Spend or No Spend?
Unlike Pat of corninmycoffee-pot.blogspot.com, I did not find February to "feel" like a very frugal month. Pat really made some progress in her frugal journey by instituting a no spend month and I was pleased to wholeheartedly cheer Pat on. Yet for me, February felt more like a spend month than a no spend one.
An unexpected doctor bill, new shoes for Husband and newly purchased washer and dryer had left me feeling like I have some empty pockets. Truth is spending money is rarely my activity of choice. (Well, I must admit shopping for grandbabies does bring me much joy.) Shopping is an exercise in caring for my family, but not high on my list of things to do.
Having gone months without a dryer and diligently saving money in my appliance fund, I was not overly excited to hear my washer playing a grinding tune. Already a machine with issues and over ten years of age, Husband made the decision that we needed to find replacement. Our Saturday of getting caught up with some yard chores quickly became an afternoon of appliance shopping.
As we do not have access to a vehicle of adequate size to transport Craig's List finds and as Husband was not wild about taking a chance that a second hand washer would be the best answer, we ended up purchasing new. We did seek out several scratch-and-dent and second hand stores, but were not assured that the products available would be the best choice.
Our appliance repair/purchase fund covered the cost of the new hopefully dependable washer we found. Husband, though, decided that since we had hoped to replace our dryer in the future, we should make that purchase now as well. (Oh, for this frugal woman who watches her budget categories so carefully and now realizing that she would have to do some robbing of Peter to pay Paul, this was a bit of a bummer.) By making this decision however, we received free delivery and removal of our old washer and dryer and saved the time and hassle of another shopping trip in the months to come. My little floor budget category again loses steam as those monies have now purchased my dryer.
So Husband helps me work through what feels to me like such a spend month. He says in over 31 years of marriage we have purchased one used washer and one new one. Another washer used for a good portion of those years came with a house we purchased. And in all our years of marriage we never bought a dryer. Either we went with out or had one come with a house purchase. The dryer we now have that is no longer working and came with a home purchase is about 28 years old.
So I practice a grateful heart. Even though I do not like to spend money and would like my appliances to live forever I am grateful for our appliance fund that helped towards our need. It will be a blessing to have a dryer again even though the loads dried will be few. What a relief to have made these purchases with funds on hand even though I was hoping some of the monies could go in a different direction. Budgets are a blessing and even though some of my categories are on empty now, the process of refilling them will continue. Spend month or no spend month, the bottom line is living within your means.
How was your month? Spend or no spend?
9 Responses to “Spend or No Spend?”
March 5th, 2013 at 6:26 am
A new washer and dryer are definitely in our future. However, I did find a set of dryer balls for $4.95 at Target that help to agitate the laundry as it tumbles so that it dries faster and more evenly. They work great, and I’m excited because now I can continue to save AND wait for a great sale!
March 5th, 2013 at 7:30 am
Our washer is sounding louder and louder. I think we’re in the same place. We don’t budget “categories,” but there is always room for “need.” At almost 60, I don’t want to deal with used for every five years. It’s too much work and one cannot rely on children to help move, transport or whatever. I would LOVE to purchase something that is good enough quality to last the rest of my life, but since I don’t have an end date on that, you never know!!!!! So we will do as you have done when we must. New is not always a bad thing.
March 5th, 2013 at 10:05 am
Hi All!
Couple of things… DL, I hope you bought Top Loader Washer.
About 10 years ago, The Honey and I went shopping for what we thought we be the last washer and dryer we’d ever need. It WAS NOT.They were front load and stackable, though we never stacked ours. I still have the dryer with low miles on it, due to hanging laundry. But we’ve had to replace the washer and this time we went back to NEW Top Load.
I am happy with our choice.
You didn’t mention it, but here are a couple of things I think about your situation; as well as for those who are in the market for new machines.
1.) when buying New Machines… there is sometimes a discount for buying the set. Did you realize a price difference for that? Some people don’t know it… but helps to ask.
(right now, I am putting back $10 a week for propane due to ALMOST RUNNING OUT IN November 2012)
2.) Having money set back for this helps! It softens the blow of the expense when you know you’ve SAVED for the purchase. Denise–even $10 a week or month put back someplace where you won’t spend it gets you there a little bit faster.
3.) DL: don’t lose heart on the floor. Now that you’re not saving for a washer your floor category will increase at a quicker pace…if you snowball the savings for those to categories into one!
thanks for the link back. As always, I enjoy reading FH!
Pat
March 5th, 2013 at 10:40 am
Lindy:
I do hope you find a great sale. I had been watching appliance sales for some time to get a feel for prices and think we did okay with what we bought. We actually tried another place selling the same washer and realized our first stop was a $100.00 less and so we returned to that store.
Denise:
60 is looking closer and closer to Husband and me and he hopes this washer/dryer combo will be our last. I am not as optimistic. Perhaps the dryer as it will be greatly appreciated but get little use.
Pat:
Yes, I did get a top-loader! I have heard too many horror stories regarding the front-loader type. We did ask for a discount on the set, but because both were on sale we did not get one. However by buying both the washer and dryer, we received free delivery, hook-up and removal of our old set. This value was about $90.00 and made Husband decide better to get a dryer and increase our expenditure than pay for these services.
Thanks so much for sharing. I always appreciate your wisdom!
March 6th, 2013 at 10:27 am
February was a no-spend month for us, and a huge success! We truly enjoyed what we called “peasant food” and managed to cut our food bill by 40% while still eating a healthy diet. We also cut eating out (a far smaller bill to begin with) by 80%.
The icing on the cake: when we buckled down and tightened our belts, God blessed us with 2 new referrals to Samaritan Ministries, which saved us the entire cost of our membership that month!
March 6th, 2013 at 4:47 pm
We rent, but I like the idea of a appliance fund! We have our own washer & dryer we bought last year, a little kenmore stackable and bought are window air conditioners 2nd hand. But I think I will start a fund anyhow as it can be used for parts for our washer or dryer as bf knows how to fix them. I spent money in Feb, for valentines day for my bf, bought him new shoes too, bought a swiffer mop & refills that I needed as I am blind, butnothing major purchased thank-god.
March 6th, 2013 at 6:59 pm
Kim, I am impressed. My food budget is my challenge these days with our healthy diet plan, but I keep plugging away. You have inspired me to not give up. You sure scored big on the Samaritan referrals!
Linda: Although my appliance fund is now empty, rest assured I will be continuing to make my monthly contribution. It has been a real blessing.
March 7th, 2013 at 7:21 am
Thanks for the input on top loader vs. front loader! I had thought that was the way to go as I envision myself in 10-15 years in my mid-70s, perhaps not being able to reach into the top-loader at all (I have a 60-year-old friend who cannot NOW!)
I don’t have to worry about $10 a week at this stage of the game. First of all, my husband handles the money and he does an excellent job! His retirement and our thrift in younger years has provided enough cushion for these types of things. He is able to save $1000 a month out of our retirement NOW, not to say that will always be that way, but it is for now, so I don’t worry about much. I just continue doing as I always have.
I think that’s what changes people in retirement; they think they can suddenly change their habits of living and then they get into trouble! And they wonder what happened??
March 13th, 2013 at 8:02 pm
February wasn’t bad … it was November and December that hurt. The water heater had to be replaced, followed by the furnace. We were able to shop a bit for the water heater, but the furnace was a “must do now” because the heat exchanger had cracked (discovered when the repairman was looking for the other problem).
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