Hi all!
Life has taken a turn that is keeping me incredibly busy, too busy to get online to write to you.
First off, it's summer, which means harvest and preservation of all that grows here. I'm working my frugal behind off taking care of it all.
And second, my husband's work situation suddenly changed, and we're facing a 30% drop in income.
I've been reworking budgets, brainstorming ways to conserve further, and looking into how to grow our income.
I have slashed our budgets across the board, including dropping back to a one-car family, reducing the grocery budget to well below $200/month, heating the house less, leaving lights turned off unless it is truly dark inside, and we're even considering selling our home and downsizing to a much smaller (and cheaper to maintain) home.
One of the helpful things I am doing is keeping a log of ways that I save money, on a daily basis, and how much each activity saves. For instance, I started Christmas and fall birthday shopping the other day, shopping a clearance sale at Lands' End. I bought 3 gifts for my son (2 for his birthday and 1 for Christmas), which had been on my list for him anyways, and saved about $40 over what I would have been willing to pay, had I waited until the fall to shop. (There's a big difference in "what I'd be willing to pay" and what the store claims is a savings, for my purposes. I only calculate savings on a what-I-am-willing-to-pay basis.) That shopping took me 2 hours online, for a wage of $20/hour. I am also shopping for winter jackets for my two daughters, for their Christmas gifts this coming year. Shopping in the off-season will save me a substantial amount on gift-giving, which will be a great help, as I cut the gift-giving budget in half for this next year.
I also hung a load of wash to dry in the sun, for a savings of 50 cents. I spent about 20 minutes hanging and checking the drying, for a wage of about $1.50/hour.
I refurbed a pair of very worn shoes the other day. I was hoping to replace these shoes this summer, but a refurb job using only what I had here at home, may prolong their life by a year or two. In case you're wondering, I painted a pair of faux suede sandals, with acrylic paint. The faux suede had worn off in patches, leaving a mottled finish everywhere.
Time will tell if my efforts were fruitful, if the painted finish looks good after wearing a few times. If not, my cost was nothing but time. And anyways, they couldn't possibly look worse than they did before. If I delayed the purchase of a new pair of shoes by 2 years, I estimate my savings to be about $5 or so (for those two years of extra wear). I spent about 1 hour in total on the painting of the shoes, for a wage of $5/hour.
I trimmed my hair the other day, instead of going to a cheap haircut place. I extended the life of my haircut by another 6 weeks by trimming it myself. I look for the super cheap coupons of about $8 or $9 for a cut, no style. One will usually surface in mid to late August (for the back to school crowds). I spent about 1 hour on the trim, saving about $10 after coupon and tip, for a wage of $10/hour.
By logging all this info, I can easily see which activities will save us the most money for the effort. However, the high hourly wage activities are not available every day.
So, we need to grow our income. I have been putting together my resume, and am looking for employment. Unfortunately, having been out of the main workforce for the last 26 years impairs my hire-ability for many positions.
I have also been researching taking in a boarder, to boost our income. Technically, paid lodgers go against the ordinances for our neighborhood. As do home day cares.
I do believe it will take a combination of all three of these areas (changing the budgets, conserving more, and increasing our income), to keep us progressing towards our future goals for retirement.
So, that's where I have been these past 10 days. Life has been keeping me incredibly busy. (And you thought I was off on some beach reading a fun novel!! LOL! Couldn't be further!)
I hope your life has been much more relaxing than mine. If not, and you find yourself as busy as I am these days, know that you are in good company! Have a great weekend, and I'll try to keep you posted on the various ways I find to cut our spending and increase our income. This is the value of blogging -- sharing information can be mutually beneficial for all of us.
