Well, this week has been a frustrating week. The weather has taken a nasty turn, meaning we have to run our furnace more, and we got our electric bill, which was almost double again this month. In January, they replaced our meter, and we thought the price hike had something to do with that, but it is up that high again this month, and this cold snap is not on this bill. We had also planned to volunteer at the food distribution again and bring home another big box of food, but that was cancelled due to the weather. Other food pantries are closed too. I feel bad for the people who could really use that food, as the cold will drive up their bills too. Their kids are also off school, which means no school lunches either, driving up their grocery bill. It is a double whammy for them. I am thankful though that we have electricity, I am sure there are lots of people this week that would pay any amount to get warm.
All this belly aching to say, time to tighten our belts, again. I have tried looking at other money saving blogs, but most of them say things like stop eating out, make coffee at home, don't go to the movies every month, which are not helpful tips as we don't do those things anyway. My family and I have compiled the following list to help us the next few months. We made it kind of a family activity last night, and the kids were super creative, although some of their ideas (skip showers altogether!) are not going to be put into practice. I know that not all of our actions are workable for everyone, but hopefully by sharing what we are going to be doing will inspire something in someone else.
1. Reduce how much we are setting aside for gifts. When I made our budget, I figured out how much money to put in the envelop every month to make our goal, so I am going to reduce that drastically. I am hoping the electric bill thing is temporary and that I can start putting money aside again for birthdays and Christmas, but if not, then we will just have to get creative.
2. Turn down the heat. We usually keep our heat at 62-65 degrees in the day time and 55 degrees at night. I am going to put it at 60 while we are all gone during the day and 52 at night. Maybe my youngest will finally start wearing pants at home, haha.
3. Cut our grocery budget again. We usually have several meals a week that are meatless, but I think we are going to have to add some more, and I am going to cut out lunch meat. We adults pack sandwiches to work when we don't have leftovers, so for now, peanut butter and jelly, egg salad or tuna are our options. And soup, lots of soup in our future. All that liquid fills a belly up. I am also going to give up pretzels for our lunches. They are cheaper than chips, but crackers are cheaper than pretzels. We are also going to go back to two meals and a snack on the weekends for people not working.
4. We hung a blanket over the drafty door that we use all the time. This has proven to be super inconvenient since the other door is on the other side of the house and driveway, but I can already feel a difference. Everyone will get used to the new routine eventually. We have also hung blankets over the windows in the bedrooms. No one is in there usually during the day, and no one cares if the windows are covered up at night.
5. Talk myself into listing a few things for sale on Facebook Marketplace. Outside my comfort zone for sure, but maybe this will finally spur me into doing it.
6. I put my youngest in charge of lights. He was gleefully turning the lights off on everyone last night. In reality, this game will get old, but I am renewing my effort to use less electric. We strung up a clothes line across one room to hang clothes to dry, then throw in the dryer for a short time to make them less stiff. Because of time constraints, it is not feasible to do this with every load, but every little bit counts.
Honestly, I can't think of anything else we can cut or tighten. We need internet for school, and it is our main source of entertainment. We don't buy clothes regularly, only when someone needs something like shoes or whatever. On off days, my kids live in their flannel pajama pants and sweatshirts. We don't eat out. We don't buy treats very often, and when we do, it is because they were a great deal, or something like a brownie mix on sale. Everything we have is second hand, so selling our stuff is not likely to make us much money. We don't drink alcohol and only buy 2 liters of pop for special treats or occasions like a birthday. We don't buy stuff at all really. Ugh.
To all of you out there in a tough spot right now, just keep putting one foot in front of the other, don't let perfection be the enemy of getting it done, don't let anyone else's opinions effect you and know that you are not alone.
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