don't spend money

Friday, June 01, 2007

Talking about money seems to make people uncomfortable which I don't get. I find it comforting to talk to others in similar situations as I am. For me, it's nice to know that others struggle to make ends meet. Sometimes I feel like everyone can afford a house and lots of kids with no credit card debt... So this is a warning that I will now talk about money...avert your eyes if it makes you uncomfortable.

Josh and I decided almost three weeks ago to do a "No Unnecessary Purchases" experiment. In some ways I don't remember it ever not being like this. It's amazing how quick you can get used to something. The first week was weird but now we simply ask if something is necessary or unnecessary. Honestly though I don't feel deprived or that I've even sacrificed that much.

We had decided right away that we'd each get like 20 bucks or so as sort of an "allowance". I didn't want the no spending thing to become so hard we don't want to follow it. My one unnecessary purchase in the past two weeks was this shirt from Target. It actually wasn't really that frivolous because I don't have many short sleeve shirts for the summer and it's been in the 80's for the past week. Cute and useful! And although we said no bike stuff, Josh finally purchased his new bike seat with some of his graduation money. It was pretty necessary if he wanted to stop getting molested by his bike every time he rode. (His words, not mine.) It arrived on Wednesday and the boy was beyond happy. However, Josh did choose the $60 seat instead of the few more expensive ones he had been eyeing.

For the past couple weeks the money we have spent has gone towards gas, groceries, bandaids, shampoo, and Claritin (which is beyond necessary after a week of feeling like crap because I didn't have any). We've also had Starbucks twice, I think. Last week I received $35 for doing my niece's 9-month pictures. The money was unexpected and extra so I treated us to a movie last Friday night. We decided that this weekend we're going to a Farmer's Market just for fun and maybe to some thrift stores. I figure why not do a little thrifting to look for some newish clothing for summer. I already decided though that we'll just take a certain amount of cash on Saturday. This way we can't spend more than we should. So...it's not like we're sitting at home twiddling our thumbs and locking up our wallets. We're just being extra careful.

It really hasn't been too difficult to NOT spend money. I think it will only get easier. My weakness is definitely clothes. It's hard because since losing weight I have fewer clothes that fit well. But I know I can manage. Stay out of the mall and stay away from all of those websites that I love to online shop on. When you know your weakness, you can find ways to specifically motivate yourself. Plus I always feel motivated when I can see actual results.

Because of this non-spending thing (and Knight Light had a good month) we were able to pay off what we had on our credit card (left over from Josh's graduation extravaganza and Wii!), pay our quarterly car insurance bill without even flinching and all our other monthly bills, put some in savings and we still had money left over. Josh got paid today and he even had to remind me. Normally I am paying bills with that money before we get it!

I spent a little bit of time yesterday on our student loan websites trying to figure out our "Plan of Attack". (I always have to have a Plan of Attack.) I'm anxious for next month to get here (when Josh's student loan payments officially start) so that we can really see what we'll have each month. I tried to figure what we'd have to pay extra to pay off loan A by a certain month. Argh, it is so frustrating and impossible. The whole interest thing sucks. I told Josh we're going to kick butt paying off our student loans. He agreed and then reminded me how thankful he is that I take care of all of that. I just keep him in the loop and we're good to go.

So there you have it... The life of a couple trying to pay for their college educations as quickly as possible so they can live their lives with a house, 2 cars, 3-4 kids and a dog.

Edited to add (8:15am): One of my favorite blogs lately is No Impact Man. He is spending the year attempting to make zero net impact on the environment. He wrote this today about happiness and consumption.

Labels: moolah

posted by kimberly, 7:43 AM