Privation & maybes are harder than outright loss & knowing.
I've been wealthy, and lived in poverty, and the rules are oddly similar to both.
Friday's Tight Budget Survival List :D
Basics... Don't fight about money.
- Mad money to each adult. It may only be $50 or $100 per month... But it's each of yours, in identical amounts, to spend as you please no questions asked. 50 pairs of $1 flip flops, or the most useless kitchen gadget ever, and not a word may be spoken about the wisdom of someone else's choice. Sharing is discouraged.
- Shared money, in some amount, for family frivolity purchases. Ideally, this comes out of the slash & burn (cx gym, cable, etc.). Date nights, the Sunday paper, whatever it is that you both love & agree on.
- Everyone pays for their own shit. No subscriptions, memberships, $8 coffees, bus passes, haircuts, etc. wrapped up into the household budget. Instead those all come from the private budgets. Expand your private budgets if need be. If it doesn't leave enough for bills, then you know it in advance, instead of landing flat footed at the end of each moth with "Where's the _____ money???" & recriminations about espressos, or one person sacrificing while the other blithely buys coffee at the stand every day.
For richer, for poorer... The odd similarities between wealth & poverty
- Be adventurous with your cooking/dining. One month, I had a challenge to only use bacon & eggs for base proteins. Without repeating. (Ex blew the grocery budget, and I had 120 eggs and 5lbs of bacon & what was in the pantry). Come to find, that's possible. I have a list around here somewhere of 50+ bacon & egg dishes. Everything from Pasta Carbonara to Quiche to DimSum to MonteCristos. Another are foods that seem fancy or splurgy, as they take a lot of work, but are super cheap in everything but time. Curries, for example. Big soups. Tamales. Fried rice. Serving to serving these things are less expensive than 3 meals a day of PB&J and you won't shoot yourself out of boredom. Also, big batches freeze, so you have your own convenience food in the freezer.
- Do something fun... Each and every single day. I forget all the free stuff that's around, when I have money. I get used to just heading to the cafe for an espresso and nosh, not packing a picnic & heading to the lake/ city park/ etc. It can be an adventure in and of itself finding free stuff to do. Parenting magazines help, as most parents are strapped for cash & desperate to entertain their kids. The canned food night at the local drive in theatre, classes at the community center, rope swings at the river, libraries, museums, local tourist stuff, building an obscene snowman, bathing with candles in the dark, learn a new language, conquer lock picking, tons of stuff. Whether artsy, sporty, solitary, exuberant... There's a lot around, that doesn't even cost dime one.
- A coming tide raises all boats... Don't forget those who were there for you in different times. Instead of leaving your friends in the lurch for the next 10 months (or longer)... Invite them on your escapades. Most people, I've found, are oddly exited to go play glow-in-the-dark frisbee/soccer, or meet for chess & hot chocolate, or to bring bags of food for a potluck & game night. Drinks out (and the durn bill!) happen all the time. Come to a bonfire & marshmallow roast, BYOB, on the other hand? People tend to jump at those.
- It's all about who you know...Use your friends, wisely. Barter economy, baby!!! Babysitting for carpentry or car repairs. English lessons for manicures. Volunteer for search & rescue to get use of their gym (and, you know, do good).
