Post by Honeylioness on Jul 11, 2012 19:21:24 GMT -5
startsmart - Jul 1, 2012, 3:20pm
QOTW - Why is it important to you to accomplish a no spend or controlled spend lifestyle? What goals is this helping you achieve?
COTW - Create a simple reminder around your home or car or purse to remind you of these goals. You could put a post-it note on your bathroom mirror, wrap a picture of your dream house around your credit card or even an inspiration picture on your steering wheel (no more fast food!).
azmom - Jul 2, 2012, 12:09pm
QOTW: For us, accomplishing a NS/CS is important because we want it to become a lifestyle. It's just the smart, grown up thing to do! We have been CC free for four years. While have learned to live on our own income (which seems silly but we lived off of CC for years), we still struggle with living within our means. Does that make sense? Last year we lived pay check to pay check and ran on fumes right before next pay day. It doesn't mean we can't make spend money. It just means that we NEED to budget and save for the fun stuff. At a time in this journey we were doing really good with our "spending plan" and budgeting in fun money but we were also living on a shoe string budget. Now that DH is making a little bit more it was getting too easy to just go to the store and but groceries knowing I had wiggle room. There is a reason for a budget and we needed to be reminded of the BIG PICTURE.
COTW: Sooo. We decided to use our timeshare and go to Palm Springs for a week instead of our Disneyland or San Diego idea. It's free for one thing (as in nothing out of our pocket right now but we do pay a yearly maintenance fee in Nov.) I will say that wanting to go on vacation made me think twice before I spent any money and I went back to the cash only method. Instead of taking out my entire grocery budget I just took out a $100 and tried to make it last as long as I could. I still have $4 in my wallet. The cash reminds me that my debit card is off limits. If it is budgeted for I will have the cash for it because all of our other bills get paid online or come out of our checking account. With that being said. In addition to continuing on with my cash budget I have put an index card in my wallet with our upcoming NEEDS. Like braces for my daughter, school shopping and a few wants like a new kitchen table and a sofa (our black leather bachelor style sofas are twelve years old!)
Honeylioness - Jul 4, 2012, 11:34pm
Final June Numbers
28 NEO
21 NSD/CSD
I actually was surprised my NSD number was as high as it actually was. I had a month where I felt as though I was spending on a lot of non "essential" items. However it seems that even though it was more than the last several months it was still somewhat within the parameters of my budget.
Job - The interview I had a couple of weeks ago, while I thought it went well, did not result in a call back. So back again to the beginning.
EXCEPT - that I was required to attend a seminar through the Unemployment Office in order to continue receiving benefits. It was a bit overly simplistic for my situation since they covered most of the techniques and sites I am already using based on my experience with Human Resources.
Captain - I can take the July 15th week if a captain is still needed.
QOTW - My goal at the moment is to be able to just survive during this time of unemployment.
For those not on Facebook where I made my announcement - I started a "real" blog page. Just because I wanted to see if perhaps it worked better as a forum for some of my snarkier, day to day observations .... we will see.
livingwiththelioness.blogspot.com/
I also am hoping to be able to use it as an easier method for my Exchange Students' families to see what they are up to.
ses - Jul 5, 2012, 10:59am
QOTW--This lifestyle is allowing me to to live a comfortable life and still set some savings aside. I am trying to build up some extra savings The "financial cliff" this country is facing at the end of the year really has me worried. I'm not an extreme "doomsday prepper" but I AM afraid we may face some hard times ahead. Mostly extreme inflation, which will really impact those of us on a fixed income, so I want some $$ set aside.
COTW--In meeting with the attorney and accountant last week I sat down for the first time and really calculated my net worth--more than I ever imagined, although still not that much and I have to die for much of it to be realized--and learned how much more that I need to set aside to get to a "nice number" as Mr. Monk would say. So that has become my goal.
sbcalimom - Jul 5, 2012, 11:59am
QOTW
Because our finances are pretty solid I am able to work relatively part time. It helps that I have a really good job for flexibility and make enough per hour that it makes it work it to work part time but those things wouldn't really matter if we were spending money hand over fist. This lifestyle allows me to put family first which is something I really hope I can always do.
COTW
Right now, our new house is my reminder but usually it is the girls!
moneysquirrel - Jul 5, 2012, 7:55pm
QOTW - Why is it important to you to accomplish a no spend or controlled spend lifestyle? What goals is this helping you achieve?
I like the challenge of trying for NS days but the main reason I like going for them is twofold. One to rebuild my savings after doing the renovation of my house several years ago. (Those who have been here for a while will remember that marathon frustration with my contractor). The other reason is that I enjoy traveling and I try to save some each month so that I can accomplish that. Also I am fast approaching retirement age and I want to have that extra cushion so that little setbacks will not become major issues.
COTW - My desktop background is a favorite photo from a previous trip. True inspiration for future ones.
QOTW - Why is it important to you to accomplish a no spend or controlled spend lifestyle? What goals is this helping you achieve?
COTW - Create a simple reminder around your home or car or purse to remind you of these goals. You could put a post-it note on your bathroom mirror, wrap a picture of your dream house around your credit card or even an inspiration picture on your steering wheel (no more fast food!).
azmom - Jul 2, 2012, 12:09pm
QOTW: For us, accomplishing a NS/CS is important because we want it to become a lifestyle. It's just the smart, grown up thing to do! We have been CC free for four years. While have learned to live on our own income (which seems silly but we lived off of CC for years), we still struggle with living within our means. Does that make sense? Last year we lived pay check to pay check and ran on fumes right before next pay day. It doesn't mean we can't make spend money. It just means that we NEED to budget and save for the fun stuff. At a time in this journey we were doing really good with our "spending plan" and budgeting in fun money but we were also living on a shoe string budget. Now that DH is making a little bit more it was getting too easy to just go to the store and but groceries knowing I had wiggle room. There is a reason for a budget and we needed to be reminded of the BIG PICTURE.
COTW: Sooo. We decided to use our timeshare and go to Palm Springs for a week instead of our Disneyland or San Diego idea. It's free for one thing (as in nothing out of our pocket right now but we do pay a yearly maintenance fee in Nov.) I will say that wanting to go on vacation made me think twice before I spent any money and I went back to the cash only method. Instead of taking out my entire grocery budget I just took out a $100 and tried to make it last as long as I could. I still have $4 in my wallet. The cash reminds me that my debit card is off limits. If it is budgeted for I will have the cash for it because all of our other bills get paid online or come out of our checking account. With that being said. In addition to continuing on with my cash budget I have put an index card in my wallet with our upcoming NEEDS. Like braces for my daughter, school shopping and a few wants like a new kitchen table and a sofa (our black leather bachelor style sofas are twelve years old!)
Honeylioness - Jul 4, 2012, 11:34pm
Final June Numbers
28 NEO
21 NSD/CSD
I actually was surprised my NSD number was as high as it actually was. I had a month where I felt as though I was spending on a lot of non "essential" items. However it seems that even though it was more than the last several months it was still somewhat within the parameters of my budget.
Job - The interview I had a couple of weeks ago, while I thought it went well, did not result in a call back. So back again to the beginning.
EXCEPT - that I was required to attend a seminar through the Unemployment Office in order to continue receiving benefits. It was a bit overly simplistic for my situation since they covered most of the techniques and sites I am already using based on my experience with Human Resources.
Captain - I can take the July 15th week if a captain is still needed.
QOTW - My goal at the moment is to be able to just survive during this time of unemployment.
For those not on Facebook where I made my announcement - I started a "real" blog page. Just because I wanted to see if perhaps it worked better as a forum for some of my snarkier, day to day observations .... we will see.
livingwiththelioness.blogspot.com/
I also am hoping to be able to use it as an easier method for my Exchange Students' families to see what they are up to.
ses - Jul 5, 2012, 10:59am
QOTW--This lifestyle is allowing me to to live a comfortable life and still set some savings aside. I am trying to build up some extra savings The "financial cliff" this country is facing at the end of the year really has me worried. I'm not an extreme "doomsday prepper" but I AM afraid we may face some hard times ahead. Mostly extreme inflation, which will really impact those of us on a fixed income, so I want some $$ set aside.
COTW--In meeting with the attorney and accountant last week I sat down for the first time and really calculated my net worth--more than I ever imagined, although still not that much and I have to die for much of it to be realized--and learned how much more that I need to set aside to get to a "nice number" as Mr. Monk would say. So that has become my goal.
sbcalimom - Jul 5, 2012, 11:59am
QOTW
Because our finances are pretty solid I am able to work relatively part time. It helps that I have a really good job for flexibility and make enough per hour that it makes it work it to work part time but those things wouldn't really matter if we were spending money hand over fist. This lifestyle allows me to put family first which is something I really hope I can always do.
COTW
Right now, our new house is my reminder but usually it is the girls!
moneysquirrel - Jul 5, 2012, 7:55pm
QOTW - Why is it important to you to accomplish a no spend or controlled spend lifestyle? What goals is this helping you achieve?
I like the challenge of trying for NS days but the main reason I like going for them is twofold. One to rebuild my savings after doing the renovation of my house several years ago. (Those who have been here for a while will remember that marathon frustration with my contractor). The other reason is that I enjoy traveling and I try to save some each month so that I can accomplish that. Also I am fast approaching retirement age and I want to have that extra cushion so that little setbacks will not become major issues.
COTW - My desktop background is a favorite photo from a previous trip. True inspiration for future ones.
