The Month We Lived Off Our Stash

Life was humming merrily along for us, a two income family, as it usually did. With my home-based business bringing in a healthy paycheck each month, I never had to worry about money. All this came to a sudden, terrifying standstill recently when, without warning, our income for the month was cut in half .

I wish I could say that I took a few deep breaths and made plans for tightening up our budget, and I did, eventually. At first, though, I panicked. I panicked hard. In short order I discovered that our mortgage company had no “compassion policy,” for a family needing a brief grace period. Our electric company had already sent a second warning for the previous month’s bill, and I knew there would be no mercy for us there. A truck payment was due in just four days. Ditto no mercy.

empty wallet2 The Month We Lived Off Our Stash

image by NoHoDamon

With our monthly expenses laid out, I began to surgically decrease our budget. A plastic surgeon could not have done better. I cancelled our YMCA gym membership. I re-gifted an old Christmas present for an upcoming birthday party. I went through our car insurance policy line by line and discovered that we were paying for unnecessary towing coverage, since we also belong to AAA. Every little cut added up. I was pleasantly surprised to see just how little money we really needed each month. We could pay all of our bills. We would make it.

One area in which there were no worries was food. My pantry was stocked up for several months, and our freezer was bursting at the seams with every type of meat that had ever been on sale in the past six months! Over the next four weeks I discovered three holes in my food storage plan.

Vegetables. Other than canned veggies and a few bags of frozen, I wasn’t prepared enough with a variety of my family’s favorites.
Fruit. Sure, we could have eaten canned pineapple and mandarin oranges every day, but I worried about a mutiny. I had some dehydrated fruit that made great snacks, but we really missed fresh.
Recipes and menus using the foods I’ve stored. I have many recipe books, but since we weren’t eating in restaurants, preparing three meals every single day became tiresome for all of us. By the end of Week Three, I was serving slabs of cooked ground beef and not much else!

On the other hand, we had every other supply we needed. It was a relief to grab a tube of toothpaste, a bottle of laundry soap, deodorant, and Motrin from what I had been storing up for the past year. Because I wasn’t going to the grocery store once a week or more, I wasn’t spending extra money on all those tempting “bargains”.

In spite of having virtually no extra money, we had a great month. I took the kids to museums on Free Fridays, they enjoyed the local pool for only .50 cents each, and we spent a lot of time with friends. Although it was sometimes hard for me to say, I think it was good for them to hear, “We don’t have the money for that right now.”

As a family, we learned to be grateful for even the smallest blessing that came our way. When my bank reversed a $30 charge on my checking account, I felt overwhelmingly blessed. My husband found two movie vouchers in his desk drawer that allowed us a family movie night. A small stash of Visa gift cards came in handy for small expenses during the month. I kept a list of every blessing that came our way to remind us that God, not any paycheck, was our Source.

The most difficult moment of the month came when my daughter used a gift card to one of those pottery painting stores. Her gift card covered her project only, and I had to tell my teary-eyed son that there just wasn’t enough money for his. It was a horrible, heart-wrenching feeling, and I slipped him a note telling him that somehow I would make it up to him.

Let’s face it. Our country, our world, is at a tipping point right now, and no one knows what might happen. How many more banks will fail? How many more jobs will be lost this year? Are we as safe from terrorist attacks as our leaders claim? For many of us, hurricane and tornado season is just around the corner.

I have no control over the decisions made by our President, Congress or my local government. However, I do have control when it comes to providing for my family. Without our stored provisions, I’m not sure how we would have made it through the month. Each day I was grateful that we had planned ahead. My advice is to seize what you have control over, make a plan, and act on it. I’d rather have my stash of stored provisions and not need it than to need it and not have it.

(9) Readers Comments

Brad K.
June 21, 2009 at 9:34 pm

I think telling your son, “Sorry,” may have been the most important part of the month.

Be sure to reassure him that asking is OK. But not everything we want is available, or affordable. Sometimes the cost is measured in money, sometimes in other values.

And that is something many parents need to keep in mind. It is responsible to provide what is needed. Anything else should be filling a need, contributing to the child’s growth – or we slip from “good provider” into “conspicuous consumption”. This becomes apparent when resources get scarce – and we find ourselves putting too much effort into things that might not be as important, right now, as other choices.

In a science fiction book one of the characters laments, “I just want to make one good loaf of bread!” And she gets told – “You cannot make one good loaf of bread. You have to make bread every day, to make a good loaf.”

You might want to work on building a more comfortable list of recipes, and maybe practice making “pantry” meals a couple of times a week, so that if something happens you will be better prepared to keep up morale and use your supplies to the best advantage. Practice is part of preparing, just like fire drills and tornado drills.

If you do have “zombie attack” drills, I might keep that quiet – wouldn’t want to upset the neighbors. What they don’t know won’t get social services called out.

Blessed be.

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thesurvivalmom
June 23, 2009 at 2:23 pm

Brad,

I enjoyed reading your comments and agree wholeheartedly about reassuring our children, even as we let them know there are limits to what they can have.

I’m glad you found my blog!

Lisa

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Erich
October 28, 2009 at 7:38 pm

Excellent article Lisa. I haven't yet had the 'opportunity' to need to dig into our stash. While I don't wish it upon myself, I still need to practice living from our stash for at least a week to see where our 'holes' are.

thanks again!

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Amy
November 20, 2009 at 4:32 pm

I found your blog today. I'm self employed also. I have walked in your exact shoes this summer right down to calling the insurance company to cancel the towing and looking into my childrens' eyes telling them not this time. It's heartwrenching, but we're all in it together. And, I think, tragically, we may look back on these days and wish for them as the good 'ol days, as it may get much worse.

I'm so glad I found your blog because it put a 'normal' on my need stock up. My husband just doesn't understand it. If I come home with too much, he thinks I've been watching too much Fox News and getting myself worked up.

Anyway, loved your blog. We'll come back for the great tips.

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- TheSurvivalMom
  November 20, 2009 at 4:46 pm
  
  Amy, welcome! Did you happen to see my post a while back, "Is your spouse survival minded or a skeptic?" That might give you some ideas for communicating with your husband your desire to prepare. I'm so glad you found my blog, and thanks for the comment!
  
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DHo
November 29, 2009 at 11:29 pm

Over the last two years, I have worked less than seven months due to the economy. We don't always know how the bills will get paid, but we have been living out of our pantry for the whole time, and in spite of the work situation, our pantry is still growing. What little we do spend is now for the real deals in quantity. Our garden provides a lot of our fresh produce needs, and canning meats when I find them on sale has been a great way to save more on an ever increasing meat budget. We make our own dog food as well. Learning to use the storage foods you have is very important. I found this to be no big change for us, as we already used our foods. There is no drawback to this way of life. It allows us to take advantage of the loss leaders, keep a supply of essentials, and use our money for other needs when we need it most. I cannot imagine taking $100/wk. and buying what we need THIS week, paying the store demanded prices, and having to do it again next week. I will never go back, regardless the big picture. Prepping is for the everyday issues and challenges, not just the nightmares we all dream could happen! Best wishes.

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- TheSurvivalMom
  December 1, 2009 at 3:07 pm
  
  If more people had your attitude and took the same actions, our country might not be in the mess that it's in. It's not all that hard to live within your means, but it does include saying, "no" to unnecessary spending. Thanks for sharing your experiences with us!
  
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LizLong
January 14, 2010 at 3:47 am

I often say no to my kids not because I can't afford it ($.97 for a Hot Wheels car we can handle) but because they have more than enough and I don't want selfish demanding brats. And, like many kids, they don't always appreciate what they already have. I also start buying Christmas presents at after Christmas sales and I'm done (except one Santa gift each) by Halloween. Nothing full price during the holidays, and nothing because a cool commercial made them want it. And I have a lot of stuff to the side for friends' birthdays, etc. A different kind of stocking up, but good in it's own way. (I'm sure you do it too.)

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- Cindy
  December 30, 2010 at 3:27 pm
  
  I agree about saying no to avoid having selfish children! A woman I know is always posting on Facebook: took the kids to the movies, daughter had her gymnastics show and ice skating show and here's son in swimming, basketball, football and travel baseball; anyone want to meet us for ice skating . . . Those children think the world revolves around them and she thinks she's being a really good parent! In my opinion, she's spoiling them rotten! What 8 year old girl needs 2 bouquets of roses after her 1st ice skating recital? Sorry about the rant . . . even though our family has a very good income, our kids sometimes think we're poor because they don't get to go to every movie, buy games at the stores all the time etc . . .
  
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