November Report Card and Boot Miracle

Well, I added it all up and it seems we are making progress in most areas. 

The main area I see dramatic change is in the grocery budget - we saved $571.66 in just one month.  I was thinking about it and I can attribute the change to the price checking mainly, but also to our meal plan.  I have been cooking much more frugally and making things stretch like never before.  I'll have to write a post on that, too.  I never thought it would make such a difference, but it clearly is.  A quick example of this is soup - it makes a small amount of meat go really far and doubles into a lunch for the next day by adding a bit more stock or even just a little water.  No one is complaining in fact RM still feels we are eating like kings.

Our gas bill went down $80.  I attribute this to actually thinking through our trips a bit more.  Before, if we needed to take two vehicles somewhere to make it more convenient for kids, etc., we automatically did that without thinking about it.  This past month, I stayed home with little ones when that kind of decision came up instead of taking two vehicles.  I think this was a huge area of savings for us.  I also seriously evaluated each trip or errand I wanted to take and would think through if there was another way I could do it more locally or if it needed to even be done at all.

Clothes.  We saved $95.57 from last month.  I don't normally spend a lot in this area anyway, but for some reason we spent more last month, perhaps more winter clothes were needed, can't remember.  This month we froze almost all spending on clothes.  A few unexpected needs came up, so off we went to the thrift store and we always found what we needed - snow pants for $7, for example.  (Even Christmas lights, for $3.)

Next to the grocery savings, the next biggest savings was in the area of self-indulgence - this includes restaurants, date nights, coffee, etc.   - $454.55.   Shocking, isn't it?  So, all those mini-sacrifices seemed to make a BIG difference. 

So - the grand total of savings was $1201.04!!!!  Yahoo!  It is good to look back and actually do the calculations.  There are many other budget items, but these seem to be the ones that stand out the most that you could relate to.  We were encouraged. 

Let me share one more quick story to show you how good God is and how he cares about my husband's feet.

So, before all these vows were made, my husband bought some boots, workboots to be specific.  But not just any workboot, very expensive workboots.  The kind you find in the store that looks like they belong on a Rescue Hero, know what I'm talking about?  Huge.  His feet aren't happy.  He had an injury to his foot when he was twenty and now it's acting arthritic, so he has to have very comfortable shoes or else he is in a lot of pain.  He's also on his feet on concrete (for an upcoming project) for hours and this can do him in sometimes with the current footwear he has.  So, even though we didn't have the money, I told him to buy what he needed.  He struggled as he didn't know for sure if he was even getting the contract for sure, but he bought them anyway in moment of weakness - his feet were sore at the time of purchase (kind of like not shopping when you are hungry!)

A few days later, he just couldn't handle the fact he had these boots that cost so much money, so he took them back.  He didn't have a boot plan in the back of his mind, he just wanted the money back in the account.  It was true, we needed the money.

Then he officially got the contract and with the weather turning colder, he decided perhaps he could now look again for boots, but this time in light of our new goals, he was determined to not pay full price.  He hoped to stumble upon a major sale. 

He took a look at several stores that carry the kind of boots he needed and there was really nothing that compared to those he had purchased and returned.  He decided he would go back to that store thinking maybe, maybe there will be a sale, who knows.

He got to the boot section and there was no sale, but he was looking and admiring anyway, when all of a sudden someone comes up behind him, another customer, and says, "Hey, you looking at those boots?"  "Uh yeah."  "I've got a brand new pair of boots I can't use.  I'm a trucker and they get in the way of my foot pedals- good price...what size are you, are you interested?"  Taken rather aback, RM, told him what size he was and said he'd think about it.

Then, as he left the store, the guy was still shopping, so RM went up to him and said he would be interested.  RM decided perhaps this was a boot angel and went to check them out at this guy's place to see if they fit.  Turns out the boots were EXACTLY  what RM was looking for, his size, virtually brand new (worn only a couple times and a third of the price of the other boots. Don't worry, he wasn't a "boot dealer", nothing shady was going on - I'm pretty sure he doesn't hang out doing "deals" like this normally!  Turns out he and RM ended up having a really nice conversation!

Odd as it was to be conducting boot deals in the suburbs, RM took the boots and came home with a hilarious story of how God provided for us again in exactly the way we needed.  He even cares about boots.  We immediately thanked God for his provision.

So, once again - don't give up!  Make the small changes and you'll be amazed and how it all adds up to huge savings!!