NOT keeping up with the Joneses

Ah the "Joneses", you might not like them, but everyone wants to be like them. It's hard not to compare ourselves with everyone we see (I think it's human nature). Once we finally decide that we don't need to have what our neighbors have it makes sticking to a budget a little bit easier.

I like nice things...who doesn't. It makes it harder to not want nice things when it seems everyone has what I can't have (and by can't have I mean can't afford), so what do I do instead...I fake it. When friends talk about going on a shopping trip...I go, put it on a credit card and worry about it later. But then what do I have? Stuff that when I see I think of all the money it cost.

Once enough is enough, you have to come to terms with the fact that you won't have what the Joneses have...for now...give it time and dedication on a budget and soon you will become the Joneses that everyone wants to be. And the best part will be that you can afford what you have.

One thing to help with this is that I have started telling everyone...really everyone...that we are on a tight budget, if it's not in the budget it doesn't happen. If I spend all the money set aside for groceries in one trip, no more buying groceries until the next budget meeting (thank goodness for food storage).

So sorry Joneses...but we are done trying to be like you, for now.

2 weeks down...lifetime to go

Well, our paychecks work that I need to review our budget every 2 weeks. I really do check it more often than that, but that's when I set aside time to review how we have done & what we have moving forward.

I am happy to announce that we are doing okay. Not as good as I may want, but it's a starting point. I just wanted to share the milestone. More to come in paying it down!

It's Got to Start Somewhere...

Sometimes, you finally have a moment where enough is enough. I had that this feeling recently. I finally reached my breaking point of living right at the end of our means, not quite as bad as beyond but enough to not have money when we want to do fun things.

Our Financial Situation

We have a family of 3 (husband, wife & son...plus 2 dogs). We own our house (which is to say that we pay the bank every month to allow us to live in our "owned" house), we have several cars (although only one with a loan), a credit card (we don't use, but are trying to pay off), and a line of credit (which we seem to use a lot more than we would like). There is probably more, but ignorance is bliss right, so I think I tend to not think about all the wonderful bills we have.

Our Goals

We aren't the kind of people that think within the next year we are going to pay all our debt off by living (ie spending) the way we are now. And I think our goals are simple. Pay off our debt, live within our means, and save to be able to do things we would like to do. Our goals are always changing, but our first goal is to "get caught up". It always seems that we are paying off our line of credit because we "had" to use it to pay our bills (it's what it's there for right...well I'm sick of it).

Why Now!? And why blog?

Well, just a few weeks ago I finally had it (I'll explain more about this later I'm sure). As for the blog...I want to have a place that I can keep track of our successes (as well as what doesn't work). I also want to be able to complain (just being honest) about how hard it is...this way I can get my frustration out here instead of spending money (yes this does happen...more on this I'm sure too).


I'm not sure if anyone will read this...not really the reason for me writing it...but if anyone does, I hope that I can help someone else too. Here's to spending less & saving more! Operation Paying It Down....begin!