Back to the Basics!

Sometimes life hits hard and though you'd LIKE to continue living at the same level of comfort, you just can't.  Well, no, you can, but it will take you into debt!  We have just been through a financial storm, and though we were able to weather the storm nicely, we now have to get back onto our feet so we can prepare for the next one.  Stuff happens, financial storms come and go.  In the time between, it's up to you to get back up, brush the dirt off your back, and figure out how to strengthen yourself better for the next one. 

Living with financial peace is one of those things that takes a lot of sacrifice.  Creating a budget is great, but only if you are willing to adjust it and pull it way back if the need arises.

My husband and I sat down together last week and decided that if we were going to get back to the place where we could weather another terrible storm, there would have to be some serious cuts.  Adding to the equation was lost income due to the fact that I've recently resigned from my job.  With the lost income and the financial struggles in the last month, some serious re-ordering was necessary. 

I couldn't bear to to back to square one and create a semi-permanent budget of very low spending.  I just couldn't do it.  So we decided to budget for the next 4 months only, and then re-evaluate in January.  It seemed much easier to just focus on the next 4 months rather than feeling like we are back in a never-ending prison of sacrifice.  Yes... I am a dramatic person, and that drama certainly pops up when I think about sacrificing to save money.

How do you cut back a budget?  The only way to cut back a budget is to sacrifice the things you don't actually need.  Here's the funny thing. In the last year, we put about $500 a month into savings and lived comfortably on the rest of our income.  As we now work with newly lost income, we have cut the budget and INCREASED our savings to be closer to $1000 a month.  How can we do that?  Simple.  Sacrifice. 

We've totally nixed our eating out and recreation budgets.  We no longer have anything towards entertainment, nothing towards our special savings for random events.  We've cut our grocery budget by about 1/3, and we'll be back to the ground beef, eggs, rice, and bread diet!  I didn't take anything out of the fruits and veggies budget because those are necessary for a healthy lifestyle. 

Some of you may be thinking, "Well you can't possibly live like that... with absolutely no spending money, no entertainment money, and no recreation money!" 

Wanna bet?  This is where my dramatic side switches over to my competitive side.  We've done it before, what's to stop us from doing it again??  You think we can't?  You just watch and see and we'll prove you wrong! 

Even Gail Vaz-Oxlade, a money coach and financial guru, claims that no one can get by without at least $50 a month set out for entertainment.  She's very wise in a lot of things, and I lover her advice 90% of the time.  However, in this one thing, I think she's wrong.  I know she's wrong. 
 
I can get by without cable TV!  I can get by without eating out!  I can get by without spending money on entertainment!  I can get by without spending a single cent on clothing for myself, and only a couple bucks of clothing for my kids in the next few months!  I can get by on a small grocery budget of just the basics!  I can get by without costly recreation!  I can and I will! 

I did it for more than a year as we started to build a financial foundation, and I can do it again!  I can do it again because I know that under all this sacrifice is peace.  Under all the frustration of trying to feed a family of 5 on a budget for 2, there comes a satisfaction as we watch our savings account rise back to the place where we know that we can last another 6 months on our emergency fund if the need arises. 

Financial peace isn't very peaceful at first.  But, you know what Dave Ramsey says.  "Live like no one else so later, you can live like no one else!"  Right now, we are back to the first half of that statement, and though we are not really loving it, we are fiercely loyal to our plan so that we can reach the second half of the statement.