Update - When the unexpected happens

Our great plan to stay afloat is slowly crumbling as I write this. My husband had horrible jaw pain last week and went to the emergency room ($50 copay). Then we found out it was his teeth, not anything medical. He went to a dentist this week and found out he needed an emergency root canal. This has set us back $660....and that is with insurance! He had 3 teeth done so it was $200 a tooth plus xrays. I'm not complaining (too much) though....if we didn't have the insurance it would have been so much worse!

So....this $660 had to come out of the car payment budget, which means I will have to Ebay like crazy to make up the money.

We did cut our phone bill this week by $40 by getting rid of all those extra services like caller ID, high speed internet, etc. I am not noticing too much of a difference on the net. Maybe my computer is just slow!! Cutting this from the budget will help us get back on our feet in the long run.

December Update

Happy December!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I spent the weekend cleaning out storage to save us $100 a month. I needed to work off all of the ham and turkey I ate on Thursday! We had a good reason for storage. Our house is only 2 bedrooms and less than 1000 sq feet with no garage. We just couldn't see where we were going to put all of our stuff. I finally made the decision last week to use our screened porch for some of it. The rest I threw away in the storage dumpster. It was hard to do, but we really need that extra $100 every month to pay bills.

I have also made the decision to make all of my Christmas gifts this year. I just can't afford to buy all my relatives and friends gifts. I do however have plenty of fabric, scrapbook supplies, and jewelry making supplies to make plenty of gifts!

I will update when I can!

New Budget Update

The last time I posted was in September. I have been so busy keeping up with every little dime we spend, and selling things on Ebay, that I have not had time to post. We made it through September and October OK. I am trying to stay current on all the bills. Some have been a little late, but they have all been paid. This month will be a little harder. I'm going to have to step up Ebaying to make it through this month. We are also looking towards Christmas. It will be small, but then again, it's not about the gifts we get!

Although the thought was there, we have not accepted any government help. People keep pushing us to do it, but I just don't think that's the way my family should go.

I will post more when I can. I'm going to make a real effort to post on a weekly basis while I try to keep this family financially afloat.

Medications

Last night I went to the pharmacy and spent $115 on one medication for my husband. I have to go back today and pick up another one that costs $119. His insurance doesn't kick in until October, so we are going to have to rearrange some things in the budget this month to accommodate this.

A New Month ~ A New Budget

Some of you know that my husband lost his job in April. He found a temporary job, but that only lasted through the first week of June. The last 3 months have been hard. We have been living on our 401K retirement fund. NOT something I recommend doing, but we had no choice.

My husband recently found a part time job, and took it since jobs are scarce out here. It pays 1/2 of what he would normally bring home which makes me kind of nervous. My husband is a school teacher, and they don't get paid much to begin with. Now, to only have half, made me really buckle down and delete things from the budget.

Or budget was set pretty low to begin with (compared to others I have seen), so I was confused as to how I was going to get it any lower. Then I decided to cut the extras....cell phone, long distance, past medical bills, fast food, etc. We just can't afford this stuff. I cut $500 off the budget in the matter of 15 minutes.

Now we just need to stick to it!

Stick with me as I ducument how we live on $15,000 a year! It should be very interesting, and a very big challenge!