How I Changed My Family's Financial Blueprint

Whether we realize it or not, the way we handle money is primarily a result of a template, set in childhood and reinforced by our parents.In other words, we tend to spend and save money much like our parents did. This financial blueprint is a strong force in our lives and, if it's not a fiscally strong one, it can take a moment of crisis to overcome it. 

This is my story.

My mother was widowed at the age of 42, with four children and no idea how much money was coming in or where it was all going. She told me tearfully one day that she and my father had never lived with a budget.  He just made money every month and they paid the bills.  There always seemed to be enough money.  She was terrified! I was 18. 


Even though I watched her go through this experience, believe it or not, I didn't live with a written budget (or any spending plan) until I was well into my 20's.  I worked with the only blueprint I had ever known.  Much like my parents, I just made money and hoped that there would be enough to go around.  

Two moments of terror: 

Two moments of terror stand out in my mind.  The first, when I was 20.  I had moved out of my mother's home and was living with two roommates.  One evening, my bank account dipped to just $25 and the ATM would not let me withdraw any money.  My gas tank was nearly empty.  I prayed every day on the way to work that week that I would make it there and back without the car dying.  I got paid at 4pm.  By 4:15pm, I was in front of a gas pump as my car gulped gallons of liquid nourishment.  

The second incident occurred when I was 24. My husband and I have been married for just two months.  I was looking at our checkbook.  The figure in front of me was indicating an almost zero balance.  My stomach plummeted into the pit of my stomach.  My mind reeled as I realized that we had spent nearly every penny of our wedding cash gifts in just a few weeks.  If we didn't make immediate changes, we would be in big trouble in a very short time. 

Change is comin'!

That's when the light went on!  I worked at a Christian radio station and a man named Larry Burkett had just begun a daily program called "Money Matters."  It was the first generation of live Christian money management call-in programs.  I listened carefully and began to implement Larry Burkett's suggestions.  

Within weeks, I had plugged into some great authors and teachers. I read a lot of books. I figured out what ideas I could implement right away, and created a list of ideas to consider for the future. I learned to cook from scratch and how to track my expenses. We focused on one or two areas at a time. When we had those areas streamlined and under control, we move on to another couple of areas.  

Creating a new financial blueprint.

Over the next thirty years we rewrote our family financial blueprint.  We gained financial traction as  we lived within our means.  Although we made a salary which was significantly under the national median income, we paid off our first mortgage in five years.  We brought up four sons in that tiny two bedroom bungalow, while saving money to pay cash for our second home.  

I won't tell you that it was easy.  It wasn't.  But, when I see my 20 and 22 year old sons living on a written budget, paying cash for automobiles, planning for the future, and sharing financial principles with their peers, I realize that our change wasn't just for us.  It was also for them! 

You can change your family financial blueprint too!

• Money management is a skill! So, read books on finances and saving money.
• Follow your favorites on social media for regular tips, encouragement, and ideas.
• Learn to cook from scratch.
• Keep a list of short, medium, and long-term goals. 
• Create a monthly written budget. 
• Track every expense. 
• Streamline expenses, cutting out what you don't need.
• Remember that progress takes time. You'll gain momentum as you go forward. 
• If you are married, work with your spouse as a team.

Need more help? 

If you have any thoughts, I'd love for you to leave them in the comments section.

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Do all to the glory of God, 

Hope

Six Ways My FREE Utility Bill Analysis is Saving Me Money!

In a recent post on home energy savings tips, I mentioned the Citizens Utility Board (CUB), a non-partisan organization fighting to keep utility costs fair and equitable.

Their staff of experts will analyze your utility bill for FREE, looking for overcharges, oddities, and ways that your home may be sucking a disproportionate amount of power.

Words like "free" and "saving money" instantly get my attention.We have recently been taking some steps to try to minimize our power usage. So, I was interested to see if they would have any recommendations to give me!

They sure did! I'm going to share with you verbatim much of my personalized report on our home energy usage.

(Disclosure: Posts on my blog may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking on the link, I will receive a small commission at no additional charge to you. Thank you.) 

#1 - Check electric and gas consumption

The very first item on the report was the reviewer's general impression of our overall bill. She noted: "electric usage (823 kWh) and gas usage (173 therms) seem fairly normal for a single-family home, especially in the winter. I assume it is gas heat, in which case the electric use is a little high." 

I was stunned that she had caught the fact that although our gas usage was within expected limits, our electric usage was a little high. She was unaware that we own an electric car! This, of course, accounts for our increased electric usage. But, the very fact that she was thorough enough to take the time to note that perhaps our electric use was a bit out of bounds was amazing to me! This is a person who is looking at even small details.

You can find out generally expected gas and electric consumption amount (based on the square footage of your home) at this website. This site also compares energy costs by state - super interesting data to look at!

#2 - Check for rebates 

My reviewer, Cate, then went on to explain that lighting costs comprise about 10% of the average utility bill. While vampire power can suck up to 20% additional energy. If you think that's a high amount, hold on to your hats! Apparently heating accounts for a full 42% of your energy expenditures.


Believe it or not, your utility company is your first line of defense in lowering your bill. Most companies offer a variety of services, designed to inform and help their customers use energy wisely.

• Energy Audits: See if you qualify for a free energy audit. My company, Ameren, will not only perform an extensive audit for no cost if you meet certain income requirements, they will install energy saving devices in your home for free . I talk about this program in Ten Tips for Saving on Your Utility Bills. 

• Do not automatically assume that you make too much to qualify. Our family very easily meets the income requirements for a free audit. 

Here's a chart to check your income and family size to see if you qualify. 

Number of Persons in Household	Maximum Income
1	$36,420
2	$49,380
3	$62,340
4	$75,300
5	$88,260
6	$101,220
7	$114,180

• Rebates: Your utility company may also offer rebates on energy efficient products and appliances. 

For example, Ameren (my utility company) currently offers rebates on:

•  LED lighting
• Advanced Power Strips
• Smart thermostats

• If you have a Nest thermostat, you are eligible for Rush Hour Rewards.

#3 - Read up on Energy Efficiency Tips

 

There is a lot of information available to help the consumer manager his or her costs. Check out the "fact sheet" portion of the CUB website. I picked up a number of super helpful free publications from their booth at a recent energy savings event.

Cate, from Citizens Utility Board, reminded me, "The Department of Energy also has a great website with information on energy efficiency, with a lot of DIY strategies."

#4 - Check Kilowatt use 

If you've never used a "Kill A Watt meter", then I can attest to the fact that you are missing out on a whole lot of fun. Several years ago, my husband taught our boys science. (We've homeschooled for nearly 20 years). He chose to spend an entire semester on energy, specifically alternative energy. This sixteen week long science adventure is, by the way, how I wound up with solar panels attached to the side of my house. But, that's another story!

My husband, Larry, found out that the Peoria Public Library had a "Kill A Watt meter". Patrons could check out (for free) to monitor their energy use at home. They picked it up and those boys were all over my house, monitoring our electric usage on everything but the dog!

Not only was it fun and educational, we found out that we were using a whole lot more power than we ever imagined. We also discovered sources of phantom power. (Yes, it's a real thing! And it happens far more than you realize!) Scott, from Citizen's Utility Board explains, "You plug devices into the meter and it tells you how much energy they use - even when the devices are inactive, they are still using power." That's phantom power!

My actual microwave - with the Kill-O-Watt readings written on the side!

Larry had the boys use permanent black marker to mark the electric usage on the side of our appliances. This is why, ten year later, my microwave still has the power usage written in permanent black marker on the side of it!

Scott, a CUB representative, called and confirmed that the Kill A Watt meter is still available at the information desk of the Lake View Branch - 1137 W Lake Ave, Peoria, IL 61614 - (309) 497-2200.

If you'd like to own a Kill-O-Watt Meter, you can purchase this 4-star rated model from Amazon!

#5 - Check for Multiple Discount Opportunities

• Smart Power Pricing - My husband and I are on our utility's Power Smart Pricing. This program, which is available for a very small monthly fee, allows us to buy electricity at a fluxuating hourly rate. The price is generally lowest early in the morning and late at night, peaking in mid-day. For more information, see this post, in which I give you TEN tips for saving money on utilities.

• Peak Time Rewards -  You could have knocked me over with a feather when Cate wrote, "I assume they are also on Peak Time Rewards, and if not, they should be."  I thought for sure that since I was already on one energy-saving program that signing up for another was "double-dipping." Not so!

Peak Time Rewards is another money-saving program, but, unlike Smart Power Pricing, this one is free! It allows you to receive a discount on your bill when you agree to reduce energy consumption during specific hours and days.

Utility companies will call or text you when they need you to turn up the A/C or down the heat in your home. An example would be the mid-August, 100 degree heat in Illinois. The energy provider might realize that the grid will be super stressed from 2-6pm on that day and send out an alert that if you modify your air conditioning, specifically during those hours, you will receive a small discount on your bill that next month as their way of saying "thank you."

• High Price Alerts - Cate urged us to sign up for the "High Price Alerts" to be notified if the price is expected to be over 9 cents per kWh on the following day. Check with your utility company to see if they offer these alerts. This is super important during the hot summer months.

We signed up for these quite some time ago and receive these alerts on our phone. They tell me exactly when that peak will hit, so that I can plan to do things like laundry the next day before I am paying a whole lot more money to run that machine. (Speaking of laundry, see this post for a list of things that Larry and I did to cut expenses when we were saving to pay cash for our second home. Line drying laundry not only saved us money, but it was actually pretty easy. I still love hanging laundry whenever I can.)

• Seasonal Newsletters - Your utility company will often offer quarterly reminders on how to save on energy costs. For instance, Ameren customers can sign up for  seasonal Ameren newsletters, filled with efficiency tips. 

6) Reduce Peak Use 

Cate offered one last useful bit of information, "You should be able to log in to your Power Smart Pricing account online to see how much electricity you used for each hour of the day. That can help in deciding how to change behavior according to when prices are higher." 

I seriously had no idea that the power company offered me access to all the nuances of my own power usage. For a budget geek like me, that's heady knowledge! I totally love the idea of being able to see exactly when our family is using the most power and spending the most money.

Cate added, "On Power Smart Pricing, the Transmission Service Charge ($6.32 on this bill) depends on your electricity usage during one specific hour period - the peak electricity demand. The system peak hour is one hour in the billing period in which electricity demand was highest across all Ameren Illinois territory."

I had never noticed this charge on my utility bill - and even if I had, I would never have known what it was or what a "system peak hour" was!  Here is the bottom line:  If I minimize my electricity usage during peak times, I will most likely also minimize this charge.! Once again, CUB was arming me with information to help me save money! 

 According to the PSP website, "The system peak hour typically occurs between 1 pm and 5 pm on hot afternoons in the summer, and between 6 pm and 9 pm in the winter....You can reduce your Transmission Service Charge by using energy wisely when electricity demand and prices are high." 

In other words, by knowing peak usage times and being able to track our usage during these periods of time, I can plan more efficiently and, thus, save money on my utility bill.

  Get Your Own Analysis

 

If you live in the state of Illinois, Citizen's Utility Board is happy to give you your own analysis. Even if, like me, you think that you are a generally well-informed and proactive utility consumer, you are still sure walk away with useful, helpful, and personalized information to help you save money!

Head over to the Citizens Utility Board website and click on the contact button to request your personalized utility bill review. Alternately, you can check out their calendar of events. They are all over Illinois at a multitude of events throughout the year. You can take along your current phone and utility bills and they will do an on-the-spot, in-person analysis for you for free! If you are looking to save on your bills, these are a great group of people to get to know!

If you don't live in the Land of Lincoln, check with your local utility or your local city hall to see if your community or state offers a similar service.

Further Reading

Here's a list of Under the Median articles that give your more tips and ideas on how to save money on household expenses:

Save On Utilities with These Ten Easy Tips

Three Water Conservation Hacks That Actually Save You Money

Four Ways to Slash Your Budget

Ten More Ways to Slash Your Budget

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Do all to the glory of God, 

Hope

This Week's Best Buys: 30 pounds of Frozen Vegetables for $16.50!!

This week's best buys could best be described as being at the right place at the right time.

HyVee

 

I'll get to that crazy 30 pounds of vegetables in just a moment.  First, let's talk about HyVee. I had a combination of coupons - which are available at the store - and sale items. 

 What I got: 

2 - 24 packs of bottled water for just $1.77 each - sales item - no coupon - no limit!  I'm not a big fan of bottled water.  But, with school starting, it's so easy to send a bottle of water with the boys for lunch.  So, at that price, I caved and bought two cases. 

2 chunks of marked down cheese - Both HyVee and Kroger have a special section for sales cheese.  They take odds, ends, and random pieces of leftover high-end cheese and mark it down to bargain prices.  For under $5 you can try some amazing cheese!  Grab the cheese and add some crackers, fresh veggies, and fruit and you're ready for a last minute al fresco snack break or light supper at the park! 

5 pounds of potatoes for just $.99!  I used a coupon, which appeared in a 1 page sales flyer this week.  Check the front of the store and grab the glossy single page flyer.  You'll find the coupon on the back of the flyer. 

16 oz. package of salad mix - $1.00 - sales item - no coupon needed

3 pounds mixed apples - from the Misfit shelf.  Do check out the shelving unit that HyVee has dedicated to misfit produce.  These are items which were too big or too small to be considered for regular sale.   I think it is crazy that as Americans we don't want to purchase or eat food unless it is the perfect size.  However, the unexpected side effect of being able to buy less-than-perfect produce at bargain prices is a a real bonus!   This bag contained several different varieties of apples and they were all in perfect condition!  Score! 

What I spent:   $13.02

Kroger

What I got: 

 8 packages of marked down greens for just $.99 each! - The marked down greens were abundant!  I found  5 ounce packages of organic kale and organic baby spinach marked down from over $3.00 each to just $.99 each!  I bought 6 spinach and 2 kale (and I almost wish I had bought more!)  Yes, we will chow down on every morsel long before it gets slimy.  We eat a tremendous amount of greens in this house!  

Annie's Mac and Cheese - free with the Friday download coupon!

Virgin coconut oil - $1.99 - I don't cook with oil, but around the holidays, I will certainly crank out some goodies for special occasions, and this organic coconut oil will suit me perfectly!  

Cherry Juice - $.99 - I used the cherry juice for an amazing dish I made for supper last night, which featured mashed potatoes, topped with seasoned lentils, and then drizzled with a reduced cherry/tomato sauce mixture.  For $.99, this slightly dented bottle was just what I needed. 

Check out those prices!  They were courtesy of the general merchandise markdown aisle at Kroger! Here's a link to my tutorial on shopping at Kroger. 

What I spent:  $15.23

GFS

 

Okay, this is where the shopping trip went a little crazy! This purchase was definitely "right place, right time".  I stopped by GFS to get bananas.  They always have 3 pound bundles for just $1.00.  I entered the store and 5 minutes later head to the checkout with my 2 bunches of bananas in hand.  

As I was in the process of paying my $2.02 for my 6 pounds of bananas I overheard one of the stock people ask the cashier, "What am I supposed to do with that big box of frozen vegetables?  Someone special ordered it and now they don't want it.  It's not even an item we stock regularly."  

My bargain-seeking radar went in full swing!  She told him to put it on the markdown shelving in the freezer section.  Now I happen to know from past experience that when GFS marks down items that they normally do not have in the store, they offer it at a deep discount.  

I asked the cashier, "How large is that box?"  

She replied, "About thirty pounds, I think."

This is what a 30 pound box of veggies looks like!

I did some quick mental calculations.  Deciding that I could creatively rearrange the freezer, I asked the price.   

This is where it is critical to know your stock up price!  (For more information, check out this post, where I discuss stock up prices and four other ways to save big on groceries without clipping coupons.) 

 Sale prices of $.79 a pound for mixed frozen vegetables can be found.  Once a year HyVee puts their frozen vegetables on sale for $.59 a pound.  But, it has been quite a while since they have done this and I wonder if they will be offering this deep discount again.  When the assistant manager gave me an offer of $16.50, I said, "Sold!"   

We will eat $.55 a pound frozen vegetables all winter long! 

It was 11 bags!  100 cups of mixed frozen vegetables.  

What I spent:  $16.67

One last note:

Am I a crazy person for buying all those frozen vegetables?  No!  I've lived this way for a long time!  One of the ways that you "beat the system" when you are raising kids on an income which is under the national median is to stock when prices are at their lowest.  You must be organized and have a system of tracking what you have on hand - and then use it!   Trust me! It works!  It will help you to save money and  meet your financial goals!

Am I crazy?

You decide!  Leave me your thoughts in the comments section.  What is the craziest deal you have ever found on food?  Have you ever bought a "crazy" amount?  How did it work out for you?  I'd love to know!  

 

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Do all to the glory of God, 

Hope

Five Tips for Spending Less on Food Without Clipping Coupons

1.  Buy seasonally.

You won't find strawberries for $1.00 a pound in December!  But, you will in May or June.  Buy hard winter squash in the fall.  Buy asparagus and strawberries in spring.  Buy sweetcorn in summer.  I purchase a boatload of these items when they are fresh.  Then, I process and freeze them for later use.  I don't pay $2.50 a pound for strawberries in December.  Instead, I enjoy the satisfaction of eating those that I bought for $1.00 per pound in May! 

2.  Minimize the meat. 

At the risk of seeming redundant, the cheapest protein sources are plant-based.  You all know that I eat a whole foods plant based diet. However, I recognize that not all of you are going to give meat the heave ho - although I would love it if you did.  I've had lots of readers bemoan the fact that their spouse and children give them major grief about serving meat-free meals.  So, here's what you can do to keep meat in the minor key.

Let's use chili as our example.  Determine how much ground beef really has to be in that chili soup.  Add more beans and half the amount of beef.  You can also supplement by adding brown rice, millet, barley, or extra veggies.  That same pot of soup  will now stretch 30-50 percent further.

Want to stretch that chili even further?  Plan ahead!  Chili mac becomes another meal!  Reserve 4-6 cups of the chili before you serve it.  The next night cook some elbow macaroni, add the reserved chili, top it with a bit of cheddar cheese.  Cook at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes -  until the dish is heated through and the cheese is bubbly.  Voila! That soup has now made another appearance in a totally separate way.  Your family will never suspect that you have just pulled the budget magic trick of planned leftovers out of your hat! 

Still need inspiration?  Here are some examples of fast and easy meals that can be served meat free:  taco bar, baked potato bar, soup, spaghetti, and stir fry.  

3. Don't be brand sensitive.

When I was in high school the father of one of my friends had worked in a food packaging plant.  He revealed he routinely placed flour into sacks labelled with a  famous name brand. Later, he put the exact same flour into generic packaging.  The only difference between the more expensive and less expensive product, was the package!  Although that conversation took place nearly 40 years ago, I have never forgotten it. Give the generic version of some of your favorite products a try.  If you truly find a difference that is distressing for you, you can always go back to the name brand item the next time you shop. 

4.  Know your "stock up" price.

What is a "stock up" price?  It is when products reach their lowest sale price.  Grocery prices follow a pattern.  If you watch the sales flyers carefully, you can know when to stock up at the lowest price.  It is helpful to keep a price ledger.  This is simply a list of items that you regularly purchase and their prices.  For a long time, my price ledger simple was a small notebook in my purse with columns for item, price, store, and date.  Because grocery stores follow a fairly predictable pattern, you can begin to figure out that peanut butter generally goes on sale every 12 weeks.  Some items are put on sale every quarter, for others it is bi-yearly.

For canned vegetables, my stock up price is $.29 a can.  When they reach that level,  I stock up!  I mean I buy cases of corn, beans, and mixed vegetables.  My only caution is to be certain that you have space to store your haul.  Know what's in your pantry.  Here is a link to a post that I wrote on organizing your pantry to help save time and money. 

5. "Look High, look low". 

Did you know that product manufacturers often pay something called slot fees to retailers to insure premium places on their shelves?  One of my favorite classes in college was advertising.  We studied all of the sneaky ways that stores try to get you to spend money.  It was fascinating!!  I learned that stores stock the least expensive items on the top and bottom shelves.  The most expensive, name brand versions are placed at eye level.   So, when you look for peanut butter, use the "look high/look low" method of shopping.  Also, bring along a calculator to figure out the price per ounce.  Another grocery store trick is that although they now show price calculations on the sale tags, they are not consistent with how they display the information.  So, one tag might show price per ounce and others for the same type product may show the price per pound or per unit.  I always use a calculator to double check to insure that I am getting the best deal.

What did I miss?  

Do you have any tips to add to our list?  Leave comments below.

 

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Do all to the glory of God, 

Hope

How I'm Getting Ready for My June Challenge!

 June 1st is just days away and I am getting nervous!!! 

I'm super excited to share my June Journey with you all.  

As the first of June gets ever nearer, I'd like to remind you of my four June budget goals and then tell you how I will update you about my progress on each goal throughout the month of June.


These goals were born out of my quest to cut our family budget by twenty-five percent

My June Budget Challenges!

  1.  Simplify meals and utilize bulk cooking strategies. 

• I'll be concentrating on entrees that are filling and go a long way. 

•  NEW recipes!!  Cheap Eats!  I have been in the kitchen with my amazing 13 year old sous chef son creating some new, healthy, budget-stretching recipes!  I can't wait to share them with you in June!

•  I'll be posting menu plans.

•  I'll be posting bulk cooking plans and review with you how I "chart" ingredients before beginning to cook.  

•   I'll be utilizing ingredients which I have on-hand as much as possible.  

•  Every Monday I'll be showing you what came in our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) box  that week and then tell you how I plan to make the most of the array of veggies.  

 

 

2.  Organize my pantry! 

• Speaking of "ingredients which I have on-hand", I can't start my grocery budget challenge without knowing exactly what I have in my freezers and pantry! 

• I have been seriously procrastinating on this project.  But, I'm at a point that I can't find what I need ... and things are beginning to fall out when I open the door.  LOL! 

• You'll get a look at what an absolute WRECK my pantry is!  

• I will (hopefully) show you how my son and I put it back in order. 

• I'll give you my tried and true tips for organizing your pantry.  

• It's a family affair!  My pantry is organized so the my kids can help bring in groceries and know exactly where and how to put them on the shelves.  

3.  Be hyper-vigilant at tracking my expenses every week.  

• This is, admittedly, a hard one for me.  And you would think as much as I enjoy counting nickels and dimes that it would be easy. 

•  This feeling of doom could have something to do with the fact that I am WAY behind on filling in my spread sheet, on which I chronicle my monthly totals in each budget category.  Granted, I have tracked my expenses on Every Dollar and even printed out my monthly reports.  But, I have not filled in the monthly totals on my excel spread sheet at ALL for 2018!  I'm not kidding!  I have five totally blank monthly total columns in 2018!   Of course, my husband being diagnosed with heart failure did put my life on "hold" for a substantial length of time.

•  But, in order to immediately be aware when adjustments need to be made, I must kick myself into action and get that spreadsheet all caught up to date! 

•  I'll let you all know if my lack of diligence created any self-made budget challenges.   

4. The June "food budget challenge".  

•  I will spend no more than $320 on food for the month of June.   That's $80 each week!

• Our family of five will be a family of seven for the month of June.  Our oldest son is home from college and our son John's girlfriend is coming up from Mississippi to visit.  

•  My husband thinks I can't do it -  just all the more reason to try to prove that I can!  

• Please keep reading all month long and cheer for me!  I'm going to need it! 

GIVEAWAY!!

This is the exciting part! 

 I'm doing a giveaway of one of my favorite books, Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half, by Steve and Annette Economides.  

Here's what you need to do to enter the drawing:   

Go to this link!  
You must use the June Food Budget Challenge page to enter the contest!! 
There are instructions at the bottom of the post!! 
You just need to do three simple things to enter:  

1.  Sign up to receive my blog posts via e-mail.  There is a link to do this on the main page of my blog.  Look for the "follow by e-mail" link and just fill in your e-mail address. 

2.  Share the original giveaway post to social media. 

3.  Leave your best tip for saving money on food in the comment field on the original giveaway post.   

That's it!  You'll be entered into the drawing. At the end of the month we'll wrap up our month-long journey, (hopefully) celebrate my success, and I'll announce the winner of the book!  

Best of luck to you and keep those tips and encouragement coming my way!

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Do all to the glory of God,

.

No overtime!!! Cutting my Budget to the Bone!

Our budget has me thinking like a minimalist!

It's time to get real with you! 

 After Larry got ill, he gave up his extensive overtime hours.  That money accounted for a full twenty-five percent of our income!

Larry announced that he would no longer work any overtime (a decision with which I whole-heartedly agreed).  I looked him in the eye, smiled, and replied, "Don't worry honey.  There are lots of areas that I can cut in the budget." I wasn't really lying.  I knew that I can be very creative when it comes to money.  It's just that at that very moment I had absolutely no idea which areas I could cut or how much. 

I crossed my fingers behind my back and hoped that I would really be able to follow through on that promise.  He had worked overtime for so many years that I had long ago incorporated that money into our monthly expenses.  Removing it would be painful! 

 Back to the Basics

I quickly realized that panicking would do very little to help our situation.  That's sort of like getting depressed about the lack of food in the house.  So you go out, get a gallon of ice cream, and eat the entire thing.  Now you are sick to your stomach, you've gained five pounds, and you STILL have no food in your fridge.  It is self defeating.

 It's time to "circle the wagons".  During Westward Expansion each night the wagons formed a circle for defensive purposes to ward off attackers.  I needed to devise a plan of defense, envisioning each element of our budget as a separate "wagon".  When combined, they would provide us with both safety and defense. 

 I went back to the basics.  I warped back into "newlywed mode".  When we were first married, we survived on practically nothing.  How?  We didn't spend money.  We worked, ate at home, took walks, read books, visited friends and family, and enjoyed time with with each other.

And you know what?  We loved it!  We didn't feel deprived.  We didn't sit around feeling sorry for ourselves.  We embraced simplicity.  Additionally, we (literally) gave thanks to God each and every time He brought unexpected blessings our way. 

Here are four steps to follow if you need to cut your budget in a hurry!  

 Step 1:  Ask Yourself, "Is this temporary?"

Take a deep breath and consider whether this downturn in fortunes is temporary or permanent.  Are there circumstances which would change the situation for the better?  If it is temporary, how long is it likely to last? 

 In our case Larry's diagnosis of heart failure forced him to downsize his work schedule.  Heart failure is exhausting - in a very literal sense.  When he returns from work it is as though someone unplugged his batteries.  He lays down for a deep, long nap every day.  He has to.  This really does not lend itself well to overtime hours.  

We began the budget hacking by asking ourselves how long the lack of overtime was likely to last.  The answer is:  at least a year.  Probably more.  We have made the decision that even when he regains his strength that never again will he work extensive overtime hours.  It simply isn't worth the loss of our family time to gain extra coin in our pockets. 

 

Step 2:  Concentrate on Your "four walls".  

Next, look at your budget and place a mark next to those items which are your "four walls".  This includes:  Housing, food, and transportation.  Look for ALL the items which encompass these categories.

HOME:

Mortgage
Home insurance
Property Taxes
Gas and Electric
Water
Sewer
Garbage
Home Owner's Association Fees

FOOD:

Groceries
Personal care items
Cleaning and hygiene products

TRANSPORTATION:

Car Gas
Car Upkeep
Car Payment (See this post for my advice on paying cash for automobiles.)  

See?  It's a lot more than just paying your rent or mortgage.  These areas must remain funded.

Step 3:  Isolate and Cut

Consider each category of your budget as a separate entity - or "wagon" if you think back to our "circle the wagons" analogy.  Ask yourself if there is any way which that category can be trimmed.  You may be able to lower some only a few dollars a month.  But, when you see the cumulative effect of your efforts, you will be amazed that you were able to shave that much off of your budget.

There are lots of ways that even the "four walls" categories can be trimmed down to size.  

 I give you great tips for cutting expenses in this post.  And also in this post.

Step 4:  Challenge Yourself!  Be specific!   Put it in writing! 

 

 I believe that people commit to things which are written down and posted in a prominent place in their home.  For me, that is using a magnet to attach them to my refrigerator.

  Be sure you have the agreement and help of either your spouse or an accountability partner.  You'll be more likely to succeed if you know that someone else may ask you unexpectedly, "So, how are we doing on those budgeting goals?"

To show you an example of how to do this, I am sharing my June budget challenges! 

My June Budget Challenges!

Here are four budget-related items that I will be posting about in the next few weeks.   

 1.  Simplify meals and use bulk cooking strategies, concentrating on entrees that are filling and go a long way.  I'll be posting some "cheap eats" and some menu plans. 

2.  Organize my pantry!  Disorder costs money!  You'll get a look at what an absolute WRECK my pantry is!  I show you how my son and I put it back in order.  I promise lots of photos!

3.  Being hyper-vigilant at tracking my expenses every week.  This way I will immediately be aware when adjustments need to be made.  I'll report any successes or challenges.   

4. I have issued myself a "food budget challenge".  My family is less-than-enthused about this one.  I've decided to spend no more than $320 on food for the month of June.   That's $80 each week!  Our oldest son is also home from college and our son John's girlfriend is coming from Mississippi to visit.  So our family of five will become a family of seven for most of June.  I'll lay out the details in the next few days and update you regularly on how it is going. For the record, my husband thinks I can't do it -  just all the more reason to try to prove that I can!

Don't miss my next post!  

Not only will I give you the low down on my June challenges, I'll also be telling you how you can enter to win a copy of one of my favorite books, Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half, by Steve and Annette Economides.  

Until next time,

Remember,

Do all to the glory of God,

Hope




 

 

Ten MORE Ways to Slash Your Budget

"People who live Under the Median with deliberation and an iron will aren't even looking at Starbucks, except to slow down to smell the aroma on our way home to brew our own hot beverage for pennies instead of dollars." - Under the Median

I just did a post on Four Ways to Slash Your Budget. We looked at "big picture" items - ones which can result in significant savings every month. But, when you are striving to achieve great big goals, you need to carefully comb through your budget to harvest even the areas which result in saving just a little money.

This post, filled with 10 more tips, contains some "black belt tips".If are ready to do whatever you need to do in order to meet your goals, this is your post! You have fire in your eyes and you're hanging on to those dreams like a dog with a bone!

When I read finance websites touting the advantages of simply giving up your daily latte if you want to save money and balance your budget, I either chortle with inner amusement or screw my face up into a silent message which clearly implies my disdain of their simplistic answer.

People who live Under the Median with deliberation and an iron will aren't even looking at Starbucks, except to slow down to smell the aroma on our way home to brew our own hot beverage for pennies instead of dollars. We like to whittle our budget down to a fine-tuned machine of thrift-minded perfection!

MY STORY

If you know my story at all, you understand that I have developed the habit of examining each nickel and dime before it leaves my wallet. This all began when my husband and I decided to live debt-free on an income which averaged about 30% under the National Median Income. In a technical sense, we lived above the definition of poverty. But, raising a family on this amount of money was a monthly balancing act in both thrift and black belt economics.

So, let's talk about what to do if you have cut all the easy stuff out of your budget and still need to save more coin each month to make headway on your goals. I've employed all of these methods in my personal life.  Some of these ideas will net you just a couple of hundred dollars per year.  However, as I proposed each idea to my husband, he wrote down the expected savings, added it all up, and then showed me the total. We looked at each other, smiled, nodded, and said, "Now, we're talking some real money!" 

In order to give you accurate numbers, I looked at our yearly budgets and budget totals for 2009 and 2010, the years in which we cut the budget to the bone to save 40% of our yearly income in order to pay cash for our new home. Yep!  I still have them all in a file. I'm a budget junkie!  😄

TIP #1: BUY  REAL FOOD

It is a misnomer that industrialized, boxed, processed, preservative-laden, snack food is less expensive than whole food. Not only is it devoid of most nutritional value, fattening, and full of salt, sugar, and oil, it is not even really cheaper.  

Take potatoes for an example. My family can eat an entire bag of chips in about five minutes flat.  Each bag will cost you between $1.50 and $4.5.  Contrast this with a ten pound bag of potatoes, which can be had for less than $4.00! A bag this size will last you for several meals. Potatoes lead the pack in potassium, vitamin C, and fiber. They fill you up, but don't weigh you down. I guarantee your children will be hungry two hours after eating that bag of chips, but full for the rest of the evening with a hot, stuffed baked potato.

My experience: 

 Let's see our example works in real life. In 2009, when my husband and I were saving to pay cash for our house, we employed this budget-slashing method and successfully reduced our food bills to $325 a month for our family of six.We bulk cooked once a week, ate seasonally, baked bread from scratch, and had a small square foot garden. Nearly every single bite of food that hit my children's mouths was made by me, with real ingredients. 

TIP #2: HANG IT ALL! 

When I say hang it all, I mean laundry. Years ago I read that it cost an average of 50¢ to dry each load in a dryer. So, I began hanging ten loads of laundry on an outside line every single week. I kept the ritual until it was so cold that all of the items came off the line dried into stiff cardboard like shapes and my fingers needed resuscitation after coming in from the cold. If you hate the  scratchy feeling of line-dried towels, throw them in the dryer for about 10 minutes after you take them off the line.  They will emerge with the soft feel to which you are accustomed.  

My Experience:

Using the $.50 per load formula we estimated we saved $20 a month or about $160 a year by doing it March through November.

TIP #3: ADD OR SUBTRACT A DEGREE

The degrees I am talking about are on your thermostat. For years we had an "80 degree rule", the A/C didn't come on until the thermometer consistently read 80 degrees or above. Instead, we had two whole house fans and we used them! As long as the humidity stayed down, we were able to cool the house off quite nicely to sleep comfortably, even with fairly hot daytime temperatures. When we finally turned on the A/C, we raised the thermostat 1 degree every day until we really felt uncomfortable. Then, we backed it off 1 degree and left it set there.

In winter, we did the process backwards - subtracting a degree every day until we were cold, even after adding warm socks and a sweater to our ensemble.We used space heaters to warm up the room in which we were sitting, rather than raise the thermostat.*Be sure to follow safety rules and NEVER leave a space heater unattended and make sure you leave a clearance of least 3 feet in every direction.

For every 3 degree variance on your thermostat, you will shave between $10 and $20 off of each monthly bill.  By installing and using a progammable thermostat can also shave $300-$400 a year off of your utility bills.

Check with your energy provider to see if they offer free home assessments or energy-saving devices to customers. Here is a link to one such program offered by ComEd.  

My Experience: 

We currently use PowerSmart Pricing through our power company, Ameron. Power Smart Pricing is an hourly electricity pricing program for residential customers. The price you pay per kilowatt hour varies throughout the day. The rates are posted 24 hours in advance. In this way, I can plan cooking and laundry at times when I pay the least per kilowatt hour. The program also makes perfect sense for us since we own an all electric car. We charge our trusty steed from 1am-4am, when the prices hit rock bottom. Last year we saved 5% on our electric bill by using Power Smart Pricing. That may not seem like much, but, remember we transitioned to this program simultaneous to purchasing an electric car. So, if we were not charging an electric vehicle every night, I suspect that our savings would be higher by another 10-15%. 

TIP #4: GET CREATIVE IN GIFT-GIVING

While saving for a new home, our Christmas and gift-giving budgets became nearly non-existent. We made gifts from scratch, bought from garage sales and second-hand stores, and scoured clearance racks for unbelievable bargains. Additionally, we agreed to go to only four  garage sales that summer! These were major neighborhood garage sales.  

What?! Why in the world would we deliberately cut off our garage sale circuit - the source of a thrifty supply of clothing and household items? For one specific reason: I know, I said that we looked at garage sales for gifts - and we did.  Garage sales had become our way to blow time together every weekend.  But, the more we went, the most things we found that we didn't need, but couldn't pass up.  So, we made the decision:  if we don't go, we can't be tempted to spend money on unnecessary items.  Instead, we went to carefully selected sales and were still were able to find every item we needed, and few that we didn't. 

My experience: In this post I gave a list of ideas for doing Christmas while living Under the Median.  You can also read here and here for a large list of gift ideas for $3.00 or less! The ideas in these posts can be applied to holidays, anniversaries, weddings, and birthdays.  By using a combination of all of the tips and ideas that I gave you above, we cut both our Christmas and gift budgets by 25% each.

TIP #5: Oh, Baby! 

We had a new baby at the time we began saving for our home.  We cut our "baby needs" category in the budget from $40 to a very minimal $10 a month. This was baby #4 and he needed very little that we did not already own. The $10 covered the cost of occasional use of disposable diapers (which I generally got on sale and with coupons) and other miscellaneous items.  I breastfed until the age of two, made my own wipes, used cloth diapers, made my own baby food after the age of six months, and bought used clothes.  We also had really great friends who gave us hand-me-downs.  New clothing, in general, has been very rare in the lives of any of my sons.   

Miscellaneous Ideas

Here are some other miscellaneous areas which we were able to "right size" by asking ourselves if we  really needed it:

• TIP #7: We cancelled our newspaper subscription.All magazine subscriptions bit the dust and were cancelled. 

• TIP #8:  We cancelled our internet.We accessed it at the library once or twice a week.

• TIP #9: We went out to eat 3 times each year (using coupons and gift certificates). Instead, we had Friday night picnics. Here's a post on that tradition.   

• TIP #10: Every extra penny that came into the house went straight into the bank. 

Our Family Mantra Became:

"If we can't eat it or wear it, we don't need it."

For more money-saving ideas read:

 Four Tips for Slashing Your Budget
No Overtime!! Cutting My Budget to the Bone
Ten Tips to Unleash your Inner Frualista  
How We Bought A House with Nickels and Dimes

What are your goals?

Do you have specific goals for 2019? When establishing your family budget for this year, consider each nickel and dime. Trust me. They DO add up to dollars. 

 Do you have tips on saving money or questions on how to save on expenses?  I'd love to hear them.  Comment below.   

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