Where’s your families economic insurance policy?

As I have been reading The Two-Income Trap by Elizabeth Warren & Amelia Warren Tyagi, one point they have made has really struck me. We no longer have an economic insurance policy in a two income world. Everything costs more from housing to food in a world where families have two wage earners. Added to that the fact that many families no longer have a stay at home parent to care for sick family members many families lose jobs and the added income involved when a parent or child becomes ill. So what is your families economic insurance policy against losing everything if you have worked so hard to obtain.

Why Food Storage is an Important Part of Preparation for Hard Times

When most people consider planning for future hard times, they usually consider only, or primarily, financial planning. Another area, which one should consider, is food storage. When recently hit with a partial layoff added to my being unemployed without benefits, we resorted to our food storage to keep food on the table. We buy enough to eat for 6 weeks every 4 weeks so when money became tight we used our food storage to feed our family of 9. This also left money that would normally be used on food to continue buying diapers for the toddlers who are potty training and to keep gas in our vehicles for job searching and medical appointments.

MIA no more And Surviving on Food Stamps

I am often amazed by how dumb an otherwise intelligent person can be sometimes. Now of course I am the victim. I got new cell service with Sprint because my ex ran up our joint Verizon cell bill with over $600 in overages (count one trying to be nice to an ex just because we have kids). I then called to shut off my Verizon account. Upon finding out my ex ran up the charges, would not give the phone back and was in earnest stalking me Verizon took all the overages off and shut the one phone off. They even let me changes the numbers for free and activate a friends old Verizon phone on the line I now had to pay for without a phone all free. (count two assuming the phone company wouldn't care or help when in actuality they did both). So now here I am feeling absolutely stupid because I am now the dumb intelligent person.

Life has been very busy this last month and i apologize for my absence from the blogisphere but am sure with my impending move and the stalking I have to endure until I am moved that Y'all will understand.

This past week I have been reading online where seemingly well meaning folks are trying to live on a food stamp budget and finding it impossible. I do live on food stamps and we eat a well balanced diet and even have enough FS left over to buy some soda and junk food every month. I don't understand how these well educated people are finding it so hard to eat on a FS budget. I am going to make some assumptions here (always a bad place to start but I've got no where else on this one) and say:

1- They are trying to eat too well (organics are largely out unless one grows them themselves, and some ethnic foods are out as necessary ingredients can be too costly)

2- They are assuming that those who are impoverished do not know how to buy their food stuffs more cheaply than the standard going rate.

3- They assume that most people on food stamps live in urban areas. (5 years ago the rate for those receiving FS and Cash assistance was closer to 80% rural. I don't know more current stats and am not feeling up to looking it up.)

4- They assume that FS are the only resources these families have to feed themselves forgetting that there is free food for breakfast and lunch at school for the children and food banks to help stock the shelves.

Those being my assumptions I can see why they are having such a hard time making their food budget stretch.

Saving Your Way out of Debt

There are some easy ways to save your way out of debt.

1- lower your cable package or cell phone plan to what you use most. If you watch less than half of your viewing on the channels in a higher package cut it and apply the savings to your debts. This has a double impact as you are no longer paying sales tax on that amount either. If you have both a cell phone and a house phone consider canceling your home phone. This can save you upwards of $240 a year if your phone bill is $20 a month or more. Also regularly check your cell records as you may be paying for way more day minutes than you use. Save calls to family for weekends when they are free and use your phone for 'business only' during weekday day hours.

2- Try living without cable for the summer. Summer is primarily reruns and there are more opportunities for free fun that doesn't include the cost of watching programs you've already seen. This is a savings of $150 a year if your bill is $50 a month.

3- Limit the number of times you eat out a month. We currently eat out 2 times a month on average. Once on grocery shopping day when we've been out in the car all day buying an entire months food. The other times are usually special occasions or when I am sick (like today when we will be having KFC delivered in about 30 - 45 minutes since I don't feel up to cooking with this year's sinus cold). Cutting out 2 meals out a month at $20 a pop adds up to $480 a year.

Just these first 3 tips can save you $870 or more a year plus the savings in sales tax you will experience.

Something To Start Back Up With

My New years resolution basically is to pay off all my old utility debts and a cell phone debt. If I don't spend more than $20 on extras I should be moved to my new place and have these debts paid off by the end of July. This will leave me with only my student loans to pay off. I have a forbearance on those through Mid October so I will be able to afford to pay off the debts and still have 5 months of forbearance to use should an emergency arise that I am not prepared for.

I found an interesting take on debt earlier and wanted to share a link for y'all to read it in the original. http://zenhabits.net/2007/07/the-12-step-get-out-of-debt-program/.

I'll be back mid January

I'm taking a break as I haven't been feeling well and it's the holidays. I will come back in mid Jan. HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

As You May Have Noticed

Now that my weight loss has started I have added a ticker to the page to help y'all keep up with my progress. So far I have just cut back the amount of soda I'm drinking and reduced the carbs and upped the protein. I also weaned my son which was wearing me out. I hope to get an eliptical trainer in Jan. as my late Christmas gift (we hold ours off and just do kids on the holiday) to help loose more weight faster.

Save Now or Save Later

I bought LED Christmas lights this year (just 2 strands for now). They did cost twice as much as incandescent lights however in less than 3 years (given my lights are on 18 hours a day or more). I feel long term savings are more important than short term most of the time. I will cut corners when I can not afford to be long term frugal however I prefer to think and act in terms of long term frugality.

My current project is food related. I'd love to say it involves my own home grown food or even organic however it does not. I am currently stocking canned foods to help cope with the drastically rising food prices. There are canned goods under my steps and stacked in my dining room (1 flat of each type, the oldest, and what we are currently eating from). We have stocked enough food thus far that this months 8 flats are going to be given away help stock the Christmas baskets for those more needy than me with my $479 in income and $474 in Food Stamps.

What have you all done to stock food? In what ways are you giving to your neighbors in need this year?

Saving on Children's christmas gifts.

It's hard to come up with a die hard strategy right now since prices are lower than ever in many areas and higher in others. Things I've noticed this year are toys like dolls and cars are regularly priced but electronics are getting downright affordable again. I bought a digital camera for my 11 year old daughter brand new at a resale shop for less than half it's store price. For my 7 year old daughter got some Crayola craft kits for less than $15 and the new Twister hopscotch as well as 2 shirts and jeans because she really needs it. My son got some "Cars" cars and a few Hot Wheels too. I spent less than $30 on him. All told I spent less than $150 and got some really fantastic gifts. I really don't understand people who spend thousands of dollars on gifts and spend half a year paying their gifts off. I should note here the 11 year old will be using her camera to do an elective course in photography for our homeschool.

Other ways of saving on gifts:

Buy one larger gift per child (one gift costing $20 or more is frequently cheaper than 30 smaller gifts. think quality not quantity)

Ask for help (if money is really tight apply for help with gifts with toy for tots or the salvation army. PLEASE ONLY USE THIS OPTION IF YOU CAN NOT BUY A SINGLE GIFT YOURSELF!! There are so many people in real need so please I beg you not to be one of those people who abuses the system)

Make your gifts.

Give extended family members gifts from goodwill, items lying around your home unused or baking them their gifts.

Clean floors for less $$$

I have noticed lately that many of my neighbors feel that they must use specialty floor cleaners to have a clean floor. In reality it is much easier and cheaper to clean you floor.

I clean my floors using a few drops of dish soap and hot water. I mop regularly and scrub with a scrub brush on my hands and knees once a month. My floors are scrubbed with Dawn dish detergent for less than a dollar a year. There really is no need for Pinesol or Lysol and the cost of over $3 a cleaning. If you clean as often as I do that could cost you $300 or more a year.