So, I have been thinking...
No, that is not new...I do think sometimes...
I am always stressed out about something,
most of the time it is money. It is an easy thing to stress about. I think I worry extra about it because I am the one who is making it. Wow, I didn't know how hard it was for the husband. It is stressful!
Anyway, we went to the beach with some friends and she mentioned refinancing to lower her interest rate. I looked into it a little, filled out an online application, Jason talked to some people at our bank...lots of work made short, we are hopefully going to be lowering our interest rate, WITHOUT having to refinance!!! It will save over $150 a month.
This got me thinking about other ways we can cut down on expenses...
Get rid of cable? We lived for five or six years without it...
Get rid of cell phones? We are seriously considering this (okay, seriously may be a stretch). Rationally I know that we don't need cell phones, but really? How will we live without them? What will I do while I am driving? I will be so bored and lonely!!
We don't need to get rid of expenses, but it certainly would help!
I just wonder what you can or can't live without.
5 comments:
1. We don't have cable.
2. The only cool toys we have come from your mom
3. We don't have a car payment.
4. We don't eat out very often
5. We don't pay for preschool
6. I hate to shop so we don't buy things very often
7. We have one cell phone and then we use the magicjack--ask Mike.
That's where we save money. There are a lot of things I think, "Could we live without this and the answer is usually no so we still pay for them. You know what will affect your family the most and what things you need and don't need. So, what I might be willing to live without, would be different for you and what I just couldn't give up, you probably could in a snap.
Jameson and I had to do the luxury sweep, where we get rid of things we can do without. We both went without a cell phone for a while... and I thought it was going to be awful! (What if I get stranded alone in the middle of no where!) But, what ended up happening is I really felt free. I could go out and about, do my thing, and when I got home, I could check my messages and call back when I wanted to. There is something that feels good about not letting someone get ahold of you at all times.
Okay, you know me. I am Ms. Penny Pincher extraordinaire. But I think that when you get to a certain age and you can afford things and you want them, go for it. It's a different story if you truly can't afford it. I just look at things like this: There's not much that we honestly can't afford (well, regular stuff obviously) but we just choose not to spend money on those things so we can use our money to do other things. I don't know if this is making any sense. It is late and I am tired and rambling. But to answer your question, I could not live without high speed internet (I still consider this a luxury, we had dial-up for so long). I could maybe do without cable but then I would feel like we were still newlyweds at BYU and we are not and I don't want to live that way.
Seriously, look into prepaid cell phones. I just read an article in the paper that said most normal-use people can save money that way, not just the non-cell phone users like me. Oh, and you shouldn't be talking on the phone in the car anyway! Haven't you heard of Oprah's no phone zone pledge? :)
We have cable, but very basic 10 dollars a month cable. It has just the basic chanels, plus a few little extras. We chose cell phones over land-lines. Josh is on his families plan, and I am on my families plan...both are verizon. And I am totally the type of person who calls people with verizon anytime, and wait to call people with out until it is free (nights and weekends) unless there is an emergency. I could probably live with out the internet, but really it comes in handy to have. Espcially since Josh is a teacher. We try to eat in, and we coupon shop. We save atleast 50 percent on all grocery bills...last night we went grocery shoping and we saved about 50 and spent about 40. It takes a lot of work, and you have to get into it before it starts to work out though. We stock up on what is on sale and we have coupons for. So some trips feel like we just bought silly things, but when we get home and put it all away we are filling in what we need, and the next week we stock up on something else. And we do not buy a lot of name brand things unless it is really truelly worth paying the difference and in most cases it is not. We also do not have credit cards!!!!! Crazy right? But we live without them.
Hmmm. Luxuries vs. Needs. This is one of those great periodic conversations. What are we willing to live without? What CAN we live without? What is necessary for me to be happy? Where can we cut, what should we focus on as a family? How are we supposed to take care of our stewardship? What are we responsible for? Are we being greedy? Are we serving those who need help more than we do?
I wish I had learned more about money management when I was still living under the financial protection of parents--and I struggle trying to figure out how much money responsibility my kids should have to deal with.
It used to be I would pay for any clothes the girls wanted at the thrift store, and they had to buy stuff at Target they wanted (except underwear, we decided that was a necessity=parental responsibility).
But last shopping trip Suzu bought her own thrifted clothes until she ran out of money, and I chipped in the $3 she needed over her budget. Times change, and being flexible is important.
Being honest with kids about budget is double-edged: you don't want them to take money for granted, or to freak out "WE ARE SO POOR!"
Helping them feel safe and taken care of and full of faith and willing to pay tithing is the goal. And to trust that as they do everything they can to be thrifty and wise and put important things first, it will work out, and they will be okay...
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