So the word came down yesterday…no more overtime, no raises, and basically your lucky to have a job. That was the jist of my husband’s company meeting. We were expecting it somewhat, but the finality of it made me gulp a little.
We are no strangers to frugality, living on less, and skimping and scrimping. It is just tough to scrimp and skimp when you think you have squeezed all you can out of your little budget! We have endured health insurance increases, toll increases, oil and gas increases, grocery increases, electric rate increases and have still manage to adjust here and there to somehow make it all work. God promises to provide for us, and we trust that He will, but we also must be wise stewards with what He has already provided. So it is time to go lean, extra lean. Time for a bare bones budget.
Budgeting works for me, even if it doesn’t always go as planned! Having it down on paper and seeing where it is all going is so helpful. My plan is to go through each budget category and seeing what can be cut out altogether, what can be reduced, and what is a must have versus a want. It is already pretty lean, I must say, so this should be very challenging! But I am sure we are not the only ones in this economy to face pay cuts, overtime cuts, and no raises. So let’s join heads….
Maybe you fine budgeteers would share with me your tips for adjusting your budget during lean times. What have you cut? What did you keep? Where did you start?
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Tough economic times indeed bring stresses and heartaches. It is important to explore the possibilities for saving and making money online. Current companies are becoming very practical in their approach to helping everyday consumers stretch their dollars.
We’ve been through a lot of changes in the past 3 years. These are some changes we’ve made: I’ve gotten rid of everything I used to buy that was disposable (nearly) and have replaced it with cloth items, smaller garbage can, changed insurance companies which cut our bill in half, went down to one car, I make my menu’s out of what is on hand or is given to me, dropping cell phones and cable, still have DSL but no phone line.. use Magic Jack for phone line, rarely eat out and if we do we use coupons through E-clubs.. oh, I could go on and on. I’ll be following your journey.
Georgene´s last blog ..Frugality and the Love of Money- Part 1
The Always 99cent store has wonderful deals on produce-often as good as or better than my best deals at the grocery store. Also, someone mentioned Angel Food, SHARE colorado is a similar program with different menu options. We cut some of our eating out(we’re really bad about it) and really stuck to our budget for food. Honestly, we also looked into medicaid (I’m prego) and WIC (I’m thinking the milk and cheese will help our budget). And really start looking at unemployment if you think it might head that way. You should qualify if hours are cut a lot and in my state still get it if a severence package is offered. I also started using Swagbucks for my internet searches-I’ve got about $15 in gift cards to amazon and plan to use it on cloth diapers for the baby. That’ll be our big purchase for the baby, but in a worse case scenario, I can use the gift cards on groceries.
Stephanie, I’m sorry to hear your news. One thing that John and I have done for YEARS when times have gotten hard (and they have…we have been done to zero savings and only 2 dollars and 50 cents in our checking account when doing church planting) is to give more. I know it sounds backwards, but it is a step of faith to say, “Okay, we are going to give sacrificially” and then write the check or give the next one away. It also counters the urge to hoard and reminds me to be reliant on God. It works! It is an incredible faith builder and He has never let us down.
We just recently got the same news, but also lost vacation and sick pay. But, yes, we’re thankful that there is still a job! We’re also facing increased medical expenses this year. It seems that the area where the biggest increases in expenses has been, though, has been groceries. So we’re working on planting a garden and figuring out how reduce the cost of food in other areas. Part of the reason for the increase grocery expense has been that we’ve cut way back on all the processed foods that we used to get so cheaply with coupons. That has made it more challenging to find ways to save, but it can still be done!
I am new to your site and an unsure what you are already doing, so please forgive me!
*Grow your own food – even a small garden with a few plants will save you at the market. If you are really short on space, container gardening also works for many plants (i.e., tomatoes, herbs, berries, etc.).
*Buy in season – learn what is in season and purchase that fresh (sales also tend to happen when in season due to produce overload!). If not in season, do you really need it? Can it be substituted by something else in season? If not, buy frozen.
*Can/freeze extras – When in season gather large amounts (from store or garden) and store for use throughout the year.
*Make it from scratch – from household cleaners to bisquick. Oftentimes it is pretty easy and VERY cheap.
*Free Entertainment – hiking, going to the park, family bike ride, visit the library, look for neighborhood events
*Sell So Much Stuff That The Kids Think They Are Next – good advice from Dave Ramsey! Don’t sell the family heirlooms, of course but go through your house asking yourself “Do I really need this? How badly do I want this? Do I want financial peace more than this?”
Wow, my comment is getting way too long! I hope this helps!
When my DH was without a job for 10 months, some of the things we did were pray, ask for prayer, I planned meals with what we had in the refrigerator, freezer and pantry until it was down to nothing, when I just had to shop I went to Goodwill and usually found something decorative that would change the look of a room for just a few bucks, we played games together, I made sure to lift up my husband on a regular basis, we checked out Angel Food Ministeries and we used up all the little lotion samples, shampoo samples etc. Hope at least one of these helps you!
For us, big helps have been coupons, very carefully planning shopping trips through studying the sales ads, menu plans and lists. I rely on simple recipes with “common ingredients”.
I am very anxious to hear everybody else’s input on this subject, too! My husband has been 8 years without a raise. No overtime either. Thankfully we have our own chickens for eggs…I make my own butter, etc… and those things do help. Can’t wait to read what everybody else suggests!
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