Live on less than you make

To me the best thing that you can do during a recession is to make sure that you are doing what you need to do to become financially healthy.  Even if you don’t feel the pressure of a lost job, or a postponed retirement, use this time to confirm that you are on the right track with your money.  Where to begin?  In my opinion the best place to start is to make sure you are living on less than you make.  The best way to live on less that you make – is to start living on a budget (or spending plan if you prefer those words).  Budget forms are all over the internet, grab one and start going. 

Need one?  Get one from our site:  http://www.smartstepomaha.com/budget

Finding the good in the bad

This weekend we went to Kansas City to visit my sister.  On this trip we went to UNO in the plaza and had what ended up being one of the worst meals we have ever had. 

We arrived at the restaurant and sat down at about 5:30.  It took at least five minutes for our server to come to our table for drink orders and to greet us. It took him so long in fact that our party of 9 had decided not only what they wanted to drink, but also what they wanted to eat.  Then it took another ridiculous amount of time for our drinks to come out.  Finally the drinks arrive – only 30 minutes to get our drinks!  As this time marker occurs we realize that our reservation for our carriage ride at 7 PM was not going to be achieved.  After another 15 or 20 minutes our appetizers came out.  Sadly they did not come with plates or silverware.  Another five minutes goes by before we get plates, I ended up asking the hostess to bring us silverware and as the minutes just kept adding up while waiting for silverware!  Next my niece had ordered one of the kids make their own pizzas and it still had not come out, so we had to remind the waiter about that so that she would be eating with the rest of us!  Finally the food arrived, by this point I had quit watching the clock as it was less painful that way, but it was a little over an hour since we had sat down.  Talk about slow service, we would have been further ahead to have ordered pizza at home.

You would think that bad slow service was all that could happen – not so it just kept getting worse.  My sister’s pizza had hair on it!  At this point our waiter really wanted to be anywhere but work, to give him some credit I do believe he was fairly new and probably never should have been given a table of 9 people.  So the manager came over, apologized and went to make her a new one.  Best part of this – they left the old pizza with the hair on it sitting in front of my sister.  It took at least five minutes for the plate to get picked up after the manager left the table!  Add to that my hamburger was dry and falling apart and we had three kids under the age of 4 with us.  So a dinner of pizza (everyone but me and the kids had pizza) took almost 2 hours and that did not involve us hanging out after we ate that was all waiting and eating time!  (This looks even worse when you think that our full order was given to the waiter within about the first 15 minutes of us arriving.)

So you may be wondering what my good in the bad is?  Well, my husband and I analyzed the events of the evening, as you do when both of you used to be restaurant managers, and both came to the conclusion that the appetizer we had – steak quesadillas were the best quesadillas we had EVER had.  How ironic that the meal we put at the top of our list for bad dinners produced the best quesadilla ever. 

It made me stop and think about what good is hidden in all the negative talk about our current recession.  To me two major things come up.  First, it always makes people stop and think about where they are in life and then try to get things going on the right track.  Second, this particular recession will force us as a nation and individuals to reassess what we believe is good use of debt and who should be given credit.  Without it being readily available at all times, we might have to stop and think about our purchases.  This hopefully will help us make better decisions because we do have to think about what we are spending our money on.  To me those two benefits alone make it not as bad of a recession.

Have you looked at the good amongst your bad lately?

Use of Coupons

What am I doing differently now that the economy is slowing?  Honestly not much, why?  We have always lived below our means and tried to save as much money as possible.  However there is one big change that I have made to try to increase our savings – more coupons!  I have always used coupons, but now I am using more of them and seeking them out versus my old method of just using them when they came along.  

One of the ways I do this is by signing up for the email list at stores I frequent.  For example, I am on the Borders mailing list and they send out coupons via email.  So when I decided to buy my Dad a book for Christmas I waited until the coupons for the month came out and then went in and bought the book.  The savings might not have been much but I figure every $4 that I save is that much more in my savings and puts us that much closer to retiring early with no financial worries.  Most stores have these lists and it can be an easy way to save money on things you were already going to purchase!  So how can you save $4?