Good Evening Readers,
It’s the hot topic just about every where I go for many people in America their pay checks are shrinking and all of their expenses are going up. I don’t mean just a couple of expenses I mean all of the expenses. I just ran reports for 2012 and we were up much higher than 2011 in every category. Groceries and gas were way up and so were our Utilities and don’t even get me started on Tax Relief we are no longer receiving. I am now convinced we can never sell our pop up camper as it may be our vacation home of course it might end up parked out front 😉 Solutions…well you can’t keep grasping at temporary solutions the truth is you can only refinance your house so many times and to be honest it’s not as easy as it used to be for a lot of folks anyway.
So as someone who is in this boat how do I navigate my current circumstance with some finesse. Well this year I realized we were going to have to go on a budget…..YES the dreaded “B” word….the big problem is we have it set up now but we have yet to implement it but this is the month we are going to sit down and start since we are not that far into February.
Trust me I’m a procrastinator at this budget stuff and my husband is my reluctant accomplice but we are working on a budget plan that my friend Mr. CBB at Canadian Budget Binder sent me I will be posting more in-depth about this budget soon. But for now if you want to download some free financial tools from his site click here:
We have a 5 prong strategy which is fairly simple:
- Spend Less
- Grow/Raise Our Own Food
- Organize Our Finances/Approach
- Decrease Outgoing expenditures
- Add Income Creatively
I know it sounds so simple but it’s about learning how to do a juggling act on a daily basis….most of this are good at. The hardest part for me was learning once I got home from work each day that the work was just beginning. I will be expanding and discussing this 5 prong strategy going forward and look forward to hearing how all of you are approaching the same issues.
I really want to hear what all of you are doing to combat this shrinking pay check syndrome and maybe we can all learn from each other.
And I realize as I am just about to publish this post it’s almost Friday so I wish all of you a wonderful weekend!
Fondly,
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Well, you already know my number one tip: don’t waste food. We’re also becoming much more entrepreneurial these days. We’re both working for ourselves – which so far has just meant a lot more work with fewer guarantees.
Now, who is that handsome man in the picture???
Yes, I guess we are all in a similar boat here. I would love to hear some new ideas on creative ways to cut the spending and increase the income a bit!
Jamie Thanks so much for stopping in I am hoping as we share our strategies that others can learn from what works and what doesn’t but also share with us on what worked for them too!
I have heard someone encourage us to “MAP” it (your money), instead of calling it a budget. MAP stands for managed asset planning — a little friendlier sounding than the dreaded ” budget”. Best of luck!
Thats kind of a snappy name! Although mine might have to be called Managed Debt Planning…ha ha ….but we are on track for a much more strategic year and I am excited about that.
Cook from scratch as much as possible. Grow as much of your own as possible and learn to preserve it! Have one night a week that is a no-meat meal. Dried beans, peas, rice, and pasta are my go-to staples!
Great ideas Teresa! I do not know what I would do without learning how to preserve it really makes a difference…..Thanks so much for stopping in 🙂