The Mighty Thor presents "One of Those Months"

Thor smiting our finances

Did you ever have one of those months where the financial Gods are out to get you?  You know that month where everything breaks and every time you turn around somebody has their hand out for more and more money.  A month where it never seems to stop?

Well we are in the midst of one of those months (actually into our second month now).  It started with our furnace.  New furnace needed... thousands of dollars. Then we had an air conditioner go out along with parts to another furnace... thousands of dollars.  Then trees started falling all over our neighbors properties. Now I don't mean just a simple down tree that I can cut up and haul away for our firewood.  I've been chainsawing since I was a kid.  I can handle most trees.  No, we had huge masses of tangled twisted widow makers that need to be tended to.  Out of my comfort zone widow makers hanging over neighbors houses and property.  The kind that can only come from Thor's mighty hammer shooting lightning down upon our trees... thousands of dollars.  Oh and the kids are going back to school and need books and supplies and club fees and extras for the classroom... and Senior pictures... you get the idea, a whole lotta money leaving the iFreebies household.

While in the midst of this great struggle I have to admit I've become a little depressed.  Here we are just starting this blog and really getting serious about our finances.  We've been running over budget the last two months and were really focused on making a difference.  Then Thor comes down to smite our financial world and honestly it's been a little much.  As a result I haven't been blogging or really focusing on our finances.  We have just been trying to survive this rain of lightning and fire being thrown at us.  It has to end, right?

I've spent the last week or so reading some great posts by other financial bloggers and reading and re-reading some of the classic financial books.  I was hoping for some inspiration and I think I have found some.  In particular another read of Your Money or Your Life gave me some much need inspiration and clarity.  I've also been reading a lot more about minimalism.  We could definitely benefit from that.  The less we have, the less that can break (hopefully).  I think I'll cover that topic in more detail in some upcoming posts.

Well I'm hoping this post can set us back on track and help drive Thor back to Asgard or another Marvel movie, whichever he prefers.  Given everything going on in our financial world we have to get back on track and buckle down.  We have some expenses that will probably run through the Labor Day weekend but after that we are hoping to be free and clear of all of this angst.  We are looking for September to be a strong month for us.

With that in mind we are setting some September goals.  They are simple and twofold:

1)  Spend as little as possible.  See how low we can get our expenses.
2)  Challenge every expense.  We need to see if we can take $1,000 or more off of our monthly "normal" bills.

This won't be easy but Mrs. iFreebies and I are committed to try to stem this financial tide we are currently facing and getting back on track to an early retirement.  This must also include a focus on minimalism and we must find a way to start to embrace that as well.

How did you get out of this funk when hit with these type of financial months?  Would love to read your comments.

Photo credit:  Kostic Dusan 123rf.com