been commiserating about, I wanted to share a book I recently borrowed
from Adam Churvis' wife ...
The Tightwad Gazette.
It's gotten me up at 4:00 am this morning, because I was tossing and
turning at the number of ideas the book was giving me. (Adam, can you
please tell Lisa I might be another month or two with this book?! :D)
If you've never heard of it, there's this lady named Amy that decided a
long time ago to manage her budding family on her husband's $30,000
salary alone. Now BEFORE you scoff, I suggest you find a used copy of
this book or go take it out at the library. It will have you feeling
guilty in a matter of hours.
Now I can be thrifty when I want to be, and over the past several years
(after being in a relationship where the ex was not into saving AT ALL)
I have become very uncomfortable when there is not at least 3 months of
bills in the bank. And don't even talk to me about credit cards. Between
the two of us (Phil and I) we have 5. That is it. No more. No less. I
keep mine at $0 and use for small purchases, then pay it back off (all
online) We use his for the larger purchases and pay off as quickly as we
can (take advantage of the no interest 30 day period!)
When I was living on the farm, I was well used to recycling things and
using them for other purposes, and I try to do that today because those
tricks have followed me over the years ... But I've been more than
guilty of impuls behavior and buying, though I always try to root out
the best deal. And there's some areas of my life I will not compromise.
(New computer equipment, decent vehicle, good shoes.) But in reading
this book, there's so many SMALL areas of our life that I bet a lot of
us could improve our financial situations with very little effort.
For instance, (and this may sound silly, but priorities are priorities),
one thing we've done, is made sure we have plenty of entertainment right
here at home. When we first moved to GA, we knew we'd be holed up
working non-stop for many, many months. Well, all work and no play makes
Jack and Jill dull people. So we bought a really cheap pool table, a
dart board on sale, a clearance Basketball hoop and a cheap
indoor/outdoor area rug and turned half our garage into an entertainment
area. We buy discount liter bottles of my favorite liquor (remember,
priorities are priorities and everyone priorities are definitely not
mine :D) and now, instead of spending oodles and oodles of money going
out to the pool hall or our local haunt, we can turn up the boom box,
play darts or pool and I can have my cocktails at a mere fraction of the
price. I cannot begin to tell you the hundreds of dollars doing this has
saved. Especially between 3 people! (we've had a friend staying with us
for the past three months)
Yes, nothing beats sitting at a smokey bar and having a long leisurely
cocktail whilst chatting to the bartender. This is one of my favorite
things to do to unwind. Favorite non-physical activities. Lest you think
I'm lush. There's tons of other ACTIVE activities I like to do and
enjoy, and there's the reason for the basketball hoop. Cheap, active,
cardiovascular activity.
So, I'm an amatuer in training for the frugality title, but I know, and
I'm confident, that continuing this field of study will get us just that
much closer to owning our lake house that we are looking for next year,
with money to spare. And it's a really, really good feeling.
I think that a decent look at this book will have you thinking the same
way.
Just please understand, her methods are not for everyone, and there's
LOTS of little things I'd never do that she does, but the other stuff I
can take advantage of, will be saving Phil and I tons of cash.
Cheers,
Erika
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