Comments On Article: Household Management On A Tight Budget

I just wanted to add that I allow for inflation when calculating our Sinking Fund each year; used to add 2% on the previous year's cost (eg, if insurance cost $1000 one year, allowed $1020 the next year), but I've found 4% is closer to the mark. Some things increase more, some less, so money gets shuffled a bit between different expenses.

Regarding Ann W's did observation about how long our money needs to last in retirement: any figures I come across are based on people living for 20 years of retirement; here in Australia that's from 65 til 85. My husband's parents are in their mid 80s and have been retired for 30 years (official retirement age has changed in the last few years); they're still going strong and so is my Mum in her late 70s. 

Joyce C I think you have a really good point about like-minded community. My mother and my in-laws are still socially quite active, but I can see they're starting to slow down physically, and I don't know about their finances. I like to think though, that they will never be left in the lurch because they have good families and support networks.

I have a question.

Ok..so my husband has Huntington's Disease and I also want to put Motor Neurone and other terrible diseases in this question .

Under the health system in America how are these people cared for?? They can't pay and the costs would bankrupt people

Ingrid M.. I thought the same about the medical costs being half our monthly income also and I had a good chuckle about the new funeral home/travel agency comment.  My husband is back out of hospital. As a family we believe it was Covid related as he tested positive after we went to the Dr before being admitted. His x rays and bloods showed no sign of a pneumonia ???? that we were told it was. It was an asphyxiation issue with oxygen levels dropping and that is a symptom of Covid.The medical people started telling him he had to change his eating which made him kick off as Huntington people can't handle or process changes. 

Grandma Donna Wrote,

Terri C, 

Very good post you just did here, so much to take in and there are many of us that will learn from this.  Charles and I pay our homeowners Annually, it will be due this September, last September after we paid it, I once again divided that by twelve and put that money in my budget as a i have it as a monthly bill.  I will do the same again but I never thought to shop around to see if there is once that is offering a better price.  Thank you for telling your story, it was full of helpful thoughts.  Donna

Stephanie G, I’m finding the Depression Era study invaluable!  It brings together the frugality I was raised with and frugal skills I gained as a young adult with the homemaking skills I’ve acquired over the past several decades.  I think some of the frugal ideas I encountered as a young adult seemed too difficult for me, but now I have the skills.

We truly have no idea what will happen with healthcare in the USA.  Joyce C, I appreciate you sharing that you took early retirement and never regretted it.  We are prepared for a frugal, comfortable retirement.  But if things go south and deep cuts to our budget aren’t enough, as Ann W says, we will have to reconsider retirement.  We actually sat down and asked ourselves what the worst case scenarios are and what we could do about them.  And we decided it is still worth it to use to take early retirement and see what happens.

Thank you to everyone who mentioned using a Medicare insurance agent.  I’d forgotten that is an option, and when the time comes we’ll be sure to do so.  We know a couple who do that as their business, but they’re a little older than we are and I don’t know if they’ll still be doing it when it’s time for us to choose.

We did start talking about our wishes for when we die.  My FIL had already arranged and prepaid for cremation, which was helpful to us.  We do want it to be planned and prepaid for our children.  My MIL refuses to make any plans at all because she is superstitious and thinks it will make her die sooner.  She won’t even talk about what she wants done, and we don’t know if she’s planning for funds to be available.

Our goal is to stay in our home as long as possible.  Our adult son lives with us and that seems likely to continue for a several years still, perhaps always.  It works well for all of us, right now he counts on me to cook his meals while he is working full time and also a competitive athlete (like having another job that takes 20+ hours a week), but he will be able to help do things we can’t do as we get older.  And if we want to go road tripping in the campervan without the dogs he will be home with them.

Terri C, your comment was so inspiring! It made me want to work all the harder to make every dollar count. :) Thank you for letting me know about Mrs. White's blog. I'll go take a look. :) 

Grandma Donna wrote,

Karen S, 

We have Medicare and Medicaid.  Medicaid is tied to the percentage of the federal poverty level.  That is when someone will qualify for Medicaid.  It does have its limitations but helps many people when their income or health is very low. 

Thank you Donna. I've found the system your Country is very complicated compared to what we have here

Bless you.

I agree we certainly can learn so much from the Amish, my goal is to slowly build my library of Mrs Whites books and I have some Amish books that I am looking forward to owning one day. And as Terri C mentioned I have been really enjoying reading the blog Letter's From Mrs White.

Thank you for your comment Grandma Donna, I enjoyed reading your reflections and often feel very blessed, even when funds are low, I am eating so well and have such peace out here, it's something I am always very grateful for xx

Thanks for that Grandma Donna. I didn't scroll back to re read. Anyway it sure did make me laugh.

Hello!  Donna, I have been reading your blog and all the comments for years, but haven't ever commented.  Your simple life and wisdom helps to bring clarity and reassurance to my weeks.  I'm 43, a mother of two - a daughter who is 9 and son who is 7, we live in Melbourne, Australia and I'm about to celebrate my 18th wedding anniversary!  I've been brought up to appreciate and enjoy homemaking and have luckily been able to stay at home with the kids, picking up a few hours of work each week as a high school teacher.  I look on all of you lovely ladies as mentor figures to me and garner so much wisdom and encouragement from the articles and from this forum.

I'm so grateful for the upbringing I've had - my mum has taught me to cook from scratch, sew, mend, iron, do laundry and my dad has taught me how to manage my finances, live on one income and still save money and keep a detailed budget (or 'figures on paper' as he calls them!), and I have taught myself how to grow fruit and vegetables and keep chickens.  Even so, I feel that as a mum of young kids in this modern era, trying to live a simple life is like trying to swim against the current.  It takes so much physical and mental energy and it's so easy to slip into bad habits eg. overspending, buying junk we don't need, filling our schedules with too many commitments, wasting time on screens (To be honest, I have found myself spending WAY too much time on websites searching things like 'how to find time to sew', instead of just shutting the computer and going and sewing!) .

I find the modern world quite overwhelming, especially with all of the apps and notifications and supposed need to be always connected and on.  I would absolutely LOVE to be able to do this 1930s challenge in it's entirety (I've always wanted to be on one of those TV shows like 1940s House), but I will have to be content with just doing as much as I can and making tweaks to our living situation here and there.

Thanks Donna for the time you take to write these posts!

My husband and I have Medicare A, B, and D plus a supplemental plan.  We have a dental plan that pays well for preventive services, but not too well on other things.  We also have an Alfac cancer plan that I first got when I was working and we have used this and it was very helpful.  My husband didn't think this was worth the money, but one cancer diagnosis and he changed his mine.  You never know what will come, my husband had the cancer and there was not any family history of cancer.  My family had lots of cancer of several kinds and so far I have not had cancer.  

Preparing for retirement is one thing, but when you are retired all type of things come up that you don't expect.  My husband and I have been retired over 20 years and at the time we thought we had everything covered and could live quiet comfortably.  Then 2008 hit and our stocks in our retirement funds went way down.  I don't think anyone could have seen that one several years before that.  

That being said I am glad we retired when we did because I would have worked a lot longer I am sure.  We have taken on temporary jobs when additional income was needed and occasionally we look around for what we can sell.  But we are both glad that we retired while we were healthy and could enjoy some time before the problems of getting older really kick in.

There has been talk about a funeral vacation, but once you get passed that and the medical bills start to come in if there has been a long illness this can be expensive.  I have a friend that lost her husband just a few weeks ago and there are lots of medical bills.  She has been told that as long as they are all in his name with him being responsible then she doesn't have to pay them.  She said she is going to check with a lawyer, but I think that would be a good thing to know.  Does anyone know here know?  Might vary by state, I don't know.

Like any other preparedness you prepare for what is most likely to happen to you, but then you can get surprised.  

I just wanted to mention that you can call the billing department when someone is in the hospital and check on the bill. You can also negotiate for what services you get, and get a cheaper option sometimes. Even when in the emergency room I'd be questioning if all my services were going to be covered by insurance and request that only covered procedures be done or negotiate the price of services not covered. You can call the billing department from the emergency room too. :) This keeps the surprises with the bills at a minimum. 

I have in the past called the hospital billing office and asked for a payment plan. There wasn't any fee or interest and paying over time was better than paying all at once. My daughter who had a low income requested and received a discount on her bill and some of her bill was covered by the hospital's charity fund. 

I second Stephanie's suggestion to ask about covered expenses.  Sometimes just asking is enough for a doctor to reconsider whether you really need a drug or procedure.