Money Pt 2

Okay, so maybe I should sub-title this "poor vs frugal"

I found a new blog this week [http://thepeacefulmom.com]

Catching up on some of her past blogs, I came across this list:

Poverty Vs. Frugality

 “We can’t afford that.” vs. “We choose not to buy that because we have other priorities.”
“There is never enough.” vs. “We have more than we need.”
“Doing without.” vs. “Making do.”
“We can’t make it.” vs. “Let’s do everything in our power to make this work.”
“We have to eat macaroni and cheese because we can’t afford good food.” vs. “We choose to eat macaroni and cheese once a week in order to save money for something more important.”

She also mentioned this other book, that I took a gander at earlier this year called "The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy":

Did you know that most people who look “wealthy” really aren’t? In the book The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy, author Thomas J. Stanley reveals that most Millionaires drive older used cars or trucks, wear non-designer clothes and aren’t really that noticeable in society. Why? They are putting their money where it counts, not spending money to impress people they don’t even know.


You should pick up the book, it's crazy the statistics on what cars millionaires drive, and what houses they live in, and what kind of wine they drink... it's all not typical on what you think of when you hear "Millionaire".

Anyway, I like what she had to say about being poor versus being frugal.  The past few years I've grown accustomed to changing the phrase, "I can't afford that", to "I choose not to afford that".  And because I'm choosing to not afford certain things, I get to travel like a madwoman, pay off debt, own my own business and live more fully into who I am, not what designer label I'm wearing, or how expensive my jewelry or my car are... I get to just be me and take care of the things that I already posses.

Additionally, I think I might have already mentioned this before on the blog, BUT.. a few years ago, a friend and I read this blog about how to spend less, and love your closet more; I think it was in Glamour or something.  In any case, the author looked at her own spending habits, and came up with 7 rules to shop by [I of course, can't remember all of them].

One of them, however, was: Do you LOVE it?... simply put, if you don't love it, why buy it, why not wait until you find something you do love?  If you buy things that you love, you will wear them more often.  Buy things that you think are just okay, and you won't.

Another one was: If it's a clearance item, does it fit and DO YOU LOVE IT?... which I think was a good one for me specifically.  In this part, she talked about how some of us are conditioned to think "this shirt is only $5, and okay, it's a little tight, but it's only $5, I'm totally going to get it!"... I admit, that was me... [shamefully shakes head].  If it's a bit too tight, or too big, or too short, or too bright, or too whatever... most likely it will see the goodwill bag in the next year.  And I will have worn it once.

I really wish I still had the article.  It was good, especially for a Glamour article :).  I think the main point being, that it's okay to spend money, but make sure what you are buying, is good, because after purchasing 10, $5 clearance shirts you will wear once and donate, you could have had a nice dinner out instead.... okay, a nice dinner for one person, but whateve [smile].

****ALSO****
We're starting a new blog challenge... hopefully this one catches on :).  One blogger will pose a question, and the rest of us will blog our answers.  Should be interesting :).

-maike rinaye-

ps: in my frugality today, I was talking with the niece and nephew that I'm watching this summer, about doing a special 4th of July cake... so we looked some up on-line, found one... and then tried to see if we could make it without going to the store.. which we could... except for frosting... so we found a recipe for that as well... also can make it without going to the store... so then we decided we needed sprinkles... and shit... did you know that you can home make sprinkles!!!!... how freakin awesome is that?!... so then, in order to do all this, we will need food coloring... me, thinking there is no way we could do this at home, tells as much to the 12 year old boy... who says, google it!... so we do... and ho.ly.shit.... you can make home made food coloring... we're not going to [too many ingredients we probably wouldn't eat]... but still... sorta awesome.

Money

This past week I realized something.  I'm sort of obsessed with money.  Okay, so that really doesn't sound great... sounds like I'm sort of crazy person who is after as much money as possible... and that's not at ALL what I mean by it.

I realized though, that in addition to scrolling through the headlines on the huffington post, I'll also click over to the money tab.  I do this more than I click over to fashion, or culture, or world news... I'm obsessed.

There's so many portals to why this is...
1. I have been learning a lot about how to deal with money, budget, save, pay off debt, etc.
2. Ronald and I have paid of a lot of debt this past year, and it.is.so.freeing.  Seriously.  If you have debt, you don't really realize until it's gone how much it truly weighs on you!  Now don't get me wrong, we still have massive loads of debt to pay off [majority of people with some sort of university diploma do, right?].  And we're working on that, but the snowball debt payoff has been so great.
3. I want to live greener, and less reliant on consumer goods to make me happy.
4. I have crazy plans for the future, and we can't make that happen unless we are smart in our day to day life with our finances [trip to Germany, trip to hike a portion of the AT, trip to London, etc].
5. I own my own business, so I NEED to be smart about money.  Not only personally, but to make my business grow and thrive.
6. I'm passionate about helping others also find financial freedom.  Because it is possible to go through life without debt.  It's possible to not have a car payment [dude, we're so freakin close to this!], and it's possible to pay off your house in 15 years instead of 30.

In any case, I'm just learning all these things that we've been taught were normal in life that don't actually have to be normal!  And it's wicked.  Dave's phrase is live like no one else today so that you can live like no one else tomorrow... I'm on that bandwagon.

So that's all.  I'm obsessed with learning about money, and making it do what I want it to do.  Here's to being debt free in a few years!

-maike rinaye-

Judgey Judgey... [tsk, tsk].

I figured out how to be not as judgey about others....

.... surround myself with people like me.

Problem: this is boring, and I learn less, and is just altogether not as fun as surrounding yourself with people not like you...

Therefor: I will continue to surround myself with people who are both like and not like me... and probably also continue to be judgey [but I'm working on that].

-maike rinaye-