Monday, March 26, 2012

No Change



 I tend to get rather disgusted when I see shows on tv about our poor economy. All the people they show had a ridiculously high paid job and, of course, they can't find another..anywhere...(but if you are used to making that kind of money and think you are worth it maybe you aren't looking in the right places). These people, of course, had savings but have now used it all and while they are telling you this, they are showing pictures of their gorgeous house with two stories and a two car garage with new cars inside.
I thought I would do this post so others would understand how the rising gas and food prices have really been affecting us. I can remember when our prices first went up and one day we went to town and they had jumped up to $2.50 a gallon and we were scrambling to figure out how we were going to get more gas money into our budget that week. These days $2.50 a gallon is just a nice dream. Last week when I filled up it was $3.75 a gallon and it is probably higher now.
So what does that mean for us? Well, when I first got my job it cost me $20 a week in gas to go to work and shopping on the weekend. It now costs $50 a week. My paycheck has only gone up $ .50 a hour which meant I made a whole $12.50 a week extra. However, I was extremely lucky and my job changed and 2 more hours were added on to my work day. Extremely lucky money-wise but 2 hours out of my day means that I am constantly wishing for more time at home so I can get more done here. The reason I only had a part-time job to begin with is because I have so much to do here at home. My extra hours add $85 to my paycheck.
My children and grandchild moved out, that took away all but one of my dependents. Trust me, the extra $85 now goes to taxes. So that takes me back to just the $12.50 more every week.
As for Phil's paycheck: His boss decided that he needed help to keep his company going so started taking out and extra 5 % from Phil's pay for the company (yup, he has good lawyers), work also slowed up. Phil ended up making $100-150 less almost every week. It has been like that for about a year and has just started picking back up this year again and his boss (after about $8000 worth of Phil's money) has stopped taking the 5%.
We bought the truck and now Phil has to pay a lot more for his gas. He puts about $90 in gas in every week.
We do have less people in the house, which means less food to buy and less of an electric and water bill but no by much.
Food prices have not been really bad until lately. I can still find a lot of deals in the produce section but we are having a hard time keeping ourselves in meat. Meat prices are terrible! We basically walk down the meat aisle in the one store that puts out reduced meat and we hope they still have some meat in the reduced section.
I will be ever so glad when the pigs and chickens are ready for slaughter because it will mean we have some decent meat that we don't have to buy.
That brings us to feed prices. We have a great feed store here. Our feed store is not without their own means. If the feed prices go too high, he simply stops buying and makes his own.  We can tell this has happened when we start getting feed in plain brown bags. A bag of laying mash has only gone up $1.70 at the feed store ($11.70) but if you go to Tractor Supply (when they opened they were cheaper than the feed store, not anymore) a bag of laying mash (the Dumor cheap stuff) will cost you approximately $14 (that is up $5 ).  I cannot give you a comparison on pig pellets as I have just started buying them but they are $11.95. This week I mixed mine with cracked corn ($9.95).
So how has our life changed? We shut off our Directv and went to Netflix. Our spare room now stores a decent amount of food. That's it. We are dealing with the high prices and adjusting to them as they come same as we have always done. Looking for deals and getting them when they are there.  We don't have a big house and big bills and there are still other ways we could cut back on those bills if we had to. Basically life is the same as it has always been here.

13 comments:

  1. Part of me secretly hopes that the govt will do nothing to lower the price of gas. That part of me, hopes that gas will stay high so that people and corporations will be forced to make different decisions about their energy use. But its a secret, so please don't tell anyone.

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    1. I really can't see them going down much so your hope may be fulfilled.

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  2. Well... I'm not sure I believe in the whole everybody panic the world is coming to an end aspect of the peak oil movement, but it's certainly clear that oil is a limited resource, and the global demand is going nowhere but up.

    You'd never know it by listening to the political idiocy that so pervades the airwaves, but demand for oil in the US is actually lower than it's been in years, US oil production is up, and for the first time in many decades we're actually a net EXPORTER of petroleum products. Here's an interesting article on the topic if you're interested - feel free to ignore the whole "let's all invest in natural gas" angle:

    http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/why-am-i-paying-so-much-for-gasoline-49218

    I guess I'm saying that I don't expect anything in this equation to change any time soon... no matter how much we drill or how many pipelines they build. In fact, I expect it to get worse... much MUCH worse. And with global populations soaring, I just can't see food prices going down either.

    I'm not sure what it all means in terms of what we should do now... but it sure seems that being as self-sufficient as possible is really in our best interests.

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  3. Doing the same here, trying to cut back any way I can. Dropped cable TV and phone service, and replaced it with Boxee and Magic Jack, both of which are a one time big purchase and then either free, or ridiculously cheap yearly. Going back to growing some vegetables to save cost there, and looking into how to get some meat animals too. With my 2500HD and 13MPG average, I can't do jack about gas prices except complain.

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  4. Becky, the word "pragmatic" was coined for you!
    I have to say that although I am comfortably off, with a decent job bringing in a fair salary, we are still very conscious of the way prices continue to rise - especially for fuel, which is at its highest level ever, so we don't waste money on extravagances. Jane wins a lot of prizes (her business is about entering and winning competitions), and that contributes a lot to our income. Maybe you should try the same?? In the UK at least, prizes are tax-exempt!

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    1. Mark, most of the "prize" things here are all scams that make you buy things first. Besides, what would I do with a trip anyway, I can't take time off from work or from my work at home.
      By the way, I don't mind that these people have their big houses,cars and luxuries. I just don't understand why those things aren't the first to go once you lose your job and can no longer afford them anymore. I guess it is easier for me because I have so few things to give up but if one of us lost our jobs we would immediately cut off our house phone service (we have cell phones)and probably leave Internet on but use a cheaper (not as good)Internet. Our cell phones are only $25 a month but they would be the next things to go. If we had to leave the air conditioning off, we just would (I lived here in GA as a child and we never used the air because we couldn't afford it and it was HOT but we did it). I am sure, Mark, that you could tell me what you would do if you lost your job because you understand how to cut back as well.
      There have been a few news stories I have seen that have had some sensible people on them. One got a job at a fast food restaurant which mean they make next to nothing now but they knew it was a job and would still earn them some money,I make next to nothing and I don't want to ever work in a fast food restaurant again either but I would if I had to. Another person had lost their house went to live with their aunt, got unemployment but also collected cans and metal to make extra money. These are the people I think will make it through and be alright because they know how to adapt.
      I had to look up pragmatic,Mark (I blame the US public education). I think your right but I have had to be that way all my life so it comes naturally :)

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  5. Gas just went up to $3.84 a gallon and my commute to work is 80 miles roundtrip a day! I only drive that far because it's a good paying job (and I carry the health insurance, hubby doesn't have that option with his job), which are terribly scarce closer to home, too many places are closing their doors. Our life is the same too, however we just make different choices & while our five kids may not always be happy about that, they learn to live with it.

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    1. And your children will probably be better off because they will understand disappointment and know how to do without, something a lot of kids today never learn.

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  6. Hi becky, I am out and about now that the weather is getting nicer. I don't really panic about anything, I just make do with what I got and adjust to things as I go along. I will be spending more time on the new Homestaead where I don't need much and very little money.

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  7. I continue to find more ways to bring down the cost of groceries at my house. There is only me, but just this week I got two gallons of milk, three oranges and three bananas for $2.57 (think that is right) by using two internet coupons and buying the single oranges instead of a whole bag. The deal was free milk with three breakfast food items.

    I am retired, so some day I just determine I will not leave the house. It was hard, but I did not move the car for three days this week in order to save gas.

    Only reduced meat or sale meat comes in this house. My hens eat produce scraps I pick up from a store, the are free range and never have had store-bought chicken food. I get lots of eggs.

    All my means of saving and having more on less are thwarted by the price of gasoline, but I made the decision to just use less...simple for me.

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    1. I don't think I would have a problem with not going anywhere but Phil thinks he has to go somewhere every day. I don't use any more gas than I have to. I would love to have all my chickens free ranging but there is always some stupid neighbor who can't tie up their dogs and take no responsibility for what they do while they run around loose.

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  8. Here in UK, gas has gone up to £1.45 per LITRE! That about 2.3 American dollars a litre! We are being priced out from using cars at all over here! Not sure where it is going, but I suspect it will only get worse (sorry, that sounded ever so gloomy).

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