Our first load of wood was delivered yesterday, all $450 worth! While the person we buy from is cash or check only, it still feels good that we are in a position to do so. In the past, paying for all the irregular expense that come our way would have had us reaching for a credit card. We sure have made some very positive changes since starting this journey! In another month or so (read: when money permits!), we will order another load of wood. We still have a fair amount left over from last burning season, but it is good to have more seasoning for the coming year. Such a vicious cycle. Lol. If you’re interested, I’m hosting a wood stacking party for anyone who’d like to stop on over. I’ll provide the wood! 😉
Wood isn’t the only thing we need to pay for in August. We also have:
Our auto insurance bill to the tune of $970. We pay biannually and live in a state known for high premiums. If walking or public transportation were an option, I’d be using it in a heartbeat.
Our internet bill of $429 also comes due every August. Living remotely, we don’t have many options. By paying it annually, the company does give us a small discount which makes it worthwhile to do so.
Propane is yet another thing we will be paying for in the next couple of weeks. We have two 1,000 gallon tanks which we fill up every Summer when the price per gallon is lower. I called about it this morning, and the gal initially quoted $1.64/gallon. She must have heard me gasp because she then checked for specials and was able to reduce it to $1.54/gallon. She said last winter the cost went to $2.24/gallon. Our tanks are currently at 30/38%, so I’m estimating the bill will come in around $1,500. I’ll be SO glad when these irregular expenses are behind us for yet another year.
With money being extremely tight, I did a little scrutinizing of our cash envelope system. I thought I had pretty much emptied them out last month when I took my trip. Low and behold, between all the categories, I still had roughly $60. With as excited as I was, you’d think there would have been more zeros attached to that $60. Lol. With Hubs still away for another two weeks or so, I’m going to see just how far I can stretch that $60. My biggest expenses will be dog food and gas. At some point, I will need to fill the envelopes again, but at least for this month, they won’t get fully funded. I prefer a little cushion in these envelopes, but given the amount of money we’ve been shelling out, this is just the way it is.
Factoring all these extra bills, I plan to do a recalibration of our sinking funds. I need to do a better job at accounting for increases as prices always go up. Hubs likes to tell me that this is all part of life. That’s all good when things go as planned but do they ever? I firmly believe that being better prepared is half the battle!
Having the money tucked away has to feel lie success. Life will fee freer when there are not bills you can’t pay hanging overhead.
That is one of the very things that keeps me going. I long for the day when money isn’t so tight!
I’m with you, Lucy. I like to anticipate the once-in-awhile bills, like propane, so they don’t smack me upside the head.:-) Yay for the 60 dollars . . . I’d be totally excited, too!
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Being prepared is always the best way!
I would LOVE to come help you stack wood but….I have that “thing” that day….otherwise, I’M THERE!!! I had no idea wood was so expensive!!! We have a fireplace in our living room that we have never, ever used since we are never, ever in the living room, and a wood-burning stove in our family room that we don’t use because (a) it doesn’t give off much heat and (b) our next door neighbor complains that the smoke bothers her so….lucky for us it doesn’t get that cold here in Norther Cal.
I just paid $40 for a bag of “special” cat food for one of our cats – why do they get to eat better than we do??? I’m working on my sinking funds basically $10 at a time, but that is ok, that $10 will add up, right?
Hi Sue, fellow NorCal person here. Love your offer of help, except for having that “thing”….. It had me laughing!
Well, can’t you just reschedule that “thing”? Lol? Wood is expensive, but still a lot cheaper than propane! Hope your cats are enjoying their special food! Yikes. That is expensive.
I am so glad I allocated a little extra of the 401K withdrawal to the Sinking Fund for this quarter. Just got the school taxes bill and it went up $118.53. Not a lot but if all the irregular bills do this it would add up to a bigger chunk.
Once you get the debt gone things should be a LOT less tight!
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When I grow up, I want to be like Sluggy! Lol
When it rains, it pours. As long as you don’t add any more debt, you are doing great. Good luck.
It sure does! Nope. No new debt. I won’t even consider it!
This is only a temporary thing. Like Sluggy said, once the debt is gone, it will be easier to budget in the money for the irregular expenses ie your sinking fund. I have a baseline and then will adjust by 5-10% and there you go.
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Oh, how I long for that day!
Wow, August is a very heavy bill month for you. We have many of our yearly bills in April and May. I never look forward to that! I am with you on the sinking funds. Over time we have incorporated all of those once a year expenses into the budget and we fund them monthly now. It has made a difference in my peace level. I try to have a little cushion for increases also, however sometimes it still falls short. Oh, I would have been really excited about the $60 too.
I can’t wait until we are on the saving side of the equation and these extra bills are just a bump in the road. Eventually, we will be there!
Have you tried to negotiate your propane rate? Do you have several providers? I’m in mn and use Ferrell gas which is nationally covered. I call around all the local companies, find the lowest rate and call back Ferrell, tell them I’ll switch and they price meet me. This year here it’s 1.39. I really should use a local or coop but the switching the tank etc seems hard. I use theirs. Worth a try. I’ve done this about 4 years and save over 500 dollars each year and wish I’d done it sooner. (Here its on a refill contract)
We are very limited when it comes to providers. We also rent our tanks, and with them being so deep into our woods (the last delivery guy couldn’t even find them. lol) I wouldn’t want to replace what we have. Good for you for being able to negotiate a better price. That is a huge saving! My plan for this coming winter is to do a better job keeping our woodstove going. That should cut down on how much propane we need to purchase next Summer.
I hate when a bunch of bills come due at the same time! It won’t be long before you are debt free and expenses like these won’t even bother you. You will have all the money saved up way in advance.
That day can’t come soon enough!
That’s a lot of propane. I’ll be interested to see how much we use when our house is done. Our neighbors have a big 5000 sf house and have a 1000 gallon tank, but not sure how often they have to fill. Here at our small 1400sf house here in town, we seemed to have averaged about 330 gallons per year. I’m hoping we will only have to fill out big 1000 gallon tank once a year. We were just quoted 1.39/gallon by one company and $1.75 by another. You can guess which one we are choosing, LOL
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Yes, it is a lot! The former owner had these two tanks put in. Most of our neighbors seem to have 500-gallon tanks (and usually only one!) I can’t even begin to imagine having a 5,000 sq foot house, let alone heating it! How big is your new house going to be?
It’s hard when you’re hit with an armful of bills all at once. We can relate… August is turning out to be expensive what with school supplies, school clothes, an annual credit card fee… eek.
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Miserly love company. Sorry! Hope this month passes quickly for both of us!