Average Jane Keeps Cutting Costs

Despite my efforts to cut costs and reduce my bills, I still keep running out of money every pay period. This time around, I'm already in the hole $500 worth of overdraft protection and I owe my husband $200 that I'm sure he could ill afford to give me. Being in the red at payday is probably what's killing me - it's hard to get caught up when you start out behind.

I need to get in touch with my mortgage company and see if I can shift the payment dates so that they fall after the 15th and the 1st, rather than a few days before. That'll at least keep me from dipping into my overdraft protection so much.

The irritating thing about all of this is that I've been really good about cooking dinners at home and bringing lunches to work. Plus, I've turned into a highly efficient office food scavenger. If there's a client or vendor in the office, chances are there'll be leftovers around 1:30 or so. I've managed to score at least one free meal per week lately by just waiting and watching.

I have to pat myself on the back for the "fridge scrapings" dinner I came up with last night. I had some spicy tomato sauce left over from an earlier dinner this week, so I boiled some ziti noodles, mixed them with the sauce, added some quartered slices of pepperoni, topped everything with cheese and baked it. It was one of the better-tasting meals I'd had all week and I didn't have to do any extra shopping to make it work.

Since I have two weekend days ahead before I get paid on Monday, my plan is to use up the other things that reside in my cupboards, refrigerator and freezer. I know I have chicken breasts, so this might be a good opportunity to fire up the grill. I have a ham steak, some eggs and potatoes, so there's a breakfast or two. There's still ravioli and pasta sauce kicking around. I guess as long as we're not too picky about the kind of meat we eat, we'll be good to go.

Beyond that, I don't know what else I can do to scale back other than become a recluse. We're already foregoing concerts, movies and most restaurant meals. Maybe I should use my free time to develop a more concrete marketing plan for my husband's studio. It'll give me something to do and perhaps boost our household income in the process.

Comments

[super des]

Don't you hate Reality World? You know, that place where you don't have any money and can't seem to get more. I live there too, though I'm looking to move out.

[Keith]

Jane, I can only sympathise. Like you, i am a good cook who can use what's in the house to eat "well" when money is tight, but isn't it tiresome when you feel yourself doing it all the time ? KP

[Joy]

Jane....it sounds like you're doing everything possible to budget your money. It's one of the most stressful things to address....every month....all the time. Just don't get too stressed-out. You are one resourceful lady.

[Manisha]

Thank you so much for visiting my blog and leaving me that wonderful comment! I do appreciate it!

I've been through what you are going through except that in our case, there was no income! It was the blessed dotcom bust and we hoped some investor would come and swoop us out of the debt that our CEO was digging us into. We hung on only because the product was very resilient. But we could do so only for so long. So, we were living off our savings that entire time.

Food was the first expense that I examined. I cooked more and in larger quantities and froze the extra in meal size portions. I cooked dals (lentils), beans and legumes - these are cheaper, nutritious and go a long way. I stopped buying frozen and ready to eat meals. Made my own bread (mainly Indian rotis). And supplemented the meal with fresh veggies bought once a week. My grocery bill went down from $500 a month to about $150. I also cut down on soda, soft drinks and juices. We drank more water. No haircuts or trips to the salon, no new clothes or shoes. Nothing new.

The only thing that we did not change was the things we did for our daughter. She went to day-care, gymnastics, swimming and got new clothes as required - but I always looked for deals. And we also made it a point not to default on our mortgage.

We evaluated our phone bills and got rid of the plans we did not use and switched to calling cards instead. Especially for international calls. We got rid of cable and started borrowing DVDs and video tapes from the library, instead of renting them. It made up for the sudden lack of programming that we were used to. Instead of movies, theater and dinners out, we went for walks and bike rides.

Our lives actually became a lot simpler and healthier. We've carried that experience with us even though our situation improved shortly thereafter. I heard recently that it is called Voluntary Simplicity.

(I have often been berated for leaving long comments and it certainly appears as though I am at it again - my apologies!)

[Suebob]

I feel your pain. I am struggling myself, despite fairly good pay for our area...I keep thinking I should do more freelancing, but having time off seems important, too...

[Pendullum]

I am in the same boat....
And I hate the fact that it is sinking....
Denial is not only a river in Egypt...

[Debra]

Hi,

I am in the same boat also. What the hell is going on here in America when we can't even make it paycheck to paycheck? Is a F***king nightmare that never ends! What the hell happened to our country? Those idiots up in Congress are just digging a hole for us all. I am sure Putin and the Arabs are laughing their asses off all the way to the bank. This is how Rome must have felt when it was going down.