How do you spend your money to further your SS goals?

[me&thegals]

I'd love one of those, too, FC! Especially since we would then be completely free from all fuel. It's the only reason we have an LP tank. Well, there is about 1 week per winter we're gone and the auxiliary furnace runs on it, but it would be easy to pay someone to come stoke the stove twice a day while we're gone...

 

[Nifty]

What a great thread! This is making me feel kinda like a SS slacker too! I work so many hours at my multiple jobs that I don't stop enough to think about sharpening my self-sufficient saw.

I'd love to do things like solar water heating and even find ways to use that hot water to keep our house warm.

We use a lot of electricity at our house and I'd like to put up a ton of photovoltaic cells on the roof, but our roof is so old and fragile it doesn't make sense to have them installed to only have to have them removed when it is time for the new roof in a couple years. Hopefully they will hurry up with those PV roof shingle all-in-one things to kill two birds with one stone.

 

[tamlynn]

How do you spend your money to further your SS goals?

This year we put in more fruit trees and berries. We also spend money on long-term bulk food storage items such as rice, sugar, wheat, powdered milk, etc.

We are on a waiting list for a community garden plot. That will cost about $40 a year, plus whatever watering system, raised beds, etc. we may need to install.

 

[lupinfarm]

We were working on whatever my dad sent us throughout the month, which I can tell you doesn't work when you have to run an F-150 lol.

So we sat down with somewhat of a plan, we have several credit cards to pay off. One with a high credit amount and a high interest rate, one with a lower credit amount and average interest rate, one medium credit amount with average interest rate, and one with a tiny credit amount ($2000) and an average interest rate. All the cards are eventually going to be closed except for the one with the lower credit amount, its at $6000 but it's needed for my dads business.

Every month my dad pays double on all the credit cards. This clearly doesn't work very well because you're paying it down so slowly, you lose motivation and give up and then start again. Not a great plan. All those double payments added together come out to about $1200-$1500 a month. We decided to combine those payments and put them on one credit card until its paid off. The others just get a minimum payment on them. We start from the smallest card and go up, once you pay off it makes you feel ten times better and gives you the pride to continue on and get another one closed.

Every month we also get $2000 for household things, feeds for the animals, gas, groceries, and any discretionary spending like horse supplies or renovation things. We spend on average about $300 a month to re-stock some of our perishable items in the grocery department, and $500 to completely restock the whole kitchen. Our goal is always to get our month to month expenses in under $1000 (including gas for the truck) and then use the other $1000 for discretionary spending/renovation spending. It works! It really does.

Household bills come out before we get the $2000, and go down or up with the season. Winter we have the added bill of heating oil and extra electric use for the heated tanks. In the summer we go through probably 1.5 propane deliveries, in the winter once a month.

We also pay business tax once a year for my dads company, this year it amonts to $27,000. November-December are generally our toughest months, and we suffer in those months. Hence the credit cards.

I don't actually think any of that made sense LOL

My dad makes on average around $7000 a month, About 7 out of 12 months he'll make more like $14,000 or $20,000. An average year my dad makes anywhere from $80,000 to $130,000 depending on his contracts and major projects. This year he'll make almost $200,000 due to a couple enormous projects. We're not wealthy though, lol the animals make sure of it.

 

[lupinfarm]

Oh and this year we're putting in raised beds cause I'm sick and tired of getting nowhere with plot gardening, adding more fruit trees (mostly apples because my brother eats about 20lbs of apples a freaking week), putting in a full blackberry and raspberry garden and adding more to our landscaped ones in the front garden. We're having Mylie restarted under saddle and next summer she'll go for driving training, We're building a new purpose built chicken house, We're purchasing a rooster and a drake, We're purchasing a buck for our two Pygmy does, We're putting up more fencing for the animals, We're renovating the garage, We're buying a metal round pen for training the horses, We're clearing our ditch at the front of the property, We're building run-in shelters from locally cut, milled, and purchased wood, We're putting in a hand pump on the house well, We're purchasing a Nubian doe, We're picking up free tree saplings for our town to plant out our property, We're talking to our neighbour about tapping some of his maples for our own use since he doesn't tap the ones on our side of his property, We're collecting maple syrup supplies...

We're doing way too much LOL

 

[pioneergirl]

Since I travel, I do things a bit different. I plan to be done with this job and be SS (or darn close) by Jan 2012. In the meantime, since I'm not home but twice a year, I save what $$$ I can, and also purchase things I normally wouldn't find in my area of residence.

The $$ I'm saving will go for things when I get home (fencing, insulation, new wood stove, etc), with a list of projects. The list is divided into summer and winter projects, since I'm only home for 2 weeks of each!

 

[enjoy the ride]

OK- taxes are done- I'm getting a larger refund this year due to tax credit on new wood stove. So now is the moment to do a little planning before the money comes and goes. Only bill due soon is half the property tax due in April.
1) do a plan to fix that darn goat house so that I don't have to clean an 8x8 ft shed with three perfectly obnoxious goats in it who will not go out in the rain.
2)Start an accumulating fund in my savings account to have to eventually have a year ahead fund for larger recurring expenses like spring vetting, property tax, truck registration, etc so that I will have it saved and not have to juggle every month. Then add every month to gradually get ahead of these bills I know are coming.

What a novel idea for me- actually planning before spending............

 

[Beekissed]

How do you spend your money to further your SS goals?

The list would be shorter if I listed the other ways I spend my money. Most of my spare money~if it could be called that~ is spent on furthering my SS goals, whether it be in tools, equipment, fencing, securing storage areas, etc. This is sort of my bank, my security. When I get to the point where my accumulated skills, tools and livestock/garden harvest makes it possible to rarely ever visit a grocery store during a year, I will be a very happy woman.

This year most of my money will be spent on tools, fencing, seeds/plants, expanding my sheep and chicken flocks and preparing for next winter.

 

[lupinfarm]

We started a "bank the rest" account through my mum's Scotiabank chequeing account. It rounds up to the next $1, so if we spend $5.25, .75 cents gets put in a savings account.

The savings can be used for emergencies or fencing or a project we've wanted to do.

 

[TanksHill]

lupin combining your cards down will help get stuff paid off really fast.

My SS goals...... Well right now I am not putting money into any large projects. We really need to confirm that our new business will actually make some money first.

Instead I have done a few small things I think are important.

I have bought a couple new-to-me cast iron pans.

I bought a wind up / solar powered radio and flashlight for the emergency cupboard.

I have finally put together two 72 hour back packs for the family. One is designed to go in dh truck. The other is for the rest of us. I will put it either in my van or near the front door. I still have a few things to add. Work gloves, cash, maybe extra shoes. Not sure how big I want the bag.

I have kept my eye on the grocery sales and stocked the freezer for almost a fraction of the regular cost.

Starting on the veggie garden. Using seeds I have I should be able to plant the whole thing. I have spent some money on soil amendments. But they will make a big difference.

Anyways those are the little things.

g