My Journey Through Debt: Part 2: Writing It Down and Changing Our Food Habits

Although I was now willing to recognize my problem with credit and do something about it, life still went on around me. There were still bills. Still vehicles that needed to be fueled. Still a mortgage to pay. Still money that needed to be spent.

Notice I said needed. As in it is an absolute necessity to spend a set amount of money on a particular bill. For times like that, I carried with me a pen and tablet of paper. I wrote down every single purchase. Every bill paid. Every quarter loaned. I wrote it down to the penny.

I found that by writing it down, I was able to take a semblance of control over my money. No longer was it ruling me, I was ruling it. No longer would I live in fear of the total balance due vs. the total balance available. No longer would I remain purposefully ignorant of my money.

I kept a running total in my notebook of how much CASH I had on hand. I paid everything in cash that I possibly could. If I had to mail the bill, I used check or money order to get it there. Charging it to the card was NOT an option.

I also started to get creative at home. I found that the less I left the house, the less money I spent in gasoline or trips to the store. I found that if I thought I needed something, I could write it down on a list and wait until Friday, my errand day, to purchase it. Usually by then, I found I no longer “needed” it. I also found that although I may have run out of certain types of food, I could make other dishes that worked just fine. By NOT buying more food, I was able to put more money towards paying off the principle of my credit card debts.

If I DID buy food at the grocery, I spent more time figuring out the cheapest way to go. This was not a time in my life for steaks, pork chops, soda, chips, or the like.  During my climb out of the debt pit was not the time to be picky about brands, either. I learned to buy in bulk more, breaking it down myself when I returned home.

By shopping the outer edges of the grocery, I was able to select the healthiest options for my family, while saving money by NOT buying the convenience, pre-packaged foods that seem to gravitate towards the middle of the store. This time in my life was NOT about convenience. It was about paying down debt. Yes it was hard. Yes it was time consuming. Yes it was worth it.

Although it was a struggle at first, I soon found that our family did just fine with only adding half the meat (usually the most expensive part of a food budget) called for in a recipe. I also found that some of my creative ways to stretch the food budget and the meals became family favorites (potatoes in tacos, rice in stews).

You may say, “Sure Annie, easy for you to say, there were just two of you.” That simply wasn’t true. While we did not have Little Bug yet, we did have several mentor children that lived with us or were in and out of our house on an almost daily basis. While we loved them and were blessed to have had them here, extra people do cost money to have in your home, plain and simple.

The way we dealt with that was simple. We were honest with them. No I didn’t tell them every little thing, however, if they asked why things had changed, I did inform them that we were in the process of saving money to pay down debt.

If you have family members that may rebel at the idea of changing spending habits and food habits, you may want to talk to them about why you are doing so and how they can help you.

I realize that this path is not easy. I do understand. I walked it and experienced it. It is HARD to tell yourself “no.” It is time consuming to write every penny down. It is frustrating to have a teenager or spouse questioning you as to why there is no soda in the house. I get it. However, stick with it. It will be worth it. I promise.

“Who recalls when folks got along without something if it cost too much?”  ~Kin Hubbard.

~Annie