There is nothing quite prefer financial panic to perk you right up.
This was the case last year for us & we’re still feeling the effects of it. Although, the two of us are making it where there are a lot of people who just aren’t & have lost everything. So, the two of us are keeping our situation in perspective. But both my husband & I took steep pay cuts in order to keep our jobs & work from the air conditioning at home. It’s better than being unemployed but it still through us for a loop. When the two of us realized that the two of us were looking at a year of limited income, the two of us had to make some real changes. The air conditioning that the two of us were working from at beach house was a giant target. So much of our spending habits had to change. And what the two of us had been paying for heating & cooling costs was just in no way sustainable. So in a way, the pay cuts forced us to address the Heating & Air Conditioning cost issue the two of us had been avoiding. I guess the two of us avoided it because it was easier to just set the thermostat & forget it. Whatever it cost was whatever it cost. And that’s a recipe for grossly overpaying for Heating & Air Conditioning in one’s home. So last Summer was the first time the two of us got real about Heating & Air Conditioning costs. By & large, it was all about making sure the thermostat stayed put. It was absolutely the warmest our beach house had ever been. But the two of us got accustomed to it & the two of us ended up saving hundreds of dollars on Heating & Air Conditioning cooling costs. That made a giant difference when added to the other cost saving measures that the two of us employed last year.