Just like most people today, money has become somewhat of an issue for my me and my family. Our family business is in construction, we build new homes as well as renovations and additions. We were very lucky for awhile, business was booming, we had a waiting list 2 years out. We were in demand. We were so busy that we were only building new homes and turned all other work away.
Fast forward to now and we will do absolutely anything because work is that slow. We've had to let an employee go and if things don't improve we will have to lay off more. We hate to do that, we have awesome men that work for us, men that have families.
Unfortunately my husband and I were not smart with our money when things were good. Not that we have a house or car payment we can't afford but we did have some credit card debt and we didn't save like we should have. So here we are, having made a great deal less so far this year than we did last year.
We are taking things seriously now. We are learning the difference between a need and a want. I am learning to not be so impulsive, I stop and think instead of just opening my wallet. I've learned to love sales and bargain shopping. I refuse to buy anything full price.
Thankfully we've stopped trying to keep up with the Jones's. I was more at fault with that than my husband. I thought that my material posessions made me acceptable to others. Now I don't care that I'm driving a minivan with over 140,000 miles on it or that I don't own a Coach purse. I'm content eating home the majority of the time, it's healthier.
Due to my health, working 2 jobs is not possible. So, I'm learning to cook from scratch and I love it. I'm looking into ways to make money online by doing surveys and paid tweets. If you're interested, I have some opportunities listed to the left. I would be glad to pass on any info I find, just let me know and I will send you what I have by email, I just ask if you decide to sign up with any of them to please use me as your referral.
I'm trying to learn to use coupons for groceries. So far I'm not doing all that well, I mean I've read about some women pay next to nothing for a lot of food. Maybe I'll get there but I figure even my little amount helps.
I hope to make all these changes a way of life, not something I do until work is busy again. I hope we have learned the importance of having money in savings. I am so thankful that I no longer play the game of trying to keep up. Even though there are moments where I'm frustrated because I really want a pedicure and there just isn't money for me to get one, I have learned that my world won't end if my pedicure is given to me by my daughters. Actually, it's more fun that way.
I hope we are setting a good example for our children. They have had a hard time adjusting to all the changes but now even my daughters enjoy shopping sales and trying to get things as cheap as possible.
Life isn't about things anyway.
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