Looking back at 2023, it will be remembered as the year that unexpected expenses just kept coming. Hit after hit, one after another with little time in between, how we survived without taking on additional debt can only be attributed to God walking with us.
Looking at and planning our finances for 2024, I looked back
at 2023 to get a baseline and was shocked to see how much of our income went to
basic living expenses. We really do live
a frugal life but every single basic living expense we had in 2023 increased as well
as non-basic expenses and then of course as mentioned there were
several ‘financial surprises.’
Let me insert here, we are doing well, while our finances took
a beating in 2023, through frugal living, having a well-stocked pantry, doing
things ourselves, etc we survived. What we're doing now is strategizing and coming
up with a plan to hopefully regain some of what we lost in 2023 or at the very
least, finish off 2024, as we did this year without any additional debt. Sometimes maintaining is a win!
Hence, for 2024 we are going to be working hard to save everything we can in
every way we can! We’ll use …
intentionalism (Clue #3 … Tiptoe if you
must, always remembering that even tiptoeing is progress. Keep moving forward regardless of how small
the movement is.)
Stick-to-it-ive-ness (Clue #5
… See it Through) This is not going to be easy, but you will be so thankful
when your perseverance pays off!
The economic outlook for 2024 is questionable, consequently we strongly feel that we need to HUNKER DOWN, work harder at getting our remaining debt paid off and save as much as possible. We know this is not going to be easy, thus we enlist the aid of the GREAT I AM!
A Working Pantry’s new focus for 2024 will be on HUNKERING DOWN, I hope you will join us!
Update 12/28 ... the mail brought yet another reason we need to 'hunker down' in 2024! Long story short, I received notification today that my social security check will be $16 less each month next year than it was this year. Why? Didn't we get a cost-of-living raise? Yes, we got a raise, but Medicare also increased in price as did my drug plan. When it all was said and done, my check will be $16 less each month. Hmmm ....
I'd love to hear your thoughts...
mrs. patsi @ A Working Pantry
~ sharing my home and my faith ~
She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27
Sharing 43 years' experience of frugal, prudent living and pantry building
My second blog: From This Heart of Mine, where I share my love for God and His Word through my personal Bibe study. Physical preparedness is important, but not near as important as spiritual preparedness. Ladies, join me over at From This Heart of Mine and study God's Word with me.
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HUNKERING DOWN is an excellent way to put it!! I am praying over several “grand challenges” (to me) that only the Great I Am can provide. I am excited to see how these challenges will be met! That story is always a great one! Happy New Year, Mrs. Patsy and everyone!! May 2024 be a great year!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, we've got one really big challenge that will only happen with the Lord's help, regardless of how hard we try. We're going to work like it all depends on us and pray like it all depends on God! Love your comment! Happy New Year!
DeleteI love this...... work like it all depends on us and pray like it all depends on God. I have a need that only God can provide. Prayers are.what gets me through. Excited about 2024.
DeletePatsy, you've no idea how ideal your focus for 2024 is in my household. We'd already decided 2024 would be all about Hunkering Down; I'm calling it "hope" to put a brighter spin on it. 2023 brought some very unexpected expenses for us. Not the least of which was inflation well above what gets reported. I'm excited to join you and your readers on this journey! --Elise
ReplyDeleteElise, inflation has made everything increase in price and I mean everything! I'm glad you are following along in the challenge!
DeleteLove this. My sentiments exactly.
DeleteYour blog has always been very encouraging and helpful. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteMy husband has been laid off since September, and we definitely need to do more "hunkering down" in the New Year.
Kathy, thank you for your sweet words of encouragement! Being laid off is hard, I'm so sorry you're having to go through this. I hope the lay-off ends soon.
DeleteHubby had a widow maker that failed due to heart deformity, never thought I would be thankful for a deformity ... He wants the house paid off in 5 yrs (we have 25 yrs left on mortgage). He has mild dementia so I know the "house" talk will be often repeated on Angel wings here we go.
ReplyDeleteChef Owings, I'm thankful for your husband's heart deformity too, how scary! I'm glad he survived!
DeleteLooking forward to your 2024 posts!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, thank you!
DeleteRight there with you!
ReplyDeleteLee Ann, I'm looking forward to learning and gleaning from everyone as well as sharing! I'm praying this theme will help many.
DeleteSounds like a timely plan! We used a chunk from our savings account to make some needed maintenance, repairs on exterior of house that will pay off in energy savings and that were one and done projects that we couldn’t do ourselves. So we committed to building that savings back up and not taking from it again, even with a couple cross country trips coming up in January. We have been able to live on what our income has been and even built our savings up to within a couple hundred dollars of what it was before our big house projects. We have been blessed. But, we are preparing for 2024 with an eye to tighten our belts because of cost increases that will surely come. I look forward to gaining ideas from you and your commenters!
ReplyDeleteGardenpat in Ohio
Gardenpat, I have looked at what you and your husband have done with your side hustles for inspiration in coming up with our plan for hunkering down. You all rock!
DeleteWe lose 20% of our income in January so we are right there with you. Thankfully have not included that part in the budget for a long time but now we will have to come up with money to save every month that was easily found before.
ReplyDeleteLana, how wise you were not to count on it for daily living, it will be easier to live without it as far as that goes. I hope you and others will share ways you find to save so we can all learn. That's one of many areas we will cover many times.
DeleteYou are definitely helping us all prepare better! Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteKarla, I truly feel that helping each other in whatever capacity we can is the key to surviving this economy.
DeleteI am right there with all you lovely ladies. I used my inheritance to pay of husbands debts and still have his truck to pay off. I would love to do it this year without using the rest of my inheritance but we are a team and whats mine is his...PattiCinCO
ReplyDeletePatti, I'd be giving it a good hard try!
DeleteI'm looking forward to the 2024 theme of Hunkering Down and putting it into practice what I learn in our household.
ReplyDeleteShepherdess55, I'm excited to jump in and get busy!
DeleteCan't wait to see what all Hunkering Down has to offer. Here's to 2024!
ReplyDeleteColeen
Coleen, I have lots of ideas and I'm sure others will too!
DeleteWell the challenge begins! Our 23 year old Dyson vacuum died and we have to replace it. Time to gather the funds and tighten the belt for a month or two. We will buy another Dyson because they last and will not have to be replaced in a few years. Buying quality is a big way we save here.
ReplyDeleteLana, I agree, buying quality saves in the long run. We need to replace our washer and we are doing the research before doing so. We want one that will last more than a couple of years.
DeleteYou want a Speed Queen. I think ours is seven years old without any problems. The previous two were Whirlpool and were recommended by our repairman but only lasted four years each. The Speed Queen washers are expected to last 25 years.
DeleteLana, that is what our research is showing us, thank you for the confirmation!
DeleteI agree that it wasn't just the expected but the unexpected that hit us. We've got our renovations done and the money set aside for that was all spent, every bit of it. We've now got a home we can stay in until our most senior years, God willing. But yes, for 2024, it's hunkering down for us as well.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, there are lots of reasons for hunkering down, aren't there?
DeletePatsi thank you and I love your points and yes expenses have gone up so much everywhere including here in Australia and like you a few financial hits were suffered by us in 2023 as well. We noticed our grocery expenditure had neatly doubled in a year too due to price increases but we did get a good pay rise which made up for some of that. I worked out that our cost of living went up a neat 20% in the last year due to price rises and increased costs to insure the new car and upping the insurance on our home due to building costs being so high now.
ReplyDeleteI hope this year that you are able to pay the debts you have and rebuild from this year too.
Our car collapsed literally on the side of the road so we purchased a new demo model at a far more reasonable price than secondhand cars were selling for in the car sales yards. Fortunately we had saved money as we had planned to replace that AWD anyway so we paid for the car with cash which was a godsend but it did leave us short in other areas. Our bed mattress needed replacing so with the sales proceeds of our old ride on mower we bought the mattress we needed and paid a deposit on a new lounge that is on order.
The most positive thing that happened was that we paid off our home mortgage in 4 years 3 months and 11 days at the end of April this year so that freed up more money in our budget. We also bought a new ride on mower as well to replace the old one.
Things are indeed looking shaky here too in Australia so we need to prepare well and use all the resources we have available to us to minimise our expenditure.
Lorna.
Lorna, your comment is just another example of the kind of things I'm talking about ... it is the wise woman who prepares for her family's financial needs to the best of her ability. This can look like anything from hunkering down and saving money to making wise choices for the things that have to be purchased.
DeletePatsy thank you and we will be hunkering down also and reducing costs where we can, to build up our savings again and save for a second new car for myself as mine is a 2008 model. Hopefully we can achieve saving enough this year to pay cash again for another new car.
DeleteLike you say we will be "work like it all depends on us and pray like it all depends on God" too.
We have done a new budget for 2024 to take into account the price rises and added another 5% for price rises next year for all the bills. After buying all we needed to replace we are in earnest building up those savings once more and have got our emergency fund up so far to 3 months worth of all household expenses this year but want to build that up further.
Also we do have some side hustles as well including mowing a few people's lawns and also tree lopping as DH was a professional scrub cutter from his work on large livestock and grain properties as a child.
Have a great week :) .
Lorna.
Lorna, that's smart planning to factor in an increase for next year's expenses. I'm thinking hard about possible side hustles for myself, hubby's plate is pretty full right now.
Delete