The Latest Style: Tighter Belts
In April's issue of Horse & Rider--which came out last week--I used my "Just Between Us" column to openly discuss how the current economy's affecting my horse-related spending. Then I invited readers to tell me their own stories.
I've been doing little but fielding their e-mails ever since. That sound we're hearing? It's that of belts being cinched tighter all across the country. That sloshing sensation we're detecting at our ankles? It's from the ripple effects flowing from one pond of activity to the next.
Something I found especially interesting: The way in which my respondents equated the prices of non-horse purchases to ones related to their horses. Such as:
"I quit having my hair colored for $40, and put the $$ toward five extra bales of hay instead."
"I cancelled cable TV service in order to pay the farrier on time."
*I stretch the time between farrier visits so I can afford to drive to work."
"We've cancelled our weekly dinners out in order to save for hay."
If you would like to contribute to this discussion, feel free to do so here. With a tighter belt now very much in style, how are you wearing yours?
posted by Juli Thorson @ 10:56 AM
29 comments
29 Comments:
We have definitely felt the strain in far northern CA (close to the NV border). Hay has been scarce the last couple of years, but with our freezing winter and late planting, it's almost impossible to find. When we do find it, it's upwards of $18-20/bale for grass. We've started supplementing the horses with grain to help keep costs down, but with three horses and limited hay storage, it's tough.
Gas is also about $4.00/gallon here, so we've parked the haulin' rig and moved down to a SUV and car to save gas. We're thinking no shows (I am the local 4-H horse leader) besides the local fair, because at about $100 a trip, we've reached our limit. I used to volunteer our trailer for the 4-Hers: now, it's off limits and its up to them to get their horses to their meeting.
The vet is charging more for his annual spring vaccination clinics (it's now about $40 more per horse). The farrier is charging more, due to his increase in fuel, so shoeings are more and more scarce, just trimming as necessary.
So, with all the changes, I gave up the broodmare I was going to purchase this year, and my yearling is the last new horse I'm buying for a while... Hopefully our economy will become better soon, but it's not looking attractive right now!
Oops, forgot to mention the personal cutbacks :-)
No more eating out for us! That saves us enough to buy extras for the horses.
Shopping in bulk: we go once a month and stock up on groceries in bulk, which saves a lot in the long run.
I don't think I've bought any clothes for myself for about 6 months (this way I could buy a fly mask, fly spray, grooming supplies for the new year, and treats for the horses).
We've cut back on our TV - no more unneccesary channels, only what we often watch. This saved us about $50/month!
The little things have really helped, and I can tell I have a bit more cash on hand for emergencies...
We have been "Living Like No One Else" (Dave Ramsey, www.daveramsey.com) for QUITE a while now. Its easy for us to cut back or eliminate things, since we have been doing it anyways in order to save money. (This way in the long run, we can Live Like No One Else!) We cut out debt- NO credit cards, no car payment, and the house is paid for. We pay in cash, or we dont buy it. Our monthly expneses, even with two horses in our care AND two growing toddlers, are under $1000.
The rise in prices DOES affect us, the gas prices make our second "hobby/ job" (equine lameness rehab practice) harder, as we try to keep our rates as low as possible for our customers. Means we "make" about a buck-three-eighty or so per horse, but its worth it to see them comfortable.
Some good ideas here, well worth passing on, and I hope to see more from others.
We're working hard to get credit cards down, so we're ready for the even colder wind to come. Animals have always eaten first in this house. Not so easy here, though, trying to get last childbrat through college, sold my horse trailer last year for first sememster.
Callie,
It may have been a smart move to sell your trailer when you did--while people still felt like they had money to part with.
I am seeing more and more pre-owned items pouring onto the market as the months go by, and think that the competition for finding buyers is going to get a lot keener.
I'M LIKE MRS MOM...BETTER THAN I DESERVE. DAVE RAMSEY HAS CHANGED MY LIFE.
I veiw this time period and do what I do with my investments. This is a great time to purchase if you are in the market for a horse.
Anon--
You've just described the benefit of a buyer's market!
i buy all my clothes [save underwear and shoes] at the thrift store. we're lucky in our area [near a big city] there are always tons of recent styles for all ages. i can fill a bag with 5 pairs of jeans and 10 shirts for $20 bucks and use the rest for more important stuff like horse feed and vet bills. it matters when you have 3 horses and only make $8.50 an hour! [luckily the house, truck and trailer were paid off in more affluent times.]
Im lucky that I have a job that wont soon be cut back. I too have tightend my belt. The rising cost of a certian brand name feed really made me look at what was so good about it, and made me find something just as good for almost $6 a bag cheaper! Thats quite the savings when you go threw 100# or more a week! I also lucked out when I bought my house last year, as the fencing and shed were up already and just needed some minor tweeking to have it ready to bring the hoof kids home to. I am able to make some of they hay I need off of the back acerage on my property, but am also lucky enough to have a dad who was involved in agriculture and knows farmers who raise good quality hay and give me a break on the cost of it. Small squares last year were $1.50 for good qulaity grass.
I too have stoped eating out as much, and am trying to save money where I can. Not an easy thing as a single gal, with 4 horse mouths to feed!
As they say, the cheapest thing about owning a horse is the horse itself! 2 of my 4 were free, one was $250 and the mini was $50. 3 of the 4 being adopted from a horse rescue, and the last being given to me. Love my hoof kids, and will do any thing I need to keep them, including eating ramen noodles and PB & J!
After a recent layoff that unfortunately included me, I look around our place and realize how lucky we are. We grow our own hay and have plenty to last until this years cutting. (We started saving for the fertilizer long ago-price per ton is through the roof!)
I have six horses that are easy keepers, so I grain only the two colts and a mare that has to be dry lotted. I've already started searching for a good quality, non brand name grain to replace the pricey (Yikes and I mean pricey!) type we're currently using.
I've got a colt up for sale and the horse market is tough unless you're runnin with the big dogs. He's very well bred, confirmationally correct, and sweet as he can be. Oops, sorry, did I mention he was for sale? I digress..
We try to drive only when we need to (hubby telecommutes) and I've learned how to "make do" with some very interesting bitlets of flotsam here on our place. Still job hunting and trying to maintain a positive attitude, but also enjoying all the extra time with my horses and getting lots of exercise!
We're really fortunate that I'm a good cook; probably 95% of what we eat is now made from scratch in the kitchen. We've cut waaay back on the amount of meat we eat -- lots of stews, pasta, potato- and veggie-filled dishes that "stretch" the meat. What little processed food we DO buy is bought on sale, or at the bread outlet. This summer, there will be a veggie garden and the kitchen will be turned into the Temple of Canning.
When we moved, we moved so that my fiance and I were both less than 10 miles from work (my job, and the barn, are about 3 miles from the house -- I work at a university and board there). I now use about a tank of gas a month, sometimes less.
Clothes come from the thrift store, or end up on my Christmas list (my family never knows what to get me anyway). Books are from the library. I've also (painfully) given up my coffee habit -- it just cost waay too much.
We're also turning the thermostat down and wearing more clothes when it's chilly (in the summer, it's not an issue -- we don't have A/C anyway as we live in a 60-year-old house!)
Horse-wise, I haven't cut back far yet (critters come first in this family!), though my horse now gets half plain oats and half of the spendy name brand feed. She's doing well on it, and actually has been less hot, so I'm certainly not complaining. My horse can't tolerate alfalfa and won't eat oat, so we're stuck with the expensive grass (and I hear you about the price of grass in the CalNeva area -- it's awful!)
I'm going to do some shows this summer, but fewer than I was hoping (considering I have a very nice 5 year old that's just starting her show career), and only what's close to home.
Rebecca--
Temple of Canning? That's a good one!
I actually just bought my second horse and we just moved into a new house with acreage so we can keep them at home rather than boarding them. I've decided to feed from round bales instead of smaller square bales. The price here in Michigan is substantially less for hay, but still higher than it has been in the past. I hope to get by on 2 round bales a month at $50 each. Going in to spring, our pasture looks pretty good, so I'm hoping that will help supplement. Both horses are barefoot, so I only pay for trims every 8 weeks. Of course there are those unexpected expenses that come up, but I'm keeping a tight budget and telling myself it's all worth it. I've been told if I compost the manure that we have an organic vegetable farm down the road that will purchase it-something I'm looking into and trying to learn how to do.
HI, Becky,
FYI, we compost our manure and either use it ourselves (I'm a fairly serious gardener), or trade it for produce from other gardeners. Might as well get some use out of it!
Hi Juli,
Any easy practical advice on the composting? Everything I'm reading seems confusing and almost overwhelming to know how to begin. Pile A,B,C-turn twice, water once-add new poop to only one daily-AACCKK!!!!
Becky,
We don't do anything real complicated when composting our manure.
We have one large pile on a slight slope. The newest manure is dumped at the top. Several times a year, we use the tractor bucket to push the newest material down the hill, over the top of the older material. This acts as the turning step. When we want to extract the oldest material for use as compost, we just dig in to the oldest part of the pile.
The roof runoff from the barn goes into gutters that empty into a large plastic pipe directed toward the pile. That's how we water it.
We currently bed on wood products--which take 2-3 years to fully break down. Straw bedding breaks down much faster--in about a year.
Rule of thumb: If your composted material doesn't look like dense, black dirt, it's not ready yet. If you can still see anything that looks like a wood chip or manure "apple," the stuff is too "green" yet to use.
Have cut back on the number of shows I usually attend from 12 to 5. Cut out all long distance shows save one the Emerald in Monroe, and cut all tiny shows with little or no points to be had.
For most shows I will only be attending Sat & Sun. This saves on class fees, and day fees from Trainer, also this gives me more money from working the extra days.
I am not paying for RV hook-up fees this year. My truck and trailer are completely set-up for dry camping with a battery and generator so its about time I use it that way. Can you believe some RV parks are charging $45 to $65 a night? Give me a break! All I need is a plug. You might as well get a cheap hotel for that price. If my water runs out I can fill back up right there at the fairgrounds.
Trying to get one more year out of my Truck and Trailer combo.
Trying to narrow my horse numbers to one...
Color my hair only about twice a year now.
Have always made 90% of meals at home eating out is always a rare and special occasion for us. But I have always eaten out at horse shows and that came to a halt this year too. I am saving one night at each show to eat out, for the other days it will be whatever microwave delicacy I have packed.
Hey, Steph,
Camper hookup? What's that, LOL? I agree about some of the fees; beware of the showgrounds that charge you just to park overnight!
As for some shows' stalls fees, I used to say I could get Riley a room at Motel 6 for less.
I live in Northern California but over on the more western side and our hay is around $15.00 each small bale. It is going up quickly... diesel is around $4.25 per gallon so my DH and I are looking for a small honda or toyota car for me to drive in. I'm a stay at home mom to our eight month old daughter so I really don't have to go anywhere though my diesel adds up from short jaunts all day long. I'll never get rid of my truck, but I'll miss using it a lot.
I have five horses, currently, and am looking to get down to two. The horse market is horrible for the seller though and it is hard to come to lessening the selling prices! But, it is great for the buyer... I just hope I can "hand pick" for my babies.
We have three cows getting ready to calve, a yearling steer that we'll butcher come fall, 40+ sheep that we'll sell and keep for meat. My MIL has a large garden and we'll be growing veggies from there. We do live an hour from the "Big City" near us and our weekly visits to Costco have become hard but is still essential for us and my DH's business.
We're keeping our credit card at 0, tightening our belts on frivilous spending, my horses are going out on pasture this month and our hay consumtion will go down... Yay! We do not supplement feed grain or the like as our horses are easy keepers and have dapples from air. They're hardy.
We do not show, just pleasure trail ride and we won't be trailering anywhere in the near future unless with some bad stroke of luck, to the vet.
Juli, love your blog, this is my first time commenting. I've always enjoyed your articles in the magazines and look for your name first. I wrote you about an article on a Kiger Mustang you had on a trail ride once... It was neat to see my breed of choice being talked about! :D
Hi, Joan,
I remember getting mail about the Kiger Mustang I wrote about, so welcome back to reading and commenting. Glad to see you, too!
I recently had to give away my 6 year old donkey to my farrier because I couldn't afford to keep up her feet along with my other two horses. I am also avoiding putting shoes on my 3 year old gelding and plan on investing in some easy boots. i also employed a 15 year old friend of my family's to help me break in my gelding. She's got more experience than I do but I don't have to pay her 600.00 a month just to get him to where he can be ridden.
I have decided to not quit my job at the end of this school year to help with the horse bills, free leased my older show mare to a family with two little girls who wanted a horse again, we decided to raise a garden this year and kept our bull calf (Stormin Norman of earlier posts) as our new herdsire so we don't have to AI or breed out. We don't have too many bills but I have sold some of my extra tack so I can have less clutter and a little extra show money for this summer. I also plan to buy a Jersey cow for milking and 50 dual purpose chicks and a few turkeys. I also no longer take in any rescues without serious thought first. I used to have a come one, come all attitude toward rescues but can't do it anymore. We have pretty well hit our limit unless it is a real emergency, not just a I don't want to do it anymore. We also decided to reseed part of the pasture for hay to make a little extra this year even though we will have to be extra careful with the pasture this year. I hope to get three cutting this summer but will have to see what happens. We used to eat out some but have cut that way back, have cut back on unnecessary trips to town, and try not to buy drinks/snacks just because we put fuel in the tank. I about died the first time I filled the diesel and it was almost $120 and that was before it went up this high.
Normie's Mom!
Thanks for stopping by the blog. I take it Norman is well--(everyone, he is the Hereford calf shown here a while back, wearing the baby-blue newborn-foal blanket I sold to Anonymous through a Web-based message board.)
Your decision to keep working fits a trend reported last week by the Wall Street Journal. More people are staying in jobs at a higher rate than expected, even ones eligible for or even past retirement.
We got a letter from our vet today that because of the price of fuel that they will no longer make emergency house calls. This is so sad. So, do we keep using them or go to the other vet that is not as good but will come out any time we need him. I think it is sad that a vet would put prices of fuel ahead of the horses we love so much. I understand that prices of everything have gone up, but if we are willing to pay to have them come out, it just seems like we should have that option.
Phyl
Well, the truck is parked and I am driving a '93 saturn that gets 28mpg--$26/wk beats $112/wk! I switched over to almost all oats direct from my local farmer instead of sweet feed, bought my hay ahead, have been selling everything extra I didn't need for extra feed money, am doing more of my own trimming and no shoes and no trailering to ride anywhere, buy groceries with coupons and all wholesale through COSTCO if we can, only get what we need and through sales or cheap from e-Bay or barter services if we need to. Lots more combined trips, so don't have to drive near as much, and no long trips or vacations anymore. Also quit competing in shows and CTR's for now. Too expensive with fuel costs. Really worried for enduance and CTR riders, as that was the largest part of our bill before and it's out of sight now. Also bough my beef and lamb ahead privately last year and stuck extra venison in the freezer. Also am expanding my vegetable garden to freeze and can more this year with produce prices crazy.
I'm staying closer to home, not taking as many camping and show trips. When I do go, my friends and I trailer pool and share the costs. I take my camper, bring my own food, and if the electrical hookup isn't a lot higher, I'll pay for that, or I'll take my battery and run off that. I change my own oil and do the lubes on my pickup (why pay $70 or more for something that takes me 20 minutes). I buy my hay several tons at a time, haul it myself, and thanks to a very innovative electric hoist my husband put in the barn, I can also unload and stack it without breaking a sweat. I trim my own horses, who both are barefoot full-time. If footing is too uncomfortable on a ride, the Easy Boots are tied on the saddle and can be put on in a jiff.
And, if you like to ride in clinics, consider being a host. You can set the clinic up close to your home, and many clinicians will let you ride for free in any clinic you set up for them. I used to be able to only ride in a clinic every two or three years. Now, I host three clinics back-to-back each summer and am able to take advantage of several thousand dollars worth of training for just a bit of effort and about $50 for mailing and phone calls.
Excellent tip about hosting a clinic!
Post a Comment
<< Home