This past week I have not spent a cent. You can't save much more than that! I haven't left the house and therefore haven't had a chance to spend any money. This break from going places was brought on by injuries and fears from the wreck I had two weeks ago, but it certainly has it's perks for my very limited budget! I didn't really realize how much I normally go out until now!
I've always focused my energy on finding cheap or free activities (going to the lake or the park or just window shopping). It seems ridiculously obvious now, but I never really thought about setting a certain amount of time to not leave the house. I have tried in the past, when we were strapped for gas money, to curtail my outings, but usually I wouldn't be very successful in this task. In the future I hope to make a goal for myself to help me see the perks and keep myself motivated.
Some of the activities I have enjoyed in the past couple weeks were spending extra time with my daughter (you can never have too much time with an 18 month old... she's growing up too fast!!!) cleaning parts of the house that have been neglected, thoroughly going through and organizing my daughter's clothes and toys, weeding out the items she has outgrown, and really utilizing my Netflix instant queue.
Of course I believe this break from the outside world could have been much more enjoyable had it been planned... but I try to roll with the punches and recognize the blessings wherever I can.
However, I have decided to make my goal for tomorrow to end the hibernation. My family is concerned that if I don't leave the house soon, I may never leave the house again, so I will attempt to go to Kmart to catch the end of Super Doubles and use up some really good coupons which are about to expire. So tonight I will try to get everything organized for that trip. I have to say I think I need some fresh air!
Pray for me if you will, because I am extremely scared to get back into a moving vehicle! It's time to face this fear, but pray for me that all will go well!
Friday, March 27, 2009
The simple side of saving money
During the early days of my marriage, when trying to learn to take care of a family on a very tight budget, and before I had discovered the wonders of blogs such as moneysavingmom, I struggled at times to find ways to buy everything we needed with the money I had. I bought all our groceries on sale and occasionally used coupons if they were for something I absolutley needed, but some weeks there just wasn't enough money to go around.
It was on these difficult weeks that I would sometimes find the best ways to save money. For instance, during a particularly difficult time I decided to do away with paper towels in our home. I can't tell you how anxious this decision made me at first. We had always kept paper towels stocked and I always believed them to be a neccessity for us. When you are used to having an item like paper towels around, it is sometimes hard to picture life without them. However, once they weren't there, I discovered they were not necessary at all! My life was actually no harder without them, I was saving money, and as an added perk, my trash can was filling up much slower, which made me feel less wasteful!
Now I can't imagine wasting money on paper towels. Some households may not be able to eliminate paper towels from their daily life, but I urge everyone to take a look at their daily routine and see if there isn't something you too can do away with to save yourself some money. Once you have learned to live without these things it will be the easiest way you save money in your daily life!
What have you done away with to save money?
It was on these difficult weeks that I would sometimes find the best ways to save money. For instance, during a particularly difficult time I decided to do away with paper towels in our home. I can't tell you how anxious this decision made me at first. We had always kept paper towels stocked and I always believed them to be a neccessity for us. When you are used to having an item like paper towels around, it is sometimes hard to picture life without them. However, once they weren't there, I discovered they were not necessary at all! My life was actually no harder without them, I was saving money, and as an added perk, my trash can was filling up much slower, which made me feel less wasteful!
Now I can't imagine wasting money on paper towels. Some households may not be able to eliminate paper towels from their daily life, but I urge everyone to take a look at their daily routine and see if there isn't something you too can do away with to save yourself some money. Once you have learned to live without these things it will be the easiest way you save money in your daily life!
What have you done away with to save money?
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Finally ready to post again!
So, it's been a while, quite a bit longer than I had at first anticipated for me to get back to posting. But, I've had a lot of time to think about how to save money, so maybe some good will come from this after all!
My most recent money saving endeavor has been accidental but quite effective, nonetheless! Since the wreck I haven't left the house except to go back to the hospital. I'm slightly stressed about the idea of getting back into a car, to be quite honest! I'm sure I would be handling this stress better, were it not for the pregnancy hormones running through me at the moment, but there's also the issue of me not having a car! My fiance has a truck, but we always took my car on recreational outings because it's fuel efficiency was more than double that of his truck. At first I saw my fear of leaving the house as a purely bad thing, but the more I look at it, the more i see it as a blessing, because right now, we can't afford ANYTHING but the bare essentials. It's going to take about two more months of my fiance's paychecks for us to catch up on money we owe people. So for now, I am embracing my need to stay at home.
I have worked out a temporary budget for the next two months which will get the bills payed down. Another hidden blessing in this whole mess is that between the at fault party's insurance and my gap insurance, my car will be paid off, and I have decided not to buy a new one anytime soon. I think I will go for a cheaper used car that my fiance and I can buy outright with cash once we do feel a need for another car. In the meantime, not having a car payment or full coverage insurance for me will cut out about $400/ month which is going to be a huge help! I would still rather have my car back and not have been in a wreck, but you take what you can get!!!!
So right now at my house we are studying up on skrimping and saving every penny we can and counting our blessings even when they aren't all that easy to see at first glance. And we are going to become a stronger family for it!!
My most recent money saving endeavor has been accidental but quite effective, nonetheless! Since the wreck I haven't left the house except to go back to the hospital. I'm slightly stressed about the idea of getting back into a car, to be quite honest! I'm sure I would be handling this stress better, were it not for the pregnancy hormones running through me at the moment, but there's also the issue of me not having a car! My fiance has a truck, but we always took my car on recreational outings because it's fuel efficiency was more than double that of his truck. At first I saw my fear of leaving the house as a purely bad thing, but the more I look at it, the more i see it as a blessing, because right now, we can't afford ANYTHING but the bare essentials. It's going to take about two more months of my fiance's paychecks for us to catch up on money we owe people. So for now, I am embracing my need to stay at home.
I have worked out a temporary budget for the next two months which will get the bills payed down. Another hidden blessing in this whole mess is that between the at fault party's insurance and my gap insurance, my car will be paid off, and I have decided not to buy a new one anytime soon. I think I will go for a cheaper used car that my fiance and I can buy outright with cash once we do feel a need for another car. In the meantime, not having a car payment or full coverage insurance for me will cut out about $400/ month which is going to be a huge help! I would still rather have my car back and not have been in a wreck, but you take what you can get!!!!
So right now at my house we are studying up on skrimping and saving every penny we can and counting our blessings even when they aren't all that easy to see at first glance. And we are going to become a stronger family for it!!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Slight delay!
OK, so I obviously didn't post my budget information when I said I was going to, but I do have a very reasonable excuse!
My ex took my fiance and I to eat some burgers yesterday, and when my fiance and I got back in the car and started to head back home we were involved in a fairly serious wreck. Another car turned in front of me at the last second and I didn't have enough time to stop, so we collided, almost head on, at about 45 mph. Luckily everyone involved seemed to have fairly minor, although painful, injuries.
Four out of the five of us went to the hospital. I just mostly had a lot of soreness and a contousion on my knee that required four stitches. My fiancee has something wrong in his knee that he has to go back and see an orthopedic specialist for today, they think he may have broken a ligament or something. We were very concerned he may have had internal bleeding where the seat belt went across his waist, but the first tests didn't show any, they are going to make sure again today with more tests. One passenger in the other car seemed to be fine although irrate with us even though the wreck wasn't our fault, she was screeming "you did this, why did you do this" (quite unsettling right after a wreck). The driver went to a different hospital but from what I understand she just had some bad knee problems. A seventeen year old passenger of the other car who rode in the ambulance with us was banged up pretty bad because although she had her seatbelt on, she was wearing the shoulder strap behind her back. She was having back pains but the x-rays showed no back injuries, it was just the overall soreness that we all had. Her face was cut very badly.
I can not describe how blessed I feel that my fiance and I were both wearing our seatbelt, our air bags deployed, all the nifty little safety features that the car dealer was telling me about when selling me the car worked just as he said they would... I know from seeing my crumpled up front end that this wreck could have been so much worse!!! I honestly think we could have died if it weren't for those safety features! I thank God for watching out for us the way he did!
I'm most thankful that I didn't have my daughter with me. I keep thinking what if and it's driving me crazy but I can't seem to stop it. They said the baby should be fine because I'm so early in my pregnancy the baby is still completly shielded by the pelvic bone. The number of blessings I have received in this horrible event are innummerable!
I will post back on budget stuff and such once I've pulled myself together a bit more!
My ex took my fiance and I to eat some burgers yesterday, and when my fiance and I got back in the car and started to head back home we were involved in a fairly serious wreck. Another car turned in front of me at the last second and I didn't have enough time to stop, so we collided, almost head on, at about 45 mph. Luckily everyone involved seemed to have fairly minor, although painful, injuries.
Four out of the five of us went to the hospital. I just mostly had a lot of soreness and a contousion on my knee that required four stitches. My fiancee has something wrong in his knee that he has to go back and see an orthopedic specialist for today, they think he may have broken a ligament or something. We were very concerned he may have had internal bleeding where the seat belt went across his waist, but the first tests didn't show any, they are going to make sure again today with more tests. One passenger in the other car seemed to be fine although irrate with us even though the wreck wasn't our fault, she was screeming "you did this, why did you do this" (quite unsettling right after a wreck). The driver went to a different hospital but from what I understand she just had some bad knee problems. A seventeen year old passenger of the other car who rode in the ambulance with us was banged up pretty bad because although she had her seatbelt on, she was wearing the shoulder strap behind her back. She was having back pains but the x-rays showed no back injuries, it was just the overall soreness that we all had. Her face was cut very badly.
I can not describe how blessed I feel that my fiance and I were both wearing our seatbelt, our air bags deployed, all the nifty little safety features that the car dealer was telling me about when selling me the car worked just as he said they would... I know from seeing my crumpled up front end that this wreck could have been so much worse!!! I honestly think we could have died if it weren't for those safety features! I thank God for watching out for us the way he did!
I'm most thankful that I didn't have my daughter with me. I keep thinking what if and it's driving me crazy but I can't seem to stop it. They said the baby should be fine because I'm so early in my pregnancy the baby is still completly shielded by the pelvic bone. The number of blessings I have received in this horrible event are innummerable!
I will post back on budget stuff and such once I've pulled myself together a bit more!
Friday, March 13, 2009
So Here we go!
I suppose the best way to start this out is to explain to everyone who may happen accross this blog a little bit about myself and my goal here.
I am starting over in life, having lost a wonderful husband to divorce (it is much too painful to talk about). My ex and I have a 18 month old daughter together, and I am with another man, who is very kind and caring, and we are about two months pregnant. Recent circumstances have caused us to both lose our jobs (we were working together) and he just began a new job about a week ago and I will begin a new temporary job on the 27th of this month. We are currently living on my ex's land to save up money. Don't ask me to explain, most people would never be able to understand, suffice it to say he is a wonderful, caring person, and we both still care deeply for each other, just not in the same way we once did.
My short term goal is to create a budget for my fiance and I, which is obviously a challenge considering I don't even know yet how much his checks will be. My longer term goal is to pay off enough of our debts (in the form of car payments) to be able to afford rent by the time the baby gets here. My ultimate long term goal is to save up a down payment for our own home which we can put on the land he got as an inheiritance.
My purpose for blogging about my situation, goals, and progress, is to inspire others who see their situation as dismal. I'm trying to count my blessings and make the best out of a fairly bad situation. I hope I can help others to do the same. I am also doing this to keep myself motivated. I am a tired pregnant woman, and as such I need a tool to keep myself on target.
Tonight I am going to sit down and crunch numbers as well as I can with the current information I have and tomorrow I will begin posting numbers on my goals and how I plan to reach them.
I will also be looking for good sources of information to help me in my journey and posting them when I find something that helps, so that if there is anyone who is going through any similar situations, they may find it useful as well.
If you do happen accross this blog and have any engouraging words to leave me, I would greatly appreciate you doing so. If you would like to bookmark me and follow me in this journey, I would be happy for you to do that as well! Tell me about your situation in a comment and I will be sure to pray for you, and would love to know that there are others praying for me and my family!
I am starting over in life, having lost a wonderful husband to divorce (it is much too painful to talk about). My ex and I have a 18 month old daughter together, and I am with another man, who is very kind and caring, and we are about two months pregnant. Recent circumstances have caused us to both lose our jobs (we were working together) and he just began a new job about a week ago and I will begin a new temporary job on the 27th of this month. We are currently living on my ex's land to save up money. Don't ask me to explain, most people would never be able to understand, suffice it to say he is a wonderful, caring person, and we both still care deeply for each other, just not in the same way we once did.
My short term goal is to create a budget for my fiance and I, which is obviously a challenge considering I don't even know yet how much his checks will be. My longer term goal is to pay off enough of our debts (in the form of car payments) to be able to afford rent by the time the baby gets here. My ultimate long term goal is to save up a down payment for our own home which we can put on the land he got as an inheiritance.
My purpose for blogging about my situation, goals, and progress, is to inspire others who see their situation as dismal. I'm trying to count my blessings and make the best out of a fairly bad situation. I hope I can help others to do the same. I am also doing this to keep myself motivated. I am a tired pregnant woman, and as such I need a tool to keep myself on target.
Tonight I am going to sit down and crunch numbers as well as I can with the current information I have and tomorrow I will begin posting numbers on my goals and how I plan to reach them.
I will also be looking for good sources of information to help me in my journey and posting them when I find something that helps, so that if there is anyone who is going through any similar situations, they may find it useful as well.
If you do happen accross this blog and have any engouraging words to leave me, I would greatly appreciate you doing so. If you would like to bookmark me and follow me in this journey, I would be happy for you to do that as well! Tell me about your situation in a comment and I will be sure to pray for you, and would love to know that there are others praying for me and my family!
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