Nothing New For Ninety Days Challenge

Steve and I are fascinated with how difficult, at times, it is for a family to live on one income. We have plenty of friends who do it...some probably make six figures...some have to have a supplemental income from the mom working off hours from dad...and some chose to have children later in life when school bills, etc. had already been paid off. Unless one of you makes six figures and/or age 35+ it takes a lot of scrimping to make ends meet.



It seems like "gone are the days" when people had extra to save each month. If we stay within our budget, which does not currently allot for savings other than 401(k), we are doing well. We attempt to manage our miscellaneous spending (oil changes, diapers, clothing, hair cuts, dining out...) to $600 amonth. I find that difficult to do each month...no duh, right!



I want to be able to save. The "Misc." section of our budget is pretty much the only variable we can control. We have fixed utilities, mortgage, phone bills, internet, health insurance, etc. We did splurge for basic cable, which could be eliminated and would save us $11 a month, but we haven't gotten to that point yet. Other than cable and internet we don't pay for anything "extra"...not even a cell phone bill. Pretty basic for a middle class family.



One problem...our culture spends money and even if you don't think you are trying to "keep up with the Jones'" you probably are, even if in a subtle way. You see, I would like to tell you a little about my Grandma. She is 91 and some things about her life amaze me when I compare it to the norms of today.



She has never had a pedicure. She cut her own hair until she was sixty plus years old and could not see well enough to do it herself anymore. She has had the same beautiful, quality furniture for most of her adult life. She has driven modest vehicles when she could have driven a Mercedes or BMW. She did have a cleaning lady, but not until she was over forty years old.



Today's woman "needs" highlights, lowlights, manicures, pedicures, hair cuts, stores like Gordman's that cater to throw away/cheap goods for your house, trendy diaper bags, nursing covers, matching outfits for children (hah!), professional photos at regular intervals and more. How do we not spend on those things like everyone else does?



The modern family needs cable for reception of any kind, a cell phone (usually), a flat screen T.V. if you are really cool or at least multiple T.V.'s, gym membership (no way, not us!), internet fees, computers and the gadgets that come with, two cars usually with payments if you want them to be less than fifteen years old and more. Those things, even trimmed down, make for a tight budget.



We say no to the payment options, the buy on credit everything mentality. We could have many more "nice" items in our house, but they would be the credit card company's if we did. I wonder how many people actually live like that?



We choose to set our sights for the long run...college tuition, retirement, paying for things out of pocket like vacations, furniture, weddings...some day. Our goal is to have two vehicles that work well and don't require a payment. We almost have the van paid off and that will complete our goal. Realize, however, that the van is nine years old! We couldn't buy a reliable mini-van with cash that was less than fifteen years old. I think that is crazy. Steve drives a great Honda Accord, but it is from 1996 and has near 200,000 miles. How do others drive newer vehicles and manage the payments? Don't know.



So, we have decided to publicly challenge ourselves to quit any frivelous spending (I have a thing for buying bags and purses and eating out) for ninety days. We will not allow ourselves to pay for anything we can do ourselves...like washing the car, vaccuming it out, we will eat out sparingly, no Target shopping sprees for a new rug in the kitchen, etc. We will be content with what we have and not view our house, wardrobe or anything else as lacking. Whatever happened to having the same bed sheets for decades like my grandparents? Or keeping the same wall decor for years? Why do bathrooms have to have "themes" that change periodically to stay cool? Why do kitchen gadgets have to color coordinate?



I will end this post, finally, giving tribute to things we have recently saved money on or spent no money on in order to achieve what we needed in our house. Two things...a fridge and a head board for our bed so the girls don't break the windows again. Fridge was half price on craigslist.org (french door bottom freezer...holler..way too nice, but half the price as new). Head board...free and fabulous thanks to Steve's handy work (see below):

How do you save money?

Would you like to join us by saving a little extra in the next few months by saying "no" to materialism and "yes" to financial freedom?

Post a comment with a link to your blog so we can encourage one another!