I received this comment a few months ago…
Most people think we’re insane, but we happened across a great way to save thousands and thousands of dollars. We live ten miles from my husband’s place of employment. He’s in radio news. Seventeen years ago for his 40th birthday I bought him a bicycle. Shortly after receiving it, he decided to try to bike to work one day. That began an incredible 17-year habit! He has literally biked tens of thousands of miles. Today at age 57, he’s in incredible shape and we’ve saved a fortune by not requiring a second car. We have raised three kids with one car. It can be done!
When I talk to people about how our family got on the right financial
track they are happy for us, and tell me that they would love to do the
same. The longer we talk the more I realize they aren’t really ready or
willing to make the sacrifices to get out of debt and start saving for
their future. Many tell me they just can’t afford to get out of debt,
but they continue to have cable television, two nice vehicles, delivery
pizza several nights a week, vacations, and drive through Starbucks
every morning on the way to work.
When we wanted to get out of debt we looked at our finances and realized
we didn’t have an income crisis we had a spending crisis. We were just
spending too much money on stuff. We had developed this “I deserve it”
mentality to our life. If I had a hard homeschooling day, I could
justify going out to dinner because our day was so stressful, I deserved
it. My husband would pick up a Starbucks when he was out, because he
worked hard, and deserved a good cup of coffee once in a while. We
bought a new car because we deserved to have something nice to drive all
our kids around in. I am not saying that these things are bad in and of
themselves, it is the mindset that leads us to spending money on them
that is the problem. These expenses were stealing from our future and
our kids future. We were spending our retirement savings at Starbucks,
Wendy’s, and the mall.
If you are struggling financially, examine your life to see what you might be holding on to. Is it cable television, a huge cell phone plan, a home or car you can’t afford? The woman who left the above comment raised a family with one vehicle. Her husband rode his bike 20 miles a day to work! That is amazing! What could you give up in order to get your family on the road to financial peace? What is holding you back? For our family it was eating out, wasting money on groceries, and unplanned purchases at the store.
This month find one item you are spending money on that you can let go. See if your life changes substantially without this thing. I am fairly certain after the first few days you will hardly miss it. This month I am going to live without soda… for those who know me, this is a really big deal. I am on day two and doing well. I managed to walk past the mega Pepsi display at the grocery store with just a twitch of caffeine withdrawal. I tried to focus my thoughts on how much money I am going to save by not buying it.
How about you, what are you willing to give up for financial peace?
To learn more frugal tips stop by Crystal’s blog and join Frugal Friday.
What a wonderful idea. We’ve been trying to tighten our budget belts lately and I’ve found that I can give up fast food, when I remember that each trip means 10$ less to spend on clothing, groceries, or to stock into savings for a vacation ( or retirement!)
You? Giving up coke?? Haven’t you tried this before…and if I remember correctly…it didn’t end so well. There was chaos, udder despair, feelings of hopelessness, and that was just the first week! I applaud you in your test. I too have been soda free for over three weeks now. Let me tell you, it feels great.
Great post about giving things up in order to save money and live more simply. I appreciate your thoughts on this.
As a fellow Pepsi-a-holic…I feel your pain…
But it CAN be done!! I used to drink a TON of it… And I just made myself stop, cold turkey. I haven’t had a drink of soda in 2 1/2 years now!! But, I STILL miss it! I LOVE that horrible stuff!! Crazy! But I know it’s terrible for me…and I don’t want to spend money on it…
You’re giving it up for great reasons!!
YOU CAN DO IT!! I’m cheering for you!
It is so true about people saying they want to live more frugally but not being willing to make the sacrifices and lifestyle changes. Good luck with the soda!
Almost one year ago to the date, we sold our house that we could not afford and moved into a smaller, older home that needs a lot of love. That was a big sacrifice, but so worth it. We found some hidden benefits, like having trees and no neighborhood association! You are so right. You can give up something small and make a big impact. For me, it would be giving up eating out. I love to eat out. I usually hold us (the kids and me) to one meal out a week and I pay for it with a little of the money I earn cleaning a house once a week. But, that is usually $20 a week and I could use that money for a better good almost any other way! Thanks for stopping by and leaving me a comment, by the way. You have a great mission here! I’ll be back.
Jenn
I think its funny how people find riding a bike to work everyday crazy which the benefits are physical health. When they will pay $$$ to go to a gym.
I have been baking bread. DH ? this the other day “Are we saving $$?” I said “Yes, I know what is going in it too.” I do a lot of scratch baking etc. We also have been getting movies from the library for free. Our vehicles are all paid for, even the big truck for business. I do have a SUV. It is a gas hog but I watch my trips and it is paid for. We do have a house payment & equity. But all in all we have little debt which I am working to pay off at the end of this year. It was suppose to be this yr. but dh business is slowing down and we had to use tax $$$ to pay for bills.
Good luck w/the pop. I gave this up for Lent this year and did pretty good. I keep it out of the house so it isn’t a temption.
Wow, thanks for this post. It was refreshing. I have cut down in a lot of areas and still have places I can cut more. I was able to buy my couch and chair because of the cut backs I made. It’s amazing how much eating out here and there can add up!
By the way, the couch and the bench are straight. the chair is angled. It’s make for a nice conversation area.
Hello. I found you from Canadagirl. Love your blog… I linked you to my feeder… I want to read more.
Hope you can stop by for a visit.
Valerie
http://homeschoolblogger.com/socalval
Great post! I see you are a Dave Ramsey fan as well…lol! My husband and I went through Financial Peace University a couple of years back. Our view on finances will never be the same. We are slowly working on step #2 and (thanks to my wisdom teeth) we are now bumped back to saving up for the emergency fund.
When you take stock of your situation, there usually is always a way to improve on spending. For us, it is food. We don’t do a lot of eating out, but my husband’s caffeine fix (in the form of energy drinks) slowly adds up. Couple that with my roving eyes at the grocery store and we end up throwing away a lot of produce that I thought would be nice to try. Bottom line, money down the drain.
So I have set a grocery goal for April. Which, in comparison to your goal of $575 for EIGHT (or is it six?) people, is truly pathetic. But I have to start small and work my way into the bigger savings. I am just beginning the whole couponing thing too. With God’s grace I will spend a lot less on groceries this month.
Thanks for the reminder and encouragement that within a tightly stretched budget, there are a few more pennies that can be pinched!
Blessings!
Mrs. Q
Ooh, that is great food for thought, and a good challenge. What comes to mind for me is coffee!
Good luck.
This is so very true. My head tells me that we need to cut out some frivolous spending but something way in the back has that “but we deserve it” mentality.
I’m a one-a-day soda drinker too, maybe this should be my area as well. Or eating out. Not that we do it that often but even once a week adds up.
Even though I don’t comment here often I read your blog regularly and really enjoy learning how to do things like this.
I love this sentence:
When we wanted to get out of debt we looked at our finances and realized we didn’t have an income crisis we had a spending crisis.
It makes all the difference to have that understanding!
Interesting post. I understand the main concept; that to get out of debt you have to be willing to make sacrifices. My family has done that. We don’t eat out, we don’t have cable, I make all our food from scratch. But the one thing we can’t do (that is seems like everyone on every finance blog suggests) is get rid of a car. I’m not sure what part of the country other people live in, but in Houston, you simply can’t function without 2 cars when you have a family of 4. When people work 40 miles from their home, that’s just not feasible. My husband has tried to save money by taking the “park and ride” bus system, but he still has to drive 20 minutes in order to make it to the bus. Just remember, when some people say they can’t do without their cars, its not because they love paying a fortune for gas, registration, inspection and insurance, but because in some areas, it simply isn’t practical to make a living without a vehicle.
I work at home which is nothing new. I work at home* for money*, which is new to us, and my family is all working on adjusting. My“ office”, until we decide if we are either moving or adding on, is half of my closet and has no door. If I had to guess what the most important boundary to set is while working from a home office, I’ d guess a DOOR. My task load is getting more intense, which actually seems to be making it easier to fit within a M- F work week, though I appreciate the flex of being able to swap…