Cutting Costs

As I mentioned in previous posts, I´ve been home without working outside since December 2010.
I took this decision because in my last job I was not given much choice. My daughter´s school and my shifts schedules were incompatible so I chose to leave the job. I did my math and found that if I could reduce some expenses it was possible to keep this unemployment situation until I sell my flat and move to the smaller one. Things went smoothly until May.
First, my car broke down and the repair bill depleted most of my savings. I had to chose between fixing the car or parking it until I could pay the bill, I picked the first option. Then, it was time for a tax surprise related to my father´s inheritance and a few other unexpected expenses. Recently, another tax surprise arrived in my mail box and a buyer for this flat is not showing on the horizon.
With these events, I came up with a priorities list and readjusted my finances according to it. I was able to reduce costs in some "less necessary" things such as cell phone, car insurance, clothes and cigarettes.
Online, I dropped some blogs and found a cheaper webhosting plan. I started blogging with blogger platform and got so used to it that I have never considered changing to Wordpress because I had to learn all about it from scratch, including Wordpress webhosting, and that would take a lot of time and effort.
I´m now reaching a red line in my finances and, although I´m still able to buy some extras, I´ve been crossing my fingers for a change to come along fast so I don´t get in much debt.