Sunday, January 27, 2013

4 Months In

We've been doing financial fasting for almost four months now.  So how has the first few months been for our family?  Just like any kind of fasting experience, or diet, or lifestyle change, or culture shock--the first part is always the hardest.  The first month involved selling some things on our "want" list and decreasing some of our "thought we needed it but not really" list.  After purging a lot of financial burdens, the next month we were able to pay off almost all of our remaining debt.  Then the focus of the third month was on getting past Christmas and the usual spending frenzy.  Now this month we've started settling into our "new normal", and guess what?  I kind of like it!
  • Items sold: RV trailer, two bicycles via craigslist; storing other items for future garage sale
  • Monthly bills eliminated: cable, two pet insurances, RV loan, decreased auto insurance, decreased life insurance
  • Debt paid:  appliance credit card, emergency credit card, RV loan
  • Total financial gains: $9615 debt paid + $572 monthly (which will keep multiplying every month) = $10,187......in just four months!

But.....I'm afraid there have been a couple of set backs which did not end up benefiting our financial plan.  In our quest to eliminate cable, we ended up paying out more up front than originally planned.  Despite my extensive research into various money saving options--we ended up having to pay an unexpected "buy out" of our current cable contract.  Of course this was not mentioned AT ALL when I closed our account.  They just sent us a bill thankyouverymuch.  And they were not willing to budge when I called to complain.  So we ended up paying two months worth of cable, plus the initial cost of buying a laptop.....this financial choice will take almost eight months to actually save us money.  But--it will eventually be an ongoing savings after that.  Very frustrating!

We also did not make any financial gains with our natural gas bill.  Bryan is the person home during the day, so he turns the heat down--enough that when I come home for lunch I complain that it's cold and leave my coat or sweatshirt on....but he is saving us money!  Also when we went on vacation for a week, we turned it down even further.  And then our gas bill came three times higher than last month!  WHAT?!  The nice man at the gas company explained that the average temperature this December was a full five degrees lower than last December--and that five degrees makes a huge difference.  He also explained that while turning the heat down while on vacation is a good idea, the "usual" day-to-day things that normally contribute a small amount of heat--such as body heat, toasters, ovens, computers, etc--are not happening on vacation, so the thermostat has to work harder.  And while it initially saves energy while the heat is going down, once it gets to the set level it still has to run in order to stay at that level.  Moral of the story: decreasing the heat really does not pay off.  Very frustrating!



However.....there have also been plenty of unexpected blessings.  Shortly after we made the decision toward financial fasting, we received some unexpected checks--I got a raise at work, we received some money gifts for Christmas and birthdays, a series of gift cards found in various places.  We also were able to schedule some family vacation time--for free!--courtesy of my lovely mother-in-law who had too many timeshare points and she was at risk of losing them.  Well alrighty then, we'd be happy to take those points off your hands for you!  While on vacation, I had coffee dates with several different friends--every one of them paid for my latte before I could even unzip my purse!

So where are we now?  We now have ZERO debt other than our house mortgage.  We actually had money left over after Christmas (um, this has never happened!)  January bills have been paid and we have almost an entire paycheck still leftover.  We aren't in our usual how-soon-until-our-tax-refund desperation at the first of the year.  We have returned to regular tithing--something we should have prioritized even in our worst of times.  Our goals are now on building our savings account, and focusing on specific areas God might want us to give more.

I'm reminded of our theme verse for this period of financial fasting:  "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it." Malachi 3:10

the whole tithe
test me in this
throw open the floodgates
so much blessing
not enough room to store it

amen. amen.



Saturday, January 5, 2013

Christmas--How Did We Do?

Before you read this blog, do two things first:  1--if you're just joining, click here to read how it all began and why we're doing a financial fast.  2--if this journey interests you, enter your email to the right of this post to get a notification sent to you whenever there's a new posting.


This Christmas we made a conscious decision that we were no longer going to break the bank in a 25-day frenzy.  So we made some strategic decisions:  we would start shopping in October in order to spread it out over three months instead of three weeks.  We also set a goal for $10 per gift--flexing a little if something was really perfect, but a max goal of $20.  And we set out to make homemade gifts for a number of friends.  We also saved a ton of money on Christmas cards using a pre-made website instead of our own photos and letters.

Last year gift total: $476.33
This year gift total: $333.13
    total saved:  $143.20


So how did we do it?  The goal of $10 per gift was a significant factor--though some gifts did end up slightly more, the highest single gift was $19.99.  This may sound cheap, but if you really look hard you can indeed find nice, well-made, thoughtful gifts for approximately $10.  Bryan and I also decided not to get each other gifts this year.  Unromantic?  Maybe.  But we'd both rather spend our money and efforts on quality time together, rather than gifts.  And at this stage in our 22+ year relationship, there ain't a whole lot left to buy that we haven't already done in the past.

So what DID we spend it on?

Bryan's gifts from the kids: $38 (3 gifts = $12.67 each)  He cheated slightly and picked out his own gifts but promised to practice his surprise face.  And now he tells me that in the past the kids and I have gotten him "weird" gifts that he didn't really like in the first place!  Saving money + picking out self gifts = happy dad.  In the past, our goal would be somewhere around $20 per kid plus $50 from wife = $110.  Potential money saved on just one person = $72.

Jill's gifts from the kids:  $41 (3 gifts = $13.67 each)  I admit, I too cheated but in a slightly different way--I set out the newspaper ad in the living room, circled in big black marker what I wanted, and printed the coupon online.  Saving money + picking out self gifts = happy mom.  Past goals would have been the same as for dad, so potential money saved = another $72.

Kids' gifts to each other: $48 (6 gifts = $8 each)  They had fun not only shopping for thrifty choices, but also sneaking the gifts into the cart while their sibling was still in the store!  Mom and Dad usually take the "divide and conquer" approach with dad-brother at one end of the store and mom-sisters at the other end.  This was particularly challenging at the craft fair when Kaela decided to get Graeson a PVC-pipe homemade bow and arrow.....large, specific shape, and near-impossible to hide.  But she put it in a garbage sack and filled it with air, set it right next to him in the back of the car and said "it's a gift for my friend."  Then she wrapped it in an oversize bicycle bag from the dollar store, stuffed it with newspaper, and put it under the tree.  TOTAL SUCCESS!  Our past goal would have been $15 per gift = $90.  Potential money saved on three siblings = $42

Parents' gifts to kids:  $150 (4 gifts each kid plus 3 stockings = $10 each)  This sounds like a high figure at the end, but if you break it down it looks like this:  each kid got three gift cards for $10 each, one creativity book (drawing, legos, stickers) for $10, and stocking stuffers at the dollar store for $10 each stocking (that's 30 stocking stuffers!)  They love gift cards because they get to spend their own "money" at specific stores, and mom loves that it results in sneaky little math lessons along the journey.  And our school uses the scrip program which gives money to the schools for ordering gift cards through them.  Our past goals would have been $100 each kid, plus stocking stuffers for who-knows-how-much = $350 or more.  Potential money saved on three kids = $200.



All in all, we are very happy with our financial fasting through Christmas this year!  Our annual family tradition is to go out to eat on Christmas Eve--we considered forgoing this tradition in order to honor our fasting, but since this was our first Christmas in a new town, and because we had saved a lot of money thus far, we agreed to splurge.  I won't mention how much it costs for a family of five to have a nice dinner, but even though it was a big chunk, the kids were very excited.....and all of us were very full and very happy.  Together.