These two months really got away from me. It seems I’ve been busier than ever just when I thought life would slow down just a little bit. Here’s how we finished up summer, started autumn and spent our final two months of paying off debt. Our goal the whole time was to live within our means without feeling deprived.
We went on our annual apple picking trip to the farm. We picked 4 oversized bushels of apples at 19.95 per bushel and also bought two boxes of canning tomatoes at the farm as well. What do we do with so many apples? We dehydrate apple snacks. We can apple slices, apple sauce, apple butter, apple juice for baking with pork. I stuff my fridge with apples as well for lunches and snacks. Also with fresh apples I make apple pancakes, apple fritters, apple pumpkin muffins, pie and crisp. And let’s not forget caramel dipped apples with chocolate piping and cinnamon. The tomatoes were made into jars of quarters and salsa.
There was JUST ONE lonely jar left unfilled this year at the end of my canning sessions.
Our apple picking day was an “event” with a hike, family picnic and homemade doughnuts at a state park.
I made yogurt, bread, pizza, rolls, biscuits.
Some stock up purchases I made were canning lids at buy two get one free. Green box pasta was .89. Frozen vegetables were on sale $1 per pound. Our favorite hot dogs went on sale at .88 per pound which is nearly a $3 per pound savings!
I got a box of crackers for free using a coupon. I also got several packages of dental floss for free using coupons.
My daughter was given a formal gown a couple of years ago and finally wore it to Homecoming this year.
My husband and I went on a lunch date and spent under $5 on our meal for both of us using several coupons.
Rick did some much needed electrical work himself when some of the old kitchen and basement wiring went out. He also took care of a plumbing issue that was causing a backup in the laundry and kitchen.
I cut costs on some Halloween crafts by reusing washed out tin cans and cardboard paper towel rolls. The cute cupcake wrappers used were only .60 per package on clearance and cheesecloth was under $2 per package on clearance as well.
Our dishwasher finally completely died. So we went back to hand washing our dishes for now. It is much easier to keep up with now that the kids are older and can wash their own breakfast and lunch dishes. Each week one of my children is assigned to the task of kitchen cleanup which during the school year means they are in there working with us after dinner. This has actually been a nice time for me to visit and talk with my child helper one on one. It makes the work go by faster and lets us have some time for discussion that is a little different than when we are all at the table eating.
We had a “free date” at home with a coupon for a free Redbox movie rental.
We decorated for Halloween and put together costumes with whatever we already had in the house. We spent nothing on Halloween this year. The cats inspired some of our costumes and décor.
On the first Sunday in October we had a pre-Thanksgiving feast roasting a turkey we had purchased on sale with a coupon late last year. This is the cheapest meat per pound we get and it was so good. I made a pumpkin pie with frozen pumpkin I still had in the freezer from our pumpkins last fall also. The leftover turkey feast was put into Thanksgiving Pies. The dark meat was cut into bite sized pieces and made into pot pies. The bone went into the freezer for turkey broth I will make and use for soup.
Little spooky pumpkins were made into our favorite muffins.
Finally we paid off our second to last credit card with only one left to pay off and one month left before that one reaches a 0 balance. FINALLY! It has been a rough final month with lots and lots of things breaking down and 3 children so absolutely in desperate need of new shoes that we HAD to go out and buy some but we are determined to reach our goal of being “debt free” by November.
As mentioned, we had three children whose feet were exploding out of their shoes for one reason or another and no gently used replacements in the shoe bins we keep in the basement. We were able to use funds left over from our low utility bill to pay for these. They became priority A and no longer were considered an “extra”. The low utility bill was the result of no central air or heat running either month and one final month using our clothesline instead of the dryer. The weather was very helpful to us. A fourth pair of shoes needed for church was found in our basement shoe bin. They were very gently used by one of our older children and fit perfectly. Church shoes are nice like that.
Paying off our debt and learning to live within our means has been an absolutely amazing journey. It has required so much discipline that I’m almost
afraid to be debt free! I know that doesn’t make much sense but when I think about adding in some line items to the budget that have been neglected but need to be there, adding in a little breathing room AND starting on our next goal I know we will have to find a new balance and that the next part of our journey will require just as much control. I guess it’s just a trick to find that new balance.
When I think of how much money we were in debt just 19 months ago and how we had worked out a plan to pay it off in 32 months I am reminded of how much of a miracle it really is to be paying it completely in just 19 months. There are 7 of us living on one income and a teacher’s salary at that. Our debt was total to half a year of gross income so the belt tightened and we felt it. At the beginning of our journey I looked at a plaque multiple times per day that I have hanging in my kitchen. I made it myself from some scrap wood and painted it with the message of “JOYFULLY… living within our means”. I looked at that plaque every time I felt like crying or giving up or when I was feeling sorry for myself. “Joyfully” nearly screamed at me each time I looked at it’s capital letters and it jumped off the message at me. I realized recently that I hardly even notice it anymore. I have changed. I have learned. I have grown up. We all have.
So how in the world did we end up owing so much money? It was a combination of bad luck and bad management. We don’t live in a big fancy house; it looks more like a vacation cottage but is smaller than even most of those. We didn’t take any extravagant vacations. Most of the trips we’ve ever taken have been to stay with family and involve picnics at the rest stops on the way. My kids have never had cell phones and we don’t have closets full of shoes and designer clothes. We even drive practical cars. Our debt began early with student loans to repay which affected our budget from the start. We had car loans. We did not have an emergency fund. And when we bought a house we did not have enough of a reserve to cover paying to replace a leaky roof, gutters, and pest control which included an invasion of termites attracted to the damp basement and bed bugs brought home from school via a child’s backpack. The old windows got replaced when the panes started falling out one side of the house at a time but sooner than we were really prepared for. Those “emergencies” then had a snowball effect on paying for Christmas gifts for our children or even simply keeping them clothed in the proper sizes. And because there was no budget that we stuck to let alone a 0 based budget, when we felt we “needed” a break like a meal out or a date night at the movies we just did it… to keep our sanity. There were no real limits and no real goals until we wrote them down.
How in the world are we paying this off in 19 months? Hard work! Extra hours with extra jobs and extra pay, doing without, maintaining discipline to reach goals that we continually meet about to discuss, finding cheaper alternatives and becoming smarter about finances. One thing we did that helped was we gave ourselves an allowance. It wasn’t much but it was something. I could do something or get something that I wanted like a soda at the drive through. Rick could go out to lunch with the guys at work. It was there… but it was limited. We could do things but we had to make choices. We got smarter about insurance policies. When we moved a forecasted payoff date we were happy to have a new goal but felt challenged to find ways to pay it off a month earlier by tweaking and making minor changes. Those “tweaks” added up to paying off debt 13 months earlier and saving thousands. We couldn’t be happier now that we are in our final month. More on that note next time.
