Sentry Page Protection
Choices
May 2009
We (my family and I) have been living the Cheapskates way for fourteen years now. I regularly buy marked down fruit and veggies, meat, dairy and other food items. We don't eat out or have takeaway regularly, it is saved for special occasions and rare treats. My children have to work for their pocket money and save it up to buy things that aren't covered in our family budget. I actively look for secondhand clothes at op shops, garage sales and trash'n'treasure markets to dress my three children or even worse - make their clothes myself. I am even guilty of giving great garage sale finds as gifts. I've been known to slam on the brakes and pull over when I've seen a great piece of furniture out for hard rubbish collection and dash in to ask the owner if I can have it. I reuse plastic bags, foil, ice cream containers, envelopes and foam trays.
We are happy (even the kids like their lifestyle). We live a good life and we go without absolutely nothing we need and very, very little that we want. And we do it the Cheapskates way - an alternative lifestyle to most of the rest of the population. It's a lifestyle of not spending more than we earn, of not incurring any debt -consumer or otherwise and of actively saving and supporting ourselves.
We live in a great suburb, in a lovely home and I like to think it's furnished nicely. It's furnished to our taste and style anyway, and we like it. Our kids are well mannered, polite, caring and considerate and yes, even dressed nicely. They have active social lives (at times too active for me to keep up with) and our home is often filled with their friends.
So why is it that I come across so much opposition to our way of life? What is it about living life debt free that scares people so much?
We live in a materialistic world, one where we are told that to be happy, successful, loved, beautiful or whatever we need to be spending our money, time and energy on expensive stuff that is absolutely necessary if we are to be any of the above.
What a crock!
The desire to have it all - right now, because after all that is our right - is so ingrained into society now that many Australians just can't imagine life any other way. They don't know how to save up for their wants and even worse, they mistake wants for needs. Many of the things most people consider essential really are just wants after all.
If you were to walk into our home, without knowing our background, you wouldn't find anything that you wouldn't find in any of our neighbour's homes. We have TV (three of them!), computers, curtains and drapes on the windows, carpets on the floors, good furniture, clothes on the line, a bbq in the back yard and a car in the carport. Just like all the other houses in our street. Chances are you' wouldn't give any of it a though other than to assume we carried as much debt as everyone else. You'd be wrong.
I discovered way back in 1994 that a family doesn't need two incomes to survive, let alone live a great life. It can be done - we are living proof. The grocery bill for my family of five is averaging $92 a week so far this year - and yet I hear all the time that the cost of feeding a family is exploding. We managed a week's family holiday over Christmas and have another week planned for mid-May. We have celebrated birthdays and a significant anniversary (our 20th in January) on a budget and had a ball. I get my hair styled every four weeks, the kids go to youth group each week and we all have hobbies that cost money.
Living the Cheapskates way has given us opportunities that we would never have had if we'd kept our consumer lifestyle. In fact we wouldn't have half of what we have now if we had kept spending and debting and living off credit. And we'd probably own none of it.
There are frugal alternatives to everything, most families don't need two incomes and lots of brand new possessions to be happy. They just need to make a choice.
We are happy (even the kids like their lifestyle). We live a good life and we go without absolutely nothing we need and very, very little that we want. And we do it the Cheapskates way - an alternative lifestyle to most of the rest of the population. It's a lifestyle of not spending more than we earn, of not incurring any debt -consumer or otherwise and of actively saving and supporting ourselves.
We live in a great suburb, in a lovely home and I like to think it's furnished nicely. It's furnished to our taste and style anyway, and we like it. Our kids are well mannered, polite, caring and considerate and yes, even dressed nicely. They have active social lives (at times too active for me to keep up with) and our home is often filled with their friends.
So why is it that I come across so much opposition to our way of life? What is it about living life debt free that scares people so much?
We live in a materialistic world, one where we are told that to be happy, successful, loved, beautiful or whatever we need to be spending our money, time and energy on expensive stuff that is absolutely necessary if we are to be any of the above.
What a crock!
The desire to have it all - right now, because after all that is our right - is so ingrained into society now that many Australians just can't imagine life any other way. They don't know how to save up for their wants and even worse, they mistake wants for needs. Many of the things most people consider essential really are just wants after all.
If you were to walk into our home, without knowing our background, you wouldn't find anything that you wouldn't find in any of our neighbour's homes. We have TV (three of them!), computers, curtains and drapes on the windows, carpets on the floors, good furniture, clothes on the line, a bbq in the back yard and a car in the carport. Just like all the other houses in our street. Chances are you' wouldn't give any of it a though other than to assume we carried as much debt as everyone else. You'd be wrong.
I discovered way back in 1994 that a family doesn't need two incomes to survive, let alone live a great life. It can be done - we are living proof. The grocery bill for my family of five is averaging $92 a week so far this year - and yet I hear all the time that the cost of feeding a family is exploding. We managed a week's family holiday over Christmas and have another week planned for mid-May. We have celebrated birthdays and a significant anniversary (our 20th in January) on a budget and had a ball. I get my hair styled every four weeks, the kids go to youth group each week and we all have hobbies that cost money.
Living the Cheapskates way has given us opportunities that we would never have had if we'd kept our consumer lifestyle. In fact we wouldn't have half of what we have now if we had kept spending and debting and living off credit. And we'd probably own none of it.
There are frugal alternatives to everything, most families don't need two incomes and lots of brand new possessions to be happy. They just need to make a choice.