We're starting a new series today -
Thrifty Living 2012
In this series, there will be five women sharing the individual struggles they face economically with their families in a particular region.
Each week one of us, Brenda, Claudia, Elaine, Jen, Diane (that’s me)will be featured with a topic on how we are living thriftily in the year 2012. The rest of us will provide our own paragraph or so on how we apply that thrifty tip to our own lives.
We run the gamut. Brenda is the only single family household. Claudia and Don live with their two dogs in New York. Elaine and Dean have a small daughter and grown children in Southern California. Jen and Gar have just relocated to another part of Canada and are looking for their first house. Ron and I live in Florida and are retired.
Brenda of Cozy Little House
Claudia of Mockingbird Hill Cottage
Elaine of Sunny, Simple Life
Jen of Muddy Boot Dreams
Diane of Lavender Dreams
Welcome to Lavender Dreams
and to our Lavender Cottage…
where I hope I can share with you ideas about living a quality life as a retiree on a limited budget.
My husband and I had our own small business for many years and when it came time to retire we looked for a place to live that would have a warm climate and lots of interesting things to do. We could not afford a house on the beach. We live in the center of the state but we are in driving distance to the things we enjoy doing.
I’ll share some of the challenges of living on a ‘fixed income’ and making it stretch. When we retired, the economy was in much better shape so now we face the problem of our expenses being so much more than we had planned. Who knew a tank of gas or a loaf of bread would go up so dramatically!
We spend our time like many of you do. Even though we don’t work regular jobs, we have taken over some responsibilities in our community that we do on a volunteer basis. We enjoy the work but it has become more ‘full time’ work (without pay) in recent months. It’s a blessing to be able to contribute to our community though and we benefit just as much as anyone else does!
So how do we stretch our money to take care of our expenses now AND in the future? And still have some fun along the way? Tune in to this series on Thrifty living! And if you have anything in particular you would like to discuss, email me your ideas. Any questions? Just ask! We want this to be helpful for everyone that visits our blogs…and for us as well!
We’re all in this together! Let’s have some FUN!
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61 comments:
Hi Diane !!The envelope has arrived to Celestina yesterday.I'm so glad for that !!!So, we can hope !!
I will enjoy this, I follow several frugal living blogs, we are on a fixed income now , my husband has retired and we find ourselves for thefirst time in our lives with no dental or medical insurance, its a scary position.I will enjoy all the tips you all give,
I look forward to reading everyones thoughts on the subject. Excellent topic! :)
Looking forward to our series, Diane. From the looks of my comments so far, we are not alone! Everyone has a story about having to live on less money.
xo
Claudia
This sounds like an interesting and informative series. Look forward to learning new tricks for more frugal living. Good luck to all you girls doing the series. You and your hubby look really cute and happy. Have a wonderful day, my good friend.------- Shannon
Congrats on participating in with fun and informative group of women! Look forward to the series!
Great, look forwarding to reading...we moved to be closer to family and I am looking for a job! But being near family is awesome. Di@Cottage-Wishes
Sounds interesting. Can't wait to read them.
Have a great week/weekend.
This will be a focus for your blogs and interesting for us all to read. best of luck to you all!
I am so going to enjoy this! I'm sure we all need to know some tips and tricks for getting by in this day and age! Thanks for coming up with this!
Hugs!
How interesting that two blogs I follow have joined up to talk about something near and dear to my heart. We are almost ready to retire - still looking for that jumping off point. I'm looking forward to this series.
Sounds like a timely series for sure! I'll be reading.
Good Morning, Diane - I'm looking forward to this series. It's a timely and informative subject that so many people will benefit from.
Thank you and your co-bloggers for
coming together and making this series.
Hugs,
Susan
What a great series. I know I will benefit from this we are a one income house with two kids. I love your home too.
xoxo
This sounds like a very interesting series, Diane! I'm looking forward to reading your ideas and tips!
After listening to economic prognosticators, I think we all better get used to living frugally. Always helpful to hear what other people are doing to make it work.
Diane I am so excited to be a part of this series and reading all or our stories is so interesting. The best part will be what I can learn from this though. I am always a student of frugality.
Exciting, looking forward to the series! I think it will help a lot of us. Thanks
Looking forward to this series, I just found your wonderful blog!
Quilting by the River
Diane, it's wonderful to know that there are so many supportive bloggers out there saying, "yes" that's what we are going through also.
This series is going to be so interesting to read, and I am excited to take part in it.
Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams
Sounds like a great series. Can't wait to tune in each week.
I will be following this series. I need good advice, living alone in the Big Apple, what a money pit! xo
Very interesting series. I look forward to hearing all of the ideas.
Oh my goodness what a wonderful thing to do!! This series should be a blessing to so many people. I know there are so many of us looking to stretch our money! Thanks so much and I am really excited and looking forward to this series.
Glad you ladies came up with this idea. Looking forward to it each week.
I'm excited about this. It will be so helpful to many of us who desire to live within our means. I'm always up for new ideas and tips.
Diane I am so excited about this new series and so happy you are a part of it. I've gone a met everyone and joined the sites I wasn't already following so I'm ready! I think I might do some of my own posts on my blog 'Viewing My World' about frugal living along with all of you. Retirement is not easy that is for sure! Hugs, Linda
Great Idea! My husband is still work after he retired from one state,I just retired last fall.Hoping he retires this year.But he loves working.His health is not good.He will not tell you that. I need tips on frugal living.Thanks for sharing Joann
Hubby and I are also retired. We live in New York and try to vacation in Florida whenever we can. Hubby used to live in Weston, Fl. We also had a mobile in Bradenton but sold it 5 years ago just before I retired, the monthly upkeep for two homes was too much $. I am so looking forward to these thrifty posts and will be following you from now on. So happy to meet your acquaintance!
This will be so interesting to so many of us who are retired. I'm looking forward to reading.
Hugs
Iris
Hi Diane, I am very interested in reading about all of your adventures in living frugally this year in these somewhat challenging times. I live with my husband in Orlando, FL, so I suspect we are not too far from each other. Our son and his wife live in CA and our daughter hopes to relocate there later this year. After 30 years of marriage and living in FL, we are ready to make a change and will most likely move to SoCal as well. To be near family and to get a new direction in life. So I will be following this series very closely to see how I can do this move from one state (somewhat inexpensive to live in) to another that has the rep of being VERY expensive to live in. It will be good to have all your perspectives. Ann
Great idea. I still work, but my husband is retired. I have to admit, but we've always live the frugal life. One thing that we've learn to do when eating out since portions are so large and he can't eat that much anymore is to share entrees. Then I don't have a refrigerator filled with left overs that now one will eat.
Also, now that he's retired, he asked our Vet about discount care for our dogs & we get 20% off. Yeah! As they are all seniors too!
dot
What a great idea...can't wait!
I am glad you are representing the retired and the South. Glad you spoke up.
I am a new follower and looking forward to this series!
~Donna
So nice to have found you through Brenda's blog. I am a happy new follower and can't wait to read the series.
Laura
Diane, I can't wait to read the stories and learn how everyone is coping. You hit the nail on the head - expenses are more than we planned for. Not being able to sell our house in VA has been a real blow to us.
About photography - you get that flowing water look by slowing your shutter speed. But that lets in more light, thus the ND filter. And you have to adjust the aperture and sometimes the exposure. Lots of tutorials on the web to help you.
What a greast idea, Diane. I would love to read all about your ideas...Christine
This sounds like great fun! Where do you live in Florida? It would be so fun to meet you at the Fancy Flea in Lakeland!
Carol
Diane, I'm looking forward to this even though we aren't retired. My husband and I joke about hoping we don't have to eat cat food some day. :)
This sounds like such a fun series. Great idea!
Hey, I just got home from 6 days at Disney World! Was I close to you? I have a feeling I was...
That was really me Diane. I was just signed in to the wrong account :)
Hi Diane. I'm looking forward to more "Thifty" posts. I just retired and any information on living on a fixed income will be more than welcome.
Hugs, Jean
I am loving this idea! It's shocking to me what a financial mess we are in at this stage in our lives. The economy is killing us, nothing has worked out the way we planned and the noose is only getting tighter. I can't wait to see what suggestions everyone has. 2 thumbs up on this great idea.
I saw on Brenda's blog that you all were covering this--so came to yours to check it out! This idea is very timely for so many of us. I just cut back on work hours to have more time at home, but of course that means being even more frugal. I look forward to reading more!
Betsy
Sounds like a great series! And timely too!
This is wonderful! I'll certainly look forward to reading this. Especially since I will be retiring in about 10 months. You are great!
warm hugs,
Pat
Sounds like a great series, Diane! Looking forward to it. Your house is lovely.
Hi! Just bouncing over to read your blog series about living thrifty. It looks like you ladies are a varied and interesting bunch and I look forward to reading about how you are living thrifty retirement...I am your newest follower...
this is going to be a wonderful series. We all need more ideas on how to stretch the money.
Thanks...
Diane sounds great! I would also love to feature you at my Thank you party for being a great follower of mine. Please contact me if you can.
It's a brilliant series, Diane!!!
XO
Cindy
What a great idea! I'm a retired teacher of 3 yrs. and DH is retiring in Aug. We've done well with me being retired because who knew that I was spending halk my salry to just go to work and/or supply a classroom. When I retired, we didn't notice all that much...I had been actually living on a retirement income all along. HOWEVER, the true test will be when DH retires. Then let's see how things go! Looking forward to this series.
Blessings
Gmama Jane
BTW, I would love to get an email notice of your blog updates. Would you consider adding the email notification gadget to your blog? It makes it so much easier and reminds me to read your blog!
Thanks
Gmama jane
Oh Diane, is that your home? It is just beautiful! I'll definitely stop by to read your Thrifty posts!
What a wonderful step Diane. I will be glued here. And you and your husband look so happy. Love the smiles and of course your home. :)
Nice post...thank you for so much for sharing...blessings...soraya
Oh, my blog partner/daughter Jordan would have loved to participate in this series. She and her husband of less than two-years live a debt-free life. They won't buy anything if they can't pay cash - including their little bungalow that they paid for in full. I love watching how they make decisions about their money, their purchases, their life style. I have learned a lot from observing them.
Diane, I'm so glad I discovered this! I'm not yet retired (age 57) but I live on a very limited budget. In fact, I was just laid off from my job for 3 months. I work as an independent contractor, so not eligible for unemployment compensation. A very scary start to the new year, but I'm hanging on!! Will be following. Thanks!!
Hugs, Cindy
I look forward to reading these posts and to learning more about you :)
I am looking forward to reading your posts, Diane. We are planning for retirement right now, but we are concerned having one in college, and another one who will be there in four years. The price of college tuition has been rising much faster than the rate of inflation, and the Alabama PACT (prepaid affordable college tuition) we bought to pay for our daughters' tuition the week both were born is out of money. We may not ever get to retire!
xoxoxoox,
Ricki Jill
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