"DOWNSIZE"
IN
THE HOME YOU'VE GOT >
WAYS
TO
SAVE:
Divestment
of
Money-Sinks:
How much money can you come up with if you just tweak
your spending
habits? ...I bet a whole lot.
The more awake and aware you are about your
spending habits, the easier it is
to reduce expenses.
And the more you're able to think of it as a game
to reduce expenses,
the less painful it will be! The "pain" also
diminishes as you begin to
feel the effect in your life of choosing greater
security and flexibility over
free-wheeling consumerism.
(Have you already looked at the page of Personal
budgeting
tips? If not, it might be a good idea
to peruse this now.)
I'm not wishing to set myself up as the voice of
your conscience. But perhaps
you'd love to save more money and aren't really
sure how to go about it; so...
Let’s experiment. What in this list of common
ongoing expenditures are you
including in your budgeting – and which of them
are really necessities?:
- Your particular rent/mortgage choice
- Taxes/insurance and other costs associated
with where you choose to live
- Utilities as you choose to use them
- Telecommunications choices:
internet/DSL, satellite/cable TV, landline
phone, cellular phone service
- Home equipment/upgrades:
computers/peripherals/software, TV/video,
stereo/radio/CD/DVD, kitchen appliances
- Garage/shop/studio: many/expensive
tools, payment for and upkeep of the space
- Vehicles: multiple cars/trucks, RVs,
boats, trailers, 4-wheelers/snowmobiles, planes?
(and registration, insurance, storage, and
upkeep for them all); new car turnover
- Costs of commuting to work?
- Home services: landscaping,
groundskeeping, cleaning, decorating, house
sitting, home protection services, dry cleaning
- Personal expenditures:
haircuts/dying/perming, makeup,
manicures/tanning/hair removal/etc., massage,
tobacco, new clothes/shoes/jewelry, monetary
donations, expensive gifts, frequent shopping
trips (to distant stores?), health insurance
premiums, savings, investments, payment options
- Food/drink: dining out/fast food, daily
imbibing of lattes/sodas/alcohol, bar drinks,
fine wines/liquors, expensive foodstuffs/treats,
nutritional supplements
- Animal-related: grooming, raising /
showing (resource-heavy) animals
- Recreational/athletic: magazine/online
subscriptions, music/films/books/tapes,
camping/sports equipment, seminars, club
memberships, personal trainers, costly
vacations/timeshares, gambling/lottery tickets,
season tickets
- And monthly storage bills for all the excess stuff
you no longer see, use, or even recall!
(…And many people who don’t consider
themselves rich [or happy?]
count all of these expenses as "everyday
needs" – !)
Ask yourself: Are those normal
expenses?
When you add all those regular payments up,
that’s a huge chunk of
change! (I think back to my student days as a
point of reference – or, leaner
still, to how little I needed for great enjoyment
while traveling light… Wow;
there’s a lesson in needs.)
Can we prove, with totally rational
argument, that more is better for
us? (For some things, definitely we can; for
others, not.) If not, it may be instructive to
envision how we might retrace our steps, as
it were, to unburden ourselves – and free
ourselves to recreate a lifestyle
that may better suit us.
Janet Luhrs, of www.SimpleLiving.com,
said this in her 2/2009 newsletter: "The
vast majority of spending
is emotional, such as the 'I deserve it'
rationale. This is the very reason why
people wind up on the treadmill of work and spend,
never getting out of the
hole. ... If you think you deserve
something, how about this?:
You also deserve to be financially
independent - and that won't happen if
you don't curb your emotional spending." That puts
spending into a more
accurate perspective in our lives - and underlines
the critical realization
you'll need to make if you're going to save:
You are in control of
how much you want to move in the direction of
independence.
We are going to have some expenses. Of
course there are indeed
basic needs in the list above. For instance, if
you’re an artist, studio space
may be extremely important. Or if your
hobby is woodworking, you’ll
truly need the space and the tools to
carry it out. You may need a cell
phone and/or superfast internet service for your
job, or to support your pursuit
of information for a book or a business. And I am
not trying to make you
feel guilty for being a modern consumer. (Besides,
if you didn't ever
treat yourself, you'd be apt to get fed up and
spend like a binge eater on a
starvation diet.)
But if you’re interested in downsizing, you might
well be interested in
changing more than the size of your dwelling
place… And if other expenses are
in the way of your ability to focus on and fulfill
your true needs (or
even figure out what they are), a closer look at
this list and its ramifications
might help.
Possibly just reading through that list has
jolted you enough that you can
see how to take it from here on your own steam. If
a little more depth would
help you to clarify what some of your options are,
click on the links in the
list repeated below.
They "enliven" the list with annotations from the
standpoint of the person who’s
looking to recoup some of that financial outflow.
(And then a final suggestion: Get into the
habit of playing "Remember When?"... you did it
yourself or did without.)
Good luck with your efforts! I bet you'll be
pleased with, if not amazed at, the money you can
save when you put your mind to sorting out your
priorities. (Perhaps you'd like to take a look at
the page Seeing
your true needs for more ideas
on where this might lead.) It might even be a fun
adventure into a new (or old?) way of life.
- Your
particular rent/mortgage choice
- Taxes/insurance
and other costs associated with where you
choose to live
- Utilities
as you choose to use them
- Telecommunications
choices: internet/DSL,
satellite/cable TV, landline phone, cellular
phone service
- Home
equipment/upgrades:
computers/peripherals/software, TV/video,
stereo/radio/CD/DVD, kitchen appliances
- Garage/shop/studio:
many/expensive tools, payment for and upkeep of
the space
- Vehicles:
multiple cars/trucks, RVs, boats, trailers,
4-wheelers/snowmobiles, planes? (and
registration, insurance, storage, and upkeep for
them all); new car turnover
- Costs
of commuting to work?
- Home
services: landscaping,
groundskeeping, cleaning, decorating, house
sitting, home protection services, dry cleaning
- Personal
expenditures:
haircuts/dying/perming, makeup,
manicures/tanning/hair removal/etc., massage,
tobacco, new clothes/shoes/jewelry, monetary
donations, expensive gifts, frequent shopping
trips (to distant stores?), health & life
insurance premiums, savings, investments,
payment options
- Food/drink:
dining out/fast food, daily imbibing of
lattes/sodas/alcohol, bar drinks, fine
wines/liquors, expensive foodstuffs/treats,
nutritional supplements
- Animal-related:
grooming, raising / showing (resource-heavy)
animals
- Recreational/athletic:
magazine/online subscriptions,
music/films/books/tapes, camping/sports
equipment, seminars, club memberships, personal
trainers, costly vacations/timeshares,
gambling/lottery tickets, season tickets
- And
monthly storage bills for all the excess stuff
you no longer see, use, or even recall!
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Living
Rich by Spending Smart: How to Get More of What
You Really Want - by Greg Karp
Living
Rich by Spending Smart: How to Get More of
What You Really Want - by Greg Karp
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