live below my means

As part of my continuing effort to live below my means, I’ve been living the pedestrian life as much as possible. I walk the 1.5 miles to work and back, avoid leisure-time activities that I can’t bike to, have tried to cut down on useless errands.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know it’s easier when it’s summer, but still…. Since the beginning of June, and my last fill-up on gas, I have yet to use even 1/4 tank. That’s good for my budget, good for my health, and good for the environment! I’m going to try to keep this up for as long as the weather permits; we have short summers in my neck of the woods, but I’ll still have several months before I go back to cursing the gas companies.

(Oh, and I’m resisting the siren call of the air conditioner—a much harder task for me.)

I thought I’d pass along these links, for folks who, like me, are trying to avoid blowing their budget on holiday extravaganzas:

Avoid Debt Hangover

And Holiday Blitz, a 2004 post from Bugeting Babe’s blog.

I’ve been meaning to post on this for a while. I’ve now got a household budget, complete with spreadsheet, to match the new household joint account. These are both significant issues for me. I’m quite used having my own budget, my own checking account, my own savings and, most importantly, my own mad money.

But you know something? It’s not just about me and my little id running wild over the newest techno-toy. (Although sometimes I feel like Daffy Duck, wanting to grab the coolest things in the store and say, “Mine, mine, mine.”) Hence the budget, to go along with the savings and my overall goal of living beneath my means.

Holding myself accountable for what I spend, where I spend it, and how it affects others in my life is a huge step for me. For my partner, too. But we’ve gotten over the first couple of hurdles: opening the account, making the budget, balancing the checkbook. We’re still trying to negotiate some things, like contribution amounts (50/50? Proportions based on salary) or long-term financial goals. Right now, though, I’m learning to say we and our money without shuddering, at least not too overtly.

So I believe we’re doing really well. We’re having those money discussions that are so easy to avoid, which in turn leads us to conversations about our values, our hopes, and our relationship. This might mean progress with some of my other goals on 43T, as well. In the meantime, I’m comforted to learn we both agree that cell phones would only encourage more spontaneous parental contact, something we both wish to avoid!

Living below my means sounds so simple, doesn’t it? And it’s one part of my overall goal of simplifying my life.

But it’s relatively hard to do in practice for many folks. I think it’s because we’re constantly getting the message to consume, consume, consume—and consume today. The combination of wants becoming needs (cable tv, cell phones, designer threads, gourmet mustard) and immediate gratification (90 days good as cash, credit cards are “priceless”) make it easier and easier to get in debt and live tens of thousands of dollars above our means. I mean, I’ve literally met people who are counting on inheriting a small fortune from their parents in order to help them dig their way out of debt. I believe it’s a national sickness.

I’ve recently become debt-free and I’m determined not to end up back in that consumer coffin. So I’m making my annual and monthly budgets to help me live below my means. It’s part of my life goals series on 43 things, along with save 15% of my income and open a Roth IRA.

Because I’m relatively new to this, I’m open to any and all suggestions for how others make this work.