How Half a Cow Almost Ate Our Budget

September 30, 2025

New Strategies

Marco and I have been experimenting with a new approach to our weekly payments, which we mentioned briefly in our last post.

As a refresher: our financial coach, Jess, suggested that since Marco is paid weekly, we should also pay our bills weekly. This system has been working out wonderfully for us.

Each week, we:

Cover recurring bills (mortgage, car payments, HELOC)
Pay off our credit cards
Send whatever’s left straight into savings

Our “Offshore” Savings Account

To keep savings separate from our day-to-day money, we opened an account at a completely different bank (we normally bank with Summit). This way, we don’t see it mixed in with the rest of our finances.

The plan is to use those savings for the winter months when Marco’s seasonal work slows down. We jokingly call it our “offshore account” because, for the first time ever, we’ve been able to keep a savings account going, something we’ve never managed before

Categorizing Our Credit Cards

We also started organizing our spending by assigning each of our three credit cards a category:

Costco Card → food + gas
Target Card → diapers + wipes (because twins!)
Miscellaneous Card → Amazon orders + fun purchases

This system has been a game-changer. It shows us exactly where we’re overspending and makes it easier to adjust week by week.

The Half-a-Cow Snag

Last week, though, we hit a snag. We couldn’t completely pay off the Costco card. Why? We bought half a cow to save money on meat long-term (cheaper per pound), but the big upfront cost threw off our balance.

After bills and the other cards, there wasn’t enough left to cover the food card. That left us with three options:

Let the balance roll over (not ideal).
Dip into savings (also not ideal, plus a hassle with a different bank).
Get creative.

Getting Creative

We chose option three. Here’s how:

No Costco for the week. If we couldn’t pay it off, we weren’t going to add to it. Instead, we raided the deep freezer and planned meals using what we already had.
Reviving my jewelry business. It had been a while since I sold my vintage jewelry (life with twins + school is busy!). But when a friend mentioned a pop-up boutique event at her shop, I jumped in.

The results? I not only covered the shortfall but actually came out ahead! Plus, it reminded us how much we love doing flea markets and pop-ups. Talking with people, having fun, and making some side hustle cash was energizing.

Lessons Learned

In the end, we covered the balance without touching savings. More importantly, it gave us the push to get back into market selling again.

A tough week turned into a great reminder that:
Challenges push us to get creative.
Creativity often pays off.

Ready to Start Your Own Side Hustle?

Check out this Summit Credit Union article:

Thanks for reading about our journey!
Marco and Dawn