Well, our family situation has changed lately. Troy has become unemployed. Our new chapter has begun, read about our ride!
Because I have a few close friends in town that have shared some of their recent actions, secrets, tips, lessons learned, with me, I thought I would share what we are going through. Lately, all I think about is how to be smart with money, how to control my money and not be controlled by it. I think of all the entitlement that we have grown up with and how back in the 'day', people didn't act so entitled. Back in the day, families just didn't eat out, families all didn't have their own cell phones, families didn't get a vacation each year, families worked extremely hard labor on their farms, and yet, they were happy, in love, procreating and living full lives. (we read from old journals). I want Alyssa to grow up knowing what really brings happiness in life and it isn't unlimited texting and loud music on the MP3.
A few weeks ago, we began Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. This has just been one reason that we are making different decisions. Troy losing his job was another. And just being smarter and less wasteful is another!
Every person should read this book and make changes in spending money. Eliminate the excess spend, eliminate the attitude of "I WANT RIGHT NOW and I DESERVE IT". We expect this 13 week course to tranform how we spend, save, give and live. Retire with dignity is the goal. We are sharing all this info with Alyssa to give her the tools that will help her be smart with her money.
Last week, I cut up 4 of my department store cards. They were only little $300 limits and they all had zero balances. I had them only because they send coupons and 'what if' I needed something on a whim and I could use their card and get points or save money with their coupon. Well, 5 minutes per phone call, I had them all cancelled in 20 minutes. I discovered from Macy's they had automatically increased my limit without asking to $2000. I would never walk into Macy's and spend $2ooo. Glad to have those little cards gone. My wallet is less fat and I dont have to worry about identify theft on those 4 cards.
We created a budget. We perfectly allocate each penny that we earn, so there is no WHIM spending. Everything is planned. The budget balances to zero. We make x, we allocate x, there is nothing left to waste.
With Troy out of work, we didn't just want him to jump back into construction. We felt like he needed to take 2 steps back (attend school and get computer science experience) so that in 3 years he can LEAP forward with his Bachelor/Master degree in hand. So, we are working on this avenue and trying not to panic at his lost income.
With this new plan, we needed a strong, accountable financial plan. All decisions with money require a unanimous decision by all household members. We discuss all the income and all the expenses.
What to CUT, what is not a RIGHT, what have we been feeling 'entitled' to, what can we do differently, how can we be different from the 'Jones'?
- First, I called the Orthodonist. She reduced our payment by $37.50 for the next 5 months while we transition.
- We filed for unemployment immediately.
- We cancelled our netflix for $10.99 a month (plus tax was $13).
- Creating a food budget was hard. We don't really know what we spend on food. We don't eat out though and we pack our lunches for work. We are starting with a $100 a week food budget. I have no clue how reasonable that is, so we are now going to use a cash envelope system for our food, to begin to really get an idea of what we eat. However, I can tell you, no Halibut or Steak for us for the next year, adding in more cheaper potatoes, rice and beans.
- We reduced our cell phone plan which will require a more watchful eye on limits. I am trying to convince Troy to eliminate our texting package to save $20 a month and reducing our minute usage saving $20.
- I eliminated our 401K contribution, this made me sad since I contribute 6% so that my employer will match 3%, but for now, we need that 6%. Remember, step back for that leap forward.
- We increased our W-4 exemptions since we got a tax refund last year and the goal is to break even, not let the government sit on your money all year and return it to you without interest.
- We asked the piano teacher if we can do 1/2 hour lessons each week for a while, that saves $80 a month for now.
- All lights and water are now being closely scrutinized.
- Laundry needs to wash in a full load.
- Re-use your glass for a whole day.
- Use your towel for a week.
- We can't cut swim team yet. It is a monthly billed system with steep penalties to cancel and restart.
- Troy to do our own oil changes from now on.
- Alyssa showers at the pool, 5 days a week though, so that helps water and energy.
- Wash plastic baggies for re-use.
- Turn out the pilot light on the gas fireplace.
- Turn down the hot water heater a little.
- Keep anything possible unplugged to not draw on energy.
- Pray for the proper rain/sun mix for the garden and lawn
- Use food storage that we saved up.
- Eat perishables first so they won't go wasted, even if your taste buds don't desire them.
- Harvest from our garden and eat fresh.
- Save rain water run-off and re-use in the garden
- Turn off the circulating fan for the air in the house and open windows.
- Called Comcast and reduced bill in half using promo price.
- I called our insurance agent and asked him to cut us back to the bare minimum. He is not happy about this and keeps giving me the warnings. I don't have a dollar savings yet on this change.
- We aren't giving up a vehicle yet, but it is on the list of options.
- For now, we are saving gasoline, combining errands and not wasting any unnecessary trips.
- Making our own chicken and vegetable broths by saving onion skins, celery ends, and brocolli stalks and boiling them.
- We called our garbage company and told them we only use 1/4 of our bin each week, so we were able to reduce down our can size and bill by $4/month and he told us it is ok to overflow the recycle bin and we aren't charged for that.
- Alyssa is saving us 21 miles a week in gasoline, by riding her bike to swimming! Thank you sweetie for your contribution.
- We don't buy books, instead we ride bikes to the Library and check them out.
- I can be happy without pedicures and hair color. Really.... I promise!
- We also use the 75 free library pages a week for printing.
- Look for scholarships for Troy's schooling.
- Never short the Lord his 10%, simply for giving us life and blessing us with love!
- And finally, a motto to follow, "Pray as if it all depends on God and work like it all depends on you".
In short, I am sharing this, because I like this game of cost cutting and living within our means is something that so many of us need to keep in mind. It makes me feel in control again to make these changes. These things above, while nice, don't give us the full happiness in life. They are simply convenient and we don't need to be spoiled like that. This is a great lesson for Alyssa to see that money needs to be respected and carefully used. AND to see that we can entertain ourselves without gossip magazines, internet browsing, shopping, eating out, or watching movies. Instead, we will play board games, we will hang out in our back yard, we will exercise and get good rest and be just be grateful for life.
SOOOOOOO, while you all know I am not a private person, I share this post because I am experiencing anxiousness and am having trouble talking about this outloud. It is hard to really tell my you how I feel. Some of you know, I don't cry very often, only about 3x a year. However, my emotions are raw and I am on edge and I even cried for 2 minutes yesterday. Darn it.. I don't cry! I have all my cautions up, my decision making is on high alert. So, you may ask me 'how are YOU Scheris,", but I will simply reply with the obligatory answer, "fine", but because you now have read this, you will know! But at least we do have a plan and we are doing everything we can to be careful. Pray for us to stay close to the Lord, pray for comfort in our soul, pray that we will keep praying, and pray that we do our part for the right opportunities to be opened up to us. My job is also up on June 30, so that only adds to our new chapter. I am looking within Microsoft.
Well, I hope something I said was beneficial. Thank you to my friends this week that shared their personal information with me on how they are making ends meet. You impacted my decisions. I love my friends, and they don't really know how much they influence me. Keep living as you do, so I can keep trying to follow your examples. You are my inspirations.
Another example of how you can dry your baggies. 
We don't re-use the ones that we marinate meat in, but now I try to marinate my meat in glass containers so I can dishwash the bacteria away. 