Hi, I'm Xysea and occasionally I fill in on Frugal Fridays when sarahnity can't make it. I'm a veteran tightwad, but I think I'm going to need some help to brainstorm my way out of this one...
A little bit more about me: I'm a single mother, of one child, who lives and works in Florida. I work for a public utility. I make a decent salary with benefits, enough (in general) for us to live off of. I'm not really a spendthrift, but we have some items on our list that aren't 'needs' but that make life a bit more comfy.
I drive a 1995 Nissan, and I don't have a car payment.
More below the fold.
Up until now, I was getting some child support. Keeping a very long story short, my daughter's father has never been great. In fact he at one point got himself into quite a bit of hot water over not paying his child support but appeared to have turned over a new leaf last year and started paying current amount, plus some arrears. It would vary, but we would see somewhere between $300-500 a month over my salary. That was the 'fun' money. It was also money to put into savings monthly.
Well, it seems either the recession has hit his job or he's taken off again, because nada. Zilch. We're not getting any child support anymore. Which also means my 'income' has dropped $300-500 a month. Combine that with school letting out and ouch, I'm hurting at the moment. Not critical. I will still be able to afford all my bills and food, but with not much left over.
That 'not much left over' needs to go into my savings account to build that back up after our recent overseas trip to meet my fiance's family.
I'm going to dig out my Frugal Zealot books, and of course eating out (a rare pleasure) is now verboten. I have a plan to pay off my small CC balance ($150), and I'm not going to use it if I can help it. Any plans for weekends at the beach this summer are also gone. (I know, cry me a river, right?) It's a good thing I bought my daughter's summer clothes and bathing suit already. And I'm still going to have to plan for school clothes and supplies at summer's end, but that's a ways away and I'm looking to handle the next 3 months.
We had planned to try to go to NY to see my mother in person after our engagement, and I don't even know if that's going to be humanly possible. Even if I could swing it, it might be financially rather risky. I'm not going to enjoy having that conversation with either my fiance or my mother.
But, I'm still trying to stay positive. I've looked into the option of a 2nd weekend job, but I can't make the #s work out right; by the time I pay a sitter, and work a shift, it's not really adding much to the kitty. I could possibly work a small amount of overtime and get away with it, but we're under restrictions here at work due to the economy and falling tax revenues. No lay offs yet, but no new hires and those who retire or leave are not being replaced, so I need to keep it real.
I've got to figure out a way to trim my monthly budget to maximize the amount of money I can put into savings right now. With the bills as they are, I am realistically looking at only being able to sock away $100 and that's if nothing goes wrong.
I'm also trying to stay positive. Yes, it's a hit, but I'm not out of a job. It's not catastrophic. It's tight, nay, a bit uncomfortable, but it's doable. The pressure will let back up in early September when my daughter goes to middle school and that aftercare bill goes down by a third.
Mostly, I'd like to figure out how to trim my food budget healthily and keep utilities modest (in FL, it gets hot), and in general just figure out ways to make the summer fun, creative but cheap!