Savings Race

Aug. 9, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Caitlin Cole didn't replace her treadmill when it broke.

Instead she gave away the equipment to someone who needed the motor and started exercising by dancing to oldies music on the radio, an option that was free. For her it was better than buying a gym membership or a new pair of running shoes.

Cole is among a group of hard-core super savers who choose to live inexpensively out of need or lifestyle choices. Owning things often takes a backseat to other goals, such as pursuing an education or nurturing relationships, especially with children.

Such lifestyles are less common than you might think, even with the financial hardships many are facing, says Karen Richel, a financial educator with the University of Idaho extension system in Moscow.

Nationally, the average savings rate has risen from negative levels to 7 percent, but it still hasn't hit 10 percent, which is what the goal should be, Richel says. "It's just a good idea to have some money going into your future."

And while her number of students has quadrupled in the last year, it's hard to know how much of her advice students adopt, Richel says. "Nobody is ever going to balance their budget like I do. This is what I do. I wake up thinking about finances."

Super savers grow out of a variety of circumstances. Cole and her husband were a double-income family without children or a budget when they decided she would quit her job in client relations at a Seattle investment firm so she could be home once they had children.

Soon after that, they relocated to Moscow so he could go to school in geographic information systems, a decision that made watching their finances more important even though he is employed full time at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories in Pullman.

Around the time Kass Wilponen had her third child, she says she felt the Lord telling her to stop working even though her husband, who owns an insurance company, had an exceedingly small salary at the time.

The following month, she felt her family being called to tithe to their church. Two more children later, they still monitor every penny that leaves the household. "It was a lot of on-our-knees praying," Wilponen says of when they started.

James and Myrita Nelson are full-time UI students with three children ranging from 10 to 16 years old. Nelson learned how to watch dollars as a child when she and seven siblings depended on the disability checks of her blind mother, who couldn't work.

The secrets of the families are similar.

They thrive on doing research before they buy, purchasing products at deep discounts whether they're at national retailers, yard sales or thrift shops, finding things for free, accepting well-intentioned gifts from family or friends, creating do-it-yourself alternatives, doing without items they can't afford and giving back.

The only way to spot a good deal is to know prices, says Wilponen, who, like the Nelsons, can rattle off regular, sale and killer prices on dozens of items.

Take cereal. A 16-ounce box runs as much as $3 to $4. A good discount, frequently at Rosauers cereal sales, knocks the cost down to $1.99. And the cheapest she's found is in bulk at Winco in Moscow, where it's about $1.20 for 16 ounces.

But Wilponen, of Lewiston, who now works part time at her church, notes bulk purchases can backfire if a family doesn't consume the product before it spoils. She purchased Tupperware containers at a yard sale to keep cereal fresh.

The Nelsons shop Goodwill, sometimes more than once a day, and have learned that Moscow's location usually puts out new inventory at about 11 a.m. on Tuesdays -- a time the Nelsons believe allows the staff to sort through what was collected over the weekend.

The best deal Myrita Nelson ever landed was a makeup bag she purchased for $1.99 that contained a $50 bill. Nelson took the money back to the store, but the employees told her it would be impossible to trace its owner and she got to keep it.

Good shopping habits also involve strategy, especially with gas prices routinely tipping more than $2.50 per gallon, Wilponen says.

She's shifted from traveling from store to store to get the absolute lowest price to going to two or three places, which generally have the greatest concentration of good deals.

The same is true of yard sales. She sticks to ones in wealthier neighborhoods because usually the prices are every bit as low and the items are newer. She recently found clothing for her daughter at a yard sale in Diamond Lake north of Spokane. Each of the five pieces set her back only $1 and they still had tags.

A good price doesn't always mean something's a bargain. The members of the Nelson family in Moscow use TRESemme shampoo because they've found it is so rich one bottle lasts a lot longer than more expensive brands. Wilponen washes dishes with Dawn after discovering it went farther than a less-expensive brand.

Wilponen makes substitutions too. She doesn't buy Hamburger Helper because, by experimenting with spices, pasta, hamburger and a few vegetables, she's found combinations that her family likes just as much at a fraction of the price.

One of the surprises for all three families has been how readily available free things are. James Nelson was at a yard sale recently when a woman offered him an iPod for nothing. It didn't work. The only problem with the iPod, the Nelsons found, was the battery hadn't been charged, something that cost nothing to fix.

The Coles didn't have a vehicle large enough for themselves and their two children after their daughter was born three years ago, but they didn't replace their 1988 dented Toyota pickup truck, which had been paid off. They acquired a three-wheeled, double stroller that had good traction in the snow. They rented a car when they went on vacation.

"It was really easy," David Cole says of going without a car. "It might depend on what kind of town you live in, but Moscow is really easy to get around in."

It has only been in recent months that family friends gave them a vehicle, a Dodge Caravan with 100,000 miles on it.

All three families say accepting the generosity of others comes with an obligation to pass on what they can. The Nelsons gave away a 1988 Volvo that didn't work. It turned out the only problem was the car needed a battery, but they declined the offer to have it returned to them. The Volvo's new owner gave them free oil changes, but they moved to a different town before they had a chance to redeem any of them.

The lifestyle isn't for everyone. Spouses have to agree it's something they both want to do, says Caitlin Cole. "When this first happened, it was sort of like battle conditions. We had to team up."

They sat down, did a budget that entirely cut eating out at restaurants, buying new name-brand clothing, and going to salons for her nails and hair. Over time, she's adjusted as she realizes her lifestyle focuses more on relationships with others than material things, Cole says.

It also takes patience. "If we want tacos, we wait until hamburger goes on sale," Myrita Nelson says.

Wilponen is gradually making the decor in the rooms of her home adhere to certain themes, but the process is happening over years, instead of weeks or months.

Monitoring material cravings is important, too. The toughest time for Cole is when they travel and see commercials aired on television, which they don't have in their home.

That is part of what leaves Cole with a lingering question about what will happen when their income rises after her husband finishes his education. "We're hoping we haven't changed our lifestyle. Maybe you can do a follow-up and see if we've sold out."