Recent turmoil with my
finances caused me to have to re-evaluate my financial goals and needs. The
computer tore up putting me out of work for two weeks, the brakes went out on
the car I was driving and the well is having issues. I realized too late that I
was broker than I thought since I had recently closed my savings account. I
need $50 to reopen it. That sounds like a small amount but there are children
expecting Christmas. So what am I going to do?
I have been boiling water to
dissolve the rest of my homemade laundry detergent in the kitchen sink in order
to watch my child’s school uniforms. She has just enough to get her through the
four day week she goes until Nanna gives her Christmas which includes more
uniforms for school. I am trying to cut down on my utility bill so that we come
up under budget next October when the settle up bill is due. The current budget
amount is $245 a month which is what the average utility bill ran during the
last year. So far this household is just over $96 under budget which is a good
way to start the new budget billing year, however there are some problems with
this scenario as last year the first light bill of the new year (2011) was over
$400 and the settle up bill was over $400 as well because that was not the only
high bill that we received.
I have begun to turn the
television off in the living room while I work and everyone goes into another
room to watch a smaller television set. The heat is not working as well as I
would like. I woke up one morning to find we had a freeze and it was barely
fifty degrees in my house with the heat on and working as hard as it could work
to help make up for it to no avail. That means that I have to find an
alternative heating source or find someone to fix the duct work. I do not have
a few thousand dollars lying around so a safe alternative is in my future. I am
glad that I purchased a new battery for my lap top so that I am no longer
connected to power all day long. The portable device means no separate power
for the modem so that is a tiny bit less electricity used, if only it would use
solar power to charge I could work outside.
What were the goals that I
set this time?
1. $50 and reopen the savings
account.
2. stop spending small change
and place it in my change jar to place into the savings account when it is
full.
3. replace my Rodeo with
something smaller and more economical. (Gas is over $3 a gallon and it only
gets 15 miles to the gallon.)
4. Buy some clothes that
don’t make me look homeless in the event that I am forced back out into the
real world as it is known to work.
Well, that’s all for now. I
have articles demanding that I write them so I’m going to go get back to it.
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