Living on Less?

Prioritize. Pay yourself first. Make savings a non-negotiable bill.

For me the list in order goes like:
10% goes to the church
About 35% goes to savings
Taxes
Live on what’s left
After rent and food, do whatever I want with the money

Though I make good money, I rent a cheap house, drive a 14 year old car, est. The secrete is not to make more and spend more, it’s to live below your means, whatever those means are. I have no dept (at all, no mortgage or anything) and never will, and I have tons of savings for a 29 year old.

Don’t really have any tips that haven’t already been shared, but I will reinforce that debt-free feels better than any material good possibly could. It’s like diet and exercise. I never regret the stuff I give up because what I get is so much more gratifying to me than a chunk of grocery store cake in the front office at work. And if I really want it, I have it and enjoy it. Same thing my budget. No cable, but I definitely use and enjoy my smart phone. My work computers have a lot of security, so I like having my phone during the day for emails and surfing. I like clothes, so I budget for them, but I drink cheap wine because I don’t care enough about that to spend money on it.

I pack breakfasts and lunches both because the food is better and because it’s so much cheaper. I generally make a pot of soup on the weekend for lunches and late or tired nights…it’s easier and tastier than ordering pizza or driving through.

Control feels good. Whether it’s getting up early to work out or making sure I don’t carry anything on my credit card (I use the hell out of it but keep it paid off, which takes discipline) (which I have) being in charge of living the way I want to is its own reward.

Bring lunch to work, don’t buy coffee, don’t smoke, and if you drink, do it at home. Very simple stuff that would save a lot of people a lot of money.

[quote]kakno wrote:
don’t buy coffee[/quote]

You, sir, are out of your mind, unless you have a coffee plantation in your backyard.

[quote]jjackkrash wrote:

[quote]kakno wrote:
don’t buy coffee[/quote]

You, sir, are out of your mind, unless you have a coffee plantation in you backyard. [/quote]

I work for an espresso company, so I have no problem with this one :wink: Free coffee off 20,000 dollar machines. Ahhh, the life.

[quote]honest_lifter wrote:

[quote]MartyMonster wrote:

[quote]honest_lifter wrote:
I don’t want my wife to have to work much (if at all) and to do that I need to live simpler. [/quote]

Why in Gods name, Why?

If my wife ever thought of not going out and earning a decent wage I’d go nuclear. If she earned way more than me, I’d be totally stoked, no problems. And if I told her I’d prefer her not to work and earn a wage…she’d geld me.
[/quote]

Good question.

I know that I can handle stress much more efficiently than most and if I can take more of a burden on me (specifically at the beginning) I know it will make her transition easier. She is uprooting her life to move in with me; meaning she will be away from her family and friends. That stress alone is enough, and I don’t want to burden her with more, until/unless she feels she can handle it.

Plus, we both do volunteer work in excess of 70 hours a month so I want her to focus her efforts on that to prevent her from getting burned out, which would only cause harm to our first year(s) of marriage; those being especially difficult (transition and such).[/quote]

This doesn’t make any sense to me. A SAHM still doesn’t have enough to keep herself busy unless there are multiple children at home full-time, so I don’t know what a childless woman is going to do with herself all day. ESPECIALLY one with no family or friends in the area.

People tend to flounder and look for something to fill the void when they don’t have a damn good reason to get up in the morning. Bored, lonely wives tend to fill that void in a very specific way. Not saying that this is what will happen, but this is how a lot of those stories start.

[quote]jjackkrash wrote:

[quote]kakno wrote:
don’t buy coffee[/quote]

You, sir, are out of your mind, unless you have a coffee plantation in your backyard. [/quote]
You don’t?

Seriously though, what I meant is make a thermos at home, brew some at work or whatever floats your boat, but three starbucks cups a day add up, that’s all.

[quote]Steel Nation wrote:

[quote]honest_lifter wrote:

[quote]MartyMonster wrote:

[quote]honest_lifter wrote:
I don’t want my wife to have to work much (if at all) and to do that I need to live simpler. [/quote]

Why in Gods name, Why?

If my wife ever thought of not going out and earning a decent wage I’d go nuclear. If she earned way more than me, I’d be totally stoked, no problems. And if I told her I’d prefer her not to work and earn a wage…she’d geld me.
[/quote]

Good question.

I know that I can handle stress much more efficiently than most and if I can take more of a burden on me (specifically at the beginning) I know it will make her transition easier. She is uprooting her life to move in with me; meaning she will be away from her family and friends. That stress alone is enough, and I don’t want to burden her with more, until/unless she feels she can handle it.

Plus, we both do volunteer work in excess of 70 hours a month so I want her to focus her efforts on that to prevent her from getting burned out, which would only cause harm to our first year(s) of marriage; those being especially difficult (transition and such).[/quote]

This doesn’t make any sense to me. A SAHM still doesn’t have enough to keep herself busy unless there are multiple children at home full-time, so I don’t know what a childless woman is going to do with herself all day. ESPECIALLY one with no family or friends in the area.

People tend to flounder and look for something to fill the void when they don’t have a damn good reason to get up in the morning. Bored, lonely wives tend to fill that void in a very specific way. Not saying that this is what will happen, but this is how a lot of those stories start.[/quote]

I wouldn’t say that she will fuck around, but having a job, and therefore structure in one’s life is a great way to ward off depression, which she sounds like a candidate for, being separated from family and all. I’d say she’ll be more likely to get fat.

[quote]honest_lifter wrote:

[quote]MartyMonster wrote:

[quote]honest_lifter wrote:
I don’t want my wife to have to work much (if at all) and to do that I need to live simpler. [/quote]

Why in Gods name, Why?

If my wife ever thought of not going out and earning a decent wage I’d go nuclear. If she earned way more than me, I’d be totally stoked, no problems. And if I told her I’d prefer her not to work and earn a wage…she’d geld me.
[/quote]

Good question.

I know that I can handle stress much more efficiently than most and if I can take more of a burden on me (specifically at the beginning) I know it will make her transition easier. She is uprooting her life to move in with me; meaning she will be away from her family and friends. That stress alone is enough, and I don’t want to burden her with more, until/unless she feels she can handle it.

Plus, we both do volunteer work in excess of 70 hours a month so I want her to focus her efforts on that to prevent her from getting burned out, which would only cause harm to our first year(s) of marriage; those being especially difficult (transition and such).[/quote]

A good response.

But for my 2c, I suspect she would be much better off at work. Simply put, work fills in a lot of time during the day. If she’s sitting at home that will be time that weighs very heavy on her. She will feel like she is not contributing and you will face a constant battle to cheer her up.

Trust me on this one, I have been down this route when my wife followed me around the world when I got a job in England. It took her quite some time to find work and while she was unemployed she felt like shit, and the feeling was only compounded by being so far from friends and family.

Budgeting is easy. Dealing with someone who has come to resemble a chronically depressed lemming is not.

just drink green tea and bcaa and not eat every third day

[quote]Uncle Gabby wrote:

[quote]Steel Nation wrote:

[quote]honest_lifter wrote:

[quote]MartyMonster wrote:

[quote]honest_lifter wrote:
I don’t want my wife to have to work much (if at all) and to do that I need to live simpler. [/quote]

Why in Gods name, Why?

If my wife ever thought of not going out and earning a decent wage I’d go nuclear. If she earned way more than me, I’d be totally stoked, no problems. And if I told her I’d prefer her not to work and earn a wage…she’d geld me.
[/quote]

Good question.

I know that I can handle stress much more efficiently than most and if I can take more of a burden on me (specifically at the beginning) I know it will make her transition easier. She is uprooting her life to move in with me; meaning she will be away from her family and friends. That stress alone is enough, and I don’t want to burden her with more, until/unless she feels she can handle it.

Plus, we both do volunteer work in excess of 70 hours a month so I want her to focus her efforts on that to prevent her from getting burned out, which would only cause harm to our first year(s) of marriage; those being especially difficult (transition and such).[/quote]

This doesn’t make any sense to me. A SAHM still doesn’t have enough to keep herself busy unless there are multiple children at home full-time, so I don’t know what a childless woman is going to do with herself all day. ESPECIALLY one with no family or friends in the area.

People tend to flounder and look for something to fill the void when they don’t have a damn good reason to get up in the morning. Bored, lonely wives tend to fill that void in a very specific way. Not saying that this is what will happen, but this is how a lot of those stories start.[/quote]

I wouldn’t say that she will fuck around, but having a job, and therefore structure in one’s life is a great way to ward off depression, which she sounds like a candidate for, being separated from family and all. I’d say she’ll be more likely to get fat.[/quote]

Yeah I’m not saying she will either. I agree with you about the depression though, and depressed people try to find ways to comfort themselves. There are a lot of ways she could do that, but cheating is the first one that I think of when I think “depressed, lonely housewife.”

OP, I think the stress a job would cause her is better than the stress of NOT having a job. Otherwise, all of the tips given are solid and I can’t add anything else constructive.

[quote]Steel Nation wrote:
Yeah I’m not saying she will either. I agree with you about the depression though, and depressed people try to find ways to comfort themselves. There are a lot of ways she could do that, but cheating is the first one that I think of when I think “depressed, lonely housewife.”

OP, I think the stress a job would cause her is better than the stress of NOT having a job. Otherwise, all of the tips given are solid and I can’t add anything else constructive.[/quote]

Lonely house wife is definately sexier. Absolutely agree about the stress of not having a job being worse.

[quote]kakno wrote:

[quote]jjackkrash wrote:

[quote]kakno wrote:
don’t buy coffee[/quote]

You, sir, are out of your mind, unless you have a coffee plantation in your backyard. [/quote]
You don’t?

Seriously though, what I meant is make a thermos at home, brew some at work or whatever floats your boat, but three starbucks cups a day add up, that’s all.[/quote]

Wheww! Crisis averted. I was ready to call the authorities and let them know a lunatic was loose on T-Nation.

[quote]Steel Nation wrote:

[quote]Uncle Gabby wrote:

[quote]Steel Nation wrote:

[quote]honest_lifter wrote:

[quote]MartyMonster wrote:

[quote]honest_lifter wrote:
I don’t want my wife to have to work much (if at all) and to do that I need to live simpler. [/quote]

Why in Gods name, Why?

If my wife ever thought of not going out and earning a decent wage I’d go nuclear. If she earned way more than me, I’d be totally stoked, no problems. And if I told her I’d prefer her not to work and earn a wage…she’d geld me.
[/quote]

Good question.

I know that I can handle stress much more efficiently than most and if I can take more of a burden on me (specifically at the beginning) I know it will make her transition easier. She is uprooting her life to move in with me; meaning she will be away from her family and friends. That stress alone is enough, and I don’t want to burden her with more, until/unless she feels she can handle it.

Plus, we both do volunteer work in excess of 70 hours a month so I want her to focus her efforts on that to prevent her from getting burned out, which would only cause harm to our first year(s) of marriage; those being especially difficult (transition and such).[/quote]

This doesn’t make any sense to me. A SAHM still doesn’t have enough to keep herself busy unless there are multiple children at home full-time, so I don’t know what a childless woman is going to do with herself all day. ESPECIALLY one with no family or friends in the area.

People tend to flounder and look for something to fill the void when they don’t have a damn good reason to get up in the morning. Bored, lonely wives tend to fill that void in a very specific way. Not saying that this is what will happen, but this is how a lot of those stories start.[/quote]

I wouldn’t say that she will fuck around, but having a job, and therefore structure in one’s life is a great way to ward off depression, which she sounds like a candidate for, being separated from family and all. I’d say she’ll be more likely to get fat.[/quote]

Yeah I’m not saying she will either. I agree with you about the depression though, and depressed people try to find ways to comfort themselves. There are a lot of ways she could do that, but cheating is the first one that I think of when I think “depressed, lonely housewife.”

OP, I think the stress a job would cause her is better than the stress of NOT having a job. Otherwise, all of the tips given are solid and I can’t add anything else constructive.[/quote]

Those are good points. I may have not been clear earlier, but we both spend 70+ hours a month doing volunteer work. This would be in addition to caring for a household, which she has never done before. So she is going to have plenty of things to keep her busy, I just don’t want her to be TOO busy, especially if she is overwhelmed with the whole move and transition to a new life. If she wants to work, I am willing to let her obviously, because that means we won’t have to be as tight with money. BUT if she is overwhelmed and doesn’t want one, I don’t have to put us in a position to MAKE her (financially), if that makes sense.

I have never had cable before, I can’t see the value in it. In fact, in my first apartment, I didn’t even have internet. I am looking into phone plans that don’t contain data, as I never even thought about that as a “luxury” but it is a perfect place to trim off some serious expense. I guess that is how people view TV now too.

She’s also going to need to make friends. That’s not easy to do without either a job or young children.

[quote]EmilyQ wrote:
She’s also going to need to make friends. That’s not easy to do without either a job or young children. [/quote]

This was a concern of mine, when Greeny moved from Chicago to live with me. It took a little time, but she did ok.

[quote]honest_lifter wrote:
Those are good points. I may have not been clear earlier, but we both spend 70+ hours a month doing volunteer work. This would be in addition to caring for a household, which she has never done before. So she is going to have plenty of things to keep her busy, I just don’t want her to be TOO busy, especially if she is overwhelmed with the whole move and transition to a new life. If she wants to work, I am willing to let her obviously, because that means we won’t have to be as tight with money. BUT if she is overwhelmed and doesn’t want one, I don’t have to put us in a position to MAKE her (financially), if that makes sense.
[/quote]

That averages less than 20 hours of volunteer work a week. I do 20-40 hours of volunteer work a month, in addition to working 80-100+ hours a week, and it’s not a big deal. The housework doesn’t get done as often as it should, I aint gonna lie. But with vacuums and dishwashers and shit how many hours of work a day does it really take to keep the place looking good? 2? 3?

I wouldn’t pressure her right off the bat if I were you, but I would definately encourage her to find something she likes if she starts seeming bored or restless.