Guest Post by Jim Murphy
MD has posted articles on debt and self-reliance, in the past. Highway to Self Reliance and Get Out of Debt Once and for All, just to name a couple. For things to really sink in, I am the kind of person who benefits from having details presented to me in black and white. Give me the facts and hard numbers. Show me the money.
Record foreclosures are expected this coming year and property values will likely take another dip. We have already been informed at work that our contribution to our medical insurance each week is going up 17% starting in February ( I am still grateful to have it). We will not be receiving a pay increase to offset the costs (not that anyone really thought that would happen). We can already see inflated prices at the grocery stores and don’t know where prices will peak. They say gasoline may hit $5.00 a gallon by the end of the year, who really knows.
Highly unlikely that any ones job will provide cost of living increases to keep pace with all of this. These financial demands are going to put increased pressure on people’s budgets (that are already under tremendous strain) and that is the reason that I’m submitting this post. I’m sure many will make it through without any problems but for those of us with a “humble” existence (which I wouldn’t trade for anything), some shared information could make a bumpy road a little bit smoother and may help with the monthly prepping budget.
When my wife and I got married in 1988, we had a 5 year plan to finance a home and start a family. We lived 5 years at an apartment, building good credit, both of us working as much overtime as we could possibly get, and saving every penny we could get a hold of. At the end of those 5 years we had a nice little nest egg.
At the time in 1993 (prior to the housing bubble), it was easy to find homes in every price range. We settled on a 3 bedroom ranch with one bathroom on the outside of town. A 20% down payment locked in the low-interest rate we wanted on a 15 year mortgage. Our modest choice left us with money still in the savings account and allowed my wife to be a “stay at home Mom” while we started our family, which is exactly what we wanted. At least we started off on the right foot which probably saved a ton of “heartache” later on.
Both my wife and I come from very humble upbringings and know the value of a dollar. I can’t describe what happened over the years, however, there was some sort of sleeping at the controls that took place. Maybe sleep deprivation from when the kids were little, I don’t know. I blame myself for much of it. My head was buried deep in my hind end. I simply wasn’t evolving with the changing situation from year to year.
Going from cash banked and a good handle on finances to several thousand in credit card debt in 11 years time, with 3 children, happened just slowly enough, I didn’t notice it unfolding. 4 years left on our mortgage, car payments, and all the normal monthly expenses (utilities, food, etc), we suddenly had a financial “panic attack” and felt the urgency to try to address the situation we found ourselves in.
I realize there are a lot of people who incurred 10 or 100 times the debt we did, and would say, “I wish I ONLY had $6,000 in credit card debt. This same story can happen at every level of income and I’m sure it does. I realize every ones story and income are different and I’m just passing along our personal experience. Our story is not nearly as extreme as some but as my Dad says, “ $1.00 is a lot of money when you need it and don’t have it”. I also want to mention that had my wife and I NOT spent those first 5 years of our marriage doing what we did, (saving money for a down payment and going with a modest home) it would have been worse, much worse. I’m truly convinced of that. One pearl of wisdom I will always remind my kids of, SAVE YOUR MONEY.
In hindsight, our financial slide was having enough money to pay for all monthly expenses/wants/needs BUT having ZERO extra cash at the end of each month. Then charging our Christmases on plastic and just paying the minimum payment over the next year. Repeating this same cycle for several years. The previous year was not paid for yet, and we were charging the next one. Doing so unnecessarily, that’s what really sucked in our case.
Bringing everything to light, we sat down and discussed / penciled out what we could completely do without or reduce the monthly expense of. The first spot light fell on me. I was a cigarette smoker for 24 years of my life. At the time, smoking 5 cartons a month. When I quit smoking, cartons were $40.00. For years I would say, “when we get the house, I will quit.
When our first-born comes, I will quit. When I turn 40, I will quit.” Hadn’t happened yet. With $200 out the door each month and no benefit at all to the rest of the family, I finally got it. It took 12 weeks (3 months) for me to quit so the savings was not immediate. I used the nicotine lozenges and they were just about the same price as a carton of cigarettes. However, they worked for me. After looking back, what I was spending on cigarettes each year could have easily paid for each Christmas and still had money left over.
Also, by being a smoker, my health insurance premiums at work and my life insurance premium at home cost quite a bit more than a non-smoker. About double.
elt2jv made mention in a previous post (Stretching Your Resources in Uncertain Times) about not dining out. Most eateries in our area are about $12.00 to $20.00 a head now. I’m not talking about fast food places. We ate out every Friday night. At that time it cost about $10.00 a head, times 5 of us, times 4 times a month= $200.00 a month.
Just by kicking a bad habit (one that I happened to really enjoyed) and not eating out, we had $400.00 a month to put towards paying off our credit card debt. The misappropriation of funds was what put us in our pickle. The money was there, it was just being used in one area when it should have been going somewhere else. Simple elementary school math skills can either be your best friend or mortal enemy.
We have experienced it a little in each direction. Financial discipline was a lost art that was quickly being rediscovered. UNTIL I SAW THESE NUMBERS ON PAPER, I just wasn’t thinking about it.
Cancelled our cable TV for 24 months. At that time, our cable bill was $54.00 a month.
We destroyed our gas charge cards and began paying cash for our gasoline. Easier to see the cost each week when the cash is actually coming out of your pocket at each refueling. Creating more efficient driving habits with our 2 vehicles and traveling less, put another $25.00 or so a month towards our debt .
MD just covered this one with his “Why aren’t you using Coupons” post, but I still think it’s still worth mentioning. After our mortgage payment, FOOD was the SECOND LARGEST MONTHLY EXPENSE. With 3 kids to look after, a household to run, my wife wasn’t really in the mood to check all the local sales and clip coupons. We worked together on this area and saved on average another $50.00 a month.
Years later, I found out from MD on this website how to start a pantry with $10.00. We put a much higher priority on trying to be more self-sufficient after the fall of 2008. By putting forth the effort to build a significant pantry, having the luxury to wait until your brands are on sale to buy and using coupons, takes that $50.00 a month savings beyond that. Easily $100.00 a month and better at times.
Not counting quitting smoking (did I mention how much I actually enjoyed smoking?), if we just count eliminating dining out ($200.00), cable TV ($54.00), going a little easier on gasoline consumption ($25.00) and grocery savings ($50.00).That’s $329.00 A MONTH of EXISTING FUNDS to either pay down debt, acquire more preps or just save for a rainy day/ big-ticket item (used vehicle, generator, personal protection, etc.). Our actual total was $529.00 A MONTH, once I quit smoking. How did I not see this sooner? Oh yeah I remember, head firmly planted up hind end. All that credit card debt should have never happened. The money was here every month.
After making that discovery, one can only imagine the anguish of mailing out the checks each month to finally put that debt to rest. No one but myself to blame for the major financial blunder. By going the route we did, we 1.) paid our credit cards off in 2 years time, 2.) paid cash for Christmases, 3.) put a “little” cash away, AND maintained our credit rating all in that same period. Since then, we have taken giant steps to preserve our simple way of life. One other discovery, with property taxes, vehicles, utilities, food, clothing, medical expenses, etc., you are NEVER TRULY DEBT FREE. However, without a few dark clouds hanging over head, prepping is a bit easier and life is less stressed.
We have found excellent quality used furniture for sale through the local newspaper. Call for more info and if it sounds like something that might work (color, size, etc.), go look. Found a few nice pieces this way, cheap too. I’ve come to find out older couples downsizing because the kids are grown and gone, have the nicest stuff and are usually very reasonable. Same for their used vehicles. Most take good care of their vehicles and are reasonable about a price when it comes time to sell.
I have NEVER purchased a NEW car or truck. Let the original owner take the BIG hit on vehicle depreciation. I will roll the dice on a used vehicle purchase through a private owner any day of the week rather than try to purchase a used vehicle off a lot. Also, a local credit union here offers lower interest rates on used car loans than the dealers and local banks.
MD has mentioned the importance of not putting yourself in further debt when you are prepping. I believe most of the readers are already as financially lean as can be, a great pool of knowledge. For the rest of us, HOW MUCH CURRENT INCOME COULD YOU FREE UP A MONTH IF YOU REALLY HAD TO? Until I actually had the hard numbers in writing, in front of my face, I simply never thought about it.
What can and can’t be eliminated in your monthly expenses? And if it can’t be eliminated, how can you reduce the monthly cost of it? Cable TV, internet provider, insurances, or ANYTHING ELSE you can think of. Who provides a quality service/product for the least amount of money? GIVE US SOME HARD DOLLAR AMOUNTS. SHOW US THE MONEY! Also, sharing your stories of how you are handling/have handled your debt, could be enlightening to many and greatly appreciated.
I am interested in anything you could possibly share on these subjects. Many, many thanks to you, MD, for the opportunity to share our personal experience and ask these questions of your readers.
{ 97 comments }
Your post hits right at home. I did the same thing and could not believe how much money I could save. I think a took it one step further. You know when you let the shower run in the morning to get the water to warm up? I put a bucket under the tap to catch the water and then flush the toilets with it. I actually tried shutting the water off on two of our toilets and flushed with shower and rain water to see what would happen. It cut our water bill in half. We stopped our garbage pickup. We now strictly recycle, compost kitche waste and only generate half a kitchen bag of garbage a week. This goes in the dumpster where my wife works. ( we asked permission first) We only do full loads of wash. We don’t stand in front of the refrigerator deciding what we want to get out. We put every appliance with a clock on an on and off switch. Once you get in the habit of cutting costs you are astounded at why you didn’t see these things before.
Great Post
MBrim,
Using rain water to flush toilets is an idea I am going to file away. If a situation ever arose where our running water supply was interrupted, that is a brilliant solution for flushing the toilet and something I may not have thought of on my own.
Jim, what a great, honest post. Some years ago, we found ourselves in exactly the same situation, only we were actually short on our budget by £3 per week. That’s how our business started, we were looking for a way to earn that extra money, and we started selling some ripstop fabric we bought at a boot sale. £2.50 worth of fabric (5 metres) sold for £17.50 on eBay. The £2.50 was repaid, we went back and spent the £15 on more fabric, which netted us £45. The rest, as they say, is history. We now have a business which supports a family of three, with a 300-product range to choose from. Better still, if the SHTF, the stock will come in very handy indeed.
All our debts are repaid, and I learnt my lesson. Never again.
Luddite Jean,
There are some people in this world that can handle anything life throws at them. I see you as this type of person.
Our church is a great source that many use to get to a debt free life. The Financial Peace University (available nation wide see Dave Ramsey) is offered to guide and encourage anyone who wants to be debt free. If you follow the plan it works! We also participate in a food distribution program (based in S CA) where anyone can purchase a frozen box of food (several varieties of boxes offered) for $32 and receive $65 to $100 in really good — mostly name brands — food to stretch their budget. I guess the point is that there are resources available and you might want to seek them out.
Dave Ramsey rocks! His ideas DO work.
Anyone living in the south might check out Angel Food Ministries online which has a similar program. Anyone can order these boxes of food once a month and go pick it up on a scheduled day. Great post Jim, thanks for sharing.
SW
He really does. I listen to him on the radio everyday.
In 2008 we halted our lavish lifestyle and reigned everything in. We spent every evening watching Dave Ramsey’s show for ideas. We sold a lot of useless/vanity stuff (lake house, boat, luxury SUV, etc) and then focused on the few remaining bills. We are debt free as of a year and half ago (except our mortgage).
Here’s a bit of what we cut:
1. Stopped eating out 4-5 times/week. When we do eat out – now about once a week – we use coupons & get water to drink
2. Shop the supermarket sales & buy in bulk the items we frequently use
3. Combined our cable, internet & phone & saved about $50/month
4. Turned down the thermostat in winter and turned it up in summer. Just a few degrees
5. We only run the pool pump 1/3 of the day instead of most of the day
6. Close blinds in summer to keep sun heat out & open in winter to let it in
7. Shopped around for better insurance rates
8. Challenged the county on our property assessment & saved a bundle in property taxes when they adjusted it
9. Put our teenage daughter on a strict budget & told her to work if she needs more than we can provide (she is fantasitic & made a great adjustment)
10. Shopped around different banks & found one paying decent interest rates on checking & savings accounts
11. We don’t impulse buy anymore. We carefully consider each & every item we buy. Needs vs Wants.
12. Combined trips to save gas.
Now if we could only sell the darn house! It’s dropped about $150K in value since 2008. Probably will drop more from all the news I’m seeing about foreclosures. I guess we’ll just ride it out and see what happens.
Great list. Number 11 is major.
Good post! I wish the people in government would follow “simple elementary math.” ;-)
I got a “less water” (0.9/1.8 liter) flush toilet. For any job – you flush it as needed.
Low cost, low flow shower head plus shutoff valve allow me to save on water and hot water.
New “high efficiency” hot water tank to replace the 45 year old (the last owner of the house replaced the sacrificial anode(s) ) hot water tank. I thought about “tankless” but, having 40 gal of water to spare for “survival” purposes was a higher priority. Close proximity of shower and water tank does not give more then 1 quarts of cold water.
I save money by buying bulk food and making my own meals, I’ll have some left over and save it for another day. Put in a garden to convert 1 dollar worth of seeds into hundreds in food.
Awesome, Jim.
I’m kind of in the transition period now, much of it thanks to my wife. We rent in Canada, now, instead of buying. Too pricy here- more expensive than even in the States at its peak. Saves us, in our neighbourhood, over two grand per month renting our house, versus buying the same house.
(saving rent vs own, 2000.00 p/mo).
I’ve parked the truck. We both can bike commute- my wife is 18km round trip (11 miles, or so) and mine is about 28km round trip. Figured it saves us over 70.00 per week (350.00 per month) in gasoline.
(savings commute 350.00 p/mo)
No TV. No out to eat, though we enjoy pizza Wednesday’s twice a month ;0). Neither of us smoke, but I enjoy a beer every night- which does add up.
(beer cost 48.00 p/mo… true cost of having a beer after a long workday… you know where I’ m going with this ;0)
Because we both work in Forestry/Oil, and because I mostly run saw (my wife being the brains behind the operation), we get as much wood as we can handle, and can even bring “cords of wood gifts” to our like-minded friends. Use company trucks, when we go in the field, so no wear and tear…
(saving wood appx 500.00 per year. Being generous, of course, in that it is only that pricey if you’re burning it a lot, and having it delivered to the house)
(ah, but utilities savings…. don’t know)
Oh, and there’s a Canadian Guy kevinkossowan.com who gives some really good culinary tips, frugality and the like, and has some really neat construction projects (namely outdoor wood-fired stove). We’ve slashed food costs by buying from local farms, stocking the pantry… Wife is crunching the numbers on this stuff…
Savings from garden for fresh vegetables, local farms…etc…
100.00 per mo.
Anyway, these are approximates. It’s fun having less debt, and being able to put your money into more stable things. Oh, and I agree with the “new vehicle insanity”. Finally bought a new truck, despite one of my good friends warning about buying new vehicles. Paid it off, with much pain, and have only just started NOT hating it.
Debt = Enslavement. The financiers of this world are certainly getting uber-rich on the enslavement of the blue collar.
Would it be rude? or can I ask were in Canada you are, even if just in the general province.. I am currently in ontario, but was born and raised alberta and then followed the work with hubby for a number of years into the north NWT and Nunvut before we got transferred to ontario.. I am trying to figure out where it would cost that much to rent a house?
Good for you on all the different savings you have come up with.
Edmonton, Alberta. It took us one concerted day of looking, to find a nice place, garage, big yard, all hardwood-floors and old wood trim. Near U of A. Grand a month, and the landlord is excellent. It seems housing, here in Alberta, is taking a dive. Scarily like the US. Don’t understand it- we’ve got lots jobs…
The savings are my wife’s ideas, mostly. Her discipline and stick-to-it-iveness. I was one of those obnoxious riggers, for awhile, but the downturn showed me how silly (re:a**hole) I’d become.
Thanks for getting back to me, I wondered when you talked about Kevin kossowan, if you were in that general area, he does have great info on his site that is for sure.
I know what you mean about it having gone a bit over the top for a while in the boom, I was hearing stories about some of the housing costs from family, it was getting on the crazy side, and now so many of the folks in my younger brothers age(ten years younger) who just had to have that new big house are starting to lose them, Don’t know what they were thinking, but they are paying for it now.
Pass on my Kodo’s to your wife for all her hard work and have a great night..
Phinny,
Those are impressive numbers!
That’s what I’m looking for. Show the actual dollar amounts saved.
It really opens the eyes.
20 years ago,my wife and i both quit smoking. we where astounded at the extra money we had every month. recently i became an electricity natzi. the savings on our electricity bill was substantial as well. a simple thing like cutting the heat down to 60 at night and using an extra blanket makes a big differance in how fast the meter clicks off those killowatt hours consumed.my wife has worked on her cooking .she has been so used to cooking for a small army that when it came down to just her and i in the house that she continued to cook army sized meals. she has readjusted cooking to accomodate 2 people and the amount of food we waste is nearly nill.we are down to one vehicle now so insurance is half what it used to be. all this saving couldnt have happened at a better time. my trucking company (me,my wife,one truck) has generated less net income in the last two years than any year in the last 20 that weve been in business.the savings and cutbacks weve made at home have helped us weather the extreme increase in the cost of conducting business ,until we can slowly nudge up the rates we charge customers.great, thought provoking post. thanks !
I am an electric nazi at times, too. Following kids around turning things off as I go. We replaced all our bulbs with CFL’s to some mixed results. Waiting for the LED’s to get a little cheaper. What really ticks me off is when the electric company does an “estimatated” bill and charges you 3 times your normal usage.
That should be looked into. What a rip-off.
Call the electric company when they do that. They will lower it to what you’re willing to pay. At least ours does.
God bless,
Bonnie
Opportunity Farm
Eastern WA
Bonnie,
We’ve tried that and they won’t budge. We usually get two of those a year, one during the peak heating season and one during the peak cooling season.
We used to have that as well but now in our province they have installed new meters, and they get steady feedback on the system, so you only get charged what you use, no more averages and no more sending folks out to read the meter, its all online, they did it, so that they can charge a different rate depending on when you use the energy, we have a peek rate, a med rate an a low rate, and its changes thoughout the day and the time of year.
Good post. Most all of us have all been there. We paid off the farm about a decade ago due in part to being laid off from a job of 16 years. I was working again within 5 weeks, and the rather large severance check finally killed off the last of the mortgage. We could have purchased a new car, taken a vacation, etc; but being paid off is a wonderful feeling
I can sum up the article in a few sentences. Divide your expenses into Wants and Needs. Then determine which of the wants are worth what they cost. Even the needs can sometimes be lowered with store brands, coupons, and gently used articles. Keep track of everything. I use Quicken to manage all of our expenses and probably have more categories for expenses than I need; however, at any point in time I can tell where the money has been going, and where to make adjustments in the budget if required. You can’t cut down the expenses when you don’t know where the money goes.
OhioPrepper,
Excellent point. As I’ve stated, having hard numbers waived in front of my face spoke volumes. We “hear ” we can save if we do this or do that but when you attach “real numbers” to things, it really opens the eyes. Your second paragraph should be required reading to High School kids before they graduate.
This has been my way of life for a long time. Was raised in a family that lived under the poverty line, but we never knew it. 13 members in our family, I thought everyone had chickens and rabbits like us. It’s all about your expectation in life and your willingness not to be tied to the ridiculous luxuriant lifestyle of modern America. We all learned to shoot and clean animals at 11 years old. We practiced weekly with 22′s and the gun safe was never locked. To quote my deceased old man “Man up! Live life without a silver spoon, cause no ones gonna wipe your ass without telling you when and how you can crap.”
All I can share is that true self-sustainability and a measure of self-reliance will only be had by becoming a producer and not a consumer.
The times we live in are in many ways similar to the War for Independence era. At that point in our history, the money was no good (hence the saying “Not worth a Continental ”
and very few people had “income” (the Continental Army was seldom paid and paid late). They made do. Women stopped buying all kinds of things – tea,sugar, silk, china, and hairpins are the ones that come to mind at present.
Here’ a few suggestions to help with household economies:
Throw out your TV. TV and corporate media drives consumerism. If it’s on TV you don’t need it.
Learn to cook from scratch and ever eat out. Why pay for what you can do for yourself? Carry your lunch- that’s what leftover are for.
If you live in a cold climate unplug the fridge & put the stuff out in a box somewhere cold.
Turn off the hot water tank -it’s a luxury. Make sure your tank is insulated and plan ahead for hot water usage.People are spoiled with hot water and don’t realize that they are living the way kings & queens used to.
Put on some clothes & turn the heat back to 50F. That’s what wool sweaters and socks are for. If you are cold at 50F – stop sitting around and get moving.
Ditch the dryer. Hang up your clothes on a clothesline or drying rack.
Get off the drugs. Sure some people need certain prescription drugs, but you’d be shocked at many people take drugs just because the doc
(who gets a kick back & has wall to wall drug reps in the waiting room)
wrote a prescription. How many people in this country actually need statin drug, blood pressure drugs or drugs for diabetes? Sure some people are really sick – but more people are really fat and lazy. If some people would quit eating sugar, white flour and carbs and get an hour of serious walking in every day they could ditch their Big Pharma habit. Street drugs go without saying.
If it comes in a package, box or jar – you don’t need it.
L
earn to sew,knit,garden,can and a 100 other things that will make you a producer and not a consumer.
Good luck :-)
All I can share is that true self-sustainability and a measure of self-reliance will only be had by becoming a producer and not a consumer.
The times we live in are in many ways similar to the War for Independence era. At that point in our history, the money was no good (hence the saying “Not worth a Continental ”
and very few people had “income” (the Continental Army was seldom paid and paid late). They made do. Women stopped buying all kinds of things – tea,sugar, silk, china, and hairpins are the ones that come to mind at present.
Here’ a few suggestions to help with household economies:
Throw out your TV. TV and corporate media drives consumerism. If it’s on TV you don’t need it.
Learn to cook from scratch and ever eat out. Why pay for what you can do for yourself? Carry your lunch- that’s what leftover are for.
If you live in a cold climate unplug the fridge & put the stuff out in a box somewhere cold.
Turn off the hot water tank -it’s a luxury. Make sure your tank is insulated and plan ahead for hot water usage.People are spoiled with hot water and don’t realize that they are living the way kings & queens used to.
Put on some clothes & turn the heat back to 50F. That’s what wool sweaters and socks are for. If you are cold at 50F – stop sitting around and get moving.
Ditch the dryer. Hang up your clothes on a clothesline or drying rack.
Get off the drugs. Sure some people need certain prescription drugs, but you’d be shocked at many people take drugs just because the doc
(who gets a kick back & has wall to wall drug reps in the waiting room)
wrote a prescription. How many people in this country actually need statin drug, blood pressure drugs or drugs for diabetes? Sure some people are really sick – but more people are really fat and lazy. If some people would quit eating sugar, white flour and carbs and get an hour of serious walking in every day they could ditch their Big Pharma habit. Street drugs go without saying.
If it comes in a package, box or jar – you don’t need it.
Learn to sew,knit,garden,can and a 100 other things that will make you a producer and not a consumer.
Good luck :-)
“Get off the drugs. ”
Amen! Do some research on your prescriptions. I found out that one I’ve been on for 10 years is only supposed to be used for a few months. I’m weaned myself down to a 1/4 dose & hope to go off that soon. I’m doing just fine without it. Actually, I’m doing better without it than I did on it!
For drugs you really need, check out Wal-Mart. For many reasons they are not my favorite store, but where else can you get a prescription filled for $4/month? For those of us without insurance, it can be a lifesaver.
It was a $2000 credit card bill that woke up my husband & me more than 20 years ago. Got rid of ALL credit cards & got that sucker paid off in a hurry. Quit smoking nearly 20 years ago, paid the house off, & learned to do a lot of things myself.
Our only expensive vices are books (what a wonderful addiction!) & occasionally eating out. That is something that pleases my husband. He works so hard around the “farm” that he deserves some fun things once in a while.
Walgreens has a similar prescription program. I use both Wal-Mart and Walgreens because they have different formularies and between them I can get most of my medications as generics.
Granny Miller, you sound a lot like my granny. But I ain’t giving up my hot water….no way, no how. Short of my granny cutting a hickory, that is!
My family saves money in a couple of ways.
Unplugging appliances and electronics you are not using can cut your electric bill down a lot. I think its called phantom power loss. Someone makes power strips that combat phantom power loss, but you will have to buy it, when you could just unplug it. I think unplugging the dryer makes a big difference, but at the same time, you could just hang your clothes out to dry- weather permitting. Some people claim that the positive ions produced by the dryer can make you depressed when you wear the clothes. Hang drying clothes in a breeze creates negative ions, which make you happy. Please feel free to inform me if I have fallen victim to a myth or if there is any real science behind this.
Keeping your refrigerator full cuts down on electricity. I’ve heard of stuffing it with newspaper to fill in the empty spaces, but have not tryed it yet. When we go out of town, however, I do fill it up with things from the pantry.
Wash your clothes in cold water. Don’t use a lot of detergent.
We don’t watch T.V. and one of our neighbors has their internet available for whoever wants to use it. One of the few luxuries of apartment living. We don’t smoke (anything). I guess we could quit drinking the occasional beer and eating candybars, but we still want to live a little. Everyone’s financial position is situational and you have to decide for yourself where you want to cut corners and where you want to enjoy a few luxuries.
Now I know why it feels so good to put on clothes that have been line dried. I never heard that before. I dry everything except socks on the line. Maybe I should do those also.
You have some good ideas there.
Judith – if you get sock stretchers then they don’t dry four sized to small. When dry, peel them off the stretchers and when you fold them you soften them up. They last longer that way too/
you may be onto something with those positive/negative ions theory. i myself have made a recent discovery about demons that live in my closet. whem i hang clothes up in there,the demons immediately go to work sewing them to make them tighter and tighter. some people refer to these demons as “calories” but i have discovered the truth and found this to be a perfect time to share that info.
We have always lived below our income. No matter how much we made. I personally don’t think it is possible to still live this way.
I don’t know about anywhere else, but rent is just too darn high in Ca.
When we first got married I got a job with a Vet in the country that provided housing, utilities and phone plus a salary. We were able to save almost all of DH salary. We just didn’t have the expenses then that there are now.
Because I did live frugally all those years, actually I don’t really have to now. We both quit smoking 20 years ago and what would have been spent on smokes now is spent on books, cable, internet and dvds.
We do not travel at all. Got rid of the second truck years ago. One of the biggest expenses we have is water. Unfortunately, my well is not located on the property where I have my garden.
With the way they are devaluing the dollar, I don’t even know if saving makes sense anymore. Save some in dollars and some in gold and silver and supplies I guess. I wouldn’t have a clue how to advise any young person now days.
Save some and instead of a house buy a piece of land in the country where you can pitch a tent if you have to. Things are falling apart rapidly and the old rules no longer apply.
Judith, I do concur that things are falling fast. I went to food distribution yesterday and we are down to about half of what we were getting just a month ago. They told us that there just is not as much available. (ie. More people in trouble).
This is a very good article, but about 10 years too late for me. I am living with all my mistakes and the fact that my DH has been out of work for three years, but does manage to get a few odd jobs which are basically the only money we have. My SS pays all the regular bills and that is about it. In spite of this, we are okay, just learned to live with a lot less. Got rid of the TV, and trash pickup last year. Basic living, is basic living.
Your fiscal discipline is admirable. Not an easy thing to do.
I don’t know where the dollar is going, we save our cash for short term goals and pay cash for the purchases. If the dollar tanks, we are all in the same boat. I try not to worry until it is time to worry.
Okay, I am going to bring up a controversial way to save money, don’t get married. I am a divorced woman with 2 kids who receives a substancial amount of child support but I also have a job that does not pay that much. Therefore, my earned income falls below the poverty level (the child support is not counted towards earned income), so I qualify for the earned income tax credit and I essentially pay no taxes and get additional money from the government at tax time. Our socialist government was set up to benefit poor people this way.
Since my boyfriend does not have any kids, we have the house under his name only so he can take all the mortgage interest deductions and he takes any charitable deductions for our donations which bring down his tax rate tremendously.
If we were married however, we would be paying a lot more taxes and my kids would not be eligible for need based scholarships when they get to college.
wow!now that is an honorable way to live. i can only hope that your children understand that your teaching them to manipulate a broken system to make it work in your favor.the living together thing,so you can keep more money in your pocket? brilliant! i see no reason why you would post anonomously.your children should be thankful for a mother with such uncredible moral fiber.this could only be a better story if you where working,getting a “substantial”amount of child support,and getting welfare and food stamps. maybe you could work on that and report back?the little voice in my head is saying DONT POST,DONT POST,DONT POST!!!!! i never listen.
My husband & I are married but told the kids as soon as they could understand that they would have to find their own way to pay for college, as we didn’t (& still don’t) have the money for it. The oldest did 2 years of college with Running Start (doubles up last 2 years of high school & first 2 years of college). She chose not to continue her formal education when she was done with that.
Kid #2 didn’t want to do Running Start, but is getting Pell grants. They pay for everything. He’s only planning on staying at the community college until he gets into the Air Force. Then after training he will continue his studies. My dh got Pell grants years ago for part of his university studies.
Living together without being married is not the only solution.
B. C. I remember recently when diesle was so expensive alot of truckers suffered.The new diesl regs we have alot of truckers are selling older but nice trucks cheap beacus they are not retrofitting to our enviermental nazi bastards mandates. Mandates from unelected officals who never ran a lemonaide stand.Steve
Bonnie. I told my kids if they want to go to colleg do 2 things. #1 get good grades. #2 apply for grants. They were both in the gifted program at school then we homes chooled them. Niether of them turned out to be serial killers. Steve
My kids were homeschooled, too, until they hit college. My son found out the Air Force doesn’t accept home school diplomas (his was from the local public school but was from the home-link program) so he needed to get college credits to show his smarts.
Neither of ours are serial killers, either. Pretty good kids, in fact! :~)
God bless,
Bonnie
Opportunity Farm
Eastern WA
Controversial is right. Don’t get married and then put the burden on others. I can’t say I like the burden you put on taxpayers. Just because a government handout is available doesn’t mean you should take it. We’re paying for your lifestyle, whatever that may be. We are posting here, telling you how we have to scrimp and save to get by and you tell us you’re using the system to benefit yourself. Frankly, madame, that doesn’t wash with me. Why should I pay for your mistakes?
There are 2 outrages with this story.
First that the govt is set up to allow people to cheat the system this way. Second that there are so many who do it.
However, 90% of the blame I assign to our miserable & virtually useless govt. We simply must stop this madness and FORCE people to fend for themselves. End Entitlements!
“I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it.” ~Benjamin Franklin~
It’s the same lunacy that caused the mortgage crisis. Had the Government not guaranteed loans to people who couldn’t afford them, then:
1. Banks couldn’t have made the loans.
2. Banks couldn’t have created MBS(mortgage backed securities), which couldn’t have been sold for investment vehicles.
3. Prices would not have increased to the point of causing a bubble.
4. The financial crisis either wouldn’t have occurred, or it would have been nothing but a normal recession.
Now, before I get slammed, I have no sympathy for the too big to fail banks in all this. They acted shabbily, and cheated many people, but..none of this would have been possible had the government left the market alone, both in requiring banks to make bad loans, and allowing banks to make loans with little or no down payments.
This same manipulation is presently playing out in the food markets, where the government is subsidizing ethanol production. Ethanol production is taking corn out of the food market, which causes food and meat prices to go up, is bad for automobiles, gets worse mileage than gasoline, uses resources to produce, and creates another bubble that will burst as soon as the subsidies are gone. Putting more people out of work. It’s crazy.
No slams here. Just an AMEN!!
And IMHO, using a food crop for fuel is insane. If we really need Ethanol, then it could be more cheaply made from sugar beets or switch grass. Unfortunately, ADM only deals in corn, and crony capitalism seems to be the norm nowadays.
templar knight,
There is still a lot of BS going on. Look at the employment numbers, consumer spending and so on and ask yourself,
“What is driving the stock market up?” All smoke and mirrors
as far as I am concerned. Housing prices are still inflated (if you’re a buyer) and now the trend is moving towards cranking the price to rent since the housing market is dead. Selling the country down the river with the “global economy” means we must compete with the poorest people in the world. Are my kids going to experience a lower quality of life than my generation or will this play itself out and prosperity return?
Wow- I have to question the judgment of someone who would suggest the earned income credit as a way to survive. This is just another government handout for those who want another”gimme”. Don’t expect praise from those of us who are working hard only to have our hard earned money go to those of you who won’t step up to the plate.
As far as your choice to live with your BF in the same house as your children again for “financial” reasons- isn’t that the same thing welfare queens do? Great example for future generations, morality issues aside. Really leading by example (sarcasm).
I agree 100 % !!!!!!!!!
My sad story goes like this, my first wife and I lived well within our means and saved money. She passed away at 37 years old with heart trouble and I remarried 2.5 years later. I got a teenager in the deal. Things went well for 8 years, paid for the girl’s schooling without credit she marries and moves away. Number 2 gets kind of distant and I think its just missing the girl. One of her friends talks her into starting a new business(restaurant–hawk, spit!) that I did not want to do. New restaurant startups fail at like 60% and I could see the economy turning down at the same time. Her benefactor says they will pay/finance all the start up costs so they talk me into it. Long story short I come home one day and open the mail and see that she has maxed out a large line of credit that I had never used. She says its temporary and once the benefactor gets the final financing she is going to pay it back. Didn’t happen and shortly after that I find she’s maxed out two credit cards with large credit limits. All this happens as she stops coming home and leaves me. There is more but its a soap opera that I’m not proud to have been part of. I am now in bankruptcy and will likely loose my house and land this year. I went from a 800 + credit score to bankruptcy in less than 2 years.
Be careful with whoever has access to your credit, even someone you believe loves you, as people can change. I should have been way more vigilant than I was and that failure is going to make life a little hard on me for a while. I will come out ok and maybe even better off without so much accumulated junk/stuff. I have also learned I can live on way less than I ever thought, and I picked up a bunch of money saving tips right here reading Mr Creekmore’s fine blog.
I have decided to try to live without credit going forward. I never thought about credit much before this as I only used it for convenience and the mortgage. I always paid off the card balances when they were used. Now I have no cards so I will have to work on saving up a lot of rainy day savings to have a cushion to fall back on instead of credit.
Thanks M.D. and Mr Murphy for a great post.
without dragging my own sad story up. ill tell ya freind,when you get thru it,you can have a second start. i went thru something very simalar and thought it was over for me. but life has been far better in its second incarnation. chin up,and dont give up brother.
Blindshooter,
Bankruptcy has wrestled you from a financial system that is a modern form of enslavement- against all people who were not born into the upper classes, and refuse to surrender themselves to take the handouts that the government issues.
I don’t carry a credit card, and I’m going to cut up my debit card, as well. Was it Judith who mentioned some as cash, some in tradeable items. It could be metals. It could be a Block Plane…
You’ll be better off, though, free of the debt. Bankruptcy is nothing to be ashamed of, I don’t think. You haven’t left the local butcher hanging. You haven’t stiffed some dude fixing your roof. Don’ think of it as bankruptcy, but liberation against the credit card companies and the banks that have done so much to ruin lives. They are an affront to humanity. They are the cause of this mess. They are the worst, and a slow hanging by meat hook is better than they deserve.
Excellent topic, Jim Murphy. Thanks for encouraging us to think about cost-cutting measures.
Many years ago, I got into the credic card habit and nearly sank my finances because of it. We eventually worked our way back up from the depths of debt and swore we would NEVER go that route again. We didn’t.
We paid cash for our gas and soon learned that some of our trips were unnecessary. We consolidated trips, making one trip to the bank, grocery store, hardware store, and a small trip for fun before going to the gas station so we’d always have a full tank. This way we were able to accomplish what we NEEDED to do along with what we WANTED to do. It worked for us.
We paid cash when we bought this house, which was a major effort to do but for which we were many times thankful. Nothing like knowing your home is yours (so long as you pay the property taxes).
Now that I’m a widower, and the times are getting more uncertain, I have looked around and tried to determine what I could forgo or what I could cut back in order to save money. Living on a fixed income forces this upon people anyhow, but more so when trying to buy preps and save some money for a rainy…no, a downpour…day.
So, I’ve thought about cutting this things out completely, or cutting them drastically.
Cable TV – it’s already basic cable, but cutting it would save $50/mo.
WiFi Service – I like the computer, but I could live without it again. $30/mo.
Cell Phone – it’s for emergencies only, but I don’t take risks often, so it could go. $12/mo.
Food – I like many of the expensive cuts of meat and also seafood. If I cut down on the number of meals that included these foods, I’d probably save about $50/mo.
The water bill – already at the lowest the city will charge, I let my wife’s garden die off so that I could save on the water bill. Saved about $30/mo in the warmer months (6 months)
Garbage – this town requires garbage service, so I have the smallest can they offer. Saved $10/mo.
All together I made changes that have saved me $300. per year already.
I could save another $1,704. per year if I needed to do so. That’s a significant amount of my income. I may make some of these cuts just because I see the numbers on paper and realize I would rather have the money so I could buy more nickels or some silver coins.
Jim, you sure got me thinking, thanks again.
Hey Lint Picker –
It is possible to live without TV – we’ve done it for years. I do miss Perry Mason reruns, but I’m saving up for the DVD set. Computer is dial-up only. I need it for my part-time work & home business, but don’t need it fast. Just reliable.
Cheap food is good for the soul! Remember the example of Diogenes: “If you would learn to flatter the king,” said a friend of Diogenes, “you would not have to eat lentils.” And Diogenes replied, “If you would learn to eat lentils you would not have to flatter the king.” (Not having TV means lots of extra time for reading!)
It’s my opinion that you should return your wife’s garden to her – if she wants it. A garden is cheap exercise &, if she grows veggies & edible flowers, a good source of organically grown food. You can save rain water off the roof & reuse wash water. I water my herb garden with my dishwashing water.
God bless,
Bonnie
Opportunity Farm
Eastern WA
Bonnie, I hear you about the food. I might give it a try. I’m learning to eat my stored food, to keep it rotated, and that right there is a real change. LOL
As for the wife’s garden, my wife died 4 years ago so I think she’s beyond caring whether or not I let it die. My late wife lives in my heart, but her garden had to go.
i could absolutely live without tv. i could not however live withou my XM radio.while im on the road,talk radio is the only thing that keeps my brain from turning to mush.just the othe night i called a favorite radio program and won one of the friday night quiz question (rollye james show)from the middle of a long dark desert highway,,,,,,,,hey that would make a great song!ill be recieving my prize soon. id like to say its a check for xxx amount of dollars but sadly rollye is not awealthy show host and will send me a cd of some old blues musician ive never heard of.i could also live without my computer and internet sevice but not my iphone.
Sorry – I didn’t know about your wife. You’re right, she won’t care. She might even be saying, “about time!”
God bless,
Bonnie
Opportunity Farm
We have a tv but it is not plugged into any cable system so we use it to play movies and we have nexflix and a couple of other things like that. That way we also do not have to see the midstream media b.s. that we have with our kenyan in chief. Steve
Lint Picker,
Your numbers got me thinking if I could live without my computer.
I absolutely love this blog so that would be extremely hard for me
to sever that tie.
Paying cash for a house is something to be VERY PROUD of.
Not many can make that statement.
If I had to give up either the TV or the computer, it would definitely be the TV. There are very few programs on anymore that I truly enjoy watching. Still, it’s company for me and since I can’t get any radio stations except the Spanish language ones, I’m probably going to hang onto the TV until they raise the price again, which will be this coming December. For some reason, they always raise the monthly fees in December.
If you need to give up your TV there are options to consider as long as you have a high speed internet connection. There’s a lot of content on Hulu (http://www.hulu.com) and most of the network shows are available on the network websites. One of my favorite shows is “Fringe” on CBS. A while back my DVR had a hiccup and failed to record Fringe. I was able to watch the current episode on the CBS website. Finally, for less than $10.00 per month you can get the Netflix (all you can eat) streaming service. They have movies and both older and current TV episodes. Pretty good deal and all of these options are on your computer.
OP, I’ll definitely check out Hulu and the TV network websites. Thank you for the heads-up. Netflix is something I might do, although I’ve always talked myself out of it in the past. Not sure there are that many movies I want to watch. Since they stopped making westerns and outdoor adventures, Ive lost interest. But I may look at their program listings and see what they offer. Can’t hurt.
MD, your blog has attracked a nice group of folks.
Lint Picker,
What do you mean “MD, your blog has attracked a nice group of folks.” I must have missed something… I don’t recall attacking anyone.
Sorry, my typing is not so good. Meant to say “attracted” but I think you know that, Creekmore. :)
Netflix not only has movies, but entire seasons of old and currently running TV series. It’s $8.00/ month for streaming only; & $9.00/month including 1 DVD service, which basically means you can watch 1 DVD at a time & get another when you return the current one. I haven’t checked but I’d bet they have some of those old westerns you like :)
just so you are aware any cell phone can dial 911. even if it is deactivated. the same thing for wall units
Just to clarify, only digital cell phones will work for 911 services. The nationwide analog system was turned down in February of 2008. This means that older analog phones (like my trusty Motorola Bag Phone no longer function. The 911 on all phones is an FCC rule.
As for landline phones, some may still work for 911 when not subscribed, but I suspect most will not. It depends in part on whether the phone was disables at the Central Office (CO), or the wires were physically disconnected. It may also depend on the type of equipment at the CO and the company policy.
Hey, thanks for that 911 info. I had forgotten all about that. Yeah, I can cancel the cell phone service and still use the phone for emergency calls. That reminder just saved me $144/year. Thanks, rpant2313.
Hot damn, I like this blog!!!!!
I dropped our home phone service about a year and a half ago and now I use the MagicJack phone service plugged into the computer its $19.95 a year and works just fine. You can save even more by paying for it for five years at a time for $59.95.The internet from AT&T is $19.95 a month, so let’s see thats about $25.00 a month for internet, phone and TV by way of Hulu ! You can purchase a MagicJack at wally world or online.
SW
Oh I loved anonymous, yes lets just be a bunch of welfare- socialist leaches. Hey just move to Canada, see how well it works for them or any country in Europe. Please everyone here is trying to use information on how to build a better life, not depending on the government. I enjoy reading these tips and maybe sharing one myself. I don’t need how to work the system I police a city her in Michigan that 90% already get over on the system. I hope you enjoy our tax dollars. I will work harder so you can get more.
Thanks Matt! For the most part it is working just fine for us up here in Canada. We have, for the most part, weathered the economic melt down with far fewer issues than the US. Our banking system and our regulations have for the most part prevented the forclosure fiasco that has devestated so many in your country. It is by no means perfect and many of the concerns that I read about on this blog and others are shared up here but please don’t haul off and slag us and suggest that we are all “welfare-socialist leaches”. We are all in this boat together.
Being a “welfare- socialist leach” someday will have its downside. Either the government runs out of money, or we finally elect enough fiscally responsible congress-critters with backbone,and we turn the system from welfare to workfare. Anonymous should enjoy it now, because I suspect sooner than you know, your going to have to start being responsible. As Dylan sang, “The times they are a changin”.
My rules for survival:
Be optimistic – love life. You may think things are really bad now but remember, Americans are a very resilient. Bottom line – this too shall pass. I’m not saying “be complacent” but have faith in yourself and your abilities.
Use the “dollar bill savings plan”. If you are a listener of Neal Boortz on radio, you have heard of this. Basically, you never spend dollar bills. If you buy a cup of coffee and use a $5 bill, put the singles received in change in a box at home. It is a painless way to accumulate money without biting into your “normal” income stream. You’d be surprised how quickly the money builds up without even being missed. We don’t spend a lot of money but we usually end up with about $1,000 at the end of each year.
“Something for nothing”. When I was just a youngster, I remember reading a book that told the story of a person in North Africa whose philosophy revolved around “something for nothing”. Never turn down anything somebody is willing to give you for free. No matter what it might be, it is trading material for something else. In the book, the main character became wealthy trading and swapping stuff he got for nothing. In today’s world of ebay and Craig’s List, there is a huge marketplace for just about anything and money can be made in the strangest ways. Worst case, you can always sell stuff for scrap. Free money is good money.
Give up bad habits – this is a no brainer. Cigarettes, booze and high priced entertainment can be addictive. As they say, MAN UP – you are bigger than your habits. As I get older, I’ve found that giving up little things is kind of fun. I’ve never been a big drinker but about three years ago, I quit drinking every other month. Last year, I decided to quit for a year – just for the challenge.
Make the commitment to your significant other. Living together doesn’t make it. Until you step up to the plate and make a commitment you are just fooling yourself. Kids need a true family environment. It can be hard but when you dedicate yourself to your husband/wife, it makes you a complete team.
Under the Radar,
Very nicely put – love your perspective & agree with you. Yes, we are all bigger than our habits because we created them – both good and bad.
Under the Radar in ND,
I never heard of the dollar bill savings plan but sounds very doable for most anyone. Every once in a while we round up all the loose change from our vehicles, kitchen junk drawer, couch cushions, dresser drawers and change jars and rolled between $50.00 and $90.00 in coins. You just don’t think there’s that much there. Change accumulates quickly, too.
I actually use my dollar bills for some specific things, but like Jim Murphy most of our change goes into a jar and when the jar is heavy enough, gets counted and rolled. Last round was nearly $90.00 total; however, we’re keeping the pre-1982 pennies and the Nickels. I read somewhere (don’t recall) that there are something north of $1 Billion in pennies, just sitting around in jars, drawers etc. That’s sounds like a lot, but with 300+ million people, that’s only about $3.00 per person.
As for the something for nothing, I agree, with two caveats. First, if the something I’m getting could have gone to someone who has more need (not wants, which is a little complicated) I’ll generally pass on it. Second, if the gift is from government I generally hesitate. Educational grants, home interest deduction, and those kind of tax things are OK, but milking the system when you could be working a little harder, is not – IMHO.
I’m trying to get my husband to give up tobacco. He had a heart attack two years ago, and did quite smoking, but then picked up the snuff habit. I know that if he could just give up nicotine we’d save about $1000 a year. I quit smoking 5 years ago, before we bought our home. Sadly, we were stupid…..and we took advantage of the subprime loan scams. We are now upside down in a home that’s falling down around our ears. No one to blame but ourselves. We did just pay off CCs, and I’m trying to convince him that we don’t need the satellite TV, none of us even watch it and we get movies from Netflix.
LJRich,
If your husband gets serious about quitting, the lozenges worked
well for me and the fact that he is using snuff is kind of a plus as
the lozenges are an oral form of nicotene, just like the snuff.
Ultimately, the person really needs to be ready to quit for it to be successful.
My grandpa quit smoking the easy way. he was driving down the freeway in his pickup truck. He heard a news blip on the radio and heard that the tax on smokes was going up a nickel. He threw his pack of ciggs out of the window of his truck and never had one again. Steve
We’ve been debt free for a while and the best decisions I think we made were banking pay raises rather than raising our standard of living, paying off the mortgage as fast as we could and insisting kids help with their education, either by paying part of tuition or getting scholarships. We were creative furnishing and decorating before it was HGTV chic. Husband jokes we could have our own show. Never was big on eating out we’re both good cooks, leftovers for brown bag lunches. Grow a garden, by used cars and do regular maintenance on your house, car and yourself, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
The two big bad habits I have is daily Starbucks, I could save $1200 a year (I am shocked) and my smartphone $600 a year.
Sunny,
$1200.00 a year at Starbucks? I am shocked, too.
That’s something I wouldn’t have thought of.
If you have a Starbucks Gold Card, you get discounts on drinks. BUT did you know that you have to maintain a balance on it? Imagine 10′s of millions of cards out there with a $20 balance on each – that’s a lot of money they can leverage.
Learn from Starbucks – leverage your own money.
Well said, Jim. May I please borrow your father’s phrase about “$1.00″? That’s a pearl!!
Mark,
EVERYTIME someone made a comment to the effect, “Wow, that’s a lot of money”, My Dad came back with, “Hell, a dollars a lot of money if you need one and don’t have it.” I’m sure he isn’t responsible for coining that phrase, but truer words have never been spoken. Pass that pearl around!
Thank you Jim for and excellent, thought provoking post.
On credit/debit cards, my job requires a lot of driving my company reimburses me for my costs but without a card I would have to carry a ton of cash(can’t carry a weapon either) and Im not real keen on that. I am working on them to get a company vehicle that will come with a company gas card but that is some time in the future. How do others handle having to carry a lot of cash?
Debit card only. No temptation to overspend – can’t spend what you don’t have. Other than our library card, it’s the only one we have. But on long trips we do carry plenty of cash – just in case. Husband & I split it between us.
God bless,
Bonnie
Opportunity Farm
Eastern WA
A good way to avoid unnecessary debt is, sad to say, avoiding toxic friends who are moochers and users, but when the money runs out, so do the ‘friends.’ Incredible. Hard lesson to learn, but I finally got it thru my thick skull. I never want to be hardened to those who are genuinely in need; but I now realize the importance of setting boundaries as to what I can do, vs what I cannot give. Appreciate this post; I’ve been paying cash for my gasoline, and am relieved to see the debt coming down; some of my cards are closed, others are put away while I’m taking care of those bills. My car is 8 years old, but I’m keeping it maintained with regularly scheduled oil changes, etc. And my veggie garden is coming along very nicely.
Some years ago I was attending the Dayton Hamvention (the world’s largest Ham Radio get together and flea market), and had a pretty good wad of cash with me, and was making some good deals. A friend, who isn’t toxic, but smokes like a chimney, mentioned something about how nice it was for me to have all of that money. I asked him if he’d like to have at least $1000.00 for next year’s convention. Of course he said yes, to which my response was, make that your last cigarette and save all that you spend on those cancers sticks and I guarantee you’ll have at least $1000 next year. He gave me a dirty look & walked away. He’s a good guy, but in this area I have no sympathy for him.
This is a wonderful site. I’ve only recently discovered it.
Paid off our house (our only debt) after 18 years, making extra principal payments. Now more “house rich” and “land poor” than I’d like, but two 30 something professionals make decisions like that when the future looks rosy. Would do things differently, slightly, though both of us growing up in completely cramped homes (think: 5 teenagers/one bathroom) wanted our 4 to have a bit more space. Just less house, more land is what I would wish for now.
Last few years, we insured only the outstanding mortgage balance, and saved hundreds. Not everyone is up for this risk. Insurance bills are a killer-and we have good driving records.
Quit my profession, in part, to “starve the beast” in D.C. but also to home school the younger two, who absolutely were not going to learn one iota about liberty, basic life management, and self-sufficiency skills from the public schools. Still paying for the schools through the property tax levy, but not paying the $5 nearly weekly they (the schools) begged for to support this or that activity–every time my kids came home, it was something else. No exaggeration.
Make my own laundry soap; my own bread. Cook from scratch; we never eat out. Try to eat seasonal produce. Burning wood.
Spending lots and lots of time and energy trying to advocate for young adults who are being taxed/experted to death. Local government, for starters, is getting my attention. At a minimum, make the city administrator do what he does in front of your eyeballs, even if you don’t feel like speaking up.
God bless you all, and stay warm!
Another great posting with a plethera of fantastic responses. I have been through the gamit of highs and lows when it comes to finances. Finally I think I have my spending demons under control. Some of the tricks that have helped me is to: 1. Rid myself of all credit cards.
2. I only pay cash now for what I need
3. I use most of my income tax refund to pay off a bill or two.
4. I buy in bulk for items on sale.
5. I keep the heat down in the winter, and the blinds open on sunny days.
6. We close the blinds in the summer and keep the gas water heater temperature down.
7. I have found that my youngest son is quiet the mechanic and he does all the repairs on our vehicles.
8. I allow my animals to graze and chickens to free range, which saves alot on feeding costs.
Great post and discussion. This is what a blog is all about.
Stardusthill,
It’s amazing that some blogs do not allow comments – apparently they don’t care what the readers have to say.
Been cutting my own hair for years…nobody at work can tell any difference. The best is when I get a compliment. Cuts would run me $15 bucks on average. I’ve been doing this since I was 18. That’s a lot of savings if you do the math. One of the best presents I ever got for christmas was a hair trimmer. Bet the person who gave it to me (I don’t remember) didn’t imagine he/she would be saving me thousands of dollars over the next several years. What a gift!
It’s great to read all the comments, stories, and discussion on this topic. Our income was suddenly cut in half about two years ago. We had started making adjustments in our lifestyle a couple of years prior to that in anticipation of living on a greatly reduced income in retirement. Then when my husband was unexpectedly laid off and subsequently forced into early retirement on a very small monthly pension, because I still had a job we didn’t have to reduce expenses much more to be able to make it every month with a little wiggle room. We use the least expensive acceptable alternative of everything when it comes to food & groceries, and I have learned to love ALDI. We are careful about making extra trips in the vehicles, and if I can pick something up after my workday ends from a store that’s just around the corner from the office, my husband contacts me to let me know what is needed before I leave for the day. We’ve always tried to keep our home thermostat set at 68 degrees F in the cold weather and at 78 degrees in the hot weather, and we do not like to run the furnace or the AC either one in May or October. Line-drying clothing out of doors is a form of entertainment for me, so I do it every chance I get. If I get an unexpected windfall such as a bonus at work it goes into our savings account, not into the regular account to be frittered away. Refinancing our mortgage with a principal reduction out of savings cut our mortgage payment to the point it that is just over 1/3 the size of the original payment. This refinancing was the most helpful of all the adjustments we made.
These are tactics, not strategy. The strategic decisions were made many years ago. When I was widowed at a young age, I did not blow the small insurance and retirement amounts that were left to me. I had a job and could make ends meet with exactly $60 left over at the end of every month so I saved that money. The only reason that inheritance was there was because my young husband (may he rest in peace) had made the strategic decision to become a civil engineer, and had a good job with good benefits right up until the moment he passed away. My present husband and I did not listen to the bankers and the realtors when we bought our first house or any subsequent house we have lived in, and always bought much less expensive places than we were told we could afford. We always made the biggest downpayment we could afford and we have never had a home equity loan. The last time we moved, we made a point of moving to an area with low property taxes and even though the house is pretty nice for its age, we can still afford to live here. Neither one of us has driven a “new” automobile in nearly 18 years. These strategic decisions have provided a cash emergency fund and saved us a lot on the big, expensive things like real estate and automobiles, and this bought us some time when we suffered the loss of a job in the downturn.
I would echo the admonishment in a previous post and say to any young person who will listen: SAVE YOUR MONEY. AVOID DEBT. Think of these as strategic decisions that will serve you well in times to come. If your friends are the kind who have to blow everything they make on the latest toys and gadgets, then you need some new friends, and whatever you do, don’t listen to anybody who tells you that you have a right to lower your moral standards just because you are living on a low income.
Lint Picker,
No worry – I misread the comment when I read first read it I thought it said “attacked” instead of “attracted” need to get my eyes checked LOL.
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