Middle-Class Struggle: What Can You Do Without?

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Mr. Struggle and I are living on approximately  50% less income since he lost his full-time job.  Although we have always lived pretty frugally, we are sorting through our priorities and finding that we are able to live without some of the things we previously viewed as necessities, or at least make do with much less.   I thought I’d make a list of the things we no longer buy, and try to tally up the savings from each.   Feel free to add your suggestions in the comment section below.

1)       Cutting off daily newspaper  ($14 per month)

2)       Cutting off Netflix DVD delivery ($7.99 per month)

3)       Switched to store-brand laundry detergent ($3 per month)

4)       Switched to cheaper bath soap ($2 per month)

5)       Fewer haircuts ($15 per month)

6)       Skipped the annual replacement of socks, underwear and T-shirts during back-to-school shopping (saving $24)

7)       No more bottled water ($4.00 per month---I didn’t buy much of it before)

8)       Cheaper dogfood ($7.00 per month)

9)       Buying fewer groceries ($50 per month, appx.)

Job Hunting

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

 

Well, the job interview didn’t happen.  Due to technical difficulties, it has been rescheduled for later this week.  It was supposed to have been a telephone interview, but the recruiter never called.  Finally, Mr. Struggle called her, only to hear that she had tried and gotten a busy signal.  Not sure what’s up with that; there was no one here to be talking on the phone. (We’re wondering if there were some glitches in the phone lines due to recent storms in the area.)  At any rate, she didn’t have time to conduct the interview when they did speak, so she is supposed to call back later this week.  Doesn’t sound very promising, does it?  We have moved on to other companies and have been working on several other job applications. 

 

Mr. Struggle’s job hunting affects my job search, too.  Now that he’s decided to interview for out-of-town positions, I am trying to figure out whether I should suspend or continue my job search.  I would feel dishonest accepting a permanent position knowing that we might be moving soon, should Mr. Struggle receive a good offer.  Yet I can’t look for jobs in other towns, not knowing where we might end up.  I’ve decided I either need to look for temporary positions here in town, or full-time positions with excellent benefits to make up for the sorry benefit package provided by Mr. Struggle’s job, and then just plan to stay here.

We’ve both agreed the job search is going on the back burner for the rest of this month.  We’ve just got way too much going on to add any more stress to the mix.  Things will slow down in a few weeks and we’ll pick it up again. 

Here’s the breakdown for the past week:

Carryover balance:  $363.08

Expenses:          $ 58.53 groceries

                              19.28 household supplies & OTC medication

                              50.35 lawn and garden supplies

                              41.44 shoes and clothing

                              30.50 used books

                                5.39 fast food

Current balance: $327.12

I never transferred any money into savings last week, because I realized we were going to need quite a bit extra for gifts and groceries this week, what with Mother’s Day, Miss Struggle2’s graduation, and buying extra groceries since the kids will be home from school.   

The garden supplies were vegetable plants, fertilizer and weed killer for the lawn.  We only bought weed killer for the front lawn, but may go back for more later.  We also will need to purchase some annuals for the border that runs along our front sidewalk.  I don’t have the time or the money to mess with it this week, but will try to get to it with the next paycheck.  Gardening  can be an expensive hobby and we do have a rather large yard to manage.  We could let all this go, but if Mr. Struggle found a job and we needed to sell the house, the yard would need to look appealing.

One of our other purchases, the used books, serves two purposes.  Mr. Struggle and I both read daily and like to collect the books of favorite authors.  We also give books on gift occasions frequently, especially to our children.  The books we bought this week were from a large used-book sale that takes place annually in our community.  Besides providing some great deals on books, it also gives us a chance to support a charitable cause through our purchases.

What hobbies do you spend your money on, and have you found a way to economize while still enjoying it?

More Car Repairs

 Monday, April 18, 2011

Once again, I let the surplus cash sit too long in our checking account and sure enough, Murphy came to call.  Friday evening, Mr. Struggle called me from work, where he was stuck with a dead car battery.  After getting the car running, we bought a battery and he replaced it himself on his lunch break Saturday. Luckily, Mr. Struggle is handy with this sort of thing. The battery cost us just over $100, after coupon.

Sunday, I drove out-of-town to attend an event at our son’s university.  While there, we packed up all of the winter things and nearly everything else in his dorm room.  Hopefully, he will be able to bring everything else home on the bus after his exams are over, and I won’t need to drive back.  I also did some shopping at the outlet mall while I was there and bought a few gift items for Easter baskets, mostly spring clothing.  I discovered several of the outlet stores give an additional 10% discount with a AAA card, and one store gave me an additional 20% discount just for asking! 

My main purpose in going to the outlet mall was to check out a certain store I had not been in before, because we have a new branch opening here in town and I have applied for a supervisory position there.  I wanted to be more familiar with the company in case they call for an interview. I bought two small items at this store that I didn’t really need, but can give them as a present to a relative.  We’ll call that “research.”

Here are our expenses for the weekend:

Starting balance: 1246.86

                                56.93 gasoline

                              100.20 car battery

                                12.93 research for job interview

                                  9.69 household

                              122.00 family clothing, including Easter gifts

                                14.98 dorm supplies

                                44.88 groceries

                                13.42 plants for garden  

This left a balance of $871.83.  I moved $800 of this to savings to make sure it didn’t trickle away any further.  This will be our spending money for next month’s trip, to see our daughter graduate and do some sight-seeing near her home.

We have a balance of $71.83 to last until Friday.  Not bad, comparatively.

Bill Creep & Bargain Shopping

February 2, 2011

PAYDAY!

I don’t know why I put that in all caps like I’m excited or something; this check was gone before it got here. It’s always that way at the first of the month lately.  Have you noticed “bill creep” affecting your monthly budget?  Because the payment cycles are often less than 30 days, the due dates come earlier and earlier in the month, until suddenly most of them are due in the first half of the month.  I try to counteract this by paying one or two early, from the month’s second paycheck, but it’s not always possible when the bill hasn’t arrived.  Feast or famine, I guess.

Income:         $ 1883.12  (biweekly)

Expenditures:$ 1087.25 mortgage

                               85.55 water bill

                             233.00 power bill    

                             100.00 Visa

                               68.16 house phone

                             174.00 car payment

                               50.00 Gecaf (oven)

                               53.28 life insurance (me)

We also spent $28.65 at a bakery thrift store stocking the freezer with bread and rolls, and $25.85 for three deeply-discounted pairs of jeans (Rugged Wearhouse) for Mr. S and Struggle, Jr. to wear to work.  These expenses would have put us into negative territory, except I had scheduled several of  the bills to be paid two days later, after the part-time paycheck hit the bank.

Where do you find your best bargains?