~ from my home to yours, living the Working Pantry lifestyle ~

Friday, September 20, 2024

Hunkering Down 2024: Week 38

Hubby and I spent some time discussing what we wanted to accomplish financially for the rest of 2024 this week.  We made a plan of how we would work towards those goals and then got very specific with the baby steps that we would need to carry through on ... it was a good conversation, we're both on the same page and we're ready to go!

Just for the record, our goals don't involve huge amounts of money, so if you're thinking that you can't set financial goals because you don't have much money to work with, let me assure you that you can and that you're not alone.

Let me tell you this also though, you have to start somewhere and 'small' is a good place to begin.  Do what you can, when you can and be thankful that you can do what you can do!

Here's an example ...

Last week we had to buy a tire for one of our vehicles and this week we had to have the alternator replaced in one of our vehicles ... wham!  There goes the extra money we were planning to put towards our targeted debt!  But, after a little thinking I realized that we have two possibilities to recoup the money and still be able to make that extra payment.  (1)  use grocery money as we don't need anything from the store and (2) we are anticipating that our power bill for this month will be less since we've been traveling quite a bit.  If this holds true, we'll take any surplus funds from both of these areas and maybe just maybe be able to make that extra payment we want to make.

It might not have been what we had originally planned but it's a perfect example of doing what we can where we are with what we've got to work with ... I hope that make sense!

That's it for this week, what about you, how did your week go and what financial goals are you working toward?

until next time,

mrs. patsi @ A Working Pantry

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

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8 comments:

  1. Ah but you did save money. You paid cash for these emergencies!!!!!🎊🎊

    Every little bit makes a difference down the road and that first step is so far behind you. Example: we bought a "tear-down mountain cabin" after we hired an inspector to tell us if it was a good buy. He wrote his report in "fix it must-do" format. Every time we saved $100 we did some work. We started with his critical items. 17 years later? We finally finished doing everything ourselves except roof/cement siding/new patio. (Demo and reconstruction of a bathroom is not fun when you're dirty and can't shower for a week! and the black mold? ick). But oh the outcome......we enjoy it every chance we get! Totally worth saving every $1 and $5 bill!

    Saving money is hard. Being in debt is hard. We choose our hard!

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    1. Elle, you are right ... saving money is hard, being in debt is hard, we choose our hard!

      Yes, being able to pay cash for these emergencies was the soft landing after being knocked for a loop by these unexpected expenses.

      Your cabin sounds delightful, it reminds me of our journey to a mortgage free home.

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  2. For many years I only paid an extra $10 on our mortgage every month but that came straight off the principal. We were able to really pay it down quick at the end after the kids were all through college but all those years of small bits saved us a good bit of interest. No amount is too small when paying down debt for sure. Those things like the tire and alternator always seem to be popping up like roadblocks in a video game!

    We are nerdy people and like to watch our investments and this morning was interesting after the interest rate cut yesterday. I think we need to make an appointment with our financial planner. Just as no amount is too small to pay down on debt we feel that way about savings. We asked for our credit card rewards to be transferred to our bank so we can put them in our mutual fund. No need to allow the credit card company make 21 percent on our money when we can earn a little for our own benefit. Honestly Hubby and I do not see eye to eye on money. He has never been one to understand the value of buying at the lowest price and earning money on money we have. He is just not wired that way. So he knows to leave it to me, although occasionally he tries to jump in and handle something, in the end he understands my way once I have explained why. So it works.

    Our utility company has changed the way they bill us by adding peak hours. We didn't think too much of it until the first bill came and ouch. Forty percent of the last bill was penalties for peak use. We were quite surprised and you can bet we are taking stoeps to change our ways. We reset the water heater timer to never be on during those peak hours and are paying attention to those peak hours and energy use now. I will checking into a safe space heater for the bathroom for first thing in the morning over the winter so we don't run the heat up at the most expensive time.

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    1. Lana, yes, indeed, roadblocks in a video game. That's a good way to describe them!

      It's good that your husband, once he understands the wisdom you're basing your financial decisions on, gets on the same page as you.

      Our power company has penalties for peak use too, and we signed up for the alerts. You can be sure that when an alert comes out, we pretty much shut everything that we can down. Thankfully, they give us several hours' notice.

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  3. This week hasn't been a money-saving one for us. Our only daughter is getting married in a few weeks and mentioned how many of the bills associated with arranging the big day had suddenly all become due at once. Herself and her fiancé had paid previous ones out of their salaries, but meeting these latest ones all at once would wipe out their savings. We had previously offered to cover the entire cost of the wedding, but she had turned that offer down since her future in-laws had paid for a couple of big ticket items. With the bills mounting up, however, she accepted our proposal to cover the ones now due. Honour has been satisfied all round and, since we will not be spending as much as we previously proposed, we will now be looking for a really nice wedding present. The wedding is not a huge affair, but we could only be so generous helping out because we have savings and recognise that the young couple need a savings cushion to fall back on too.

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    1. Tracy, congratulations on gaining a son-in-law. How very wise of you to think about the couple's finances and their need for a savings cushion. In my opinion, that is the best way to honor a couple as they begin their lives together.

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  4. Patsy you have done so well and it does help a lot of have financial conversations between partners in a marriage so that you are both on the same page. I understand totally as when you get those unexpected expenses you look at the budget categories where you have extra you won't use to cover them and as a bonus things are still paid in cash. I am cheering you on with your alternate plan B on cheaper electricity and using your unneeded grocery money to pay more off your targeted bill :).
    This was a bit of an alternate plan b week for us as well as the council decided to put the land and water rates on one bill for the 6 months which of course made it more expensive and we also got our two car insurances and trailer insurances in. I had planned for most of them by only banking a little and always fortunately have a bit spare in our working account so we could pay for them out of our working account without having to touch our savings/bills account which both earn good interest. Almost $2800 later we have both bills paid and out of the way and paid with cash.
    As another side note we noticed that we were out of spares of our printer ink so like you I looked to where else in the budget I could pay for these and found the phone and internet account had spare money in it that I used to purchase two large printer ink cartridges with.
    Although progress was slower this month and we only banked $100 instead of a lot more we were happy with our progress to save even a little.

    Lorna.

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    1. Lorna, your comment is so encouraging! With all your unexpected expenses you still managed to bank some money. Thank you for sharing!

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