I realize that it’s now been weeks since I’ve written in this journal. All I can say is that I’ve been so incredibly busy…. that I don’t have time to think, let alone time to write. But that needs to change…so today, I’m jumping back into the blogosphere. And may actually find a few minutes to visit other blogs that I have truly been missing!
Several months ago I wrote about our desire to get out from under some of our debt. Medical bills, credit card bills, etc. Larry and I (and of course Dave Ramsey) sat down and came up with a plan. And it looks beautiful…on paper. Life, on the other hand, laughed at our plan. And decided to throw us a curveball to test our reflexes. We made it through Christmas without going into debt. That is a huge thing. One that I felt proud of, and inspired by. January was going well, with no unexpected financial crises. Then life interfered again…in the form of the huge ice storm, which left us without electricity, heat or hot water for 8 long days. We purchased a kerosene heater, a generator, and several gallons of fuel to run them. There went January….but I can say that with a bit of “creative” bookkeeping, we did NOT go into further debt for these items. That’s good, right?!?! Of course it’s good….
February brought an unexpected, very large, not covered under our extended warranty repair bill for my van. And even Dave couldn’t help us there…. ; ) But once again, we were able to find the money to pay for the repairs, without going further into debt. Which is another good thing….
The debt snowball repayment plan has been put on hold. We are not giving up. We really, really want to be out from under some of these debts. But our timetable for eliminating those has changed….But we feel good about the fact that we weathered TWO very expensive, very unexpected crises…. without furthering our debt.
One of the biggest things that has helped me, is that I now carry cash. For everything. No cards, ever. Period. And that has been more of a change in mindset than anything… It is truly much easier to whip out a card, scan it, and be out the door when making a purchase. I’ve turned into that old lady we all dread to get behind in the stores….paying with cash, sometimes down to the change, and with my large envelope of coupons. In my defense, I DO have my coupons out and ready to use before I enter the line….
We are ready to get back on track, and start tackling some of these debts. We are not discouraged by the setbacks we’ve encountered. More than anything we are grateful for the fact that we were able to weather them without increasing our debt. What more can we ask for?
I did stumble across a blog a few weeks ago that I found….interesting. One family is determine to live on $1,500 this year. That includes food, clothing, household supplies and doctor’s visits. This family is much smaller than ours, with two parents and two very small children. But I’m enjoying reading about their journey….and am always grateful that I don’t get behind HER in the checkout lane. This lady is a coupon GURU….and gets better bargains than I ever imagined possible!!
So tell me, in this new economy, where we’re all feeling our pennies being pinched, what are YOU doing to help? How are you stretching your dollars to make the most of them? Larry and I are expanding our garden this year. We’ve got our organic beef ordered, and it will be ready sometime in May. Trust me, if you want to cut costs at the grocery store…this is the ONLY way to go. Plus, it tastes better, it’s healthier….you’ll never want to go back to “grocery store” beef again….
Posted by foreverjonah 