Really.
Nothing.
Or almost nothing. Don't buy clothes. Don't buy Starbucks drinks. Don't buy a coffeemaker, or a notebook, or a needle. Don't buy TV, or movies, or CD's. Do not buy a plasma T.V. or a new DVD player. Don't buy a used DVD player. Don't subscribe to a magazine.
Buy food, laundry detergent, soap. Buy heat in the winter, and electricity, and a place to live. When your clothes wear out to the point that they *have* to be replaced, head to Goodwill, or the Salvation Army, or Freecycle. Heck, check the dumpster. I've found a remarkable amount of serviceable clothes in the dumpster. What I could not wear myself, I've sold to consignment shops or on E-bay.
Accept whatever people give you. Spread the word that you're looking for a couch/towels/a pair of size nine black pumps. Things will find you. What you need will be provided. It's important to have faith that this will be so.
It won't always be exactly what you wanted, or the prettiest, or the newest, but something will be there. You will eat the twenty pounds of .99 cent potatoes from the store opening sale. You will be thankful for the insanely low priced family pack of pork chops. You will grow tired of eating pork and potatoes, but it is what you can afford. You will wish you could have Tide instead of Xtra. You will also feel a secret pride when you serve coffee to your friends from the Freecycle coffeemaker. You will enjoy how nice your house smells when you're air drying the laundry in it, having hauled your wet stuff home from the laundromat.
Do not despair.
You will be so thankful when you leave this season of your life without credit card debt. Years later, when you're sitting in your house, student loans paid off, no credit card debt, these sacrifices will seem minimal. You will laugh at the image of the two of you, huddled on the free couch in your coats, drinking hot tea to stay warm. How far away it will all seem! How blessed you are now!
Keep at it, and it will happen.
For now, for this season of genteel poverty: Don't. Buy. Anything. Unless you absolutely have to.
Next up: Dealing with other people when you're living on less.
Showing posts with label Living On Less. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Living On Less. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Living on Less Part II: Attitude is (Nearly) Everything
When we got married, we had about $3000 in savings, two (paid off) old cars, and not much else. I had not found a job yet, despite filling out applications nonstop. My husband had a part time work study job that paid an incredible (for a work study!) $9 an hour. That gave us less than $1000 a month to work with if we did not want to touch our savings.
This is where many people would say "Oh, it can't be done." We encountered this attitude a lot. (Still do, actually!) "Nobody can live on $1000 a month without using credit cards or loans from parents. It's not possible."
Gentle readers, it simply did not occur to us that it was not possible, and I think this one belief saved us financially. We did not follow our "We only have x amount per month to work with" with thoughts of how it could not happen, how it was impossible, how there was no way we could do it.. We saw that we had x amount, and then thought, "Hmmm...here's how we're going to do it."
It really breaks my heart when people look at their situations and immediately conclude that nothing can be done, so they may as well go on living as they choose. There are few situations that are truly hopeless. I'm not saying that it is easy, but it's not always as impossible as it seems.
It simply did not occur to us that it was impossible. We figured it would be hard, but not impossible! "Onward!"we cried, and rushed into our impossible dreams.
We're believers in the impossible, and this attitude has blessed us.
Tomorrow: Attitude helped...next step: Don't. Buy. Anything.
This is where many people would say "Oh, it can't be done." We encountered this attitude a lot. (Still do, actually!) "Nobody can live on $1000 a month without using credit cards or loans from parents. It's not possible."
Gentle readers, it simply did not occur to us that it was not possible, and I think this one belief saved us financially. We did not follow our "We only have x amount per month to work with" with thoughts of how it could not happen, how it was impossible, how there was no way we could do it.. We saw that we had x amount, and then thought, "Hmmm...here's how we're going to do it."
It really breaks my heart when people look at their situations and immediately conclude that nothing can be done, so they may as well go on living as they choose. There are few situations that are truly hopeless. I'm not saying that it is easy, but it's not always as impossible as it seems.
It simply did not occur to us that it was impossible. We figured it would be hard, but not impossible! "Onward!"we cried, and rushed into our impossible dreams.
We're believers in the impossible, and this attitude has blessed us.
Tomorrow: Attitude helped...next step: Don't. Buy. Anything.
Monday, October 05, 2009
Living On Less Part I: Have a Goal
Having goals is really the most important thing to start with for the living on less person. We knew that we were walking down the aisle into temporary poverty when we got married. My husband was in his last semester of undergrad and I had yet to find a job. Yet we had agreed on three things before we got married:
1. We did not want to get into credit card debt EVER. (We did not come into the marriage with any.)
2. We wanted to have a house by the time we were 30.
3. We wanted to save as much as possible.
The first two things really guided us during our lean days. Wanting these two things helped us stay disciplined when the going got tough. We each had credit cards, and let me tell you, it was mighty tempting to pull it out "just this once."
It was really hard! At the time we had friends who were living it up on their credit cards, taking trips, inviting us to do all sorts of cool and fun things...and really, spending $60 "just this once" on a card did not seem so bad. Yet we knew that when that bill came, we would not be able to pay it. Because we had the goal of not getting into credit card debt, we did not pull out that card. I think that this one goal has saved us more grief than any other goal we've had in our marriage to date. This goal was achievable because of our second "best practice" in our marriage: We worked with what we had, without question, without assumption.
Tomorrow: Attitude!
What were your personal money goals when you entered the working world? If you are married, what were your money goals when you entered your marriage?
1. We did not want to get into credit card debt EVER. (We did not come into the marriage with any.)
2. We wanted to have a house by the time we were 30.
3. We wanted to save as much as possible.
The first two things really guided us during our lean days. Wanting these two things helped us stay disciplined when the going got tough. We each had credit cards, and let me tell you, it was mighty tempting to pull it out "just this once."
It was really hard! At the time we had friends who were living it up on their credit cards, taking trips, inviting us to do all sorts of cool and fun things...and really, spending $60 "just this once" on a card did not seem so bad. Yet we knew that when that bill came, we would not be able to pay it. Because we had the goal of not getting into credit card debt, we did not pull out that card. I think that this one goal has saved us more grief than any other goal we've had in our marriage to date. This goal was achievable because of our second "best practice" in our marriage: We worked with what we had, without question, without assumption.
Tomorrow: Attitude!
What were your personal money goals when you entered the working world? If you are married, what were your money goals when you entered your marriage?
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