So one thing I definitely learned over the course of this year is that you need a lot less than you think you do. Or I needed a lot less than I think I did...or thought I did.. Well, you know what I'm getting at.
When Tad and I first made the decision about this, I remember going into work in tears, talking to my coworkers about how afraid I was and that I didn't know if we could subsist on my income alone...
Now I see that we could. And it was a nice year. We only went to three concerts. All of which were this summer (not paying for any daycare freed things up!) and two of which were the Flaming Lips. (In case you're curious) We only went out to dinner on other people's kindness, mostly. We didn't really shop at all. But it didn't matter. We still had fun. And we still were happy.
I went through my checkbook last August and looked through it for extraneous purchases, trying to see if we really could make ends meet and guess what. Last June--June 2010, we spent $1,000 on things we didn't actually need: concerts, shopping, movies, restaurants and the like. Geeez!
So, yes. I have learned that we can be happy on whatever we have to be happy on. AND that we tend to spend what we have... SO...this year of not spending, we more often than not, were a bit ahead at the end of the month. Whereas last year, when we weren't overly concerned about money, we spent every penny and were often charging groceries come the last week before payday.
So, like I said, this year, we will try to continue living simpler. Maybe we'll even be able to save enough to take the trip to Estonia next summer I've been dreaming about taking both my kids on!
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