I found this article on my newsfeed today and it made sense to me. A couple of roommates in Calgary have saved $55,000 by not buying anything for a year. They didn't actually not buy anything for a year but they changed their lifestyles significantly. http://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2014/08/20/the-buy-nothing-year-how-two-roommates-saved-more-than-55000/3/ love this, but it helps when you have everything in place to begin with.
I didn't get it together until I was 28 - I kept amassing huge unpayable Visa bills. We have an over-inflated sense of self. Don't buy anything unless you can afford it. We don't deserve to have a house full of new furniture at age 22 - you got to pay your dues and work up to it. Or else you don't learn how to manage money.
I think it's easy for people who have a good sense of self. who know themselves, their style, that they don't have to change their patio furniture with every whim, or buy five couches in 10 years.
We take transit
By antiques or vintage
at the fraction of new furniture.
I have my foibles. I buy a lot of clothes from an English catalogue and spend a lot in duty. But it's quality stuff. Whereas by front porch looks like dog patch but I have a really nice porch light!
False economy
Clothing exchange
I have one charge card whose balance stays at zero. I used it mainly to help me rent cars when traveling while my best friend had chemo and I would drive every other weekend to help him. We live entirely without debt (except rent and bills.) I am moderate on everything (except art supplies and books) My sweetie, the same except its chess stuff - he tutors for a living). We find we don't really miss much. If we need something we take it out of savings or we save for it. We have been known to do without to get something we want. We travel when we want and health allows. I'm sure we are not the normal American couple but that's fine as well. lol
ReplyDeleteIt all depends on who you are comparing yourself to. Back in the day, Joe and I lived in 1.5 rooms in a hospital-subsidised flat. Ugly and small, but no worse than couples on our left or right.
ReplyDeleteI would not have enjoyed hearing from couples who had just graduated and married, yet lived in parent-subsidisied mansions.