Today is the first day of March but before we get caught
up in planning our financial goals for the new month, we need to see how we did
in February. Did we meet any, some or
all of our financial goals? Let’s take a
look …
Here’s what our February goals were …
Our savings goal for this month is to save at least $1 more
than we did last month, we’re going to give it our best shot!
We did it!
Hubby would continue to carry his lunch to work, eating out
only when absolutely necessary. He did!
We both agreed to forego spending any money on Valentine
gifts for each other or specialty foods. We did it! I baked one of our favorite pies and we
enjoyed it together.
We’re going to try to reduce our power bill by at least
$25. Our last power bill was $214.30, let’s see if we can lower that
by at least $25. We came close but missed the $25 saving by a
few dollars. Our bill this month was
$193.86 giving us a reduction of $20.44.
We’ll take the savings and continue to work on reducing our usage.
We both agreed that for the month of February we would
forego our personal allowances again. We discussed the fact that we
didn’t want this journey to make us feel deprived to the point of frustration
and or desperation but did acknowledge that we were both still in a good place
for giving up our personal allowances again in February.
Success, no personal allowances taken for the month.
And now for the one we worked so hard to achieve, the one we really
went the extra mile to sacrifice for and that we talked about on a regular
basis …
Since we paid off one of our debts in January, we’re going
to use the snowball method and tackle another one in February. In
fact, our goal for the debt we have in our sights is to pay off half of it.
That’s going to take some dedication, but I think we can do it.
Did we do it, did we pay off at least half of it … no … we paid off the
whole thing!!!! At the beginning of the
month, we thought we would be doing good to pay half of it, but as we kept
working and putting every little extra, we could towards it and praying for God’s
help and guidance, we began to think, what if … was it possible … could we actually
pay it all off? We made significant sacrifices, we really dug deep and made do in so many areas, this achievement didn’t come easy, but we hunkered down and did it! The feeling of exultation that comes from accomplishing something really difficult overwhelmed us. We give God the glory. We worked and sacrificed like it all depended on
us and prayed like it all depended on God.
Have you ever felt just ‘rung out’ and weary from working so
hard? That’s the way we feel after expending
all the effort it took to exceed our goals for February.
With that in mind, March is going to look a little
different. We will continue on our ‘hunkering
down’ financial journey, but instead of not spending any more than is absolutely
necessary, for the month, we are going to relax a little. For example, in February we spent less than
$100 on groceries for the entire month, in March we plan to use all of our grocery
budget and restock some things we’ve been using and not replacing the past two
months.
For our savings, we want to add the same amount as we did
in February. We’re not going to try to
increase the amount this month, just hold steady.
We are going to take our personal allowances for
March.
We’re going to continue to pay on our remaining debt using
the snowball method, but not set a specific amount to work towards.
Just for the month of March, we’re going to ‘rock steady’
and take a little breather. In April we
plan to get back at it with the same effort and gusto we used in January and
February.
2024 financial goals, we're coming for you! (We're 1/6th of the way there!)
How did you do last
week and overall, for the month of February, I can't wait to read your comments!
One more thing, the next lesson is our ladies Bible study on the book of Esther, lesson 20, has been posted HERE.
until
next time,
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
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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😊😊😊😊
ReplyDeleteFantastic goals. Congrats on paying off the bill. It is truly amazing what we can make do with and have a great life as well.
ReplyDeleteCheryl, thank you!
DeleteProud of you! Enjoy letting up a little in March so you can be strong for reaching your April goals.
ReplyDeleteThank you! That's our plan, we already have April's goals in our sights, but first we rest a bit.
DeleteCongratulations, Patsi. Lovely post that really shows what can be done. February brought us even nearer to our goal of replentishing our emergency fund. We've decided that once we get there we will continue on and save over the amount of our goal as we will be needing 2 new doors and a new window and would like the money to pay cash and not go into the emergency fund. We know we can do it with God's help. Have a blessed day. Cookie
ReplyDeleteCookie, thank you! Congratulations on continued progress on rebuilding your emergency fund. Once our debt is paid off, we're going to focus on our emergency fund with a vengeance.
DeleteCongratulations on paying off the whole, instead of half, debt. Snowballing and a sharp pencil really works !
ReplyDeletexoxo, thank you! It does indeed!
DeleteHurray on meeting your goals, Patsy! That's awesome and inspiring. In spite of some hick-ups, we met our goals for February, too, and I noticed our grocery budget came in at about 1/2 what we'd been spending. Woo-hoo! I'm becoming a LOT more mindful of what we actually eat when sale prices come along, giving myself permission to pass on sale prices for foods that tend to sit. Thank you for sharing about homemade crackers! I can make what we'll eat w/o crazy prices (even on sale) and not have crackers going stale in the cupboard.
ReplyDeleteIt brings up a question for everyone here--how often do you take advantage of GOOD sale prices (this week Basha's has b/s chicken breasts at 99 cents lb., whole turkeys for 99 cents lb. and $2.97 lb. on lean ground beef, plus a digital coupon for navel oranges at 50 cents lb.) when you're already pretty well stocked? I'm thinking the chicken and turkey could be canned? Might as well give it a try? Or let that sale go? What would you do?
March winds blew in a week ago. We've had gusts as high as 40-50 mph. Giving me much to consider re. container gardening. Patsy, how do you keep your planter pots from blowing over? Thanks in advance. Have a blessed weekend! --Elise
Elise, I DO take advantage of good sale prices on meats and some fruits and vegetables. I regularly buy family packs and break them into individual servings and vacuum seal for longer freezer life. However, and especially lately, I've been holding off on most of those sales, so I can "eat down" what's in my freezer and get a better idea of what is critical for me to have on hand, and where I've been stocking up and not using up as quickly (ahem ... Italian sausage). I have only the freezer space in my side-by-side refrig/freezer, so I need to be mindful of just what I want/need to have on hand. Yes, frozen peas were on sale for $0.89 last spring, but I still have 3 12 oz bags in there, plus the ones I separated into 1 cup vacuum sealed bags. I want to use those up before adding ANY frozen vegetables. By not stocking up, I'm forcing myself to have peas in lieu of a more favored veg. I'm doing the same with chicken breasts and ground beef -- what I use the most. I have tons of Italian links sausage in the freezer and a lot of ham left from Christmas -- slices and diced up. I'm completely out of chicken and, by not re-stocking right now, I'm forcing myself to utilize those other cuts, instead. Once I have plenty of space freed up, I'll start looking for those great sales again. Hope this helps.
DeleteThose ground beef and chicken prices are amazing and far less than we ever see here. On the chicken I check to see if I need more in the freezer to have about a six month supply and then I check how much I have in jars which right now is a lot. So for me I would not buy chicken. I know I have plenty of ground beef on hand in the freezer but I would buy it to restock meatloaves in my freezer and we also need to do a batch of meat sauce. The ground chuck we bought this week was to restock grilled burgers which we always try to keep on hand for quick meals. I do not can anything with ground beef because I don't like the texture of it. I have a turkey breast in my freezer so for me no turkey. Just an idea of my thought process for sales.
DeleteElise, thank you! The rule of thumb we use for sale items is, do I have room for it, time to preserve it and or will we use it before it gets old tasting or freezer burnt.
DeleteMy container garden pots are 25 gallon in size and when you get soil in them they're not going anywhere unless you empty them. Of course, a strong hurricane or tornado could move them, but generally speaking, we've not had a problem with our pots blowing over. If yours are smaller, put a brick or rock in the bottom. That's what I do for our smaller ones. Hope that helps!
Thank you, Lori, Lana and Patsy! We went to Basha's yesterday and I did buy the chicken, ground beef and oranges. Some for our house and some to share with our son. Being out of pre-cooked meat in the freezer means I'll prepare before freezing to restock. Chicken and ground beef are staples. I'll test can one jar of chicken breast meat. Why does canning meat seem so intimidating to a newbie? I've been cooking from scratch for almost 50 years, for Pete's sake!
DeleteThank you, Patsy, for the pot garden advice. I'll look for bigger containers to use: the nursery pots we've stashed are 5-10 gallon. A local propane company sells recycled 1/2 tanks (for gardening) of those that can't be refurbished for propane use; I'll price those as another possibility. Experience has taught me that herbs don't like heavy clay soil.
Ran numbers yesterday and we came in at just over $2000 savings from Feb.!!!!!! --Elise
P.S. Total at Basha's yesterday was $66.01 with a savings of $72.68. Not bad at all.
Outstanding 👏👏👏
ReplyDeleteWe paid for our roof repairs, painting/repairs inside and remediation repairs. Whew good to have those gone. Next up gutters and siding repairs. Now that’s going to be expensive at around $4200😳😳😳
But if y’all can do it so can we!!!
LeeAnn, one small turtle step at a time and a whole lot of sacrificing gets the job done. Good luck!
DeleteExcellent work, Patsi, and you set lots of good examples for the rest of us. My February took a dive, as I thought I'd be able to make a change in my life and lifestyle at an affordable cost (moving from a 3-story to a ranch; easier on my knees and hips; in a 55+ community near friends and with a lot more activity than where I'm at). However, after much thought, prayer, and an inspection, I took a step back and am going to "hunker down" here, being thankful for what I have, and work to pay down some more debt while awaiting interest rate reductions. During that time, I found myself away from home far more often than I liked and completely blew my entertainment/eating out allowance (set primarily for when I have widows events to attend and/or host -- I'm an organizer for the group, so must attend many of the events). But, I did stay well within budget for fuel and groceries. I'm back on the budget train for March, and am also monitoring my electric usage, natural gas (heat and cooking), and water. Will be disconnecting my cable at the end of this billing cycle (only because I had a credit on this month's bill that would not be cash-refunded) and will move to streaming only startin in April, using free streams and Prime TV, which I pay for anyway (pup's food purchased thru Amazon and I can guarantee delivery). After paying bills this morning, it looks like I'll be in a far better place this month and I'm committed to making these changes.
ReplyDeleteLori, we all have setbacks, it's just part of the journey. It's sounds like you're back on track and have a clear plan. Having a plan is such a big part of the journey.
DeleteIt sounds like you made a wise decision in deciding to 'hunker down' where you are for a bit longer. Haste makes waste and I'm glad you did your homework.
Thank you for encouragement!
So excited for you both on paying off that bill! I think a breather is in order!
ReplyDeleteWe bought only basic perishables and 3 pounds of ground chuck and it was nearly $50. If we did not have our pantry and had to buy everything we are eating I would not know where the money would come from except to reduce what we put in savings. I had my hair cut which is a budget item and we stopped for groceries and that was our only trip out for the week. I had to buy a new kitchen stool because Hubby accidentally backed over my old one in the driveway on the last lake trip. It was far too wobbly to think it will last much longer and I have to have it to cook. I did find one on sale.
We finished the month with over half of our eat out budget left. All the extra goes into a savings for a 50th anniversary trip. That is a big goal because it will be a lot of money and our health has to be good enough to go. The goal is a Mississippi Queen River boat trip. My late grandmother's father was a Black Jack dealer on the Mississippi Queen after her mother died of cancer when she was three years old. She had the run of the boat and when she was five some passengers reported that there was a child on the boat to child services when they put into dock in Iowa. She was taken from her father and adopted by a very well off farmer and his wife who could never have any children. She was spoiled and doted on and had a wonderful childhood. This story has always haunted me and I have wondered about her father and how grieved he must have been so I want to retrace her time on the river. We have a little more than four years.
Lana, thank you! I'm in complete agreement with you about food prices. If we did not have our pantry, what we've been able to accomplish the last two months would not have been possible.
DeleteYour 50th anniversary trip sounds wonderful. My heart hurts for what your grandmother and her father went through as a result of that separation. Your trip definitely has special meaning other than celebrating 50 years of marriage! I hope you are able to pull it off!
Congratulations on more than making that debt goal. And yes, it is a hard slog at times. I think you are very wise to relax a bit for March before amping up again in April. Our debt free journey took nearly three years, using the snowball method as you're doing and it did get wearing...but we made it!
ReplyDeleteMy goal this month was to stick to a lowered grocery spending. I did it. I put a small portion of money into my Christmas savings account, put a larger amount into our main savings and used a portion of our birthday/allowance money to make a goodly savings in our vacation envelope.
A loan we'd made to a family member was repaid, so that allowed us to also do somethings that we'd wanted to do such as adding to savings as well as getting new lighting fixtures for our 27 year old home. My 'best buy' though came from a lovely surprise Amazon gift card that was roughly half again as large as it usually is. I found a bargain pair of lamps and ended up paying only $1.03 for the lamps! I was so pleased!
For March I am looking to stick again to the lower grocery budget, use up several expired items in my pantry (none of them are bad, just past best by dates). I hope to put a little more money into Christmas savings again this month. I plan to freshen our guest room but am shooting for a $0 makeover using what I have on hand already.
Terri @ BlueHouseJournal
Terri, thank you and congratulations on achieving your goal as well. It feels good to achieve a goal regardless of what it is. I'm happy you got a larger Amazon gift card, it sounds like you put it to good use. You're doing really well with 'hunkering down.'
DeletePatsi you have done so well paying off the whole of that second debt In February by careful planning and eating from your pantry. The reduction in electricity bill is still impressive and I wish you luck in getting it down by $25 as per your goal. I agree a break is in order to rest and recuperate for the this month and come back refreshed and ready to tackle more paying off of bills in April.
ReplyDeleteJust recapping our February accomplishments is that we only spent 45.15% of our grocery budget for the month as we got a whole lot of super cheap meat marked down on Christmas Eve that we are still working our way through as well as other good meat sale items. The extra money went in to our kitty to save for my new car. It could be a possibility too that we may need to move off our acreage and back into town due to DH's ongoing health (heart) problems and if that does eventuate the homes are more expensive there so we will have to save a bit more to achieve that. It would mean we would have to have a 20% deposit in cash + legal costs for a second home and move into that one and sell this one and have a mortgage again for a short time. We will seek the advice of the cardiologist and whether things will improve for DH in May before making any decisions on what we will do.
We were under budget in most categories in our budget for February so were able to save $3089.30 for the month.
I was really excited about saving this much this month.
Cheering everyone on to achieving their goals and a shout out to Cookie you are doing so well almost being at the stage of replenishing your emergency fund.
Lorna.
Lorna, prayers for your husband and any upcoming decisions you might have to make. Your savings is inspiring! It helps motivate me to up my game. --Elise
DeleteThanks Lorna. We are so thankful we had that fund to fall back on because we stayed out of debt and only had to repay ourselves in restoring the fund. Your husband's health will be in our prayers. My husband is also a veteran and service connected as well.
DeleteEM Griffith thank you so much and it helps to get so many food bargains to keep prices lower. You also did very well on your savings and our monthly savings total was with interest we received :) .
DeleteYes it will be a big decision if we do have to move and will be praying about it and thank you for the prayers. We have a very large home here so it would mean minimising and selling a lot of things we have to move into town. We have been decluttering, donating and already selling off items we have not used or items bought that didn't do the job we thought they would.
Lorna.
Most welcome Cookie and those emergency funds are so needed for times when things go awry in our homes and we have big unexpected expenses, and you are truly blessed that you had those funds you saved there ready to use when you needed them without having to borrow money :) .
DeleteHello fellow veteran family and thank you for the prayers for DH's health. I know that DH would not want to move from here as he loves the wide open spaces as I do, but currently he knows he is finding it hard to keep up with what we have to do here to keep the property running. Hopefully his health improves and his heart function is up to 50% from 25% (only 5% to go to have normal function) when we first started but the medications really make him tired. He is hoping that with this next cardiologists visit they may take him off or reduce some of the medications so he has more energy.
Lorna.
Lorna, I hope your hubby gets a good report when he sees his cardiologist again. I have prayed for him and for you and for both of you to have wisdom to know what is the best thing to do.
DeleteI'm impressed with your savings, you all must have really hunkered down too! Congratulations!
Patsy thank you I appreciate the prayers for both of us :). It is a difficult situation for sure but hopefully we will be guided with the best outcome for us.
DeleteThank you and yes really hunkered down and was very pleased with our savings progress.
Lorna.
This is so inspiring. I love it. I am going to continue to work on my goals as well. We will all be so much better for this in the end. Keep it up everybody.
ReplyDeleteApril, thank you for the reminder .... we will all be so much better for this in the end!
DeleteWell done, it must feel so rewarding to have not only achieved, but exceeded your goals !!! :) Happy for you !! Our goal where I live is to save for new curtains and to complete the painting of our house. We hope to have that done by next summer. It's Autumn here at the moment in New Zealand. Blessings to you ~ Linda
ReplyDelete