How are you doing compared to a year ago?

[Contrary Housewife]

It's been nearly a year since the major bank failures and stock market crash (and panic) of last year.

How do you feel your family is doing these days? Are you up, are you down? Are you still worried? Are you more or less prepared for a financial emergency than you were last summer? Did you make any changes to your budgeting and planning this year?

We had a rough time over the winter (DH got laid off due to bank panic) but we survived and are in a slightly better place this year.

[MommyBliss]

We have paid off more debt and we are spending less money, but I really need to work on our stockpile and on changing the kids attitudes to toys and stuff. We are thinking of adopting a family for Christmas or something along those lines. I want my children to learn ways to have less cases of the gimmies.

[frugalwarrior]

We are really getting barraged w/ expenses now. Some planned/some unplanned. I expect it to last through the year. But I have a plan and am not panicking. My DH has work thru the end of the year at this rate. The years w/ older teens are always expensive. I think we'll be ok.

[AmyBoz]

We're actually in a much better place this for this coming year than we were last year. We both got promotions this year, and our middle child is headed to kindergarten in September, which will save us a daycare payment. We'll have paid off dh's car by October, and adding that to the daycare payment will be $1400 extra a month we'll have.


Things are looking up for us, yet I feel for those who are still struggling.

[frugalfranny]

Hanging in there.....still not sure we are 'out of the woods' yet so I will continue to be conservative.

In most areas, due to increases, I am spending more and receiving less. IE: groc. prices are higher, all utilities have gone up, etc.

[MaryCarney]

Well, let's see. I am making less than half of what I made last year- I thought it was just a hiccup in the road, but it's looking more and more like a long-term thing.

We paid off our mortgage in February - a definite plus (although, our payment was under $400 per month)

We've burned through about half of our 6 month emergency fund, but still have 3 months left - some was spending for a couple of trips which were not necessary, but we had planned to take no matter what (my college graduation)

We haven't contributed anything to our Roths this year, and we usually max them out @ $6,000 each per year. (DH is still funding his 401k @ work, however)

I need to buckle down and get uber-frugal for the rest of the year. I need to preserve the rest of the emergency fund, and get some $$ put into our Roths.

[jvera]

Husband still out of a job. But we sold furniture and other misc items to get some cash. And we moved from a house to an apartment which saved us over $400 a month.

[pollypurebred39]

Well a year ago

~ my husband had been laid off for 9 months
~ our stockpile was hit really hard
~ our EF was wiped out
~ we were holding on by the skin of our teeth
~ our attitude was, "God will see us through"

Today

~ My husbands been laid off for 21 months
~ Our stockpile can not be considered a stockpile, it's our pantry
~ EF zero dollars
~ our car's paid off
~ 1 credit card paid off
~ we've no new debt
~ I've developed new skills like couponing, I learned how to patch holes in walls and did it all by myself, I learned how to crochet slippers, I learned how to make a decent meal from just little bits of nothing, I learned how to freeze tomatoes and peppers, I'm learning how to decorate on a shoestring, I'm learning new beauty budget skills, I learned how to make a skirt from a housedress, I learned how to keep my electric bill down, how to insulate my windows with blankets to help keep my family warm in the Winter, and so much more...
~we are still holding on by the skin of our teeth
~ Our attitude was and still is, "God will see us through" But it's with a far deeper trust in Him then ever before. There is no Earthly reason that we should not have lost everything, God has sustained us. This is our firm belief.

Up or down ? - up!
Worried or not worried ? - not!
More or less prepared for a $ emergency ? - More, I've got skills now!
Any changes to budgeting or planning ? - Yes, I've taken to using an envelope system of budgeting my part of the finances, which include food, household, medicine, pet food and care, gifts, birthdays, holidays. I have one small lump sum each week and I have to budget all of these things into an envelope system. Once an envelope is empty that's it, there's no more. I must think far in advance of birthdays, Christmas, unexpected expenses and plan accordingly. It's not easy, but I'm getting better and better at it.

[NewLeaf]

We are doing better now than this time last year. I found FV in January and things have changed dramatically since then. We have paid off three major bills and my car!!!! I now make my own laundry det. I have a grocery/household budget (I too use an envelope). I have learned how to shop the really good sales and to stock up on them. I now have a food stockpile of 3 months. I have some HBA products stocked up. We are snowballing our debt and seeing results. We took a 4 day vacation to Atlanta using cash only!!!We planted a bigger garden than ever, even planting veggies in place of flowers...
I attribute all of this to all of the wonderful people here on FV and your support, encouragement and ideas.
Things are not perfect, we don't have an EF and I haven't figured out how I am going to handle Christmas. But this is the best shape we have been in in a long time.

[warramra]

Every month is has become more and more of a struggle to break even. We have cut out all the the "extras" (cable, eating out, paid activities not paid for by grandparents) or reduced services down the the basics (minimum Vonage service for home phone). Our EF is gone due to having to pay for extraordinary dental work, as a couple of my old crowns (from a former dentist) fell off and the teeth under were almost all decayed. And, DH's car broke down (timing belt) in the Spring and we had to have it repaired. We are struggling trying to rebuild that, even eating out of our stockpile & garden all summer. I will need to grocery shop in August.

DH is still concerned about his work, especially as they head into the Fall (their slowest season). A couple weeks ago his company cut all 2nd & 3rd shift manufacturing and reduced the 1st shift to only three days a week. There is a rumor that August or September will see more salaried position layoffs. We will probably have a better idea once they release the quarterly report on Tuesday.

I'm concerned about this fall when our mortgage is due for its annual re-set. Our property taxes and insurance both increased this year (thanks to an astronomical valuation that was made in early 2008 at the height of the housing bubble). If we are barely treading water now I'm scared that this might put us under. That pisses me off since we bought this house in 1998, and purposely stayed in it with all of our children so that we could live within our means.

The kids are having a hard time adjusting and I admit I am getting pretty cranky with the "I wants" lately. But, at the same time, we spend more time doing things as a family. More bike rides, teaching the older ones new card games, etc. DH who never struggled with money his whole life is struggling too, and a little depressed by the whole thing. Although I'm worried, I'm in my element and glad that I'm finally getting some support for my frugal ways.

[FrugalMomof3]

I would say we are kinda doing worse this year.

- NO EF
- NO Stockpile
- CC Debt

However, DH is still working and making the same money (Sept. he's supposed to get a raise) but I am no longer taking care of my grandmother M-F so we're down $400 a month but that's ok, we've got a roof over our head, the bills are all paid on time and we have food.

One thing though, is DD is starting public school (9th grade - she was homeschooled last year) and we wont qualify for free or reduced lunch which means she will pack lunch everyday or every other day and that's an extra $2 each day.

Otherwise, I guess what matters is we are happy and doing fine. We might not have much money but we've got the things we need the most.

[madhen]

I am about the same, still working on getting rid of old debt that I accrued a few years ago. Watching people around me lose their jobs did remind me to be a little more grateful for mine, and it also made me a little more conscientious about my spending. I feel guilty spending money on luxuies while my vet is telling me how she lost her house to foreclosure and will be moving her practice (which was on her property).

I guess I'm a little better, because I am a little more aware and a little more educated. I am also a little less willing to let the banks and credit card companies use me as their private ATM machine, so I am more careful with my money and trying even harder to get all my non-mortgage debt paid off. It won't be this year, but I'm making a dent.

[sue s]

I'd have to say worse this year. Had to take a 35% pay cut (though thankful not to be laid off). Broken ankle that happened in January wiped out my small EF. Most bills are caught up and did get one small loan paid off, but still got very little extra cash from month to month. I may be selling off most of the animals (sheep, goats, horses) this fall just to keep the feed bill down. I've held off to keep my farm status and provide for our table, but feed costs have not come down even though gas prices are better this year. Not looking pretty at this point. It really makes me mad when I hear all this "recovery right around the corner" crapola on the tv. Next thing you know they will start singing " The sun will come out tomorrow...." . It's a real shame when you can't trust your own government and news media, but that's where I am right now.

[happy4ofus]

This time last year i was working part-time and without my job we lost about 1000 each month. Surprisingly we are doing better money wise even without my job. I started to budget to the penny where our money is going. We don't drive too often since we have nowhere to go here, so shopping is down. We cut down on un-neccessary things that we shouldn't be eating, but of course we always feel deprive and tend to splurg.

Our marriage has became stronger and I get to spend more time being mommy again since we moved here.

Our finances are better as well, we managed to pay off our second car in full, paid off sallie mae and have maxed out both our Roth's for this year. We have a pretty good amount of EF incase of anything that arises, although I could use about 5,000 more. Even without my job i could still put away almost 2,000 a month, so really we don't live with much at all, but you know what we are happy and you cannot tell how frugal we are. I shop the thrift stores or watch for sales and coupons for my girls clothes, but they still look fly.

I am much for happier now then i ever was when i was not caring where my money went. I love to know that i am smart with my money, makes me sleep better.

[hmcart]

well its hard to say. we had a feeling this time last year that dh would lose his job at some point but didnt know when. He lost it last november and lost our insurance also. We have a ds that is "uninsurable" so that has been a challenge. This year we realized we could no longer afford one of our cars and be able to pay the astronomical premiums for ds to have medical insurance and with the fall of GM starting the value of that car was so low that we were majorly unside down and had to file chapter 7 to get out from underneath it and the medical bills we had accumulated. We are struggling to get through the next couple of months as bare bones as possible but if we make it things will hopefully be going up for us financially. We have a lot of goals for the future and both of us are ready to make them happen!