I finally made the call to Comcast the other day and told them to drop our digital subscriber package which included digital cable, high speed Internet and digital telephone. I have been putting this off for way too long. With the econony being where it is and the fact that gizmo is not gainfully employed still is forcing us to make some tough decisions. We have hopes that gizmo will get a job with the Census bureau in March since she has gone through the testing phase and passed. I am not sure how long that job will last but at least it will be some sort of extra income coming into the budget. In the mean time we have to make whatever adjustments that we can to make my pay check stretch as far as it can. I know that I am not alone in this journey because we are all in the same boat in one way or the other. We were able to keep basic cable and we had to keep our Internet access because we are all doing online school. We reduced our bill down by about 65% which is good.
The other budget killer which is as equally hard is eating out. I do not think that we eat out that much until I sit down and look at how much we do spend in that category in our budget. I do not care what anyone says, it is much cheaper to eat at home than eat out. Yes, it is more hassle to have to cook and clean up after one self but the fact is it is cheaper and can be healthier. We have been looking at our spending habits with regards to groceries and we were under the perception that buying food at Walmart was the cheapest place to get food. Thanks to my wife doing some research we discovered that Sav a Lot can save you a lot of money in the food budget. We still have to get some things at Walmart like paper products and personal hygiene stuff and meat but our food dollars seem to go much further. Another thing that can save you some food bucks is using coupons. Using cupons over the long haul can save you a TON of money if you are diligent in doing it. I know this because I had the opportunity to sit down with a friend of a friend at Ryans Steak House on Rivers avenue. When I listened to this lady talk to me about the process that she goes through to find the coupons and go to the different stores to save this and that I was amazed. Using coupons is a lot of work but like this lady showed me on her receipts you can save a lot of money over the long haul.
The other thing that is killing our budget is our housing expenses. I love living where we are and the fact that I am 15 minutes away from the office. The truth of the matter is there are cheaper places to live and before our lease is up in May we are going to be looking for a cheaper place to live that is halfway between Goose Creek and Kiawah. We will probably be looking for something in West Ashley. Not only is our goal to find a cheaper place to live but we also need to get our teens out of the Johns Island/James Island school districts. Charleston county schools here are very poor quality and thanks to that we have been forced to do home schooling again. Our teens desperately want to move back to Goose Creek to go back to those schools and be with their friends but I do not want to drive 2 hours per day back and forth to Kiawah so we are going to have to compromise.
Despite the struggles that we may be facing financially life is pretty good. We are all relatively healthy and we are not facing and life changing events at the moment. When we hear about the tragedy in Haiti we realize just how fortunate we really are. Our poorest people in America are filthy rich next to these folks. I can not fathom the desperation and hopelessness that those people must be experiencing. The loss of life and property is staggering to comprehend. I am hopeful that all of the money that has been raised and all of the help from all around the world will be put to good use. I hope that the people of Haiti are much better off once the dust settles and they are able to get back to life as normal as possible. It will take years of rebuilding and some changes will have to be made by the Haitian government to allow those changes to happen. It is good to see how the world is responding to their needs.
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