“Using Paamonims’ app, has helped us know exactly how much we spend,” says Avi, 55, from Tiberias. Avi and his wife Zipporah (52) thought that at their age they would be able to rest from thoughts of the lack of money, bask in children and grandchildren and start to find time for hobbies. They thought that Zipporah would be able to decrease her long hours as a kindergarten teacher and that together, they could tour the country, as Avi is a tour bus driver .
However, helping the children, especially their student daughter, and the lack of meticulous financial planning brought them to a minus of 24,000 NIS, precisely at a time when they couldn’t increase their income.
“We found ourselves in a difficult financial situation,” Avi describes, “our daughter was studying and we felt that we had to help her, and that got us into a pickle. We suddenly found ourselves in a big and unplanned minus, panicked and were looking for ways to get out of it.”
They found Paamonim online and realized that here they could get free advice worth gold. “We scheduled a day and our mentor came to us about a year ago,” Avi says. The first encounter led to additional meetings and the process created a real change in the family.
Today, a year later, the family overdraft is only 4,000 NIS.
The Paamonim app was the first step in the family’s recovery process. When the numbers are clear and right before your eyes, it’s easy to pinpoint places that can and should be cut.
“Today we record our expenses regularly – of the money that comes in and the money that goes out,” says Avi, “Let’s say we buy at the supermarket with my credit card – I allocate a certain amount for this, and don’t exceed it.”
The first part included practical cuts. “At first we didn’t buy clothes at all,” Avi describes, “we got by with what we had. Everything is expensive today, so we need to be careful and aware of how much we spend.”
“We have a car and we can’t give it up because I’m disabled,” Avi adds, “but we reduced travel to urgent trips only, for a while.”
Even with these cuts, the couple discovered that they could mostly keep their standard of living.” We started doing a survey on where to buy cheaper. Today we are at such a level of knowledge that we know where to buy and where things are on sale. Today we split our shopping and buy in several places.”
One of the most notable changes is the conduct of the entire extended family around the financial issue. The couple has three children. The oldest is 30 years old and lives in Tel Aviv, is finishing her master’s degree in international relations and is about to do a doctorate in diplomacy. Another 28-year-old daughter is married +2 and lives in Tiberias and the youngest is 26-year-old son who lives near Jerusalem with his wife and child.
The situation before Paamonim was that every visit by the grandchildren to Grandma and Grandpa led to a joint walk to the supermarket, where we spent money uncontrollably. “A child doesn’t distinguish between what’s expensive or inexpensive,” Avi describes, “he throws everything into the cart and says: ‘Grandpa will pay.’ After Paamonim entered the picture, we realized that it was a challenge for us to take them to the supermarket with us. So now instead, we make a list in advance of things they want and like and go shopping before they come. It turns out that everyone is satisfied. They’re happy because they end up getting the things they like, and we’re happy because we’re able to give them without incurring unnecessary expenses.”
The joint dinners with the daughter in Tiberias have also undergone a change. “Our daughter understood what was happening so she started inviting us over,” says Avi, “We help babysitting her children during the week because she and her husband work and then on Friday and Saturday she pampers us.”
The issue of travel is still an issue that has not been fully resolved. Traveling to him is difficult for the couple financially and physically, so the son comes to them more often, but the couple still hopes to be able to increase the meetings. “Today, with a lot of work, our monthly budget is balanced,” Avi says, “We still have a minus 4,000 NIS, but we manage to reduce it every month.