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Things we didn't Spend Money on when we had None (and we still don't!)
When Disaster Struck we had no money. NO MONEY.
In the space of three 3 days we went from a two income family of four with a home under renovation to a no income family of four with a new baby on the way and a home so far under renovation the back walls of the house were black plastic. Oh, and we had no (spare) money.
We did have the money we had saved for the renovations, but all of a sudden that became the money we had to live on - for how long we didn't know. As it turned out it was almost four years.
All of a sudden money, how we spent it and our attitude to it became very, very important. We made every dollar we had scream we stretched it so hard.
So what were the things we didn't spend money on (and still don't)?
1. We changed the plans for the renovation. We did more of the work ourselves. We changed the finishes so they were still lovely, but not the pricier ones we had chosen originally. We hunted high and low for cheaper materials. We took advantage of help when it was offered for things like plumbing and electrical work. And we ended up with the home we wanted, within the re-worked budget we had.
2. We realised we did a lot of things just because our friends were doing them, not necessarily because they were so important to us. We ditched the things that weren't important so we'd have the money to spend on the things that are. We stopped eating out regularly. We stopped going to the movies. We discovered we much preferred free entertainment at the beautiful parks in our city with our boys than paying for a playcentre or spending time at McDonalds while the kids played on the playground. We found we loved inviting friends for dinner at our place and barbecuing or having a pot-luck dinner.
3. We never said no to hand-me-down anything and I learned to sew properly. I was inundated with clothes and toys for Hannah when she was born. After two boys I didn't have any pretty baby girl clothes, bedding or toys, but friends and friends of friends generously shared with us and our little girl was always beautifully dressed. Same with the boys. Friends with older sons would offer clothes, shoes and toys and I always gratefully accepted them. I wore borrowed maternity clothes the whole time I was expecting Hannah and they were beautiful. This meant I could get away with buying just two sets of new clothes per child per year. I shopped the sales, bought good quality and they were able to be passed on when we'd finished with them.
5. We said no to extravagant celebrations. We re-thought Christmas, Easter and birthdays. We changed the way we celebrated our wedding anniversary. We put a dollar limit on gifts and set a rigid gift budget. And we stuck to it. We hosted home parties for birthdays and the kids loved them. We started our own family traditions for gift-giving and stuck to it.
6. We said no to upgrading our cars and to being a two car family. The money we weren't spending on registration, insurance, maintenance and fuel helped to cover our mortgage payment. Yes, it was a little inconvenient at times, but not often. Yes, we kept the smaller car and yes, with a booster seat, child-seat and baby capsule in the back it was at times a little on the squishy side. Ok, it was always on the squishy side but we coped. We even managed family holidays with all our luggage in the boot (and I credit these experiences with making me the super-dooper minimal luggage carrier I am today).
Not doing these things was quite strange to us 31 years ago, but we needed to trim expenses to save our lifestyle, so trim we did.
Did we miss these things? Of course we did, initially. We were giving up things we were used to. But after a little while, when we were able to keep paying the mortgage and the bills, put food on the table and enjoy our family, we realised they weren't that important to us in the first place.
And today, 31 years on, we still do most of the work on our home ourselves and hunt high and low for what we want to fit our budget. We still accept hand-me-downs and happily wear and use them and cheerfully pass on anything we can't use. We still do all our celebrating at home and love it. These days we're back to being a two car family, but one is the four wheel drive we use for our holidays so the cost of running, maintaining, registering and insuring it is covered in the holiday budget.
Not having these things made the difference between living life debt free, cashed up and laughing and being a slave to debt forever.
And we don't regret those choices at all.
In the space of three 3 days we went from a two income family of four with a home under renovation to a no income family of four with a new baby on the way and a home so far under renovation the back walls of the house were black plastic. Oh, and we had no (spare) money.
We did have the money we had saved for the renovations, but all of a sudden that became the money we had to live on - for how long we didn't know. As it turned out it was almost four years.
All of a sudden money, how we spent it and our attitude to it became very, very important. We made every dollar we had scream we stretched it so hard.
So what were the things we didn't spend money on (and still don't)?
1. We changed the plans for the renovation. We did more of the work ourselves. We changed the finishes so they were still lovely, but not the pricier ones we had chosen originally. We hunted high and low for cheaper materials. We took advantage of help when it was offered for things like plumbing and electrical work. And we ended up with the home we wanted, within the re-worked budget we had.
2. We realised we did a lot of things just because our friends were doing them, not necessarily because they were so important to us. We ditched the things that weren't important so we'd have the money to spend on the things that are. We stopped eating out regularly. We stopped going to the movies. We discovered we much preferred free entertainment at the beautiful parks in our city with our boys than paying for a playcentre or spending time at McDonalds while the kids played on the playground. We found we loved inviting friends for dinner at our place and barbecuing or having a pot-luck dinner.
3. We never said no to hand-me-down anything and I learned to sew properly. I was inundated with clothes and toys for Hannah when she was born. After two boys I didn't have any pretty baby girl clothes, bedding or toys, but friends and friends of friends generously shared with us and our little girl was always beautifully dressed. Same with the boys. Friends with older sons would offer clothes, shoes and toys and I always gratefully accepted them. I wore borrowed maternity clothes the whole time I was expecting Hannah and they were beautiful. This meant I could get away with buying just two sets of new clothes per child per year. I shopped the sales, bought good quality and they were able to be passed on when we'd finished with them.
5. We said no to extravagant celebrations. We re-thought Christmas, Easter and birthdays. We changed the way we celebrated our wedding anniversary. We put a dollar limit on gifts and set a rigid gift budget. And we stuck to it. We hosted home parties for birthdays and the kids loved them. We started our own family traditions for gift-giving and stuck to it.
6. We said no to upgrading our cars and to being a two car family. The money we weren't spending on registration, insurance, maintenance and fuel helped to cover our mortgage payment. Yes, it was a little inconvenient at times, but not often. Yes, we kept the smaller car and yes, with a booster seat, child-seat and baby capsule in the back it was at times a little on the squishy side. Ok, it was always on the squishy side but we coped. We even managed family holidays with all our luggage in the boot (and I credit these experiences with making me the super-dooper minimal luggage carrier I am today).
Not doing these things was quite strange to us 31 years ago, but we needed to trim expenses to save our lifestyle, so trim we did.
Did we miss these things? Of course we did, initially. We were giving up things we were used to. But after a little while, when we were able to keep paying the mortgage and the bills, put food on the table and enjoy our family, we realised they weren't that important to us in the first place.
And today, 31 years on, we still do most of the work on our home ourselves and hunt high and low for what we want to fit our budget. We still accept hand-me-downs and happily wear and use them and cheerfully pass on anything we can't use. We still do all our celebrating at home and love it. These days we're back to being a two car family, but one is the four wheel drive we use for our holidays so the cost of running, maintaining, registering and insuring it is covered in the holiday budget.
Not having these things made the difference between living life debt free, cashed up and laughing and being a slave to debt forever.
And we don't regret those choices at all.