Irony: when the economy starts collapsing, you FINALLY have enough money to start saving...
David and I have never been awash in cash, so our old (pre-two-REAL-incomes) budgeting used to look like this: pay all the bills whenever the money is available and then hope to God there's some left over. A lot of times there wasn't. Spending money was like dieting--anything pleasurable that cost ANYTHING (even renting a movie for some vague semblance of a 'date') was a huge, guilt ridden horror-fest. Having enough to cover costs with a bit on top on a regular basis has been enlightening: "Hey, we might be able to do this whole responsible, self-reliant adults thing! In fact, I think we HAVE been doing it! And also, we're not bad people because we like to eat things that don't come in a can!"
Of course, that doesn't mean we're any GOOD at having money, but we were never any good at having none, either. It was easier to decide whether we could afford things back then (No.). We can save money now, but we haven't been doing very well at it because it seems like everything we avoided buying or put off until later is all queued up and waiting expectantly. The TV gets blue and yellow blobs around the edges when its been on for a while. Cuddling on the sofa isn't really comfortable. David's 50-minute commute is driving him crazy. We want to live on our own, just the two of us. We want to have kids. I want to finish school. We owe my parents a bundle.
And then, the stuff you can't plan on. Mike (brother-in-law) is living with us part-time due to a no-contact order with his wife (stupid 2-month wait time just for a bloody hearing), which adds to electricity and water costs. Greg (other brother-in-law, the one who lives with us) quit his job in the summer to start community college, but he's having a lot more trouble getting financial aid and/or a part-time job than any of us originally expected. We've been paying his share of all of the shared bills for several months.
Worst of all, the company I work for has been progressively downsizing. Fewer projects. Fewer people. There aren't very many new prospects and the teams we've been reduced to probably aren't big enough to support a decently-sized new project. Everybody that's left is apprehensive, cautious, and planning for the worst. My project should wrap up this month. I don't know what will happen, but there's a real possibility that I'll be let go.
So we crunched the numbers. It needed to be done. Phew, we can live on David's salary alone without resorting to canned food and ramen noodles. Comfortably, but not excessively. Saving money will be hard, and we've got a whole lot to save for.
To cut back our costs:
Cut Netflix down to 1 disc at a time: $10 instead of $18.50
Replacing cable and TiVo with a Gold membership to Xbox live (allows streaming from Netflix), which feels a little silly considering that we're replacing the TV with a big HD flatscreen. Oh well. Cable + TiVo cost $63 a month. The Gold membership costs $60 for a year.
Dropping both our Tmobile phones (he can use his work phone for personal stuff) and getting me a new plan with Sprint (discounted through his company). $40 instead of $96
We'll probably scale back on our internet service, eating out, random purchases, grocery costs, utility use, etc.
Life never gets easier. In fact, it probably gets progressively more complicated. But you get used to it, and maybe you even get good at it, and then maybe, just maybe... you get so comfortable with it that even the new complications don't phase you.
...I hope so, anyway.
Of course, that doesn't mean we're any GOOD at having money, but we were never any good at having none, either. It was easier to decide whether we could afford things back then (No.). We can save money now, but we haven't been doing very well at it because it seems like everything we avoided buying or put off until later is all queued up and waiting expectantly. The TV gets blue and yellow blobs around the edges when its been on for a while. Cuddling on the sofa isn't really comfortable. David's 50-minute commute is driving him crazy. We want to live on our own, just the two of us. We want to have kids. I want to finish school. We owe my parents a bundle.
And then, the stuff you can't plan on. Mike (brother-in-law) is living with us part-time due to a no-contact order with his wife (stupid 2-month wait time just for a bloody hearing), which adds to electricity and water costs. Greg (other brother-in-law, the one who lives with us) quit his job in the summer to start community college, but he's having a lot more trouble getting financial aid and/or a part-time job than any of us originally expected. We've been paying his share of all of the shared bills for several months.
Worst of all, the company I work for has been progressively downsizing. Fewer projects. Fewer people. There aren't very many new prospects and the teams we've been reduced to probably aren't big enough to support a decently-sized new project. Everybody that's left is apprehensive, cautious, and planning for the worst. My project should wrap up this month. I don't know what will happen, but there's a real possibility that I'll be let go.
So we crunched the numbers. It needed to be done. Phew, we can live on David's salary alone without resorting to canned food and ramen noodles. Comfortably, but not excessively. Saving money will be hard, and we've got a whole lot to save for.
To cut back our costs:
Cut Netflix down to 1 disc at a time: $10 instead of $18.50
Replacing cable and TiVo with a Gold membership to Xbox live (allows streaming from Netflix), which feels a little silly considering that we're replacing the TV with a big HD flatscreen. Oh well. Cable + TiVo cost $63 a month. The Gold membership costs $60 for a year.
Dropping both our Tmobile phones (he can use his work phone for personal stuff) and getting me a new plan with Sprint (discounted through his company). $40 instead of $96
We'll probably scale back on our internet service, eating out, random purchases, grocery costs, utility use, etc.
Life never gets easier. In fact, it probably gets progressively more complicated. But you get used to it, and maybe you even get good at it, and then maybe, just maybe... you get so comfortable with it that even the new complications don't phase you.
...I hope so, anyway.