Friday, May 10, 2013

Saving HOPE in our Falling Economy

I hope you have not been too affected by this landslide of depleting funds, but if you have there is HOPE. We choose our attitude and our work ethic! I have found these two things go far. After watching our traditional business sales fall by almost 25% for a 5th year in a row by 2012, I could see the crunch. Most importantly I could FEEL in my heart the pain of other's who couldn't afford to have necessary work done for their homes and were being forced to sell or return their dreams to the bank, or reach out for public assistance which is incredibly painful for anyone not used to that humbling reality. Back to square one into someone else's small rental to begin again, IF they still had employment. We watched numerous families choose to work by splitting their families apart to find work many states away. We started to feel the need and spent time separated and missing out on family events together as my spouse began to stretch his work area farther and farther from home. Diversification of what we do and how much he was willing to work became part of our lives. It is a time when you want to be involved in all your children's sports and achievements not stuck to the grindstone to work harder not to lose all that you have already worked SO HARD for. As soon as sales started to fall we took some essential safeguarding steps and I would like to share them in case we can help you. 1) We CUT OUT luxuries of every kind. 2) We limited trips to save on fuel. 3) We simply decided to do without any processed food and I went back to cooking from scratch. We grabbed a chunk of money and invested in farm raised beef burger bulk to have a store in the freezer. Then I made sure we only used 1 pound per ground beef meal for a family of 8. We stretched to smaller meals, therefore healthier portions and made do with the healthier snacks of bottling our own water for trips and slicing our own cheese instead of cheese sticks on the road. Something we have always done is used the grocery store for a loaf of bread and simple sandwich makings instead of a restaurant stop. If we have to eat out, we all have a simple dollar item on the fast food menu, hopefully they have a grilled wrap with veggies for my sake! 4) We switched our shopping to safer eco friendly household consumer goods from one store, with an organized system to buy only what we needed, one stop shop a month online to save fuel, time, energy and healthcare costs. (This actually resulted in more savings and health benefits and a new income; better switch than we ever imagined.) We took on more jobs and as a family on evenings and weekends built more product at the family business to sell. We saved and began paying off the smallest debt we had and then the next, and then the next. We were determined to get rid of any payments that were difficult to make. Fast forward and we just earned a Financial Freedom Award for ridding ourselves of all our credit card debt! Our hard work has paid off. We have survived and even prospered when many are looking at a bleak reality of loss. Please have hope and feel free to ask if you would like tips on our system. One crucial element was knowing some of these principles and then reading more from Dave Ramsey. He is very knowledgeable, an expert in his field and you can find him online easily. HAVE HOPE!!! It is the tough times that build character to persevere in us if we choose to be open to change and adjustments from our usual.

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