Money is something that touches every part of our lives. We eat it, we heat with it, we wear it, we drive it, we drink it, and sleep on it. Sometimes, we waste it, save it, devalue it, or become afraid of it. Sometimes we don’t even know where it went.
Last year we did the money challenge, which can be found in the book, “Be in Season, out of SEASON,” sold at https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/RedWoodlandGate?ref=seller-platform-mcnav
Have you ever wondered how a family of two adults and 8 children seem to manage living in a comfortable house, have three meals a day, have nice clothes and the mom stays at home? Now you may be thinking that the husband makes more than enough money to pay for everything, and I believe in a few cases that is true. However, I believe the housewife has a lot more to do with it, than just the husband’s paycheque.
Now this applies to everyone, whether you are single, married, divorced, separated, or widowed. If you plan, prepare, and are disciplined, you can have more than enough money to live a good life. There are extremes of course, meaning that you can live so frugally you live in fear, and be so careless, you end up in fear due to debt. I remember watching this woman who has a YouTube channel, who lives a very frugal lifestyle. She lives on one thousand dollars a month and puts the rest in her savings account. She has amassed a large amount of money this way, and is fearful about spending any of it, because then she won’t have it.
I know people who have an apartment for one month, and the next are living in their car. I know that debt is difficult to get out of and can easily demand more from you than you want to pay. If you are married, you might have a spouse who is a spending machine while you want to save.
How do you save money, get out of debt, and still get a little something for yourself? Spend less than you make. Too simple I know but it’s the truth.
So how do you live if what you are living off just isn’t enough? Without my credit card, I wouldn’t be eating. I hope you are not the one who uses their credit card for buying food because otherwise you couldn’t eat and at the same time are buying those shoes and jacket because you need them on your credit card. Just saying.
You need to know what you really have coming in each month. You need to know what is deposited into your account from your place of work, any added government cheques, including family allowances, child support and those little bonuses for selling something online.
You need to know what you are giving away to the utility companies, the landlord or bank for your mortgage, car loans, cell phone, internet, Netflix, those coffees you buy on your way to work. Write it all down. The interest you are paying on your credit card and overdrawing your bank account. Write down how much fuel you put in your car, and how much you spend on groceries.
Suppose you make $3000 gross a month and bring home $2500.00 net. Suppose your rent is $1500.00, your utilities are $500.00, your groceries are $800.00, and you haven’t even looked at your cell phone bill, let alone the balance on the credit card. This is how so many people end up on the streets or living in their cars or their friend’s couch.
You must get your expenses below your intake. You have to stop buying stuff you don’t need, abusing things your body doesn’t need, and learning to let things go until you get on top of your spending. Is it easy? No, but if you want more out of life than what you have today, you need to.
Look at your expenses, what can you go without? NetFlix, Prime, tobacco, store bought coffee? A ten-dollar subscription might not seem like a lot, but it adds up to $120.00 per year. That is a nice Christmas present for your kid, or a tank of fuel for your car. What about a $4.00 coffee bought three times a week? Well, it is only $12.00 a week. That is $642 a year. Imagine putting that on your credit card. What about food? How much do you toss in the garbage every week? All these things take from you, and you don’t even realize it.
What about grocery shopping? Do you shop the sales or just buy. I have seen people fill their cart with junk food and complain about aching joints and hard breathing. What you put in your cart can save you money or rob you. Breakfast cereal is made from highly processed, chemical sprayed grains, with lots of sugar, while organic oat bran, or oatmeal, or some other organic grain, is healthier and cheaper per serving. Oat bran takes 3 minutes to cook, or a grain such as quinoa and millet can cook over night in a crock pot. What about a healthy muffin, made from scratch? They can be made and put in the freezer. Buy yoghurt on clearance and put it in the freezer. My kids wouldn’t eat those things. Yes, they prefer sugar coated pop tarts and sugar granola bars, and sugar pop cereal, and a glass of flavored water made with sugar.
How do moms with eight children live below their means? They work at it. They are creative and ambitious. Take a normal family who has eight children and let’s say they live in a small city or town. They live in a modest home, a home where the children need to share a room. Perhaps they go to the thrift store to buy clothing, books, toys and find small treasures to resell. Mom has a garden in the back yard, that provides them not only food in the summer but also in the winter because she preserves. Maybe mom has a side hustle, that brings in a little extra money. Maybe she cooks from scratch, they limit their television choices to free services and maybe occasionally a paid service. They drive older cars, are content to live without certain things to live the lifestyle of debt freedom. Maybe they cannot afford to let their children play hockey or pay to have lessons for figure skating, but they play community soccer and go to swimming lessons.
Why can’t everyone have what they have? The family above might have chosen to sacrifice things that others are not willing to. Instead of buying to the mortgage level the bank would finance them, they might have chosen much less a house. Maybe instead of buying new furniture to put into the house, they chose certain pieces and made do until they could pay cash. Instead of a new boat and cars, they bought reliable used cars. Instead of spending their money on alcohol, drugs, tobacco, going out to restaurants, buying things they don’t need, they bought a shovel and seeds for a garden, a freezer to buy meat in bulk, they purchase higher quality foods, and instead of going to the movies they go on a picnic or skate in the community rink.
It all comes down to, what are you willing to let go of and sacrifice? Two thousand five hundred dollars only goes so far. Five thousand dollars only goes so far. What you choose to spend it on is solely in your hands.
Getting out of debt should be your priority. If you had no credit card debt, how much would that free up each month for you? Do you have a refund cheque for taxes coming to you this year? Put it on your debt. Are you house poor? Would moving to a smaller house help you pay down your debt and mortgage faster? What do you have to sell that can be put towards your debt? Do you know how much you pay in interest?
When you look around your house, are all the things in that house precious to you? How many times do you honestly look at the pictures on your walls? How many times have you cursed dusting your nick knacks. Are you living the life you want to be living? If not, what has to change. If you are, are you debt free and able to survive if there was a market crash or you lost your health?
You are not powerless over anything, and your life is not unmanageable. Living below your means doesn’t mean you are poor, it means you have common sense, and rather smart. Most people overspend and are so far in debt, they could be living on the streets next month. It is not easy to say no to something you want, but it is better to give than receive. Give your family good food, a safe home that is warm, take them to the park instead of spending hundreds of dollars on something that lasts only hours or days. When was the last time you had a conversation with your children?
Take the time and work through the money challenge. Start saving for your emergency fund. Start sacrificing so you can start living. Make a plan to spend less.
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