Life in the Retired Lane-

About a year ago I made this my 'new' motto...

I saw it cross stitched and in a little frame at a junk shop and adopted the phrase as my own.

I knew when Honey retired it was going to be so different. Honestly, I was a little scared too, with the turn the economy had taken in the year before (2008) I thought it was going to be

hard at times .   We were going to have to adapt our lifestyle a to live a little differently. Fortunately for me I had begun practicing frugality years ago. While Honey was off at work I would be here implementing ideas and strategies I had learned from reading books like  The Tightwad Gazette, Living on a Dime Cookbook;  as well as  articles from Laine's Letters and anything online I could find about living frugally. 

We had already learned to do without some things --mainly a second income. Being married to an old-fashioned guy at heart, he's never wanted me to work in all the years we've been married.  So we've been a single income family for 27 years now. 

I've learned to stretch what's in the pantry.  I've learned how to make homemade mixes and cook from scratch instead of buying boxed items in the store.   On his income alone we were always able to feed our family 8 and at times dinner guests-- we've never been hungry.

I guess its been the hardest on Honey.  He's never paid much attention to how things have gotten done around here.  He just faithfully went to work everyday and came home to a clean house, hot shower and supper on the table.  He's had to find ways to stay busy.  He is also learning ways to make something from nothing.   My Granny calls it 'doing wonders with rotten cucumbers' .  

So, this year when our income dropped a considerable amount-- and we still had a mortgage to pay and some other debt to payoff, I knew some of life's luxuries or little pleasures were going to have to go.  

We got rid of our house phone, cable, and internet.  We paid off credit card debt and currently are working on paying down a collateral loan.  We kept our cell phones and only use these now.   We made strides in these areas enough so that now we're able to return to internet service. We were also able to shop around for internet and  found it at a cheaper price.  It just so happened that around the time we were checking internet prices, this company was running a special on installation-- my favorite part was there is no contract!   To replace cable we went back to our HD converter box and purchased an outside HD antenna to mount on our aerial antenna. This works so much better now and we don't have to pay for programming.  

I learned a lot from this experience.  The main thing is that you can live without the internet and you can live without cable.   I make no excuse; I must admit, I justify the internet by saying I am able to sell things online to supplement our income on occasion, for example, I was able to sell some homeschooling books online last spring and buy parts for our mower through eBay and pay for them using my pay-pal account.   I also use the internet to pay bills and reach out to friends and family. 

Overall-- the last 5 months to almost a year now, I've enjoyed the challenges in continuing to make our house a happy home.  I look forward to seeing what challenges the next year brings our way! 

Have you made changes in the last few years? Cut backs in your home or lifestyle? 

Maybe you have tips or ideas on this topic... I hope you share them in the comments. 

God Bless you 

and

Thanks for reading!