Ever Get the Feeling...

that the whole world is sort of holding its breath right now?

Waiting to see what is going to happen next?  Wondering when, exactly, the other shoe will drop?

There is just so much going on across the globe that one can hardly keep up.  Naturally, MSM is failing to put the most important things at the top of the reporting list but that is nothing new.  Throw a bit of celebrity gossip at the masses and bury the stuff that will (rather: should) get the masses riled.  The ones that are waking up are edgy, angry that they've been kept (allowed themselves to be kept) in the dark for so long...but not angry enough yet to act.

The whole thing is just a tinderbox waiting to go up in flames.

$5 and a Big Pickle Jar...

So we have a few of those industrial size pickle jars (don't judge our love of pickles) and I read somewhere (probably Pinterest) about a lady that takes every $5 bill she get and puts it back.  In something like 7 years, she amassed over $20k...just sticking back every $5.

Pickle jar...you are about to become an experiment.  Starting sometime next month, the pickle jar will become the $5 jar.  A second one will become loose change jar.  (Note:  I should probably put one in my car as there is currently at least $4 worth of change hanging out in just the door pocket thingy right now.)

Since we will be transitioning from using debit for everything BACK to cash (with the exception of bills that are already set to be paid through ACH/Debit) only, we're sure to land on a Fiver now and again.  And change, oh boy...that will always be a given.  Tanker is down with the plan.  We both have noticed that we spend considerably more money paying via debit...so cash only and saving every little cent it is (literally).

Call it an experiment in curiosity more than anything.  We know what we spend via debit (it's there for me to see, download and pour over anytime I want).  Now we want to see how we'll do via cash only.

Confession...we aren't used to having the income we have now.  We're used to living on half the amount.  We went through a period of not knowing what to do with ourselves and wasting money.  It became easy to see it, want it, buy it.  And we found the screamers coming down with serious cases of the 'gimme' disease.  No more.

Spending like that didn't make us happy or make us better people.  It just gave us more crap to pack up and move or sell.  A flippin' headache.

Now, we're pretending that we're bringing in what we're accustomed to.  I don't check the balance after all the bills are paid and we have a set amount each pay period budgeted for groceries, gas and entertainment.  You know what, this month has been a good month for us.  Hopefully it's a preview of the new norm.

Next Major Purchase...

for the household is something similar to this (link in English 'cause I like ya). Along with some totes and such...why? Because we have a serious lack of storage for the oodles of canned goods that I "hoard" here. Oh and the cases of shelf stable milk (not exactly the same, but close enough...and not half & half) I keep buying. Hey, it's only 41 cents (Euro) on the economy per carton...can't pass that one up.

After that a new bed for the Spousal Unit and myself may be in order but I'm thinking that new mattresses and slats would be way, way cheaper (and I'm right there). Of course there is always the continued purchasing of food items and other such things as would be needed to make it through several months of no fundage in the event of an extreme emergency...so I've been keeping an eye on the ever flucuating pay (thanks non-stable COLA rate) and have decided that the most logical turn for a budget would be not to include said COLA. We're also going local (sorta) and switching our spot for main pay deposit...our little bank back in MO makes it a little bit of a pain in the rear to work with ATMs (fees and whatnot) which drives me batty as hell.

Just a little update from across the pond...a little trivial in light of current events, but an update none-the-less.