What's your story?

[StartingOver]

I'm fairly new to the village and have spent many weeks reading back posts and such....and was just wondering what is the story behind your frugalness. From reading all the other posts, some of you were born and raised in a frugal family, and you carried it over into your life (good job).

With me, it was DH loss of his job after 20 years in the car business, and being unemployed for 18 months....that led me to google ways of being frugal, and how to stretch a dollar, which brought me here to the village. That whole ordeal of job loss was a wake up call to me, and have since drastically changed our lives.

I can honestly say, we (as a couple and a family) are much happier. We are grateful for the simple things in life. We get excited when we can pay all our bills and still have a small amount of money left over to go to a movie. I no longer let envy or jealousy cloud my vision and lead me to make impulse buys. I keep my eyes and mind focused on getting out of debt.

Feel free to tell me to "Mind your own business"....but I'm always interested in hearing other people's story.

Thanks again for all your advice....I've been like a sponge, soaking up everything, making notes etc...you really have a lot to offer new comers!

[PB&J]

DH and I bought our first house last March. 2 months later, the preschool I was working for shut down. I looked for work at other schools for a while, but none of them could give me the hours I had at my previous job, nor could they give me a tuition discount for my toddler that would make working even worth it. So I discovered if we were just frugal, we would be okay without my income. I think sometimes it is easier to save money than to try and make more.

We also have some credit card debt that we are trying to pay down. We are down $4000 since we started really working on it a few months ago. Our first card will be paid off in another month or two.

[Little Birdie]

We just kinda went along through life. Two incomes. No significant debt. No significant savings.

Then rough times at company Husband owns/works for. He's only drawing just enough each month to cover car payment, cell phone bill, minimum on CC, and gas. That means we are pretty much living off just my income.

It doesn't make sense to us to sell the house. This should be a temporary problem and he should get all his back pay. So we are cutting back just about everywhere else we can.

I just wish we had cut back as far as we have now right away. Our savings would have lasted a lot longer and their would be less stress.

The bright side is that when we do get things back to normal income, -knock wood-, we can take what we have learned to create a substantial savings account. And we will know which treats are important to us... a nice scotch = yes, brand name coffee filters = no. And we can continue to live well under our means, not just within our means.

I am so grateful for everything I have learned here.

[DAAC3DEC]

Too much debt, no savings, too much stress, just can't do it anymore....everyday I learn more and more from all of the great people here!!

[pkellyc]

I was born to the most frugal parents ever. If someone was frugal my parents called them cheap.
They did have money to support their lifestyle but I did not.
After my upbringing DH and I tried not to be "cheap" but when I had complications with DD#2, I had to quit working and we just kept on spending as if we still had 2 incomes.

Needless to say we learned out of necessity.

[cheappearls]

It was important to me to be a SAHM and darn it, I was going to make it work one way or another.

I'm really glad that we started being money wise early on instead of digging ourselves a massive hole and having to get out later in life.

[Jaded]

Raising two kids on my own made me frugal by necessity. I had some money for awhile, and got out of my frugal ways. I didn't even have to work for a good number of years. Then my life drastically changed. An injury, illness, and then a breakup with a SO of 4 years (who was paying the bills) sent me back to the job market. My office skills were so old, no one would hire me, and so I went into retail. I went from job to job trying to find one that fit. Thought I had it made when I got a job at Home Depot for a good amount of money, but I lost that job when they found someone who would do it for less (big corporations suck). I went to Publix for a part time job to fill in while I was trying to find something, and ended up falling in love with it. So now I'm full time, but make very little money (the benefits are awesome!), and have to be frugal.

Florida is the pits sometimes when it comes to living on one paycheck. My taxes have doubled in the last 10 years, and my homeowner's insurance has tripled. Now, with the price of gas and groceries, I'm struggling yet again. Was doing well until the gas prices went up so high, driving everything else up.

So now I'm VERY frugal, and you know what? If I got a job tomorrow that pays twice what I make now, I would still be frugal, and just put more away.

[baxjul]

I wanted to be a SAHM and volunteer with my dd's school, and open a daycare at home.

[i.m.cheap]

Well, let's see. I married at 16, and my (now ex) husband was newly enlisted in the Air Force. We had a baby six months later. I had to learn how to live on $600 a month (this was in 1978). We lived off the base, so we had to pay rent, utilities, food, everything out of this tiny income.

My parents had never been very frugal. I was entirely "self-taught". I was clipping coupons and shopping for loss leaders way back then. I haven't changed much really. I still don't have much income, now I, and (current) DH are both full-time students, have a child (11 years old), and live on $1,500 a month. We really have less disposable income now, since the percentage of income going for rent, food, gas, and utilities is higher.

In 1978: rent $175
In 2007: rent $670

In 1978 gallon of gas: 78¢
In 2007 gallon of gas: $2.78

[sunshine]

Here's what I posted a while ago:

[ame="http://www.frugalvillage.com/forums/showthread.php?t=77116"]My story - Frugal Village Forums[/ame]


We were doing fine financially. We drove cars that were paid in full, no credit card debt, living in a trailer on my parent's property (paying no rent). Then I got pregnant. We had no maternity insurance, but we could pay the doctor and hospital bills out of pocket (so we thought). . . . I ruptured my appendix when I was 5 month pregnant, but didn't realize it. I worked the next 3 days. By then I was seriously ill. I had peritonitis with gangrene. No working for a LONG time, baby came 7 weeks early ( at least he didn't come when I had surgery for the gangrene) Dh got hurt at work at the same time, so neither of us had an income and we had a premie baby we just brought home. Once the diapers from t he hospital were gone. . . we had nothing for him to wear (diapers or otherwise) I put dishtowels on for diapers, and used bread wrappers for plastic pants. I took a sheet and made a few diaper shirts so he didn't have to run around with only a "diaper" on. We picked up aluminum cans to recycle for gas money, and I gratefully accepted any and all foods offered (he was a summer baby)- I took dropped fruits, cut around the bad parts and canned them, foraged for things. . . . Thankfully, we had a couple of baby showers right away, and I asked for (and received) loads of cloth diapers, clothes, etc.

So. . . we drained our savings accounts and paid off the medical bills. We bought a house when the baby was 5 months old. . . .and did ok. Again, drving only paid off cars, no credit card debt, tiny mortgage. Along came baby #3. (no money issues with baby #2 thankfully). Again, health insurance, but not maternity insurance. I had a uterine tumor right where the placenta implanted, so lots of concerns for the baby's (and my ) health. Then I fell when I was 6 1/2 months along. Preterm labor, leaking amnitotic fluid. . . . I spent a week in antepartem at $120/hr. then 2 months on limited bedrest. Again, no income for me. Final tally of the bill for dd------------- $138,000 . . . . none of it covered by insurance. I've gotten it down below $30,000 now and she's almost 16 years old.

So we regrouped, figured out a payment plan and contined on our merry way. . . for less than 2 years. . . then dh was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease- a terminal neuromuscular disease). He had to go 6 months with no income before we started to get disablilty for him. We threw frugality out the window. We traveled, bought our house on a farm, did the things we'd always planned on doing SOMEDAY. We thought we'd pay off the bill with his live insurance after he died . His orginal prognosis was less than 2 years to live. He tried to continue to work part time, but ended up losing his disablilty payments because he made $24 too much for 3 months.

There came a time when I sat down to pay the bills and realized that I had less than $11 to cover food and gas for 2 weeks. We had to borrow money to feed the kids and for me to get back and forth to work. That became a vicious cycle of trying to repay what we'd borrowed, then not having enough to cover the upcoming weeks again. I got serious with frugality. We sold off stuff, we figured out a budget that people claim is so anal retentive it would make the IRS's head spin. . . . and we started digging out of debt.

So here we are, 15 years later. . . dh is still alive and doing remarkably well. No income from him, but thankfully I have a profession that pays well and I can get all the overtime I can handle (I'm an RN). The overtime has been cut back drastically,since MY health has become an issue as well. We are still in debt, still have credit card debt that is HUGE (travel, etc. from when dh first got sick) and so on. . . but we pay the bills, I know where all the money goes, and where the next meal is coming from. My kids are clothed and fed. We have a roof over our heads, and it doesn't leak. What more do we need?

[onencgirl]

WOW What an inspiring story...

[Marie78]

I grew up watching my mom doing frugal things, and at the time I didn't realize they were frugal and when I became a teen I resented them. Then I started a life of my own: college loan, car loan, cc debt, and bills to pay. 3 years into my grown up life, I decided to revisit some things I learned from my mom: clipping coupons, using just enough: shampoo, cond., soap, detergent (instead of more than enough). Store brand became my main brand. Because I went back to what I saw my mother doing when I was younger, I survived a move to a new city and the 6 months it took to find a job there. Then I survived losing that job after 7 months of working, until I found the job I am working at now (making half as much , not complaining though, it took 8 months to find this job!) I think the main thing that will keep me frugal for life, is the fact that frugal helps you to overcome life's financial blows. For me, I need to live below my means now in order to survive the lean times. There have been many in my adult life!

[DixieJ]

Sunshine you are an inspiration to us all!


Dixie Jean

[annymoll]

I did not know you had faced such challenges, Sunshine.I often wonder if I could be as steadfast and courageous.Life is never set in stone.I know you are an example of what I want to be. I printed off your story and put it in my book.

[sunshine]

I did not know you had faced such challenges, Sunshine.I often wonder if I could be as steadfast and courageous.Life is never set in stone.I know you are an example of what I want to be. I printed off your story and put it in my book.

I don't know that we were steadfast and courageous, just did/doing what we had to do. I'm pleased that you found our story worthy of printing off for future inspiration. I hope no one goes through the struggles we faced, but perhaps you'll think of new ways to face your own challenges.