How frugal can you get? suggestions needed (long)

[~~Who,Me?~~]

Update? How is everything going?

First, thanks for asking. But I didn't want to answer until I had time to answer fully. *Plus* I really felt accountable to this thread....so when you posted that question, I finally went out, that day, and purchased a blanket for our hot water heater and pipes and just did it myself. I had it on my Honey-Do list, but he never got around to it. Now it's done!

We're doing well, but we've spent a ton of cash. Partly it makes me nervous, but in the long run it's for the best. We spent money on reinsulating our attic which was desperately needed, and a new garage door. But, the money is eligible for the tax credit, so it had to be purchased by 12/31 and it will reduce future spending on heat. Within the past 5-6 years, we have replaced all doors & windows, all insulation and siding, the furnace, the roof, the fireplace doors and now the garage door. Our house is really tight now and it has made an extreme improvement on our heating costs.

We now have both cars paid off. Our only debt that we are carrying is the house, and we did a re-fi which reduced our payment by half. We previously were about 4-5 years into a 15 year mortgage, therefore our home would be paid off by the time oldest was in high school. But, with recent economic events, there are new financial philosophies emerging, including home ownership. If you run the numbers, if you do a 30-year mortgage and put the extra $$ each month into savings/investing, you do better in the long run than if you pay off a house in 15 years and then begin saving/investing that money. And we did ours when the rates were at lowest ever, back in November I think. We missed the absolute bottom by about half a percent, but that's ok. Props to my hubby for timing it extremely well. Problem is, for us, for the short term, we don't have that extra money to invest due to me being out of ft work. So for the short term it helps us in the crisis, long term we will be disciplined enough to save that $$ when our normal cash flow resumes.

We have re-evaluated absolutely every expense and reduced it where we can. And it doesn't feel like I'm sacrificing anything. I had two part-time jobs that I was extremely excited about, not pan out for me but I'm resilient. Something will come up.

[VivaciousJewelz]

Thanks for updating! It sounds like you've been super smart about everything!

Did the consignment shop job not work out?

[~~Who,Me?~~]

Yes, I still work there. But I was pursuing two wah options that didn't work out.

[~~Who,Me?~~]

And, almost forgot--

We're dropping cable tv, keeping only internet. That saves about $60 month. Hubs changed his cell plan to save another $25 or so a month. Been doing really well on half.com selling books. Doing just ok on ebay, selling everything that ain't nailed down, lol. Doing well consigning the kids' things that we don't need anymore. Bummer that my crib has no resale value since drop-downs are no longer sold in this country.

[Jen1]

I am going to call our insurance company early next week and do a complete overhaul/audit. We've just been sorta blindly paying the monthly bill, for house, cars, everything...without reevaluating it recently. We use USAA and I know they are one of the most inexpensive companies out there. I'll have to check & see what we owe on second car.

sorry I'm just seeing this now - you might have found something better by now - but ERIE has the lowest car insurance in PA I am aware of, at least for us it was, even agaist USAA...
The agents are few and far between, but I can refer you to one if you need one.

[ScrappyDoo]

I hope things are better now. Thanks for the thread with all of the good tips.