Desperately Trying NOT to Spend Money
Read this daily meditation by 3 Things About Money. She writes a pretty good blog and this post caught my eye because I think I’m having a lot of anxiety about money lately. Scratch that. I KNOW I’m having a lot of anxiety about money lately.
I’ve made some smart choices, like bringing food to my desk so I don’t have to spend extra money on snacks, coffee, juice, etc. I’ve made some bad choices, like buying special event tickets to the opera and hockey games. (A full-on splurge for Washington Capitals season tickets for $14 a seat, which are normally $35 each. Even if I use half the tickets, I’ve come out ahead. Plus it’s on a payment plan which is affordable in the budget. The guys at work know and are down for buying a few of the tickets.)
I’ve been doing some thinking about my debt repayment strategy and how to pay off the debt quickly without sacrificing too much. I mean, I make a good salary. So why isn’t it getting done? No really. Why? I do the right things, like cut out extra soda, coffee, lower my 401k contribution, etc. Some commenter said I needed to cut back on my spending. But I short of eating ramen, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to keep cutting. I don’t get manicures. I don’t buy new shoes or purses. I don’t get my hair cut or colored. I don’t have a car payment. I still dine out, but definitely less frequently than I usually do. I have been eating up my pantry again.
I figured out why my debt ballooned last autumn. I fixed my teeth and I needed a new clutch. I also sank money I didn’t have into a business venture that has a low ROI. That was stupid of me and I can see that more clearly now. Those are the three things in the span of 3 months, which had the most impact on my debt.
UGH. I need to just sit down and take another good look. Keeping a little notebook really didn’t help. It’s not the day to day stuff that’s killing me. If it was, it would show in the notebook.
Everything is also coming home to roost because friends of mine visited from CA. I promised them they could stay in my apartment so they could save money on their trip. It was crowded in my studio, but I’m grateful I was smart enough to buy a pull-out couch. I cleaned my desk and filing papers, realizing that I’ve really let things go and that I don’t really know where I stand, even though I’m still making net worth statements at the end of every month. The low-hanging fruit of my life has been harvested. It’s time to make the hard cuts. But what? Give up my broadband line? NEVER.
Time for some more thinking.
Easychange wrote:
It sounds like spending might be part of the problem, but rather than thinking about it like cutting out more spending, why not think about it as prioritizing e.g. choosing the capitals tickets over going out to eat this month or skipping the investments if you want to go to the opera too?
For me, the spending has to feel worth it. If I don’t get a good “bang” for my buck out of splurges, I don’t do them. So for me, if something costs more than say 30 dollars and is not a necessity (or a consumable), it is a splurge. And when I splurge, I think long and hard about it first because I want to make sure that the splurge kills the “urge to splurge” for a good month or so. Otherwise, it wasn’t worth it for me.
I’m not sure if that helps any, but good luck; and I’m sure you’ll get it figured out.
Posted on 18-May-07 at 11:56 am | Permalink
Msminiducky wrote:
Ugh, I totally feel you. It feels like wringing blood from a budget, some days.
Can you finagle better deals on your basic services like phone, cable, and internet? Wait, scratch cable ’cause you don’t have TV, right?
EasyChange makes a good point about prioritizing spending. If you haven’t already, try setting a monthly ceiling on discretionary spending like eating out, the games, etc. so that you pick and choose the fun stuff, and it keeps the overall spend total down.
Posted on 18-May-07 at 12:37 pm | Permalink
Msminiducky wrote:
(Oh, psst, “meditation.”)
Posted on 18-May-07 at 12:37 pm | Permalink
mapgirl wrote:
Thanks for catching the typo! FIXED!
Posted on 18-May-07 at 12:40 pm | Permalink
savvy wrote:
Can you earn some passive income? Some 0% balance transfers, maybe reap the rewards of some sign-up offers? About two years ago, I made an effort to make some money that was and was able to bring in about $1000. It was a PITA, but I had $1000 more than I did when I started.
Posted on 18-May-07 at 1:35 pm | Permalink
moom wrote:
What was the business venture? Is the investment on your networth statement?
Posted on 18-May-07 at 3:09 pm | Permalink
misskate wrote:
I know how you feel. I don’t eat out, I don’t shop, I’ve even stopped buying books. I have managed not to use my credit card except for one last auto payment for something purchased two years ago and one plane ticket to see an ill friend and I still don’t feel like I’m getting ahead.
I can’t cut anymore out of my budget than I have. Like you, I will not give up my internet and I have the lowest monthly deal possible with that.
I think it’s time I start selling stuff. Ooof, that hurts, but it will help declutter my house, too. All I need is someone to pay what near what I am asking and that is always the tricky part.
The caps tickets are a necessity and as someone above pointed out, you can forego a meal out a month or yarn or something to even out the monthly cost.
Good luck and truly, repeat the mantra! You are not your debt and you are making headway.
Posted on 19-May-07 at 4:33 am | Permalink
3 things about money wrote:
Hey, I just got back from Poland and non-posting to find you had given me a shout-out. thanks! I know you will feel better to know that the typo in “meditation” was all my ADD-addled own, not yours and I just fixed it. Sorry.
Anyway, one thing that helped with my money anxiety and wanting to do it all right NOW was to actually limit myself to only 3 things about money *every* day, and it is the consistency, rather than the amounts, that has been paying off.
Some days, I am out picking up aluminum cans when I can’t do or think of anything else, and it is kinda homeopathic considering the size of my debt, and likely a waste of my overeducated time, but it is as much a practice orientation as it is anything else.
Like you, there are some cuts I can’t make, like broadband. I’ve cut to the nearbone already, sold my boat, half of my possessions, and whine about things like ATM fees in my blog, which helps keep me rigorous…but what has really helped is the 5 and ten buck extra payments and increasing income a bit with stupid stuff like online surveys and selling CDs on Amazon. The key thing is to keep steady-on, don’t incur new debt, keep whittling at the old, and remind yourself on a daily basis that you are not your debt or your money…we’re all in this together. Deep breath now.
Posted on 19-May-07 at 11:15 am | Permalink