Pantry Update and Dark Clouds

First, a hundred apologies for the lack of posts recently.  In addition to the usual Lack of Time, there was the fun 48-hour period earlier this week where our DSL went belly-up. 

Second, you can see from the numbers on the right that our mortgage has gone down some more (YAY!).  Just how much it's gone down depends on when the last time was you looked at it. 

Third, the past two weeks' worth of grocery updates.  Here's what we bought:

January 22:
Meijer -- $3.18 (including an "illegal" bottle of store-brand diet soda. So sue me.)
Aldi -- $11.48 (including canned corn, milk, salad, green pepper, tortilla chips for all of our Mexican meals, and granola bars for Ellen's Wednesday-morning-rush breakfasts)

January 29:
Meijer -- $5.34 (bread, bananas, yogurt)
Aldi -- $7.44 (green pepper, milk, two types of crackers for all the soup we've been having)

Grand total:  $27.44 for two weeks' worth of food.

I can also say that our freezers are looking barren, and all of our pizza-related foods (pizza rolls, frozen pizzas, etc.) are gone.  I can see the back wall of the pantry in places where I couldn't before.  We've had soup as a meal for at least 50% of our dinners the past three weeks, but Ellen comes up with such wonderful variations, that it doesn't get old.  Not sure what she'll cook up this week, but surely it'll be warm, filling, and unexpected.

Fourth, the bad news ...

You all know what a rainy day account is, right?  It's that money you have set aside so when you get that proverbial "rainy day" in your life (transmission dies, need a new furnace, or, God forbid, you lose your job), you've got some money to live on until the storm passes and the sun shines again in your life ... metaphorically speaking. 

Well, at least for Ellen and I, we're starting to see storm clouds on the horizon.  If you live in Indiana, you know our government has drastically cut funding to schools in what is quite possibly an attempt to just plain get them to fail.  In the district where we both work, they're already facing a $1.4 million deficit, and it's only going to get worse.  We know there are cuts coming, and that they'll be announced in the next couple of weeks.  What we don't know is where those cuts will come, or how deep they'll be.  There's a very real chance that one or the other of us (or both) will lose our jobs.  My wife, at least, is guaranteed employment until August because of her contract.  With me being non-certified, they can cut me at, literally, a moment's notice. 

It doesn't help that I'm the librarian and my wife is the music teacher, some of the first things to go when times are tight.

For that reason, I've temporarily stopped putting all our extra money toward the mortgage, and am now throwing it all toward our Rainy Day account, which is, thankfully, just over $5,700.  It's not a ton of money, but as we continue socking the money away, it will provide a greater and greater cushion.  Plus, if we've judged wrong and this storm blows right on past us, the money is still sitting there, just waiting to take a hefty knock out of one of our debts. 

Therein lies the problem with our plan (or a problem, however you want to look at it) -- if we put our extra money toward our debts, it's locked; we can't get it out again.  If we put it into a savings account, it's accessible, but we're still paying on our debts month in and month out.  Quite the catch-22. 

So for now, our posts will change somewhat.  We'll still post about frugality.  We'll still talk about our money-saving tips.  We'll still let you know what color the back wall of our pantry is (there's a rumor it's white, but once I can see it clearly, I'll let you know for sure).  But we'll also let you know how our rainy day account is going, and how any potential change in employment will impact our plan to be debt free within the next 38 months.  Because, while the road to being debt-free may have taken an unexpected turn, we know that the road we're on still leads inexorably to that destination, and that we will get there if we stay on the road.  It may take an extra ten or twenty months, or even longer, but our goal is the same; only the circumstances have changed.

As always, we are thrilled to have all of you along for the ride with us.  If you have any comments (or know where our school district can raise an immediate $1.4 million), please leave them below.