Good grief, I can’t believe it’s been so long since I’ve written a post about the debt thing. So, let’s do a little run down, shall we? You all know how I love to type out lists…let the list begin!
1. Yes, we are still in debt.
2. Debt sucks big donkey wads.
3. Being the head track coach was really bad for our dining budget and gas budget.
4. Budgets are a necessary evil.
5. Sometimes I like to ignore the budget.
5.5 Ignoring the budget causes my husband to sigh a lot in my direction and ask questions like, “Do you know we have a budget?”
6. Having a job this year let us loosen our belts a bit.
7. Having a job made me so busy that I had no time to think about spending money on things that I really love.
8. I really love working cameras, comfortable dining room chairs and in general fixing up the farmhouse.
9. Now, that school is out for the summer, I suddenly have the urge to spend heaping mounds of cash on working cameras, comfortable dining room chairs and in general fixing up the farmhouse.
10. Good thing I have severe anxiety when it comes to purchasing cameras and furniture and lumber supplies.
11. I sort of, kind of gave up my envelope system.
12. I found that if I have cash I do this crazy thing……I spend it.
13. I use shopping cards that I purchase from my children’s school to buy our groceries. So, it’s still like I have a cash amount, without the cash in my pocket.
14. Coupons are still an awesome thing to save a ton of money, but they are a lot of work.
15. Cashiers do NOT understand coupons.
16. A lot of cashiers think I’m trying to cheat the store out of money by using coupons.
17. Sometimes I feel like an overbearing-penny pinching-uptight- money monger when I have to explain how to enter the correct amount of the buy one get one free details on the coupon to the cashier.
18. There’s a few things I’d like to do with those coupons that include: start a fire, make a good soup and fill the giant hole in the cashiers ear lobe. But, I’ll keep using them, when I’m organized enough to use them.
19. Have I mentioned that really I think coupons SUCK giant wads of time and energy out of me? Ugh.
20. Debt sucks.
So, let’s hear how you all are doing? Are you paying your bills? Getting out of the hole? Saving up cash for the next great thing or disaster? Frustrated with coupons? Let’s hear it.
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Debt sucks, but once you’re out of it, it’s awesome and you never wanna go back! The older you get, the easier it becomes to stay within your budget. Plus all that money you spent on your kids, you get to spend on travel. Yay.
COUPONS: I feel your pain about cashiers not understanding how coupons work, especially BOGO coupons. I train cashiers and no matter how much time and effort and headbashing I use they do not remember how to do them right! Very
You might be able to SAVE MORE ON BOGO TAXABLE items. In our state (OHIO) when you get an item TOTALLY FREE
you DO NOT PAY TAX on it. A BOGO with retail that exceeds the allowed amount by manufacturer requires you to pay the tax on the retail price.
This is the hardest thing for cashiers to get because cents off coupons are just the opposite. You are required to pay tax on the full retail price. I know it’s usually not much money but it adds up over time.
HOWEVER – DO NOT ASK YOU GROCERY STORE THE ANSWER TO THIS BECAUSE THEY PROBABLY DON’T KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER. In ten years of training cashiers I have yet to train one who worked for another grocery store and knew the correct law on this.
Canada sucks big time when it comes to coupons so I don’t do it much. Seriously, you can’t get even get double coupon days. You have to be a lawyer to get past the coupon fine print up here!
Money sucks. Saving sucks. We aren’t getting ahead. We’ve spent some $ in the past couple months because well, we needed a shotgun for bear protection, we need a fence to keep the WHOLE NEIGHBOURHOODs dogs OUT of our yard and stop attacking our dog which we responsibly keep tied up and no one else does. Do you know what it costs to fence 2 acres?????
I can relate to your pain. I have no energy or time or focus to put towards the “budget” right now. The kids are sucking the life out of me right now!!!
And yes, when you are always driving into town for whatever, and you live on an acreage outside town, you always seem to need to buy food no matter how much you pack. Sigh.
I am glad to hear you saved up for the camera! Way to go!
Coupons–a pain, but necessary evil. I also live in a one-grocery store town, so shopping around for bargains is simply a waste of precious fuel. Coupons also make shopping
take f o r e v e r! Ugh. We’ve always put aside for retirement. Have never had college funds, yet managed to graduate my oldest this May, and my daughter will be a junior this fall. Word to the wise—private colleges can actually be cheaper than state universities! Son’s school was $36K/yr, but after scholarships and a generous grant (when we appealed due to a job loss), his last 2 years were far less than my daughter’s at the state university. My appeal to the state university was met with an offer of an additional $200 loan, not tax free. Gee, thanks! My kids all have the max in student loans, but hey, that’s life. I had them, they can do the same. Life’s not free.
Gosh April
This morning I’ve been moping around thanks to DEBT!!!!
The worst four letter word I know of (in current status)!
I opened up my checking online and wanted to cry…..Boohoo!
I hate having to be so thrifty and chintzy on everything!
I’m not one to go willynilly spending but just how do all these people around me have endless amounts of money to blow?
It’s depressing!
I just want to pay my bills, dangit!!!
Thanks for reminding me…I’m not alone!
Been out of the hole for years and look forward to you joining me. You’ll get there. Prioritize. Just keep plugging along.
Hi April
We have sort of been doing the Dave Ramsey thing for just over a year. I closed my eyes and left it all up to my husband. We can never have a budget. He works on straight commission and we never really know whats coming in until we check the bank account at 12:02am.
Last year we had a drop in pay on 32 thousand DOLLARS!!!!!! Yupper we did. My husband, with me sticking my head in the ground, paid off twelve thousand in credit cards. This year so far we paid off six grand to the IRS and last week paid off the final car payment. We have three vehicles now and no payments. Of course last Tuesday the car broke down and cost us nine hundred to fix it but because of DR we had it covered.
I really am going somewhere with this….. We are living on less money than ever and are happier than I think we’ve ever been. Everytime I would get depressed because Goodwill didn’t have what I was looking for I thought of you and knew we weren’t the only ones. Thanks for sharing with us.
The cash envelopes didn’t fly with me, and Quicken was too easily put off, but the BudgetMap check register works for this highly distractible mom. http://www.budgetmap.com/ Every transaction: cash/debit/credit gets recorded– it’s immediate, and I actually remember to use it because of ease of accessibility.
Oh, and I agree. Debt sucks. And major income drop sucks, too. But I’m thankful to be dealing with debt and income drop in the good old USA. I’m not in Haiti living under a blue tarp with my family buried in the rubble of my home. Perspective is good.
We threw away our credit cards about 8 or 9 years ago and since then have only bought things with cash. Everything is so expensive these days (and unfortunately will probably get worse), but it’s been relatively easy. We live out in the middle of nowhere and I was recently laid off. There aren’t any jobs around here and if one comes up everyone knows about it and it’s gone. My husband runs his own business (auto body repair) so most of our money either goes to the government, to the parts stores for car parts and paint, & for gas. Luckily he has the talent so he usually finds a great deal on wrecked vehicles he can fix up for us to drive. We try to put God first and He does the rest. We don’t eat out much and never go on fancy vacations, but life is still good. Reading your stories make me laugh & it’s nice to know there are other “normal” people out there!
I think it’s awesome you’re getting out of debt the way you are. AND, it can be very helpful to “clean” up your scores once you’re done and you have control of your finances again. There is a way to make CREDIT work FOR you instead of against you, if you use it wisely.
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Getting out of debt would be a dream come true. It’s the toughest thing I know of, your spending mistakes from years ago looking at you every day. Plugging away at it in Ohio! Thanks for your post, very interesting.