And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. ~ Kahlil Gibran



Thursday, March 05, 2009

The Adventure Begins

Mr. Barefoot and I received notice last night that the time has come for us to really trim the fat from our budget. Nothing horrible or unexpected happened, so don't worry about us like that. It's just that some things have come to a head that really need dealing with financially, and it is going to require some serious effort on our part to get everything straightened out.

I am choosing to look at it as an adventure; a game to find out exactly how cheaply we can live.

I think it will be fun to see how far I can stretch a dollar. I am excited to get creative about ways to make what we already have work in as many ways as possible. We are on a quest, and the goal is freedom from debt and wage slavery.

It is good.

6 comments:

Lisa said...

Ooh! An adventure! Bring in on, sweetie, and we will throw in our two-cents if you want. Or not!

Can I throw out some (not very welcome) thoughts? Could you cut down on the cigarettes, Dew, stuff like that on your way to quitting them altogether? Would sure save a ton of money and improve your health at the same time. I did it with the Diet Coke and my at-home frou-frou coffees. Still working on some other vices, though!

(All said with love and not as a criticism!)

barefoot gardener said...

No offense taken, Lisa...in fact, I had already thought of that. I pulled out my Chantix prescription (a stop-smoking drug), and actually *gasp* filled a bottle with water this morning instead of grabbing my customary Dew.

Maybe this will be the kick in the butt I have needed to give up these nasty little habits! Yay!!!!

Deb said...

Best of luck with your adventure. I've been wanting to do the same, but I need to get The Hermit on board with me.

The Rambling Taoist said...

I truly like your attitude! Sure wish me 'n the wife could embrace it too, but when you're really poor, the adventure doesn't seem as fun. Still, maybe that's just my poor attitude. :{

Lisa said...

I am so proud of you already!!

One thing I find helps is to work really hard not to waste food. I save (in the freezer) all the potato chip crumbs, dry slices of bread, etc, and later use them to coat chicken or pork chops like Shake 'n Bake.

I plan my meals so that leftovers from one meal are reincarnated a day or two later in another. Leftover taco meat and tomato sauce go into spaghetti sauce. Studly hasn't figured out that I do this!

The Sprouts need to learn that if they leave food behind, it is going to reappear the very next time they claim they are starving. So what if a bite or two is taken out of the apple. The rest is still good!

I can't wait for updates on your adventure and reports on how much you are saving and where it is coming from. I think we could all learn for your experiences!

barefoot gardener said...

Deb-
Thanks for the encouragement. It took a REALLY hard kick in the butt (and not from me) to get Mr. Barefoot going on this, and he still isn't happy about it. Keep plugging away at your Hermit, and maybe he will come around.

RT-
I was a single mom at one point, buried to my eyeballs in debt and having trouble finding work and daycare....trust me, it is ALL about the attitude. It sucks, wanting things and not being able to have them. It sucks, having to budget so carefully and think about every penny. Still, there are a lot of good things that can come out of it, too.....

Lisa-
Good ideas! I already told the Mr. that we are going to be doing some serious portion control, and have been looking into recipes to stretch our meat as far as I can. Luckily, I already bought many of the seeds we will need this year for the garden, so I am hoping for a large harvest.

It will be so much fun to see where all this leads! I surely will keep y'all posted...