my show? I’d love to make you over.

I know some of what I say may sound harsh. But you know what? There are a lot of people witlessly racking up debt as if it is never going to catch up with them. Whether it’s student loan debt, credit card debt, line of credit debt or buy-now-pay-later debt, it’s not going to stay quiet forever. It’ll want to be fed. And if you’re the goose who thinks the debt is just going to magically disappear one day, might I point out that you’ll very likely get eaten.

A lot of people, including Tiffany Dunn, have been writing to ask me if canceling a credit card can negatively affect their credit rating. It doesn’t affect your “rating” (how good you are at managing your credit), but it does affect your “credit score”  (how appealing you are to a lender.)

Your credit history accounts for about 15% of your credit score, so if the card is one with a long, positive history, you’ll eliminate what could be a very good record of your repayment when you cancel the card. However, if all your accounts are in good standing, then the overall impact won’t be huge.

Having too many cards can hurt your ability to borrow more money, since the more cards you have, the more credit you have access to, and the more trouble you can get yourself into. So canceling cards you’re not using can be a good thing - for both you and your credit score - over the long haul.

Staying away from the top of your credit limit is another way to keep your credit score nice and shiny. When you get too close to your limit, your “credit utilization” goes out of whack… which can be a smudge on your score. How close to your limit should you get? Some say the healthiest credit balances are in the 30-percent-to-35-percent range.

Some people are under the misperception that checking your credit report will hurt your credit score. Not so. Checking your own credit report/score is considered a “soft” inquiry and does not go against your score.

However, credit shopping can negatively affect your score. That’s because when lenders check your credit report, this is considered a “hard” inquiry and will generally knock off about 5 credit score points. If you’re shopping for credit, do all your research before you fill out and sign an application. (Lenders aren’t allowed to do a credit check on you without a signature.)

Credit cards are just one part of your overall credit score. If you’re repaying a student loan, car loan, furniture loan, or mortgage, these will all be part of your credit report and will impact your score.

Ultimately, the decision to get rid of cards boils down to how you’re managing them. If you can’t stop yourself from running up balances, then you have to limit the number of cards you have, and how much credit you have access to. If you have one card with a long history, and another with less history, but a lower interest rate, then keep the first paid off and use the second to keep your borrowing costs down.

Nancy Olson’s husband doesn’t think that cutting back on small things will really save any money. Well, Nancy, m’love, he’s wrong. He just doesn’t want to tighten his belt. Wuss!

There are dozens of things you can do to save money. I have a section on my website called 99 Ways to Save and you can:

a) check there for ideas on how to save… I’ll build it up over time 

b) send me your money saving ideas and I’ll put them there and tell everyone just how smart you are 

c) include links to good sites and if I like ‘em, I’ll link to them from this section.

Most people spend without even thinking about it. When I suggest you can find the money you need to save (or pay down your debt) it isn’t a matter of cutting back to the point where you’re having no fun at all. But wouldn’t it be interesting to see just where the money goes when you’re really paying attention?

Cut out just $5 a day and you’ll have an extra $1,800 a year for investing or paying down debt. Wow!

Make yourself up a tracking sheet to see just where your money is going. Put the days of the week across the top and some typical categories down the left-hand side. Include stuff like coffee, snacks, lunch, cigs, gas, magazines/newspapers - everything you spend money on in a day. Leave lots of blanks on the left because you’ll be amazed at what you’ll add when you see all the places where you’re spending money.

As you go through your week, write down what you’re spending. Add it up, so there should be a column on the far right for Total Spent for the week for each category you’ve included on your worksheet.

Are you surprised at what you’re spending? I’ll bet you a teabag you are. And I’ll bet you another that you can trim $5 a day out of your spending, no problem.

Do you know that in drugstores and convenience stores, all the stuff around the cash register is called “the kill zone.” That’s the stuff they know you’ll buy on impulse. And since there’s a whole breed of consumer who doesn’t even consider change to be money, they’re counting on you dropping coins here and there on stuff you don’t really need.

So is nickel and dime-ing it really worth it? Yup. If you save $5 a day 20 days a month and put the money in your retirement plan earning just 7%, in 20 years you will have $55,000.  Double your savings and you’d have over $100,000.

Of course, you actually have to SAVE the money. That means taking it out of cash flow and putting it somewhere to work for you.

If you save 50¢ using a coupon and then you turn around and spend it somewhere else, you actually haven’t saved a thing. To SAVE you have to take the money out of your wallet and put it somewhere you can’t spend it. Then you have to put that money to work.

So, are you willing to take up the challenge and see how much you can save, Nancy?

How about the rest of ya?