Frugal - But Now Pinching

 We've always lived kind of a rational frugal lifestyle.  It was born out of necessity, and has simply always been our way.  My mother called me a spendthrift once which left me quite puzzled.  I've never liked to spend money, have always been more of a saver so that I had what I needed when I needed it.  And frankly we haven't ever had much (if any, really) disposable income. Every bit of income has always been carefully accounted.

Just for instance:  we keep our thermostats low (around 66-67 and we dress warm) in the winter and up higher than I really am comfortable with in the summer.  I always look forward to the months of May and Sept. because those are often the transition months when we can manage to not run the furnaces or the air conditioners. Not so this year but the weather makes many things unpredictable.

Lately we've been spending.  Started the year off with a bang with a new furnace in the basement (and the fridge repair).  That furnace was the one that wasn't used at all for several years after we moved in and doesn't have any air conditioners connected to it, so you'd think it would be less "worn out" than the other furnaces.  (And yes, I'm knocking on wood, so afraid this is the year of issues for all those appliances.)

But then I started thinking about all the stuff that we've had to spend on lately.  Repairing, replacing or re-doing.  Sigh.

1. We had some major expenses for the Charger in Feb.

2.  The Husband's iPad.

3.  The Husband's computer mouse.

4.  The MRI for which the co-pay will be hefty.

5.  Replacing a crown in The Husband's mouth.  (love that smile!)

6.  Physical therapy for my wrist tendonitis (was helping, now feel like I'm going backwards) at $20 / visit copay.

7.  Physical therapy for The Husband's back. We want to help avoid any recurrences of that awful pain that he had.  It'll be a co-pay for each of those sessions.

8.  The new mattress for pain mitigation.

9.  New WiFi for the house - the previous one was so old it is now obsolete, not even any way to upgrade. (and we both kept thinking it wasn't that old.)

10.  Piano tuning,  For all those musical numbers I was practicing hours for which gave me tendonitis.  :^)

11.  And I don't even want to think about June.  Husband's birthday, and Father's Day and 4 grandchilluns birthdays.  We've had to pare back on how much we spend for every single birthday and that's been hard.

12.  We did splurge on some furniture.  Ours was old and worn and frankly uncomfortable.  We spend most of our evenings in that room now and our bodies have aged and pretty much needed to be comfortable when we're in the family room.  I feel like that was a necessity.  Like everything on the list.

looking straight up.

Not to mention that because of the market downturn (which is a mild description of the destruction we've seen) our retirement account - such as it is (or was, and that we've barely, barely used any of) - is down roughly 10%.  That's a worrisome amount to have just disappear into thin air. 

I'm fairly certain I've left off a few things we're spending on, there's been such a deluge.  It feels like that little trip we so need will be postponed again.

Mother's Day yesterday was better than expected.  It was calm.  I heard from all four of my children.  They were kind.  I received a new plant (that I'm determined to not send to an early grave) gift cards for food and frivolous) and a new yoga mat, that was sorely needed.  And most of all I felt loved.  I don't always feel that.  My girls are always the best at heart hugs. Sacrament meeting was not the usual, but more inclusive and sensitive.  R.S. was not as bad as it could have been.  And the rest of the day was peaceful.  My favorite.

We managed a walk after church before the storm and the sky was beautiful.  I hope to never take the world's beauty for granted.