We're holding on pretty solidly and are on target to getting one of our debts paid off this month. Let me just say that that is amazing motivation! We've already set our sights on the next one. We continue to add to our savings as well. We're trying really hard to meet both our debt pay off goal and our savings goal for this month. But make no mistake it is work.
It is denial of self.
It is a determining to be satisfied with what we have.
It is being proactive in staying away from things that tempt us to spend money.
It is daring to be different in a world that encourages you to spend, spend, spend while providing opportunities all around to do so. Example: Everyone at work is ordering lunch to be delivered or picked up from one of your favorite places to eat and they want to know if you want something. That can be a tempting situation!
I repeat it is work, intentional, purposeful, laser focused mental work!
Here's what that looked like for us this week ...
We stayed within our budget ... hunkering down doesn't mean we don't spend any money at all, it simply means we make a realistic, doable yet frugal budget with our financial goals in mind and use what's left to move us along in our goals.
Hubby continued to take a sandwich with him to work for his lunch.
I cooked our meals from scratch, and we did not eat out.
We had to go to the nearest larger city this week, and I packed snacks and water to tide us over until we got back home. (Just a small snack when you're out and about can cost up to $15. I'd much rather add it to our savings or apply it to our debt.)
We are using our wood stove to heat our home during these frigid temperatures which will help keep our power bill within the budgeted amount.
I decided to try a generic form of one of my medications to see if it would work for me. If it does, it will save us $37 per month on that one prescription. I'd sure like to be able to put that in savings or towards debt!
Hunkering down financially is done one small step, choice, thing at a time. Most of us don't have the resources to throw big chunks of money at our savings or debt, but don't let that discourage you from doing what you can. Every little thing helps. If you save $10 this week, that's $10 more than you had last week.
We're all about looking for ways, sometimes those ways are very small, to reduce our outflow so that we can use those 'found' monies to help us achieve our goals.
What about you, I can't wait to read how you hunkered down financially this week.
One more thing, for the ladies who are following our book of Esther ladies Bible study, lesson 14 has been posted HERE!
mrs. patsi @ A Working Pantry
She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27
Sharing 44 years' experience of frugal, prudent living and pantry building
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Good morning! Yes, yes, and YES to all of that, Patsy. And congratulations!
ReplyDeleteDental stuff has added a challenge to our hunkering down. First, one tooth had abscessed by the time the drilling/filling happened. We paid for the drilling/filling. No oral surgeon in our area takes our new plan. We'd have to drive 2+ hours each way twice for a root canal. Then pay $850 for a crown. I'm not a vain woman; this tooth is towards the back so I'll have it pulled. Went back to the dentist the very next day for full x-rays and exam. There's another tooth about to abscess and several smaller cavities, all at the root. She explained I'm losing jaw bone (the cause). Bad one next. She can't pull the 1st tooth due to curved roots. I'll go to an oral surgeon here for same day consult and pulling, paying out of pocket. Dental work has to be factored in to our hunkering down. The blessing? My SS starts next month and I got notice it will be more per month than we'd expected. God is providing. Otherwise, it's been a very low spend week. This adds motivation and focus to keep all other costs/spending as low as possible. It hasn't changed our goals, just how we'll approach them.
--Elise
P.S. I shared elsewhere that my 91 yr. old mom has Covid and a UTI. She lives with my Sis. Mom also has Alzheimer's. Prayers would be very appreciated. Thank you.
I'm sorry about all the dental issues. That is rough. Also I am praying for your Mom and Sis as she cares for her.
DeleteYou are doing well! I remember that happy feeling of rolling the debts and paying them off!
DeleteIt was hard to pass up a deal on Quaker Quick Oats at Sam's yesterday but I did because we still need to reduce the pantry. If any one else need oats though it is a crazy good deal with a $4 iBotta rebate on the 160 oz pkg coming down to only $7.42 at my store. We did shop for milk and perishables. I am seeing Avian flu in the news so we bought all the eggs we thought we could use within the 3/7 date at Lidl and used the last $20 off coupon.
My pain and Hubby's brain made it necessary to get a few take out meals this week but they are within our budget so not an overspend and of course we used BOGO coupons. We will get a final disability payment that we thought was over in December and it will go straight to savings as it is no longer in our budget in any way. Big win! The regular amount that goes to savings each month is auto transferred so it is gone and we never consider using it. I am doing well with the grocery budget reduced to pre Covid since I am letting things run down in the pantry.
We have kept all the curtains and blinds closed this week to hold the heat in the house with this cold weather. We got out another blanket and washed it and put it on the bed so we can reduce the heat at night. Throws and warm socks have kept us warm along with hot cups of tea and coffee. I am so ready for summer!!
Thank you so much, Lana. We're also doing socks, throws, and just put the flannel sheets and an extra blanket on the bed. I wish we had a Costco or Sam's nearby; we did get two 18 count cage free large eggs using a digital coupon at Safeway ($2.27 ea.) and 12 count large eggs on sale elsewhere ($1.97 ea.), sending some home with our son last night. I read about avian flu again, too. Last year, prices went up to $7 per dozen here. I'm glad we have plenty of chicken in the freezer. I've stuck with at-home meals, although that's often been breakfast for dinner lately, and was thrilled when our son brought Little Caesar's pizza last night. There's enough leftover for tonight's dinner--with salad to use up lettuce.
DeleteI'm sorry you're dealing with pain, too. It's rough. Good news though about the unexpected disability payment! The notice of my higher SS payments surprised me. The plan had been (and will be) for that to go into savings. Now after all the dental work. But I can make adjustments in other ways in the meantime to stay on track. I hope/pray. Sometimes I'm reminded of Little Engine That Could... "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can." Most can probably relate! --Elise
Hmmmm...I am not sure how my post ended up as a reply to you?
DeleteWe paid 1.61 a dozen for the eggs so I was happy to see that they were still a good price right now.
Elise, whew, you've had a week! I will be in prayer for you, your dental issues and for your mom.
DeleteIn our hunkering down journey's, we can be assured that there will be bumps in the road. If we are God's children, He is faithful to help us deal with those bumps. Don't you just love the way He goes before us and prepares the way!
Do your best to stay motivated, don't give up even if your steps have to turn into a turtle crawl for a while. We're rooting for you!
Just a thought ... Have you checked to see if your medical insurance will cover any part of the oral surgery? Mine did, when I had to have my wisdom teeth removed under anesthesia. But that was several years ago and I'm not sure whether it is still covered or not. Might be worth checking, just in case.
DeleteThankfully, we are debt and mortgage free . But who would have thought we'd be hit with expenses that would start draining our emergency fund to such a great extent. It all started the summer of 2022 with a freezer dying. Then our 20 year old Maytag washer dryer stack unit needed to be repaired but the part is no longer being made. It had to be replaced. If that weren't enough the stove, which was 20 years old went belly up and that needed to be replaced. And right before New Years of that year the furnace needed to be replacedThose are just the big things that happened toward the end of 2022 and in 2023. Blessedly, we never had to go into debt. What we needed to do was hunker down and rebuild our resources. With God's help we've been doing this using ways that we alone never thought of. God's provision has also provided us with windfalls to rebuild that we never saw coming. He has provided us with increased creativity in getting the job done. Stay safe and warm all. Cookie
ReplyDeleteCookie, I love your comment! I mean I really love it! So inspiring! Thank you for sharing!
DeleteThat's wonderful that you are on track to pay off that debt. You are right- it's those daily things that add up. Good on your hubby for continuing to take his lunch to work.
ReplyDeleteWe hunkered down inside this week as we've had below freezing temperatures like most of the country. Our wood stove kept us warm. Thankfully we never lost power or water in the house. We had one pipe burst out in the pasture, which Colton fixed to be set up for running into a water trough for when we get livestock. No wasted expense.
Unfortunately, Colton came home from work Monday with a fever. I knew it wouldn't be long before it was my turn, so I got to work doing lots of baking, made a big pot of chicken soup and a batch of elderberry syrup. I got out my dried nettles and made tea from those also. This is all in line with one of my main goals for 2024 (learning more about herbs and natural medicine), and while I didn't expect to have to put it to use so soon, I'm glad I had the resources. Colton was over his fever by Tuesday and felt much better. Yesterday was my worst day, but my fever was gone by this morning. The boys have it now. Hopefully they will be on the mend as quickly as we were. I shared the elderberry syrup and nettles with my dad who was also sick, and my mom said it really helped and soothed his sore throat. I'm not glad we were sick, but I feel so happy to have helped! My big win was eating from home all week in spite of all the sickness. It was tempting to let Colton pick up food in town when he offered, but I looked in the freezer and found something quick and easy. I know there is a time for convenience, and this could've easily been one, but I was already prepared and it saved us $30 easily.
Hopefully next week is a better one! Colton has a week of vacation time and is planning on hunting.
Kelsey, I'm sorry that you all have been sick, but so glad that you were prepared. You should be really proud of yourself for the decision you made to feed your family from the freezer during a time that would have easily been justified to get takeout. There's a lesson for us in all your experience, always have something on hand that can be easily prepared for those sick times.
DeleteElderberry syrup and cider fire are two things I always keep on hand, for my family they work so I try not to be without them. How did you make your nettles tea?
I hope you have a great week ahead!
Thank you, Patsi! For the nettle tea, I just poured boiling water over some dried nettles (I just eyeballed what I thought would be in a tea bag) and let that steep for a few minutes before straining. I had never had nettle tea before and wasn't sure how it would taste, so I steeped a green tea bag in with it. Once strained, I stirred in a little honey and added a splash of lemon juice.
DeleteKelsey, that's a good idea to steep the nettles with green tea. I'll have to remember that! Thank you!
DeletePatsy well done with staying in budget and looking good for paying off one debt this month and cheering you on to meet your savings target this month too. Great to pack the lunch for the trip away, cook meals from scratch and that your husband is taking sandwiches to work to cut expenses further.
ReplyDeleteWe are doing well with our grocery expenditure that I wanted to pare back so far and are $168 odd under budget for the month. It helps to keep meat expenditure down as on Christmas Eve that I got a lot of meat at super markdown prices with marinated chicken $1.50 - $1.60 kg, chicken maryland and drumsticks for $2 kg, 3.558 kilo of premium mince for $4.29 kg and a pork boneless leg roast for $7.50 kg which filled up the spaces in the meat freezer where we had used some meat.
Kept to our plan and have been making our bread at home using ingredients we have. DH did want some pizza scrolls which we did get as we were so far under our grocery budget and he loves them so it is not about cutting out buying favourite bakery items but minimising what we buy.
Hoping we are under budget for the groceries at the end of the month so that can go to saving for my new car. We stuck firm to our new budget for this year and banked just over $700 into the savings account so far.
I again resisted buying a lot of clothing that was on sale but did buy one t-shirt in a colour that I needed to match skirts etc that I have whilst ordering baby clothing for a friend to give to her.
Have a wonderful week of hunkering down everyone :) .
Lorna.
Lorna, you're doing good, too! The little things add up, don't they? Good for you for buying the clothing you needed but not all that you wanted. We've made similar choices in the need verses wants area this month.
DeleteSounds like you guys are doing a great job. We’re plugging along.
ReplyDeleteLee Ann, plugging along means you're still moving ... sometimes we have to remind ourselves to keep on keeping on and if we should fall off the wagon in the process, to get up, brush ourselves off and climb right back on!
Delete