This post is from staff writer Honey Smith.

On Saturday, Jake woke up restless. Despite the fact that it was 112 degrees outside (argh) he really wanted to leave the house. While I would have been fine staying in, I understood where he was coming from; Jake works from home and hadn’t left the house in at least a week.

“Where do you want to go?” I asked.

“Let’s see,” he replied, whipping out his phone. “I’ll just check my spam account and see what kind of deals we can get.”

The original purpose of the spam email account

I think most people these days have a spam email account just to make their lives easier. I still have the non-school email account with the silly name that I started in college because it seemed a shame to waste it.

These days, it seems like almost every company has a loyalty program where they email you special deals. So when every storefront started asking for an email address at the time of purchase, I started giving out my spam email. Jake has an email address that he uses for a similar purpose.

Having those emails go to a separate address spares me the aggravation of deleting a million emails a day. Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, it spares me the ego-depleting temptation of acting spontaneously because of a limited-time offer. While I do check the account occasionally, I do a lot less impulse-shopping due to the out of sight, out of mind factor.

The spam account and loyalty programs

As annoying as it is sometime to have to give out my personal contact information at every store, I can’t deny that I do tend to go to the same places regularly. So over time my spam email account has become part of my planning process. Importantly, however, I decide what I want to do and then seek out the best deal, rather than being brainwashed into something I haven’t budgeted for.

Examples of deals I have scored with this approach include 20 percent off at Goodwill on a monthly basis, a free bruschetta board at one of my favorite restaurants, and most recently, the free membership at LA Fitness that I mentioned in my summer plans post. Lots of restaurants will email you a coupon on your birthday or half-birthday.

On Saturday, Jake and I redeemed a deal for a free appetizer at California Pizza Kitchen and $20 in free game play with purchase of $20 in game play at Dave and Buster’s. We had a couple beers, shot some aliens, and redeemed some Dave and Buster’s tickets in their gift shop for some free candy and a toy for our dog. Not bad for a Saturday night!

The spam account and grocery shopping

That’s not the only use of my spam email account, however. I also use it to maximize grocery store purchases. I linked my grocery store rewards card accounts to my spam email account as well. If you haven’t done this, I highly recommend it. Each of the grocery stores I shop at regularly emails me a copy of their weekly flyer.

While these do come in the mail also, I find them easier to read online. Additionally, I don’t have to keep flyers around physically in my house if I have access via email. Finally, all the online flyers have a “make a list” feature where you click on the items you’re interested in. When the list of items you want to purchase is complete, you can either print it out or email it to yourself. This way, you’re saving money even before coupons enter the equation.

Like GRS staff writer April Dykman, I also struggle with coupon clipping. However, once I linked my grocery store loyalty card with my spam email address, I didn’t just get the weekly flyer. I also get emailed with reminders every time digital coupons are added to their online coupon bank. From there I just log in to my account and add every coupon that I (or Jake) might conceivably use. Then I can use the “make a list” feature to ensure that I remember to pick those items up.

While I don’t make money the way some of those extreme couponers do, I am able to easily maximize my coupon use with minimal effort. Works for me!

The spam account and group-deal sites

As has been pointed out before at GRS, it’s easy to get led down the garden path with some of the daily deal sites like Groupon and Living Social. I have plenty of friends who have been sucked in by offers of skydiving or horseback riding lessons that they never used. While I don’t have a history of getting into trouble with those sites, I did get far too excited when I found out about Restaurants.com, so I understand!

However, if you link your account to your spam email, you can avoid being constantly bombarded, while still remaining open to the possibility of something great. In addition to the run-of-the mill deals on yoga and dance classes (all of which I used, thank you very much!), I have also on occasion spotted something truly great.

For example, I think the best deals I ever found were $20 at Whole Foods and Amazon for only $10. While deals like that are rare, they do pop up, and when I spot the unicorn I will usually buy one as a “gift” for my husband to maximize the savings.

Do you strategize your spam?

My own spam philosophy is constantly evolving. Even though I use that specific email address every time I am asked for an email by a retailer, I don’t find everything useful. I probably log in to the account once per month to search for something and, while I’m there, delete what I am not interested in. Every six months or a year, I remove myself from the email lists of places that I find myself deleting consistently.

If I move, then sometimes I no longer have access to particular stores. It takes awhile for the spam email account to catch up. However, because I’m also always adding places (anytime I am asked for an email address), I can usually always find what I’m looking for — even if I don’t know what that something will be when I log in.

Do you have a spam email account? Do you use it strategically, or is it just a dumping ground for unwanted email?

GRS is committed to helping our readers save and achieve your financial goals.Savings interest rates may be low, but that’s all the more reason to shop for the best rate.Find the highest savings interest rate from Ally Bank, Capital One 360, Everbank, and more.

This post is from staff writer Kristin Wong.

When I think of lifestyle inflation, I think of going to my favorite sushi restaurant every weekend. I think of buying the pricey cashmere sweater I’ve been eyeing and then buying ten more expensive sweaters. I think of spending weekends on yachts and drinking champagne while a guy on a violin serenades me. Well, scratch that last one, because I get seasick, but yeah. I think of lifestyle inflation as being along those fancy lines.

But sometimes it isn’t fancy at all. Sometimes lifestyle inflation is just little things that add up. And sometimes, those little things aren’t even fun or enjoyable.

Here are some boring examples of my own lifestyle inflation.

Health insurance

If getting older isn’t depressing enough, when I turned 30 in April, my health insurance premium increased by $20 a month.

I’m joking about aging being depressing (bring it on), but the price hike was frustrating.

Rent

For Los Angeles, Brian and I pay a modest amount in rent, especially considering both our location and our view. So when the landlady told us our rent was increasing by three percent, I was disappointed, but I also knew it was still a good deal overall. Plus, the inflation was expected when our original lease expired.

But this three percent increase still equates to an extra $40 a month, or $20 each. Between this and my health insurance premium, my budget has now increased by $40 a month.

Business expenses

For my freelance work, I need to use a specific video-editing program, and that program costs $20 a month. Sure, I can write it off, but I’m still paying more than my budget has anticipated. And that budget is now at about $60 extra per month.

This expense was my light bulb moment.

Upon paying for it, I groaned, and then I thought, “Well, why else do I work hard for my money if not to be able to shrug off a measly twenty bucks a month?”

I stopped myself, realizing I’d used the same thought process about the health insurance and rent increase.

“Wait. That’s how lifestyle inflation creeps up on you!” I thought. “And it’s not even fun!”

Sure, I’m glad I have health insurance. But I wouldn’t say I’m enjoying it. I’m glad to have work that requires using that editing software. I wouldn’t say I use it for fun.

I guess sometimes an inflated lifestyle is simply accepting budget inflation without doing anything about it. And hey, that’s okay! Because it’s inevitable — prices go up, and there’s only so much we can do about that.

Also, lifestyle inflation gets a bad rap, but it’s why lots of us want to get rich in the first place. We want to be comfortable enough to not worry about a little inflation — things like a good insurance plan increasing by ten bucks a month. Lifestyle inflation isn’t just about having fun on yachts, it’s also about not fretting so much over inflation itself.

But I’m not quite there yet. I still have ambitious savings goals; I still have reasons for wanting to maintain my budget. And sure, I may not be able to help some areas of my life from getting more expensive, but I’ve been working on finding ways to maintain my overall budget. That means cutting back in other areas.

I haven’t been living like a pauper. Over the past year, I’ve deliberately given myself the financial elbowroom to enjoy some things, and that’s great. It falls in line with the Get Rich Slowly philosophy. But, for me, it’s time to bring it back a little bit. Simply put, I’m not ready for lifestyle inflation.

Earning more

Earning more is a necessary part of getting rich slowly; it’s not enough to just save. The formula works best when you earn more and maintain your same lifestyle. But earning more to catch up to a lifestyle that’s already increased feels like doing it backwards.

Just like it’s not enough to save without earning more, I don’t feel like it’s enough to just earn more and not save. Making more money is the obvious way to counteract my lifestyle inflation, but ideally, I’d like to deflate my lifestyle, too.

And there’s another hitch: I don’t have a lot of free time. I’m thankful that I have the option of taking on more work if I want it, but right now, my weekends are more precious, and I’d rather cut back on expenditures than cut back on that free time. So here are a couple of simple ways I’ve cut back to counteract that extra $60 a month.

Saving more

A couple of times now, I’ve started on a load of laundry only to realize I don’t have enough quarters to put them in the dryer. That means hang drying them on my deck. “What are you, a cavewoman?” a friend teased. But hang drying my laundry doesn’t take much more time and effort, and if I do it every time, it’s cheaper to the tune of about $10 a month. It’s a small amount, but it makes me feel a little bit better about that extra $60.

I’m sure at some point, I’ll go back to the luxurious convenience putting my clothes in the dryer. Probably in the wintertime, when it’s cold and I want a pile of something warm to jump into. And then, yes, my lifestyle will once again inflate by ten dollars a month. But at least that’ll be my own doing.

Lifestyle deflation

My main source of entertainment is going out to eat. I don’t know what it is; I just love it. I get more excited about the anticipation of restaurant food than most people do. When the waiter brings my plate, I literally applaud at the table. Yes, I realize dining out isn’t typically frugal, but this is my thing. I don’t go to concerts or the movies much. The large majority of my entertainment budget goes to sushi.

Brian and I typically go out to eat, just the two of us, on Friday nights, and it’s something I look forward to all week long. It celebrates our hard work during the week, and it’s also our date night. But if I want to deflate my lifestyle, this treat is going to have to be tweaked. If I stay home just one Friday night out of the month, I’ll save $30-$40.

Cutting back even just a little bit, I’m able to offset my lifestyle inflation by $50. Thus, my lifestyle has now only inflated by $10 a month. That’s $120 a year — still an increase, but better than $720.

I could probably cut back more, but at some point, it’s about balance. Yes, I want to save up, but I want to enjoy my financial freedom, too. Giving yourself some elbowroom often leads to lifestyle inflation, but I suppose that’s when you have to set a boundary and draw a line. Apparently, mine starts at $60 a month.

“So the point of this article is to air dry your laundry and not eat so much sushi?” Yep, pretty much. But the point is also that little things add up. And that can work just as well in your favor as it can against you.

A premium hike here and rent increase there can fatten your budget quite a bit without you even realizing it. But cutting back, even just a little bit, has the same effect.

GRS is committed to helping our readers save and achieve your financial goals.Savings interest rates may be low, but that’s all the more reason to shop for the best rate.Find the highest savings interest rate from Ally Bank, Capital One 360, Everbank, and more.

This post is from staff writer Sarah Gilbert.

I told the checker at the grocery co-op where I shop that I didn’t need a receipt. “I don’t want to keep track of how much I’m spending on my garden,” I told him. My modest cart had carrots and apples and popcorn — staples! — and tomato, lettuce, basil and lavender starts. The reason I don’t want to know: I’m worried it won’t pencil out.

If I had to guess, this year I’ve poured $500 in plants, seeds and compost-enriched dirt into my garden. Lots of it won’t yield much this year (every few years, when I have available money, I invest in perennial bushes and trees, like blueberries, apples and currants; this was one of those years), but then again I’ll probably get something like $200 or $300 worth of figs and raspberries alone. Those were planted years ago.

What I’m not so sure about is my vegetable garden. With several heirloom tomato plants producing 10 or 20 pounds of $4-per-pound tomatoes apiece and those very pricey herbs, I’m sure I’ll get a few hundred dollars’ worth of produce. I still am eating tomatoes I canned last year from my garden (and they’re absolutely amazing, very flavorful and pretty to boot). What’s more, I’m less likely to waste things like herbs and lettuce. Instead of buying a whole head or bunch from the farmer’s market, I can pick just what I need for dinner.

Note: I never count my “labor” as part of the cost of a garden. I enjoy working on the garden, even the weeding and the digging, and I think of it as a duty necessary for my health and well-being, like reading a book or taking a long shower or going on a run. If I make decisions which calculate the cost of my work into the equation, I feel like my life is right out of a science-fiction book: I’d be a perfectly efficient producer-consumer — and thoroughly dull.

Because I haven’t ever had the guts to keep track of my inputs — likely because so many of my inputs are wasted or get eaten by birds or transplanted badly and I end up feeling guilty — I don’t know for sure what my outlay is in a regular season, and how much I end up buying at the farmer’s market or the co-op.

Using a CSA

You know about CSAs, right? Community Supported Agriculture: pay up front at the beginning of the season and get a portion of the harvest each week, usually from June through October. They can be a fantastic way to get really high-quality produce that’s raised with organic principles by a local farmer (the holy grail for many of us) for a reasonable, and fixed, cost. Last year I used a CSA, and for about $550, I got everything from rosemary and thyme to tomatoes and plums. Our farmer had a big variety of harvest, so I might be using three pounds of potatoes one week, or a couple of small cantaloupes on another. I got a lot of lettuce.

I love lettuce and salads, but I have a confession to make: I’m terrible at using it. I almost always end up letting half of my planted lettuce go to seed. I get leaves for sandwiches and make about one or two salads per week, for myself; only two of my boys eat salad, and they don’t eat much. I loved getting herbs but I didn’t use them nearly at the rate I was getting them. Parsley was one of the CSA offerings almost every week; and parsley grows as-if-wild in my garden. I could open a parsley CSA all on my own. And I’m not a big tabbouleh-maker. I used it once or twice, as an afterthought.

There were plenty of other mishaps; I never ate any of the kohlrabi, because I was too busy to get creative and use it. One week my share got left in a cooler on my front porch (a borrowed cooler whose owner had forgotten to pick it up) and I didn’t realize until the gorgeous apples were the only thing not slimy and molded. I tried peeling and eating them, but the mold smell had soaked into the flesh.

I never got even half enough fruit; we eat a lot of fruit in my family, and I like to can and make fruit desserts like crumbles and pies. So many weeks I’d buy $30 or $40 in fruit in addition to the CSA delivery. (Our farmer would also let us purchase additional produce, like tomatoes or plums or walnuts, on some weeks, for a very good price, and I took advantage of this several times, too.)

In the end my great bargain, $40 or more of produce each week for about $25 per week cost, ended up not quite penciling out. I did eat a lot of great produce, and I loved my farmers so much I didn’t mind what ended up as a not-great financial arrangement for me.

Tracking my produce

Starting this year (this week!), about the same time most CSAs start doing drop offs, I’m going to track the produce I buy at the farmer’s market and the co-op. There are lots of things I don’t grow (or not very well, or not in sufficient quantity for my family). On Sunday, for instance, I bought:

• $4 in potatoes (I don’t want to dig potatoes until later)
• $3 in spring onions
• $3 in spinach (I forgot to plant any!)
• $2.50 in broccoli (my broccoli always ends up full of aphids)

With apples for my apple-crazed five-year-old, and some strawberries I plan to pick up Wednesday, I’ll probably spend about $25 in produce this week. My big goal this year is not to waste produce that I either buy or pick, and to do as good as job as I can of harvesting most of my ripe produce before the slugs get it.

Vegetable gardens have a variety of hard-to-quantify benefits

I also believe that productive and well-cared-for vegetable gardens have a lot of fringe benefits, from the global feel-good to the practical, like:

• Barter. My fig trees and raspberry trees, as I’ve mentioned, are prolific! I trade figs and raspberries for everything from use of friends’ cars to graphic design to bike maintenance.
• Home value. This is the most practical; especially here in Portland, the value of an established mix of perennials and cared-for vegetable garden space is pretty high. I am going to survey my real estate agent friends, but I’d guess $20,000 or more on the value of a home.
• Convenience. Going out to the garden to pick lettuce for salads or herbs for your marinade, well, that’s my definition of convenience food. Sometimes I am hungry for something sweet and I realize, oh yeah! and reach out and snack on raspberries. I make my own mint tea from the many descendants of the two plants I bought.
• Maintaining health of your ecosystem. My 10-year-old is sometimes a little afraid to walk through my garden because of the thousands of pollinators that are buzzing around. Lack of nutrition is a contributor most scientists who’ve studied bee colony collapse disorder agree upon; growing my variety of vegetables, fruits, herbs and beneficial weeds, like clover and borage and calendula, is a small measure to counter the disastrous trends.
• Well-being, environmental education, sense of self-worth. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: working in the garden feels good and keeps me emotionally and physically healthy. It gives me a literally hands-on method of teaching my kids about biology, the environment, the cycle of the seasons, and how to love good whole foods. It makes me feel that my work is having actual obvious benefits. It just makes me happy.

Do you think you spend too much on your vegetable garden, or do you think, like me, that there is no such thing?

This reader story is by a longtime GRS reader Sumitha from afineparent.com, a blog founded on the simple belief that “Good Parents Are Made, Not Born.”

Some reader stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success or failure. These stories feature folks with all levels of financial maturity and income. Want to submit your own reader story? Here’s how.

How much would you think it would cost to treat an ant bite?

Yes, an ant bite.

Nope, its not $100. It’s not even $1,000. How about $2,356?

On Easter Sunday, my husband and I got together with a bunch of friends and took the kids for the annual egg hunt at the neighborhood park. As the little ones were scrambling around for the eggs, we parents stood on the sidelines discussing their antics, the weather and the latest gossip. My husband, who is extremely allergic to ant bites, happened to be standing at the edge of an ant hill.

Suddenly, he started to itch all over and then right before our eyes, he began to inflate like a big red balloon. Considering that it was the Easter Sunday, we thought nothing would be open and rushed him to the closest emergency room. After a shot and an hour of observation, they sent him home, hale and healthy, to enjoy the rest of the weekend with our friends.

We thought nothing about it for a few weeks, until the bill arrived. When I opened the bill, I just about needed an emergency room. Since we have a high-deductible insurance plan, the entire portion of the bill was our responsibility!

Once I regained my bearings, I huffed and puffed — railed and ranted. Normally, after letting out the steam, I would have grudgingly paid the bill. But this happened just the month after I’d quit my job, and I was not going to spend a chunk of my savings on an ant bite. I don’t mind paying a doctor for a complicated procedure – they sure do earn their fees. But, this wasn’t brain surgery; it was an ant bite!

I sat on that bill for a couple of days until I calmed down a bit. And then one day after my husband left for work and my daughter was in school, I settled down in a sofa with my phone and the bill.

First, I called the billing phone number. Unfortunately, I ended up talking to a very unsympathetic lady. When I failed miserably to appeal to her sympathy, in frustration, I asked her if she could provide me the hospital’s direct number. She suggested that I talk to someone in their business office instead.

I was feeling quite hopeless already by the time I called the business office. This time, however, I got lucky and ended up talking to an extremely kind and sympathetic lady.

Did you even know that you could bargain down a medical bill?

I didn’t either. Here’s how our conversation went.

Me: <explaining our woe at length>

She: <listening patiently>

Me: So, is there anything you can do to help me out? I just can’t bring myself to pay $2,356 for an ant bite.

She: Well, I have to offer you the same thing that I offer our other customers. Will you be able to pay the bill if I extended the due date on your bill by 30 days?

Me: No, you don’t understand. It’s not that I can’t pay the bill, I just don’t want to. It does not seem right to pay thousands for an ant bite

She: <Still very patient, and talking in a slow conspirator voice> I understand, but I have to offer you the same thing that I offer our other customers. Now, would you be interested in delaying your bill by 30 days?

Me: <Sighing deeply> No.

She: How about if I offered to split it into six equal payments?

Me: <Starting to feel hopeless again> Please try to understand. It’s not that I cannot afford it. On a principle, I cannot bring myself to pay thousands of dollars for an ant bite.

She: <In the same, slow conspirator voice as before> Ma’am, I understand. But, I have to offer you the same thing that I offer our other customers. Now, would it help if we split your bill into no equal payments?

Me: No, thanks.

She: OK. How about if I offered you a 10 percent discount? Would you be able to pay the bill today? That would come up to $2,120.

Me: <Slowly catching on> No, thanks.

She: How about if I took off 20 percent? That would come up to $1,884. Would you be able to pay the bill today?

Me: You are very kind, but no, I still cannot pay that.

She: That is the most I am authorized to offer.

Me: <Sigh. Silence>

She: Do you mind if I put you on hold for a minute? Let me talk to my supervisor and see if there is something more we can do.

Me: Thank you very much! I will hold.

She: <After a short silence> Ma’am, my supervisor said we can offer you a 30 percent discount. That will bring your bill to $1,649.20. Is that something you can pay today?

Me: <Feeling like I’m in an episode of “Deal or No Deal”> Thanks, but I will pass.

She: <It’s easier now. She knows I’m onto the game.> How about 40 percent? That will come to $1,413.60.

Me: No, thanks.

She: I can offer you 50 percent off to bring your balance to $1,178.00. Will you be able to pay that today?

Me: No, thanks.

She: <In a soft voice signaling that the game is over> Ma’am, this really is the best we can offer.

Me: Thanks, I appreciate that you have been so kind. But I really don’t want to pay more than a thousand for an ant bite. Is there anything you can do to bring it to triple digits? Can you speak with your supervisor again?

She: I wish I could, but this is the most our department is allowed to offer. I could offer you 30 days to pay it or let you pay it in six equal payments, but that is as far as we can go.

Me: <Still not ready to give up> No, I don’t need extra time, I just need some more reduction in the bill. Put yourself in my spot: Would you be willing to pay $1,000-plus for an ant bite?

She: <In a very kind and gentle voice> I completely understand. But please understand that this is really the best we can do. There may be other means you could pursue…

Me: <I suspect she meant that I let it go to collections. I let out a deep sigh.> OK, thanks. Let me go ahead and take care of it then.

So, I ended up paying $1,178. It’s a lot more than what I would have liked to pay, but also a lot less than what I would have paid had I not picked up the phone and negotiated!

The adjusted medical bill - click to enlarge

Lessons learned from this experience:

1. Don’t rush to the emergency room if you can avoid it. I learned later that going to an urgent care facility, which is usually open on weekends, might have resulted in a much lower bill.
2. Medical bills are negotiable. Don’t just pay the bill if you feel that the services rendered do not justify it. Call up the billing number and ask to be connected to the business office and see if they can help you reduce the bill.
3. Be kind to the representative on the phone. I’ve recently been reading a lot of Dale Carnegie and Napoleon Hill’s books and so, I decided to let myself calm down before making the phone call and venting out my frustration. I suspect this helped persuade the lady on the other end to show me (despite my slowness in catching on!) that it’s possible to negotiate a medical bill.

How about you? What’s the worst medical bill you’ve had to pay? Did you try negotiating it down?