Not shockingly, after reading everything from Dave Ramsey to Mint.com, I wandered back over to my Motley Fool roots and started reading their personal finance materials again. There I rediscovered my confidence to not have to pay someone to manage my money (at least at this point).
The strange side effect of finally digging in and becoming an adult about our finances is that I'm slightly paranoid now about spending money at all. Brilliant you say, but not really. I can talk myself into going out for tex-mex for dinner faster than you can say queso, but I'll put off buying say work shoes because I don't want to spend the money.
I'm also more aware of how much less we could be living on. The statistics about the majority of the country living on or less than $50,000 a year keeps rolling around in my head. In DC you'd have to have two roommates and keep to a strict budget to really make that work for one person, it would be heroic for two.
So I continue to evaluate how to consume less in an effort to save more. But more importantly, I'm realizing living with less is possible. Things on the savings block as of late:
- broken myself of a serious Crate & Barrel habit.
- cut out my high end spa trips for the occasional nice, but not nearly as swank pedicure.
- stretching a few more weeks between haircuts.
- always checking for coupons online before making an online purchase.
- using what's in the pantry to plan menus (having it overstuffed is pointless)
I, too, have made a series of let-them-eat-cake style budget decisions recently. I only get hour-long massages at my HMO's complimentary medicine clinic instead of 120 minute massages at the spa most of the time, for example. Baby steps.
ReplyDeleteI hear you on the meal planning, BTW. I definitely use my pantry to plan more often, and it has been helpful. We have been spending much more at the actual grocery store since we switched to all organic everything, but overall, our food budget has shrunk because we cook more and pack more lunches.