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Here's where the rubber meets the road!

45K views 378 replies 70 participants last post by  joyofsix 
#1 ·
The stockpile is in place, the EF is doing better than it ever has. The snowball has been rolled forward.. and the layoff slip came in today.

So now it's time to see how all of this works out.

Wierd attitude probably, but silver linings and all that.

In theory he'll be off work until August 15th and then will go back to work full time.

So essentially we're going to lose approximately $1800 over 6 weeks in income.

I'm starting this thread because I intend to keep track of the parts of the frugality plan that work, the parts that need work, and the parts that I never even thought of.
 
#185 ·
Ok, I'm still awake unfortunately...What is the January crisis moment? I'm sitting here pondering this and the only thing I can think of is this is when work should call hubby back. Is this the crisis...I'm hoping there isn't another one. Is it a "will they call"?

Don't feel bad about the $100 for groceries. Keep the stockpile up and if worse comes to worse it will carry thru longer and if have to be you won't have to buy food for awhile.
I was feeling bad about still building mine but not anymore. I started off shooting for a 3 month stock but I'm shooting for 6. If we don't get to keep the business we eat for 6 months with little expense. I think I'm up to 4months plus a little. Making a list tomorrow of still needed/wanted. I think you sound like a list maker too. I work better with a list whether it be chores or whatever, do it with a list. But not giving up working toward 6 months. So don't feel bad.

Ok, NOW I'm going to bed..can't even think any more
YOU keep the music playing and just keep dancing
 
#186 ·
Thevail, I just spent half an hour reading this entire thread. I apologize that I didn't catch it sooner. I am truly impressed by your preparation and by your continued ability to make ends meet, even though you are now three months beyond where you thought you would be.

I am sending good vibes your way, and to you, as well, Nikosan999. I am very fortunate in my life, and all my financial woes are petty and ridiculous when compared to yours. You have both made me re-think my spending habits and made me a little bit ashamed of how much I waste. Thank you for the wonderfully detailed record of your financial journey. It has probably been an eye-opener for more people than you know (myself included) and is probably also cathartic for you to be able to vent.

I hope you know how many friends you have on FV, and with all that positive energy coming your way, things are bound to pick up soon!
 
#187 ·
Thanks gals!

FV is a good place to clear my head and let the hamster off the little wheel in my head he usually runs in! I can also see more clearly where I need to improve my plan, or spot the weakness in a course of action if it's all here in black and white to read over again.

Sometimes the hamster wheel makes way too much freakin' noise for me to think clearly!

Also, I figured, why not be a real life test-case here on FV. I figure hubby and I and one kid, making a livable wage, with a reasonable mortgage, and with no CC debt should theoretically be a sort of "best case scenario" for the unemployment thing.

A sort of "control case" from which people could adjust up or down or heck even sideways to see where they might need to think of something else to suit their particular situation. Or where maybe they'll see a pitfall we fell into and they'll be able to avoid it.

Of course, I never planned for it to go on this long but hey, maybe it's better this way. It isn't the casual stroll through the frugality park that I thought it would be. But then, casual problems aren't the ones that make us try our hardest, or test us to the outside limits.

So this may turn out to be an even better "case study" in the long run, because you can really see the progression from cock-sure and confident, to concerned and serious, to desperate and looking at the bright side, to.. who knows where we'll go from here.

That's one of the reasons that I've kind of chronicled my thought process and emotional progression as we've gone along, because I think your emotional state really impacts your ability to make clear decisions and to cope with the little things life throws at you.

I mean, a broken window or gutter is such a non-event, you know.. but when you're already worried about money and can't hire a pro, and you've never done that kind of home repair before.. it can just plain freak you out! It sure did for me.
 
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#188 ·
Cont..

Anyway, not to get all weird and sound too martyred or anything, I just really hope that doing this will help me to plan better for the next crisis. And I hope it helps anyone else who reads it or is going to have to face this.

It kinda feels like those strange diaries that you read from the Victorian Era, where the intrepid botanist is traveling through the jungle and then meets the head hunters or something.
 
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#189 ·
About January..

See at $2400 a month we can just about swing our bills, mortgage etc.

But in December, no matter how we slice it, we'll only get 3 unemployment checks, not 4 because of the "waiting week" for the new claim.

That's only $1800 in Dec, not $2400..

The mortgage alone is $1550..

and $250 is just not enough to keep the lights, the heat, etc. on. There's no earthly way. I mean, I'm good at stretching a buck.. and you guys have taught me a lot, but even I can't just make dollar bills multiply in the old wallet like that.

The money from November will pay December's bills.. but come January.. I'm out of wiggle room.

And there's no way to "save" money out of our current budget to make up the deficit. *shrug*

So I'm trying like heck to pay a little ahead on all the "gotta have it" bills to get all the bills as low as possible for the month of January so that maybe I'll only have to pay one large bill late, thus only incurring one late fee. Hopefully by February 20th.. when the next set of bills come in we'll have our tax return and catch it all up no problem. (fingers crossed)

Meanwhile here's hoping DH goes back to work before the bullet hits the bone.. but if not.. we're braced for the impact anyway.

Jeez, I'm a chatty Cathy tonight.. nerves I suppose.
 
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#190 ·
Is there any chance of calling the utility companies in advance to possible not have late fees? Dh and I did that years ago when I was on bed rest and he lost his job. Any little bit might help if there are no fees.

I'm praying your dh goes back to work before then. You know how you mentioned those strange diaries from the victorian era..................... Your story is not strange at all so I don't mean that but once you are on the recovery side I think your story would make a terrific book. Very inspiring.
 
#192 · (Edited)
Before I read Nodmicks post that is what I was going to say. Call the utilities before hand. The friends I mentioned in another post has done this several times and it was always allowed. I'm not even sure it was declared late. That would pull you thru to the income tax month.

I also agree with the writing of the book. I mentioned before what talent you have in writing and holding a readers attention. I would buy it ( if I'm not broke at the time). It would be fantastic reading. Least think about it.

Keeping up reading you kind of gives me a perspective on upcoming. This is the main reason I went from wanting a 3 month stockpile and now a 6 month. I know now there's NEVER enough toilet paper!!! There's alot more and I've stored all your "adventures" away in my mind to pull out and use as needed. And I know I will put your invaluable first hand experience to use at some point in near and not so near future.

You starting this thread was one of best things I've found to hit me personally on here and I dare say alot of other people also. Most everyone is scared right now and reading you thru the unemployment journey lets them prepare for what "might" happen. I believe Madhen said this earlier and better.

We all owe you a thanks for pioneering this thread as a learning tool and also for allowing us to join in with our woes as well.

Thank you and know that you are appreciated...and loved.
 
#194 ·
Now, how would I write a book without including everything all of YOU said?! I think there's probably a legal side to that too...

You're half the conversation here too! I've gotten such good ideas from you guys. Thought of things because you asked a question that I would never have thought of on my own. Used your experience of the waters to steer myself around a lot of obstacles that I would otherwise have hit head on.

You've helped me keep my feet on the ground and my heart in the air instead of vice versa, more times than you can know.
 
#196 ·
AngryFowl and Sniko.. why does that sound like a comic book crime stopping duo?!

You gotta admit it's probably better than just switching the letters though.. then you're hadmen...which sounds a little spicy!
 
#197 ·
Thevail and all the others who have added to this thread. I have appreciated your candor and grit for posting. You are helping others. You've made me rethink my strategies too. I'm sorry you're going through this but you've definitely made lemonade with those lemons. Now, as for my name in the book. Could you change the i in six to an e???? :wink: It'll make me sound more interesting.
 
#200 ·
So today I was thinking about all the stuff that went right.. how positive is that.. it's all your fault you know!

Category 1: Pre-planning..

Buying a home where we knew that we could easily make the house payment with unemployment. We talked about that at the time, figuring it would a couple of months, not a third of a year.

But if we hadn't entered into home ownership with that idea, we'd have been sunk long before now. I know our house payment probably sounds crazy high (at $1550) to a lot of you in other parts of the country. But in our little town you can't buy a good sized doghouse that will stand in a high wind for less than $200,000. And we figured a 6% fixed mortgage was pretty good.
We have several friends whose house payments are $2000/mo or better.. and they're not living in McMansions either.

Then we heard all about an EF (emergency fund) from you guys and gals here on FV, we'd never heard of one before that. Honestly, I thought Dave Ramsey was that crazy chef from England.

So we went at that like gang busters. We'd gotten it up to $5000 or so when all of this hit the fan, and boy did it save our hide. In future I think we're going to try and actually get it up to $20,000 mostly in laddered CDs for availability. (Thanks Greebo!)

Stockpiling.. Cricket Legs and Madhen were the guiding lights on this one! And while, the skill of stockpiling is easy (if expensive, at first), fine tuning it next time will make it a lot more useful. But having the ability to just hunker down for 2 "no spend" weeks when you really have to is fabulous.

Owing no debt except the mortgage is still probably the most important thing we have going for us. Less bills just simply means less things that can go wrong.
 
#201 ·
Category 2: Re-assessing everything

When you're unemployed you suddenly have a lot more time than money. That affected our thinking a lot, and we're still really glad it did!

We always shopped at the same 3 or 4 stores because they were "on the way home from work", or "in our neighborhood". But when we had more time than money we found all sorts of other resources that worked much better and helped keep the bills low.

Salvage grocery stores.. yeah they're crowded and have some odd merchandise, but the stuff there is 1/3 the price or less! So it takes a long time to sort through all those spice packets.. at 10/$1 instead of $1.29/each it's worth it.

And we found out that the local restaurant supply place now sells to the public. We'd never really looked there before because years ago you had to have a business license to shop there. We now buy almost all of our staples there. $5 for 20# of spaghetti is pretty hard to beat!

We had the time to time all our shopping to the weekly sales. Get there the first day of the sale.. usually Wednesday.. and get as much as you want of the very best deals, because they haven't sold out of it yet.

We have learned the discipline to go into a Costco.. get exactly what we came for.. and LEAVE. I know it doesn't sound like much, but honestly I think there's something inside Costco that affects your mind.. Does anyone really need 2 GALLONS of mayo???

I started shopping with a couple friends and was able to do even better at Costco and the Restaurant Supply store because we could divvy up a 50# bag of rice and it would actually get used before it went bad. Not to mention that storing a 50# bag of rice is harder than you think.

Then there's the whole, do I need that, want it, or am I just mesmerized by it currently question.
 
#202 ·
After reading the posts on this thread I know it has really made me think and re-evaluate my financial situation. I have been thinking about every single purchase at the grocery store and purchases to be made for Christmas.

I have also thought about how I could avoid past financial mistakes. I really need to get a plan mapped out.

Hope all is well for avail and Niko. I've been thinking about you.
 
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#205 ·
It's my fault.. mostly. I've always done thanksgiving at our house and people over the years have said, "hey, we'd love to come.."

to which I have always replied "the more the merrier!"

Apparently they all enjoyed it.. so they ALL made plans to come back this year... and I guess no one really thought much about it.

I've got a turkey.. potatoes are cheap, and I always make the pumpkin pies.

I'm just going to assign other people to bring stuff. I only have one kitchen, there's just no way I could cook everything for that many without starting 2 days in advance.

Now I've just got to clean my house, count my plates, and um.. figure out where to seat everyone.

It's just gonna be a lot of people all at once. Just what my frazzled nerves need.. or maybe it will be. I certainly won't have any time to count my troubles!
 
#207 ·
Thevail...
Honestly, I don't know if you could get a publisher to buy your story to put into a hardcopy book.
BUT I think it would sell like gangbusters as an e-book at a site like "Living on a Dime" or you might even talk to Trent on "The Simple Dollar". I don't know if "Dollar Stretcher" pays for what it puts on the site, but you might look there...
 
#208 ·
I just found this thread and have read every entry. {{{{hug}}}}
I have learned so much. I need to stockpile, save and start living off of less. I don't have a dime saved or a plan in place. I know you have had a difficult time but you have taught me. Your situation has made me aware and I will start TODAY!! Thank you so much for sharing your situation, your ups, your downs, your inner feelings and lessons. {{{{{hug}}}}}
 
#210 ·
I was thinking about the book thing, and if I did write something.. think I'd have each chapter in a two part format.. like the Practical and the Personal.

Because a lot of this stuff.. the practical parts are helpful to a lot of people. But the personal stuff.. it might be nice to know you're not alone in being frustrated etc. but it wouldn't really apply to everyone.

It might be nice to be able to read the whole book.. but then keep it around, or pass it on for the practical info..

Or I might just do an article out of it for here on FV. I think this is just the kind of site where people who need this kind of info end up, anyway.
 
#211 ·
Early Monday Morning Nov. 23

Update.. I have roped the other wives into helping!

Friend #1 is bringing a folding table, making the bread rolls, and bringing plastic plates for the little ones.

Friend #2 is bringing green bean casserole, a special spanish sausage dish, and soda

Friend #3 is making the stuffing (I won't cook stuffing inside the bird for kids..) I always find that good stuffing is the most expensive part of thanksgiving.. it's got so many crazy ingredients.

Friend #4 is making potato salad and bringing chips and dips.

Bless their little hearts.. EVERY ONE OF THEM called to say that they had "gotten an extra turkey free" and just didn't know what they were going to do with it...

They are soo sweet! I felt bad telling them I have 2 already..

I mean, it was a good plan.. if it hadn't been ALL of them. Of course they didn't talk to each other... none of them wanted me to feel embarrassed.

I came up with an entirely new frugality tip today!
If you want as many coupons as you can load in both arms.. for free from the Sunday Paper.. go to the airport.

We picked friends up at the airport today.. I must have seen 50 coupon inserts wedged between chairs, on window sills, on seats, in racks.

I mean, if you're leaving town... why would you take the local paper?
 
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