What was/is your battle plan?

**steve-in-kville** · 10-03-2007, 01:12 PM

I've lurked here a few days and finally joined yesterday. Wish I would have found this site sooner. I finished up reading The Tightwad Gazette and went back to library and found the 3rd edition, so I brought that one home. I also read a few books on debt management and credit repair.

My wife and I both come from frugal parents, but something was lost somewhere in our generation. We have a large family (five boys and three girls... and eight guinea pigs). I feel that I've been chasing all the wrong things in life, tried to make it big in real estate on the side, while working a day job that was headed no where... fast.

Got a better job that offers way better pay and benefits, something I didn't have at my other job. So I feel I'm headed in the right direction.

So, to start off, I assembled my own plan of attack. Feel free to share your own or comment on mine.

1- Get organized. Remove clutter. Either throw it out, ebay it, or give it away. Also, organize my financial stuff. Need to know exactly what I got, what its worth and where it is. Keep my desk from looking like a landfill!

2- Enter a debt management program. Did this already.

3- Start an emergency fund.

4- Trim utility bills down, cut back on groceries and start a garden. A little green house sounds interesting...

Am I missing anything?

**Denvergirlie** · 10-03-2007, 02:05 PM

Steve,

First of all welcome!

I would also recommend you read Dave Ramsey book called "The total money makeover". This will help you get focused on the emergency fund and dropping your debt.

Then I recommend a book called "Your Money or your life" by Joe Dominquez, some of that information will be dated, some will be just over the top for your life, but it will make you think in new directions.

As for the rest of the journey, it's a journey for all of us. Our desired or simplicity actually require quite a bit of money and things... we would like to have 100 acres and live int he middle of it away from the "modern world" of materialism. Build a strawbale house get a milk cow or goat, a much larger garden and a wood lot for heat and use a local stream and wind for power... but all that takes a lot of moeny to get started with. Sometimes the simple life isn't that simple, ya know?

So we take it day by day and just keep going and trying to learn new skills (knitting class is tonight and bread baking in the next class I'm signed up for). Getting rid of the debt and being free from that stress will only help.

best of luck to you in your quest.

**frugalfarmwife** · 10-03-2007, 02:09 PM

LOL, yeah, KEEP THOSE GUINEA PIGS SEPARATED UNLESS YOU WANT A HECK OF A FEED BILL

Sorry, lol, couldn't resist that one! I've got lots of critters too

One thing I'd do also is set out some small goals with tiny rewards so you can see the progress. Even if it's just popcicles for the whole family for turning off all the lights for a week, the little things make a BIG difference. (If hubby is good with his gas CC I buy him his favorite ice cream for the week)

kj

**gentledenny** · 10-03-2007, 02:19 PM

I have learned something from you steve. I had thought of raising some chickens and maybe rabbits to supplement meat in my diet when i move to the country. I never thought of the little pig guys. I seem then barbq'ed on one of them travel channel shows. no reservations ,,, i think is the name. i imagine they taste like chicken. ok. sorry, just a bit of my dry sense of humor that only me and god get .. yeah ok. just me.

**frugalfarmwife** · 10-03-2007, 03:04 PM

Originally Posted by gentledenny

I have learned something from you steve. I had thought of raising some chickens and maybe rabbits to supplement meat in my diet when i move to the country. I never thought of the little pig guys. I seem then barbq'ed on one of them travel channel shows. no reservations ,,, i think is the name. i imagine they taste like chicken. ok. sorry, just a bit of my dry sense of humor that only me and god get .. yeah ok. just me.

Giggle, no I got it too, but they just look to much like rats for me. And this out of the girl that just ate squirrel and frog last week

kj

**steve-in-kville** · 10-03-2007, 03:07 PM

Heh... there is actually a larger breed of guinea pigs that is raised for its meat. Haven't seen 'em in years.

Thought about the rabbit thing... did some pretty good calculations. We trade the piggies for rabbits one of these days.

steve

**peanut** · 10-03-2007, 03:18 PM

Welcome to the board Steve!

I found it easier to de-clutter once I decided what my life priorities were. I'm a real advocate of simple living now, and that encompasses frugality. I looked around my house and saw tons of stuff that didn't fit my current lifestyle. I'm a creative person who has a lot of hobbies - read: "stuff". But I am giving some of it away because I haven't worked in that medium for years. And I'm rearranging the house to make better use of what I do have. I'm eliminating/selling/giving away anything that does not get used or will not further my creative endeavours.

The thing too, is to realize that we go through stages in life. What I need for my 10 year old is redundant by the time the youngest is 20, know what I mean? So I guess my point is, de-cluttering is an ongoing process. Don't expect to have it all done in, say, a month. Instead, set aside a regular time to go through each room of the house/property and repeat the process periodically.

De-cluttering leads to organizing. If we were more organized we wouldn't have to make extra runs to the store for things we already have, but don't know where they are. We're like that here. So kudos on setting organization and de-cluttering on your plan!

DH and I sat down and organized our financial situation on a couple sheets of paper using books on financial management from the library. Look at ones that tend to direct you to financial planners. FPs like to see you come through the door with a nice 1 page document with everything on it. It's also a handy thing to give to the executor of your will...or whoever will be handling your estate if you die. They'll know everything that needs to be done when you pass on. In our home we simply let our children (20 and 22) know where to find the document, to make things move more smoothly on our death.

I agree Dave Ramsey has some good ideas on debt reduction and establishing an emergency fund. I've also read "Your Money or Your Life". While older, there are some useful concepts in there, like equating money earned to life energy.

Good luck with your frugal efforts!

As for guinea pigs for food. You guys have me cracking up here. I live in a city filled with pigeons and geese. There's a city by-law that says we can't kill or eat the things. Let me tell you, when 10,000 geese descend on us in fall, there's plenty of talk of midnight hunting!

Jean

**frugalfarmwife** · 10-03-2007, 03:30 PM

Jean I have to tell you, we've joked about eating our country pigeons (squab) but I KNOW what city pigeons eat and I would NOT eat them, lol, they're not called rats with wings for nothin!

And the geese, geez, go get em

Nothing better than smoked wild goose, yum. Hmm, you just need inventive ways to lure them home with you!

kj

**ilovechocolate** · 10-03-2007, 05:29 PM

My internet hasn't been working, otherwise I would have welcomed you sooner.

**baxjul** · 10-03-2007, 09:07 PM

In PA we always used to eat deer meat. Down here in FL, dh hunts wild pig, and it is delicious!

**Opal** · 10-03-2007, 10:05 PM

Sounds like a good battle plan to me. I came here with the sole goal of reducing my grocery bill. Saved about $200 on groceries in 18 days. I saved over $100 dollars on a doctor visit + not getting antibotics, that don't work on viruses. Other than that my battle plan is to get healthy, I have a lot farther to go than I thought. I didn't realize how sick I was til it almost took me to expensive testing.

**PrairieRose** · 10-03-2007, 10:15 PM

Hi ya Steve...sounds to me like you're on the right track. I've been frugal for years but in the past few have 'noticed' that I've become a bit of a hoarder. I'm currently in the midst of decluttering my home and life as well. I'm actually itching to finish one project to start on another and get more organized and simplified as I go. It is a journey, but hey all life is a journey right? I'm not sure we were wrong before we went right (with finding frugality) but now we better understand what we want out of life....what d'ya think? Anyway glad you're here, we can all bounce ideas back and forth and it makes for a lot of frugal fun. Oh, but don't call me when you boys have a guinea pig bbq. I'm squeamish when it comes to meat

**TheRootedNomad** · 10-04-2007, 08:29 AM

We're following a tweaked (to fit us better) Dave Ramsey financial plan. We haven't made huge modifications as the first three steps worked wonders for us.

1- baby emergency fund
2- pay off debt
3- 3-6 month emergency fund

We're working on a couple of the next several steps simultaneously.

Currently our main focus is on the morgage and retirement. I'd like tohavethe morgage paid off by the time I'm 40 (4 years) or soon there after. I would love to be able to stay home or have both of us work part time well before retirement age.

To nutshell our plan is FOCUS. We think everything we do now through with the priority of getting to the point where we can live out lives as we choose without "clocking in" as a wage slave. My only regret is that we didn't realize there was any way that could be possible when we were in our 20's so now we're making up for lost time. It's always nice to see someone getting it together that younger than we were.

**FrugalMomof3** · 10-04-2007, 09:23 AM

I am a chicken person, no deer, no pigeons, no frog, no squirrel... just chicken for me! lol

Stever, I think you have a great plan there, if you set your mind to it, it will work out flawlessly, believe me I know. I am a frugal success story

**gentledenny** · 10-04-2007, 09:55 PM

Steve , you seem to have got things under control. i really like the greenhouse ideal. i beleive small one will be in my farmhouse dream future. might Be some good money in real estate foreclosures right now if you understand that market and have the spare cash. I don't. I save about 400 a month in mutual funds and one stock. then i take 30-50 bucks and throw it at one of the 15 stocks i own. (most i just own 1-8 shares) so don't get impressed. Then i try to put 1000 in my buy a house money market account. then i try to pinch away at my leisurely spending. I get lazy and say i going to red lobster or IHOP or SHONEYS or APPLEBYS. the main problem i have is i can walk to the closest mall, i would say it is about 200 yards away, with a big food court, then there is hardees, captain d's taco bell, ruby tuesday, guntries, dream barbq, IHOP, THAI FOOD. A all you can eat chinese food and a stevie B;'s all you can eat pizza. I swear all of this stuff is within 300 yards of my house. BUT i try real hard and i pat myself on the back because 9 time out of 10 i can say NOPE. You need to save for your house and i go to the freezer and pull out some junk. But one day these sacrifices (be it very small) compared to some of the families in this forum , someday i will be awarded and be able to sit on my farmhouse front porch and wave as you drive by. Heck don't drive bye. come on in. We will break out the barbq grill.