Comments on: Going Back To Frugality After Something Has Blown The Budget

By: Ask The Audience: Dealing With Stress | Home Ec 101

Ask The Audience: Dealing With Stress | Home Ec 101 — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:57:56 +0000

[...] One of our bestest commenters, Mom of 3 asked this in the comments of this post: [...]

By: Sharon

Sharon — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 04:14:32 +0000

“Mom of three”, the best advice I can give you is to breathe deeply, go for a long walk, and learn to say “well, this sucks” with a smile.

I’ve spent the last couple of years in a job that seems to be dealing with one disaster after another – sometimes the last couple of disasters are still happening when the next one starts. I’ve learnt the best way to deal with it is to remind myself that these things aren’t “personal”. They’re problems, issues, challenges – whatever you feel like calling them – but they aren’t “everything right now”. It’s not the end of the world – its something I have to do, but then it will be done, and I’ll be okay.

I’m hoping this sounds more “Zen” than “trite”, but you have to see the problem for what it is, ask yourself why you feel about it the way that you do, and change what it means to you so that you take it less personally.

Sure, it’s still a problem – one that has to be dealt with, and one that can be physically taxing and mentally exhausting – but now, at least, it’s not weighing on your heart. You’ve got it at enough of an emotional distance that you can appreciate the nuances of the problem – maybe even laugh at some of it.

At least, hopefully, you’ll be able to see the other side of it. Knowing that the storm eventually blows over and then the sun comes out can be a big help.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 02:10:11 +0000

I started doing the “envelope” thing some time ago as a way to “layby” for fun things I can’t actually layby for – things I could only buy online (particularly from another country) but that were so expensive and unnecessary I didn’t want to just fork out for them…

I haven’t managed to actually save up the amount I want for the “big stuff”, yet. I get to a certain point and find something cheaper to spend the money on. I make sure I wait a while before spending the money on anything – if I still want the thing a month later, then I go for it.

Delayed gratification can be kind of fun, if you play with it on purpose.

By: Mom of three

Mom of three — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 23:17:30 +0000

It’s not the money that’s killing me right now, it’s the stress. I need an article on that. How do you deal with the stress of an emergency situation when it comes on the heals of a previous stressful event?

By: Joyce

Joyce — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:02:40 +0000

One reason for this emergency issue is that your budget is missing a category — Maintenance. I don’t know what will need repair or replacement but I can pretty much guarantee that something will in any given year. Money needs to be set aside in budgeting to replace the blown tire or the dead electric element in your oven or to call the plumber for the leaking pipe. Even in a brand new house, something will go wrong even if in theory it shouldn’t.

And for any of you buying an existing house, get a Home Warranty. It is well worth the cost. When the heat pump died the first winter we were in this house, the warranty paid to replace it.

By: Kara

Kara — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:31:38 +0000

We have this problem too, though we are getting better. Whenever an emergency comes up and we have to use a credit card, we always end up using the card for more and more. The thinking is like “Well, we already charged $800 to the card, what $4-5 more?” Unfortunately we keep doing that until we have way more than we can easily pay back. But we really are getting better about budgeting and not spending so much, it’s a work in progress.

By: DC Becca

DC Becca — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 07:36:24 +0000

You guys read my mind……my husband and I were so happy to have some money from the tax refund to set aside. We FINALLY had our emergency fund set up (ahhhh…..it was SO EASY!)

Ten days later our 4 year old daughter fell out of the chair at dinner and BAM broker her collarbone (poor girl….).

There went the Emergency Fund we so easily set aside (we haven’t gotten any of the bills yet…but even with insurance we can only imagine the bills on this little spill!)

So…..we have decided that every paycheck we are going to purchase $50.00 in gift cards from our local grocery store. We CAN’T dip into these for ridiculous purchases (ie: electronics, clothing, etc.)…..and since we go to the grocery store every two weeks we would just use these should an emergency crop up and we need to use some of our cash for that. We will also be putting aside money to build back up the emergency fund but we figured the gift card route would be a deterrent from supurfluous spending.

We’ll see how it goes……there is only one in the envelope so far!