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Saving Story - Sunday 1st February 2015
I Have a Plan, Not Just a Spreadsheet Dear Cath,
My name is Karen. I have a husband and four kids 12, 10, 8 and 3. I have seen you before on the TV, and always thought yep that’s great but we are ok. I have a yearly bills budget which basically tells me when all our bills are due and how much it costs , I have a separate bills account I put money into each week worked out by totalling all my bills and dividing by 52. At a glance I can make sure that there is always enough to cover each month (although February always sucks due to rates and having just gone through Christmas, we always borrow a bit from that.) Sure we have credit card debt but we always manage to get it paid off eventually (usually with tax and me going nuts paying extra each week.) However this is a bit of a cycle. We borrow on the credit card and then spend a year trying to pay it back, and then celebrate paying it off by lashing out and treating ourselves.
My bills budget is usually by financial year, but toward the end of last year I could see we were going to be getting a bit stuck. I was getting worried… so I changed it. I started from scratch January to December. Hmm…at least I knew what was coming but I wasn’t happy about it. And to be honest I don’t even remember why I looked up your website, but I did. I started reading and reading, and getting more excited. It took me 4 days of "will I, won’t I" before I joined. I am so glad I did. I read all about Mrs Sparkles, The Bumsteads and The Smith Family. All the while my enthusiasm growing and thinking I can do this.
So I have started writing out weekly menu plans that I can mix and match to make up a month. My plan (after reading the Budget Renovations) is to only use what is in the house to feed us for the next two weeks. And then try the $300 a Month Food challenge. We will see, It may be the $400 challenge the first month. But still a massive difference to the $250 plus a week I spend now.
So I was all happy, I can do this. Then the dreaded electricity came in; usually around $540 although I allow 600 (I don’t know where the rest usually goes, generally borrowed so we can do something). Today $627. And my car insurance came in at $529. I crashed back to reality. This is all too hard. So …. I jumped on your website and started reading again. Slightly rejuvenated I rang our insurance company and without batting an eyelid $42 off. It is less than last year (only by about 50 cents but still). So now I am on a roll and I rang the electricity company (not as easy). They can’t do anything for this bill but I have increased my discount from 7% to 27% on electricity and up to 16% on my gas.
So now I am feeling good. I am once again in I can do this mode. As of next week we will start putting money away into an emergency fund (wish I started that a while ago, would have paid for the new transmission in my car). We have never had one before and thinking about it now I don’t know why. I have goals in place to pay off our debts. I have started putting money away in savings, this I have put into the mortgage account because then our savings are saving us money on interest. Only $10 a week at the moment until the emergency fund is up and running and our debts are down, but it’s something.
Any way the actual point of this email was just to say thank you. I am now feeling good, I have a plan, not just a spreadsheet, and it is thanks to you. Now if could manage to grow some veg and fruit without something eating it all I will be a happy little Cheapskater.
Thanks
Karen
My name is Karen. I have a husband and four kids 12, 10, 8 and 3. I have seen you before on the TV, and always thought yep that’s great but we are ok. I have a yearly bills budget which basically tells me when all our bills are due and how much it costs , I have a separate bills account I put money into each week worked out by totalling all my bills and dividing by 52. At a glance I can make sure that there is always enough to cover each month (although February always sucks due to rates and having just gone through Christmas, we always borrow a bit from that.) Sure we have credit card debt but we always manage to get it paid off eventually (usually with tax and me going nuts paying extra each week.) However this is a bit of a cycle. We borrow on the credit card and then spend a year trying to pay it back, and then celebrate paying it off by lashing out and treating ourselves.
My bills budget is usually by financial year, but toward the end of last year I could see we were going to be getting a bit stuck. I was getting worried… so I changed it. I started from scratch January to December. Hmm…at least I knew what was coming but I wasn’t happy about it. And to be honest I don’t even remember why I looked up your website, but I did. I started reading and reading, and getting more excited. It took me 4 days of "will I, won’t I" before I joined. I am so glad I did. I read all about Mrs Sparkles, The Bumsteads and The Smith Family. All the while my enthusiasm growing and thinking I can do this.
So I have started writing out weekly menu plans that I can mix and match to make up a month. My plan (after reading the Budget Renovations) is to only use what is in the house to feed us for the next two weeks. And then try the $300 a Month Food challenge. We will see, It may be the $400 challenge the first month. But still a massive difference to the $250 plus a week I spend now.
So I was all happy, I can do this. Then the dreaded electricity came in; usually around $540 although I allow 600 (I don’t know where the rest usually goes, generally borrowed so we can do something). Today $627. And my car insurance came in at $529. I crashed back to reality. This is all too hard. So …. I jumped on your website and started reading again. Slightly rejuvenated I rang our insurance company and without batting an eyelid $42 off. It is less than last year (only by about 50 cents but still). So now I am on a roll and I rang the electricity company (not as easy). They can’t do anything for this bill but I have increased my discount from 7% to 27% on electricity and up to 16% on my gas.
So now I am feeling good. I am once again in I can do this mode. As of next week we will start putting money away into an emergency fund (wish I started that a while ago, would have paid for the new transmission in my car). We have never had one before and thinking about it now I don’t know why. I have goals in place to pay off our debts. I have started putting money away in savings, this I have put into the mortgage account because then our savings are saving us money on interest. Only $10 a week at the moment until the emergency fund is up and running and our debts are down, but it’s something.
Any way the actual point of this email was just to say thank you. I am now feeling good, I have a plan, not just a spreadsheet, and it is thanks to you. Now if could manage to grow some veg and fruit without something eating it all I will be a happy little Cheapskater.
Thanks
Karen
We know you have a story to share and we’d love to hear all about your success. Remember, you don’t have to be debt-free to be a success. How has the Cheapskates Club changed your life? What tips, tricks and suggestions would you like to share? What have you overcome on your journey?
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Every email will be read and if your story fits our needs, whether as a Saving Story in The Cheapskates Journal or in our weekly newsletter, we’ll contact you.
For your story to be considered, you must include your first and last name and the state in which you live. Please limit your story to 800 - 1,000 words. You may compose your story in Word and send as an attachment with your email, or compose your story in the body of your email to send your Saving Story directly to us.