This has gotten her some snarky responses asking her why, if her husband is in the lucrative field of law and she earns money at home from her websites, they just don't go buy a new car.
I'll let you go to Crystal's post to read her reasons. I have different issues, but we are experiencing the same reactions.
My husband is an engineer in the aerospace industry. He does earn a lovely wage. We're not rich or anything, but we've come a long way from the year when we earned 17,000 with our combined incomes. And then I got a contract job in a field that pays pretty well. Ever since he got that job, and especially since I got my job on top of his, I've heard the following phrase more than I can count-
"I don't know why you don't (buy new clothes/go on vacation more/buy a better TV/spend more money). You can afford it! Your husband is an engineer/you have two good incomes!"
Yes, some of these things are true. My husband is an engineer. We do have two incomes. But we can't afford it.
You never really know what is going on with other people's money.
Our reasons for not being able to afford it have nothing to do with how much we earn. Our goals are what keep us from affording new clothes and the latest trinkets. As I've said here, we want to pay off everything- including our home- by 2012. So although our current income would be considered on the higher end, we don't live on much more than we were during the 'po grad school days.
Instead, we are aggressively paying off our debts and saving.
- We pretend that we any money I earn does not exist and we send almost all of my paycheck to our debts. (We send the rest of it to my Roth IRA.)
- My husband contributes as much as his company will match to his 401K. That's a nice chunk of his paycheck.
- We save a good chuck of his income as well. We want at least 1 year's worth of living expenses without having to sell our stock. We're getting closer, but we're not there yet.
- We send as much of his income as we can towards our debts.
We live on what is left.
That's not to say we live a miserly, unjoyful life. We're having a great time. We decide what we want to do with our money. We evaluate what we have to have. We also know that we can still live on very little. We're not letting the amount we earn ratchet up our lifestyle very much, we're using it to pay off the house and the student debt.
We decide and chose to do this. We don't let anybody else's expectation of what a double income no kids family should look like. We don't let anybody tell us that "we can afford it." We just smile, continue enjoying our life as we are choosing to live it now, and move on. As Dave Ramsey says, we're living like like no one else so that later, we can live like no one else.
6 comments:
"You never really know what is going on with other people's money" I agree 100% with that.
Every individual or household has different needs and goals. I invest more than 40-45% of my salary aggressively towards retirement. I have a 17 old TV which is still working fine, I do not own a stereo or an iPod because I am not much of a music listener. A USD 15 mp3 player is quite satisfactory for me. I am 41 and own my two-bedroom apartment and have no mortagage payments. I have no credit card debt and I have one year's expenses worth of an emergency fund. Do I feel deprived of anything? NO! I feel very happy and secure instead.
I applaud you for living on your own terms! It takes a lot of money to live well in retirement and you are well on your way. We were able to retire when I was 53 and DH 54 with a paid off brand new home, enough money to buy a new car with cash whenever we need it and live very nicely until we are 100. We put enough aside that we don't have to worry with the eocnomy the way it is right now. We can ride out the rough times. We did that living life on our own terms not what someone expected us to do and we still do! It is so FREEING! No job, no worries! You are well on your way!
When I read the post on money saving mom and then yours, I just don't get why people think they have the right to tell you what to do with YOUR money is beyond me. The way to be successful in life when it comes to finance is to live BELOW your means. Period. You save what you don't NEED to use. Its not a hard concept(although when i was younger I most definitely didn't get it). Hubby has a great job now and I have incoming money from my military duty and going to school, but we are still living like we did when hubby was at his totally non-paying commission job. We do treat ourselves to things from time to time but nothing big and nothing that will effect the amount of savings we put away every month. I applaud you for having such a great plan of attack and I do believe that you will reach your goal by 2012, no doubt.
I love this post. I admire your impressive goals and feel agree with the whole Dave Ramsey -- live like no one else so you can live like no one else
I love your blog and it's inspiring to this new to the frugal way of life.
Kudos to you for sticking to your goals! Lord forbid something should happen (one of you loses your job, major home damage, the economy collapses, etc, etc) at least ya'll will be prepared!
You're not alone. My husband is an engineer and I'm a lawyer (solo practice). Through frugal living I paid off $97K in student loans in 6 years (I would listen to Dave Ramsey's show for motivation). Now we are saving to buy a home without a mortgage. Friends and family think we're crazy, but the money sitting in the bank gives us peace of mind, especially since my husband's career as an engineer is somewhat unstable, and I will be working part-time once our first child arrives (in about 2 weeks). Ignore comments of others, and stay focused on getting to living debt free! It is great to see other Americans sharing thoughts and ideas on frugality and debt-free living!
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