What are you really prepared for?
How long can you go without grocery shopping?
What ways do you have to cook without power?
How are you going to stay warm in the winter without power?
How long can you live on your savings account?
How will pay for an unexpected major expense?
What skills do you have to barter with?
These are situations that are constantly changing and things we hope to never have to deal with. I want to try to be prepared for these things and hope to never have to deal with them at the same time.
This year a budget is a bigger priority than in years past. I went through the checkbook and categorized all the expenses that I could and made a budget based on last years expenses.
To begin with the budget will have to change monthly as we pay quarterly bills, unexpected maintenance bills and have other expenses that are not the normal monthly expenses.
Learn to cut expenses. Use it up, make it do, or do without.
Where do you cut expenses when you have cut everywhere you can already? I'm trying to figure that out also.
1. No cable or satellite television at our house.
2. We go to one theater movie a year for our anniversary. That is not every year either.
3. We borrow books and movies from the library and friends. We do buy a few movies the weekend
after Black Friday. There isn't a movie we want bad enough to be part of that crowd.
4. Grow a garden and use what is grown.
5. Set the thermostat a little lower in the winter and wear a sweatshirt, sweater, or some extra layer of
clothing. We keep it a little higher in the summer. I get up extra early and open all the windows to
cool the house off as much as possible. Then about 1 hour after the sun comes up I close all the
windows and blinds. The air conditioner doesn't come on until late afternoon usually.
6. Wash clothes in cold water and hang to dry when possible. Put damp clothes in the dryer to finish
drying and soften.
7. Plan menus and eat at home. I was shocked to find that our eating out expenses averaged about $35 a
month last year. That includes while on vacation. We rarely eat out. I didn't think we spent that
much.
8. Mom usually cuts my hair and Hubby lets his grow longer that he likes to keep that expense down.
9. We keep a shopping list for groceries, household supplies, home and auto maintenance
and everything that comes to mind, so we can make as few trips as possible getting things we need
or forgot.
10. I tried making our own laundry soap. It works fine for everything but Hubby's work clothes.
11. I check prices and buy the container that is the best price per ounce, whether it be an off brand or
bulk.
12. I shop thrift stores and yard sales for things we need and sew a lot of our clothes. I even shop thrift
stores for fabric.
13. I rarely use coupons. I find that most of them are for things I don't use.
14. I make almost everything from scratch. No prepackaged food at our house hardly. Angel food cake
mix, hot chocolate mix, brownie mix and stove top stuffing can be found at our house sometimes
when the price is right.
What we do have.
1. Netflix instant watch.
2. Android Cell phones with unlimited everything. I hate the expense, but Hubby has to have it for work.
Adding me on was a minimal expense. With the new phone services coming out now we may be able
to cut that expense.
3. Internet service. I am looking into a new provider, because mine has become more expensive than I
want for the quality.
So if you are living similar to the way my household lives; where do you cut expenses? I'm not sure, but I am looking for more ways.
Let me know what suggestions you have.
It doesn't take long to live without certain expenses. Decide what you really want and make priorities and budget for them.
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