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[Guest inoubliable]

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[Audrey]

We paid for the farm that way. We set up a bare-bones budget -- and I mean BARE bones. No internet, no cell phones, deregistered all vehicles except the farm pick-up and the farm semi. Ate nothing we couldn't raise or grow ourselves. Bought no clothes except barn boots that wore out. Bought no new equipment and just fixed everything we could.

 

That was extreme (to some), but we didn't want to scrape along for years and years and years just barely getting ahead or saving only a bit here and there. Instead we paid for the whole thing in a little over 3 years.

 

Whenever these kinds of questions come up, I will always recommend that if you have a really serious financial goal in mind, go hard at it. Get very, very tight with your budget, as tight as you can and then tighter still. It doesn't last forever and when it's done, you have that goal met.

 

We've had some financially difficult years since then, but the farm has no mortgage. No one can take our home and land and we owe nothing on it. Nothing. It is a great sense of security and worth every day of the lean years.

[BrookValley.]

I don't really have any fabulous ideas, but good luck!! Finances cause us quite a bit of stress, too. I get it. I don't think your plan is lunacy. Give it a go and see what happens.

 

While I don't have a hard, set budget (I really, really NEED to...maybe this year!), my husband and I keep separate accounts and when he gets paid (once a month) he deposits 25% of his total bring-home pay into my savings account. I don't dip into it for those little things here and there--you know, the ones that add up--because it's not "mine," and he doesn't dip into it (and he would) because he can't. We have actually, for the first time ever, been able to actually have a savings and keep that backup that helps so much when things do come up. Our savings took a bit of a hit for a few unexpected things late this year, but you know, it worked just like it should. We had the money we needed. No big stress. Now, we do find ourselves scraping by at the end of the month, but that's where implementing a real budget would help us a lot.

[Annie G]

I encourage you to designate some of the money you set aside for things you KNOW you're going to need. If you have a pile of money in the bank and then things come up, it can be depressing to see the balance dip low. But if you instead designate a certain amount to things- Christmas, car repairs, etc., when you take the money out to pay the bill, you have a feeling of accomplishment that you'd already put aside that money for that purpose. It's more freeing than waiting to deal with emergencies as they arise. Most people call these sinking funds- you can call it whatever you want. It's very liberating to have expenses already saved for and just waiting for the time to pay it.

 

I used to HATE January because our house and auto insurance renewals came due then and paying by the month costs more than paying it all up front. We changed the way we manage money and they funds for those policies have been in the account for months and we're excited to pay them and be done with it.

 

I'd also urge you to take it a month or a quarter at a time...planning for the whole year can not only be difficult, it can be discouraging when things beyond your control make it necessary to rearrange your budget. But getting through one month or one quarter successfully is a cause for celebration!

 

Good luck! And having dh on board is a huge plus!

[Dmmetler]

When I was working, we deliberately lived on one salary and saved ALL of mine, plus part of DH's. It made life MUCH easier when we had DD and I stayed home with her, and made the choice to homeschool rather than my going back to work easier as well, even though it made it tougher month-to-month and paycheck-to-paycheck.

 

I will say, though-it's downright painful to do this, and then watch your savings take a major hit due to stock market changes. The last few years have really had us wondering if maybe we saved TOO big a percentage and didn't take advantage of the money while we have it, as we watch DH's 401K and our investment funds swing widely.

[Guest inoubliable]

 

[Joshin]

We did this six years ago, and it works. Of course, there were some set backs, but they were minor compared to how we were before! During that time we launched our own business, bought a new car cash and purchased our dream home, amongst other more minor things.

 

My biggest piece of advice is to stick to it as best as you can for at least two months. After seeing how much your savings grows in that fairly short window of time, it almost becomes addictive to save money. My second piece of advice is to record all spending AND savings for at least three months. I would revisit the budget in the three to six month window, after you have a nice cushion in savings, and tweak it to fit any problem areas you identified and to perhaps add in a bit of "fun money."

 

Good luck, and you can do it! It isn't lunacy at all!

[Guest inoubliable]

 

[Guest inoubliable]

 

[Night Elf]

It's easy for me to log on to a website and check it, but I'm wondering if actually writing it down will somehow hold me more accountable. Isn't that a major tool that dieters use? I've heard that somewhere before and I'm thinking that maybe it would help in this instance, too.

 

Well, I'll agree to the point of writing everything down. It shows you in black and white exactly where every calorie/dollar goes and makes you tighten your belt more easily. (I lost weight with Weight Watchers and tracking was the only reason I was successful.)

 

I could really use some financial goals. DH understands the smart management of money and I'm the Spendy Mindy in the family. I have a very bad habit of being able to justify everything I spend. The few times I cannot justify a purchase, I don't buy it. Now, why I can't do that more regularly is downright embarrassing! I was telling DH about this thread and he reminded me that we tried the envelope system once and it worked well. I just don't remember why we stopped. I am reading the No Spend January thread and thought I'd give it a try. I'm not going to think beyond a month though. I would be totally overwhelmed. If I can survive January and see the actual savings in our bank account, it should encourage me to continue. I guess we could live on a smaller portion of his salary. It's certainly worth opening a discussion with DH. Thanks for the idea. :)

[Jane in NC]

Lunacy? Not at all.

 

I honestly think that it is the small things that get a lot of people off track. Sure, the unexpected medical or car expenses can be problematic, but if people did not piddle away extra cash on small stuff, they might have an emergency fund to take care of those emergencies.

 

So, all I can say is "Go Girl!" You can do this! And if people wonder why you are not buying a spendy coffee, why you are riding your bike instead of driving or upcycling your old sweaters into needed slippers, just smile sweetly and enjoy your growing bank balance or declining debt.

[Audrey]

 

Wow! Now THAT'S the sort of inspiration I was looking for! Our budget now is as bare as I can figure it (and still be realistic for *us*) - rent, water, electric, internet/phone/cable (this is going to be cut down to JUST internet within days), a car payment (that's part of my aggressive plans for the year - paying it off!), student loans, a small personal loan and some credit cards, petrol, groceries, cell phones (for myself and DH), car/camper/renter insurance, Amazon Prime account, Hulu+, Netflix. That's it. I'm wanting to add in a set savings amount and a set amount for homeschool stuff that comes up. We're vegan and so our diet is pretty inexpensive. I hope to start a small container garden this spring to help out with that. As a family, we've committed to no more eating out starting January 1st. So I'm coming up with some quick and simply meals that DH and kiddos can do if I'm running late with something or too sick to cook.

 

Three years sounds about like the time frame that I'm looking at. And, honestly, if I can pull this off then at the end of 3 years, we shouldn't *need* to spend anywhere near his annual pay then either.

 

Congratulations on having the farm! :) I'd love to have my own farm someday. The security must be amazing!

 

 

Glad that helped. :)

 

Something that I found to be true for us... if you can stick to it really hard for at least 6 months and make a promise to yourself that you won't bemoan it ... it really does get to be very easy. We even found further ways to spend less and still be happy. It became almost like a game for us. When I think back on those days, we had a lot of fun with it. We had a little baby/toddler at the time, too, and he never lacked for anything. He had plenty of clothes (thanks to hand-me-downs and thrift stores and clearance sales) and he had plenty of toys, too. While we, the adults, scaled back on those kinds of things, it wasn't like we didn't already have 'stuff,' KWIM? We just learned to live by that adage:

 

Fix it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.

 

We still do that in many ways, we just have breathing room now, and the skill set to be able to weather bad years much easier.

 

Plus... yes... the farm is amazing security.

[Audrey]

Another thought.... are you looking for some helpful tips and reminders? When I embarked on our lean-years, I had checked out a book called "Debt-Proof Living" by Mary Hunt. It is somewhat similar to Dave Ramsey (but pre-dates him) in some of the concepts. She has a free email newsletter that has little tips and also serves as a regular reminder to keep on track. There was also a pay-service to track all your spending, but the book outlined all of that and I kept track of everything with a spreadsheet myself.

[Joshin]

 

Awesome! Right now, I'm thinking of some goals regarding vehicles and how we can achieve that this year. This is all so exciting, really. Just looking at this magic number in front of me and going, "How can I get the most out of this? What dreams can I achieve THIS year??"

 

I think I'm going to go for January and February with specifics and see how that goes. How would you suggest recording spending and savings? It's easy for me to log on to a website and check it, but I'm wondering if actually writing it down will somehow hold me more accountable. Isn't that a major tool that dieters use? I've heard that somewhere before and I'm thinking that maybe it would help in this instance, too.

 

 

 

I use a plain notebook, the pocket size so I can carry it with me if need me. I collect all receipts at the end of the day and write them in along with a notation for what they were for (ex: mort-mortgage, ins-insurance, groc-groceries, cl-clothing). At the end of the month I add up how much we spent in each category. I just keep a running tally of how much we add to savings each week.

 

I don't keep a notebook regularly anymore, maybe once or twice a year for a month when I feel we are losing control of our spending. I found the notebook makes it harder to spend, because I don't want to write anything down. It makes me challenge myself. It also shows me where we're slipping up. For example, in the beginning we were spending a mad amount on clothes for a quickly growing baby after moving to a much colder climate. I switched to the thrift store for his clothing and cut spending down in that category from $50 a month to $5 a month. I never would have gone thrifting if that huge number hadn't been staring at me out of my notebook, taunting me! It also revealed that I tended to give in to junk food/restaurants/purchased snacks in the middle of each week when we had outside activities. I knew this, but I had ignored it because I spent less than $10 on these excursions. Well, $40 a month suddenly seemed like a lot when I saw it written down! I started making a meal on the weekends to stick in the freezer so it would be easier to heat that up then run through a drive-through.

[Guest inoubliable]

 

[2squared]

I guess this is pretty much how we have always done things. We set aside money in sinking funds every month for the unknown and yet expected - insurance, car repairs, homeschool expenses, taxes, home repair, Christmas, auto replacement, etc.

 

Our general spending breaks down by 50% of basic necessities, 25% for sinking funds as mentioned above, and 20% for discretionary spending (kids activities, eating out, etc). The remaining 5% + Air Force active duty pay goes to retirement.

 

The trick is to get ahead of the expenses by getting your sinking funds nice and plump. Once they are established, you can minimize the financial impact of emergencies.

 

FWIW, we are debt free except for our mortgage and we are on track with retirement savings.

[Guest inoubliable]

 

[Annie G]

www.llnoe.com is a great place to post your budget and get feedback and ideas about cutting it. Yeah, those folks follow Ramsey but even if you don't, they're great at analyzing budgets and helping you find ways to save more money. It's free and even lurking will help you learn stuff.

 

I'd probably NOT start with sinking funds for things like college education- you have to get a handle on monthly expenses, build up an emergency fund, and begin funding your essential sinking accounts. Once you get those things under control, you can add in other things like vacation savings, college savings, etc.

[Jane in NC]

Fast food kills us. Especially since I've been ill. DH would rather spend $30 - $35 per MEAL than come home and cook and do dishes. Drives me nuts. But we're committed to not doing that anymore. Making a few meals on the weekends might help with that, now that you mention it. Hmmm....

If not meals, then have some ready to go to items that can be assembled quickly. I suspect that you are going to have one loud cheering squad on your side as you tackle this.

[Guest inoubliable]

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[Guest inoubliable]

 

[Annie G]

Okay, so another question. Tax refund should be approximately $3000. Could go either way by a few hundred dollars. Option One is to pay off all credit cards and a small personal loan - about $3000. Option Two is to put $1400 in savings towards car tax, registration, inspection, and giving us a $1000 fund for fixing anything that needs fixing throughout the year or replacing. If I go this route, I'll probably pair it up with Option Three. Option Three is to take about $1700 to pay a year of Hulu+, Netflix, Amazon Prime, my Republic Wireless phone account, car insurance, camper insurance, and renter's insurance in advance. If I do this option with Option Two, I'd still include those bills in my monthly budget and just set the money aside so that next year I can pay the whole of 2014 up front. Does that make sense?

Option Two and Three together would give me some peace of mind in that the car should give us much trouble financially, the taxes are already "paid, and some of the little things are already completely taken care of for the year. It's not much breathing room in the budget, though, since I'll be including those amounts so that next year I can do the same without having to use the tax refund to do it. It also leaves me with $290 in minimum payments for the bills that I listed for Option One. If I went with Option One, then I get more breathing room in my budget and if a repair came up with the car, then I *could* use a combination of credit cards if needed to have it taken care of.

 

 

 

Paying off debt is a good long term fix. You'll save more in the long run because you won't be paying the interest on those credit cards, and you can start thinking about living on what you earn, nothing more. And if you pay off the debt, you'll have that extra $290 a month to put in to your car repair sinking fund.

 

I'd never consider paying Netflix, etc. in advance because that's completely discretionary money- if your dh lost his job, that expense could be cut. Paying for fluff in advance leads you to forget how much it's really costing you. But you know, different things work for different people...you'll find what works for you!

 

The fast food thing is a tricky situation- you'll definitely save when not picking up fast food, but it's not 100% because you have to buy the food you'll cook at home. Some people get discouraged when they buy meal ingredients and they cost half the price of fast food- and they still have prep and clean up. But over time, it starts adding up and really saves you money. But it's a lot of work!

[Izzy]

I say go for it! We have already downsized as much as possible and our plan this year is to save 2k a month. It really is the little things that add up and you have no idea where it went. For me, it's Target and Walmart. I cannot walk out without spending $100 to $200. Ugh. I think you have an excellent plan that isn't crazy at all. Good luck! We need a keeping accountable thread because I'm afraid I won't actually follow through. ;)

[Guest inoubliable]

 

[Jayne J]

No one has mentioned The Tightwad Gazette yet. This was the book that really helped me change the way I thought about money when I was getting ready to leave work to become a SAHM. The author can be a little over the top sometimes, but she has really good (albeit sometimes extreme) ideas for saving money. We lived on dh's income and saved all of mine while I was pregnant with our first and over the course of that time I changed how I thought about money immensely. You can absolutely do this, and it is not only not insane, it it likely the smartest thing you will ever do financially! Go for it!

 

 

PS. Get the book from the library if they've got it rather than buying it new...LOL

[Audrey]

Okay, so another question. Tax refund should be approximately $3000. Could go either way by a few hundred dollars. Option One is to pay off all credit cards and a small personal loan - about $3000. Option Two is to put $1400 in savings towards car tax, registration, inspection, and giving us a $1000 fund for fixing anything that needs fixing throughout the year or replacing. If I go this route, I'll probably pair it up with Option Three. Option Three is to take about $1700 to pay a year of Hulu+, Netflix, Amazon Prime, my Republic Wireless phone account, car insurance, camper insurance, and renter's insurance in advance. If I do this option with Option Two, I'd still include those bills in my monthly budget and just set the money aside so that next year I can pay the whole of 2014 up front. Does that make sense?

Option Two and Three together would give me some peace of mind in that the car should give us much trouble financially, the taxes are already "paid, and some of the little things are already completely taken care of for the year. It's not much breathing room in the budget, though, since I'll be including those amounts so that next year I can do the same without having to use the tax refund to do it. It also leaves me with $290 in minimum payments for the bills that I listed for Option One. If I went with Option One, then I get more breathing room in my budget and if a repair came up with the car, then I *could* use a combination of credit cards if needed to have it taken care of.

 

 

Paying off the debt is most important on this one. By paying it off you are getting rid of the $3k of debt, BUT you are ALSO getting rid of what could be a very significant amount of money in interest. CC's usually have anywhere from 10-30% interest rates on them. Let's say yours falls in the middle and your balance is $1000. Let's say your minimum payment is $25/mo. It would take you 176 months to pay off the balance and the INTEREST ALONE will cost you $1464.63, or nearly 150% of your original debt.

 

You get more bang for your buck when you pay off interest-bearing debts.

 

Then, you take what you would have paid to that debt and apply it to other debt. Keep doing that until you have no debt left, but always keep paying the same total amount for debts to those debts. Eventually you have one debt left and one big hunk of money to put toward it. It all gets paid off faster than you think.

[Halcyon]

Here is what i am going to do. I want to start contributing to our ING savings this year. We have some money in retirement (not enough!) and some college savings, mostly from grandparents. We just bought a house, so are cash poor.

 

Dh's income varies wildly, as he is self employed, so it is very hard to know how much i can spend or save. Basically i try to err on the side of conservative. I am going to set up EEBA again formmy phone, which i liked, and then any amount spend UNDER my budget will go towards savings. Anyway, i am going to put 200 at least in savings every month, maybe more. I would love it to be more like 1000, but i am going to do the no spend challenge in jan and see where we end up.

[NotSoObvious]

We did this for the six months before I quit teaching to homeschool. We put my whole paycheck into savings.

 

It was actually pretty pathetic how easy it was (huge lifestyle change, but very doable). Makes me sad that we weren't saving more all those years.

[Guest inoubliable]

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[cin]

We paid for the farm that way. We set up a bare-bones budget -- and I mean BARE bones. No internet, no cell phones, deregistered all vehicles except the farm pick-up and the farm semi. Ate nothing we couldn't raise or grow ourselves. Bought no clothes except barn boots that wore out. Bought no new equipment and just fixed everything we could.

 

 

 

:svengo: I would die without my internet and cell phone. (We don't have a landline)

[Audrey]

:svengo: I would die without my internet and cell phone. (We don't have a landline)

 

No, you wouldn't. Even if you didn't have a landline (which we did), you still wouldn't die. Not even close to dying. You'd only be slightly inconvenienced. There are many, many things that people spend money on that are really luxuries and not specifically necessities. You can definitely live without those things. You have no idea how many people live without those things -- and even without some of the basic necessities -- because they have to live that way.

 

But, that was not what the OP was asking about. She wants to save for something else. If you really need to or have to save money, you will find that slightly inconvenienced is actually not so bad at all. If you really want to get rid of debts or save for something important to you, then slightly inconvenienced is even more tolerable.

 

It's all a matter of perspective.

[Deb in NZ]

DH and I have been talking a lot since the beginning of December about finances. No matter how well we think we're budgeting something ALWAYS comes up and it always ends up costing us WAY more than we can handle and we're just soooo over it. We realized last night that we can pay all of our necessary monthly bills, including a modest savings and homeschool fund, for about half what he made this year. :001_huh: Where did our money go this year, then??

 

So now I've been spending today crunching numbers and writing out a weekly spending plan for each week of the next year. I *think* we can (sticking to our usual lifestyle) commit half of his pay to monthly bills including money for homeschool curricula and trips and subscriptions and a set amount to go to a savings account, and then the other half we can use to aggressively save up for goals like buying a house and having living expenses socked away somewhere and have money saved for when the van needs tires or I suddenly need to find $100 to see a doctor and get prescriptions filled. :glare:

 

Has anyone ever done this? Purposely tried to live on a substantially smaller portion of their pay? Is this too ambitious? I just can't handle another year of stress over how we're going to pay for a math curriculum for one of the kids, or how I can afford to go to the doctor when I'm so obviously sick, or how we'll have anything for Christmas, or how we'll buy groceries for the next week. I honestly believe that stress like that contributed a LOT to some depression for both DH and myself this year. I guess I'm just wondering if making such a huge change in how we handle finances would cause as much stress. I'm thinking that it wouldn't since we'd have savings in place if we needed something and we'd see the van being paid off, KWIM? Or am I just giddy with possibilities?

 

Ugh. If you made it this far through the rambling, thank you. I'd appreciate any thoughts or ideas. DH and I plan to sit down tonight with calculators and pencils and paper and make some plans so that 2013 is our best one yet.

 

We did this for 3 years when we lived in the islands. We had only 2dc at that time & they were infants/toddlers, so our expenses were quite different from what we now spend. What I did that really seemed to work was I kept tract of every cent we spent & had a real handle on where our $ went. After doing that for a couple months I made up envelopes with cash for each type of spending (groceries, bus, power, phone, dh's pocket $, my pocket $, etc.) The $ for these envelopes added up to roughly half of dh's salary. Every fortnight when I would deposit his paycheck in the bank I would get the necessary cash out to refill the envelopes. It really worked & we saved heaps.

 

Dh & I were talking today about just this as I have started a record again of our spending, to get a handle on where our $ goes. Dh told me that now we have many expenses we didn't have in those years & we now have 3dc & they are teens, not toddlers. We, also. do most of our transactions electronically, not manually, making it much harder to "see" where we are overspending. I think the saying "Fail to plan, Plan to fail" best illustrates the difference between how we budgeted when we lived in the islands & how we budget (or not) now. If you are both in agreement on your goal, it is possible to live on less that what you bring in, if you are willing to work at it.

 

JMHO

[annandatje]

We were quite accustomed by necessity to living on a bare bones budget. Years later, when my husband became self employed after repeated layoffs as work dried up, he eventually had a few really good years. We did not change our living standard at all until we paid off the mortgage and started saving for a roomier house. After we had a substantial amount in bank, we did splurge on cable and a few other things. Whoever said that little things add up quickly was spot on. I will say that it is much easier to live bare bones when the children are younger.

[readinmom]

Another thought.... are you looking for some helpful tips and reminders? When I embarked on our lean-years, I had checked out a book called "Debt-Proof Living" by Mary Hunt. It is somewhat similar to Dave Ramsey (but pre-dates him) in some of the concepts. She has a free email newsletter that has little tips and also serves as a regular reminder to keep on track. There was also a pay-service to track all your spending, but the book outlined all of that and I kept track of everything with a spreadsheet myself.

 

I just finished reading some of this online. It sounds like we are working towards the same goal this year. I just finished making envelopes for weekly expenses, set up online savings account to set aside for long-term expenses. We are trying to declare January a no-spend month, except for dd9 and my mom's birthday. No eating out, no impulse buying, using up what's in the pantry and fridge. Baby steps...

[Audrey]

We were quite accustomed by necessity to living on a bare bones budget. Years later, when my husband became self employed after repeated layoffs as work dried up, he eventually had a few really good years. We did not change our living standard at all until we paid off the mortgage and started saving for a roomier house. After we had a substantial amount in bank, we did splurge on cable and a few other things. Whoever said that little things add up quickly was spot on. I will say that it is much easier to live bare bones when the children are younger.

 

 

I agree, especially if the older children are used to certain things or level of expense. It's hard to get buy-in from an older child on budget tightening, but it can be done without it seeming punitive to them.

[Guest inoubliable]

 

[Audrey]

 

Luckily, my kids are minimalists, too. They don't ask for toys, really. They LOVE getting their clothes from the thrift shops and will not part with an article of clothing as long as it still fits and isn't terribly grubby after a good wash. And, they're boys. So I don't have to worry about hair bows and makeup and shoes. LOL. The biggest thing with them is going to be the "no more fast food" commitment. They certainly got used to it over the last 6 months or so, and I'm starting to think maybe there is a sugar addiction going on. My oldest two went through our copy of Veganomicon today and helped to come up with a meal plan for next week and I think that helped them see the possibilities again of eating better and more interesting food all the time. I could see having a harder time with teens, though. Especially teens who are really into their electronics or games or fashion.

 

 

That's a good plan! If you think food will be their biggest hurdle, then getting them involved in the meal planning will go a long way towards keeping them on the same page with you. It gives them a bit of ownership in the matter.

[justamouse]

We lived on nothing purposely. Basically what Audrey said. I warn you now, the shine WILL wear off the penny. Your friends will be buying and you will get pissy and want to spend too. Don't. The more self control you have, the bigger the payoff will be.

 

So, go in, go hard, and just know that it won't feel great every day.

[Audrey]

We lived on nothing purposely. Basically what Audrey said. I warn you now, the shine WILL wear off the penny. Your friends will be buying and you will get pissy and want to spend too. Don't. The more self control you have, the bigger the payoff will be.

 

So, go in, go hard, and just know that it won't feel great every day.

 

 

 

Yup. You just have to keep your eye on the prize, and forget what anyone else is doing.

[Melissa in Australia]

 

Has anyone ever done this? Purposely tried to live on a substantially smaller portion of their pay? Is this too ambitious?

 

 

 

We do, We have 1/4 of our income automatically go into a reward savings account each month. In the beginning it was tricky to manage on way less, but we have adjusted and it is really nice to see how quickly the savings grows.

 

n.b. we have a small income to start of with.

[Melissa in Australia]

We paid for the farm that way. We set up a bare-bones budget -- and I mean BARE bones. No internet, no cell phones, deregistered all vehicles except the farm pick-up and the farm semi. Ate nothing we couldn't raise or grow ourselves. Bought no clothes except barn boots that wore out. Bought no new equipment and just fixed everything we could.

 

That was extreme (to some), but we didn't want to scrape along for years and years and years just barely getting ahead or saving only a bit here and there. Instead we paid for the whole thing in a little over 3 years.

 

Whenever these kinds of questions come up, I will always recommend that if you have a really serious financial goal in mind, go hard at it. Get very, very tight with your budget, as tight as you can and then tighter still. It doesn't last forever and when it's done, you have that goal met.

 

We've had some financially difficult years since then, but the farm has no mortgage. No one can take our home and land and we owe nothing on it. Nothing. It is a great sense of security and worth every day of the lean years.

 

:iagree:

this is the way we live. IT works

no debt and money saved up is a absolutely wonderful feeling.

[Melissa in Australia]

Glad that helped. :)

 

Something that I found to be true for us... if you can stick to it really hard for at least 6 months and make a promise to yourself that you won't bemoan it ... it really does get to be very easy. We even found further ways to spend less and still be happy. It became almost like a game for us. When I think back on those days, we had a lot of fun with it. We had a little baby/toddler at the time, too, and he never lacked for anything. He had plenty of clothes (thanks to hand-me-downs and thrift stores and clearance sales) and he had plenty of toys, too. While we, the adults, scaled back on those kinds of things, it wasn't like we didn't already have 'stuff,' KWIM? We just learned to live by that adage:

 

Fix it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.

 

We still do that in many ways, we just have breathing room now, and the skill set to be able to weather bad years much easier.

 

Plus... yes... the farm is amazing security.

 

 

the bolded above is exactly like it was for us as well, we bought one of the neighbouring block (5 acres) with the money we had saved, we had to get a small mortgage. I remember each week going into the bank with whatever I had left over from shopping and paying it off the mortgage, even if it was only $5 it was $5 off the principle!. I remember we only had the mortgage for about 4 months, we just worked away it it and had it paid off that quick.

 

We still live by the motto of Fix it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without

[Melissa in Australia]

Okay, so another question. Tax refund should be approximately $3000. Could go either way by a few hundred dollars. Option One is to pay off all credit cards and a small personal loan - about $3000. Option Two is to put $1400 in savings towards car tax, registration, inspection, and giving us a $1000 fund for fixing anything that needs fixing throughout the year or replacing. If I go this route, I'll probably pair it up with Option Three. Option Three is to take about $1700 to pay a year of Hulu+, Netflix, Amazon Prime, my Republic Wireless phone account, car insurance, camper insurance, and renter's insurance in advance. If I do this option with Option Two, I'd still include those bills in my monthly budget and just set the money aside so that next year I can pay the whole of 2014 up front. Does that make sense?

Option Two and Three together would give me some peace of mind in that the car should give us much trouble financially, the taxes are already "paid, and some of the little things are already completely taken care of for the year. It's not much breathing room in the budget, though, since I'll be including those amounts so that next year I can do the same without having to use the tax refund to do it. It also leaves me with $290 in minimum payments for the bills that I listed for Option One. If I went with Option One, then I get more breathing room in my budget and if a repair came up with the car, then I *could* use a combination of credit cards if needed to have it taken care of.

 

I would absolutely go with option 1, It would mean more money in the long run.

[Melissa in Australia]

Audrey and others who've done this: what sort of income did you have? I ask because it seems like every time I try to cut things out I realize that we are already pretty bare bones and the income just isn't enough for savings. Yes, there are things we could do to cut back on our food budget (a little, not much - I've got no way of growing anything) and our utilities (again only a little, we're already pretty frugal) but we have no cell phones, no subscriptions, no monthly bills except the necessities/debt pay off - not even snowball, just a little above the minimum :glare: ). Except for cousins' gifts we buy everything used/thrifted/clearance. Actually, I don't even buy all that many clothes, etc. DH is without work two months each year and it seems like all our savings get eaten up on his months off and it's nearly impossible to find short term work for those two months.

 

I'm hoping once we have a house I could do in home day care or something, but so far with my up/down health and DH's erratic work schedule it has been nearly impossible for me to work part time and not increase expenses (through childcare/eating out/etc).

 

But, I do realize that a big part of it might very well be just my lack of willingness to do the really hard stuff :crying:

 

Our income is less than $40 K per year,

We put 1/4 into savings, and I am paying around $6k in Uni fees ( I am doing a degree)

 

 

Edited to add that our income is considered below the national poverty line in Australia

[Melissa in Australia]

even with no yard for growing food, you can still grow things. You can grow sprouts just on the kitchen sink. If you have a small balcony you can grow things in large planters.

[Audrey]

Audrey and others who've done this: what sort of income did you have? I ask because it seems like every time I try to cut things out I realize that we are already pretty bare bones and the income just isn't enough for savings. Yes, there are things we could do to cut back on our food budget (a little, not much - I've got no way of growing anything) and our utilities (again only a little, we're already pretty frugal) but we have no cell phones, no subscriptions, no monthly bills except the necessities/debt pay off - not even snowball, just a little above the minimum :glare: ). Except for cousins' gifts we buy everything used/thrifted/clearance. Actually, I don't even buy all that many clothes, etc. DH is without work two months each year and it seems like all our savings get eaten up on his months off and it's nearly impossible to find short term work for those two months.

 

I'm hoping once we have a house I could do in home day care or something, but so far with my up/down health and DH's erratic work schedule it has been nearly impossible for me to work part time and not increase expenses (through childcare/eating out/etc).

 

But, I do realize that a big part of it might very well be just my lack of willingness to do the really hard stuff :crying:

 

 

We were well below the national poverty line when we were doing this. We both did whatever jobs we could, plus the farm. Many things were seasonal or short term. Many things were very crappy jobs. It didn't matter to us. We really worked hard to be very frugal, not just a little here and there, but very frugal everywhere. I pinched every penny so hard it cried.

 

Every family is going to have different circumstances and ways they can make and save money, but I won't lie to you. It was doing the really hard stuff that made the difference.

 

That all said... it is a whole different thing to cut back because you want to than to cut back because you have to. When you want to do it, you know there's an end in sight. That makes doing the really hard stuff a lot easier.

[justamouse]

Audrey and others who've done this: what sort of income did you have? I ask because it seems like every time I try to cut things out I realize that we are already pretty bare bones and the income just isn't enough for savings. Yes, there are things we could do to cut back on our food budget (a little, not much - I've got no way of growing anything) and our utilities (again only a little, we're already pretty frugal) but we have no cell phones, no subscriptions, no monthly bills except the necessities/debt pay off - not even snowball, just a little above the minimum :glare: ). Except for cousins' gifts we buy everything used/thrifted/clearance. Actually, I don't even buy all that many clothes, etc. DH is without work two months each year and it seems like all our savings get eaten up on his months off and it's nearly impossible to find short term work for those two months.

 

I'm hoping once we have a house I could do in home day care or something, but so far with my up/down health and DH's erratic work schedule it has been nearly impossible for me to work part time and not increase expenses (through childcare/eating out/etc).

 

But, I do realize that a big part of it might very well be just my lack of willingness to do the really hard stuff :crying:

 

It's going to be really hard to do unless the debt is paid off. Also, it's hard for you right now, too, because you're expecting so it's not like you will feel like doing anything that could bring in a few extra dollars. So I would focus on getting the debt down. Once that is done, you'll have a bit more to start stashing.

 

If Dh can, can he start looking now for those two months? Because that's your biggest $ suck that is pluggable after the debt. Even if it's some stupid menial job, it's less out of savings those months.

 

(((hugs)))

 

It's a hard time to save, it can be done, but these aren't the best days for it, you know? We were able to save MUCH more a few years ago when costs of necessities weren't as expensive.

[2squared]

Okay, so another question. Tax refund should be approximately $3000. Could go either way by a few hundred dollars. Option One is to pay off all credit cards and a small personal loan - about $3000. Option Two is to put $1400 in savings towards car tax, registration, inspection, and giving us a $1000 fund for fixing anything that needs fixing throughout the year or replacing. If I go this route, I'll probably pair it up with Option Three. Option Three is to take about $1700 to pay a year of Hulu+, Netflix, Amazon Prime, my Republic Wireless phone account, car insurance, camper insurance, and renter's insurance in advance. If I do this option with Option Two, I'd still include those bills in my monthly budget and just set the money aside so that next year I can pay the whole of 2014 up front. Does that make sense?

 

I would go with Option Four. I would take $1000 or so, and put that aside for an emergency fund. That is money for your "oh, crap!" things until you get sinking funds funded. I would use the rest of the money to pay off any debts that you can pay in full - credit cards or personal loan. Then I would figure out how much you need to save each month to pay annual, semi-annual, etc bills which would include insurance, car repairs, car registrations, and Christmas but would not include discretionary things like Netflix or cell phones. The discretionary items should go in your normal monthly cash flow.

[Hypatia.]

We have our budget set up this way. Some categories are use/lose each month, so if we don't need the full amount then we just roll it over into the total amount of money we have to budget the next month. Other categories accrue, to try to account for known and unknown expense. Clothing, homeschool, car repairs, house repairs (so we're not up the creek when the furnace or water heater goes), etc. The last couple months we were on an extremely bare bones budget as I set aside the money to pay our midwife, but it was manageable. Now we're going to keep setting aside a large amount (though not quite that drastic) to save up for the fridge we need to replace soon and a new dining room table since our family has outgrown ours. We each also have a set amount of fun money each month, to keep it from feeling like we're completely locked down. It's not a lot, but enough where I can buy a latte or a book for my Kindle.

 

The biggest thing that's helped us in doing this is changing our budgeting software. When DH or I open up the budget program, usually on our phones, we see how much is available in each category. So he knows how much is left in the entertainment category, I know how much is left in the clothing category, instead of just seeing that we have $xxx left in the account and him spending it, me spending it and then it is automatically drafted for the car payment and *bam* we've spent the same dollars 3 times.

[Guest inoubliable]