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Thursday, March 26, 2020

Facing Financial Hardships, Day 3

Facing Financial Hardships, Day 3

 by Patsy Norwood

(c) by patsy norwood  All rights reserved!

Its day 3 and you’re beginning to think a bit more clearly now and decide that you need to take a long hard look at your expenses. 

You have to cut and cut until you get your budget down to its bare bones.


What are you going to eliminate from your outgoing expenses?

Here are some ideas:

Paid TV of any kind
Minimize cell phone plans
Eliminate all but one cell phone in your family
Minimize insurance plans to just liability if you can
Stop going out to eat
Stop impulse purchases
Eliminate Internet unless you can make it pay for itself or need it for work
Eliminate car washes
Eliminate dry cleaning
Stop buying clothing of any kind that is not absolutely necessary
No movies or activities that cost money
Eliminate gym memberships
Eliminate high utility bills ... reduce, reduce, reduce your usage
Eliminate high fuel consumption
Eliminate newspaper delivery
Eliminate landline phone
No thrift stores or yard sales shopping
Stop buying extra treats at the grocery stores
Stop subscriptions of any kind
Eliminate personal spending money

What can you add to this list?

Patsi 

Sharing 42 years' experience of frugal, prudent living and pantry building 

A Working Pantry

My second blog:  From This Heart of Mine 

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

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4 comments:

  1. When I went through our financial difficulties years ago, this was probably one of the hardest things to process. Since all of these expenses have been a part of your everyday life, everything seems important to have, making it very difficult to separate the wants from needs.

    After my financial woes were under control, I read some really good advice that would have helped me. It was recommended to build your basic expenses from the ground up, instead of trying to take away from what you currently have. First, you need to know the minimum amount of money you have to work with for each month. Next, write down all the things you absolutely have to pay (mortgage/rent, heat, hydro, insurance, car payments, credit card bills, loans, taxes, etc.) including the estimated amounts you expect the bills to be (if the bill is not monthly, take the amount and divide it into a monthly amount, so you can save for the bill each month and not have a surprise lump sum due later). At this point, don't include anything like food, clothing, entertainment, internet, cell phones, etc. Just those set "monthly" bills/expenses you HAVE TO pay or there will be consequences.

    Next, look at how much money is left. If there is no money left or not enough to pay all the bills, you will need to find ways to decrease these bills, so you can have money left for every day living expenses. For example, can you sell your car and use public transit? The money from the sale can be used to pay off the car loan or some credit card debt, as well as saving you the cost of insurance and gas for the vehicle. Consider it a temporary measure, until you are back on your feet financially. I realize this scenario might not work for everyone. It is just an example. Every family will need to decide what will work for them...and it won't be easy!

    If you do have money left, take a hard look at how much, and decide what is the best way to spend that money. If there are things, like cell phones or internet, which are necessary, look at the cheapest way to keep it, so you have money left over for other important things...like food!

    By building the budget from the ground up, it is easier to decide what is absolutely necessary, what can be manipulated to make it more affordable and commit to letting go of things that you just can't afford right now. I hope this is helpful for someone else. I really do wish I had this info years ago!

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    1. Rhonda, that is some very good advice! Thank you for sharing, I hope others read your comment!

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  2. Premade foods. French fries are great frozen but are cheap to make with fresh potatoes. Bread is easy to make once you know how. Homemade pizza is delicious and everyone can have what they want. salsa is easy to make with what I grow in the garden.

    Eat seasonally. We love strawberries but I am not paying $5 for them in January. We stock up on pumpkins in the fall. I only buy turkeys around Thanksgiving and then a throw a few extra in the freezer for all year. I buy chocolate after holidays when it is 75% off.

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    Replies
    1. Making Cents Of It All, I do those things too, great suggestions!

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