What I've Been Willing To Give Up- and What I Haven't- to Conquer Debt
I love a good debt payoff story, and the more extreme it is,
the more in awe I am. If you are living in your car, dumpster diving, working
three jobs, etc. in an effort to get debt-free, you’re my hero.
But that’s not us.
Part of me really wishes I could go full speed ahead on this
debt payoff plan, and make the drastic changes that would be necessary to make
it happen in a relatively quick timeframe. But I’m not young, and I have a
family, so there are only so many changes I’m willing to make. I especially don’t
want my son, who is 7, to have to make a lot of sacrifices to pay for his parents’
money mistakes.
Things We Won’t Give Up-
Our Home: We bought our house a year and a half ago,
upgrading from a small condo. It’s a lovely 3 bedroom colonial on a quiet
street with great neighbors, in a good school district. It’s not an extravagant
house by any means, but we could certainly have been fine with less. But we
LOVE this house- the room for our frequent guests, the big yard for our son and
dogs to play, our neighborhood, the school, the short commute to work. Everything
about it has improved the quality of our lives dramatically. So we have no
plans to move anytime soon, despite the cost.
Son’s Activities: We do not want to give up any extracurricular
activities that we feel are enriching for our son. Right now, he is involved in
a weekly gymnastics class, as well as a weekly math class (he’s a math whiz!).
These activities aren’t cheap, but he loves them, we feel that they are
good for him, and I'm willing to delay debt payoff for them.
Good Health Insurance: Sadly, we do not get benefits through
our work, so we are stuck paying out of pocket for health insurance. Because
our son has a chronic medical issue that requires ongoing treatment, we pay for
the Cadillac of health insurances, and boy does that come with a high price.
Life Insurance: I really hate paying for this. It just
annoys me so much. But the reality is, if the worst ever happened, I want my
family to be protected. So, I begrudgingly pay this bill every month.
Family Pizza Nights: We have a tradition of Wednesday Family
Pizza nights. We get pizza from the same place, and always eat together as a
family. My son LOVES this night, often saying it is his favorite day of the
week. Relatives also often come for pizza night.
Things We DO Give up-
Cable: This was a tough one for me. I used to watch a lot of
cable news. But get rid of it we did, replacing it with Netflix.
Going Out: We now almost never go out to eat, grab a coffee,
go to the movies, go to a concert, etc. We eat and entertain ourselves at home.
I thought it would be horrible to give up my morning stop at Dunkin Donuts, and
at first it was. But it is amazing how quickly you adjust to your new normal.
We’ve probably only gone out to eat twice in the past 6 months, a major
reduction. Life goes on, and we don’t think about it too much now.
Clothes: The only one who gets new clothes around here is
our son, who is growing at a phenomenal rate. But I buy only very reasonably priced
items, and only just what he needs. I do not buy any clothes for myself at all.
This isn’t actually that hard for me, since I despise shopping, and am not
overly interested in what I wear. I am also lucky to get great hand-me-downs
from family and friends, and I have absolutely no shame in taking them!
Hair Styling: Since I started to approach and then crossed
over into my 40s, I realized that, yes, those lighter hairs growing in were gray
hairs. So I started coloring my hair with a professional hair stylist, every 6
weeks. And, I looked great! But, I couldn’t continue to justify the cost. Now,
I color my hair myself, let it grow long, and plan on getting it cut only every
6 months or so. I’m sure I wouldn’t have said so in my twenties, but now there’s
no question now that financial security is worth more to me than beauty.
Random Kid’s Activities: We used to spend a fair amount of
money taking our son out bowling, to indoor bouncy house jump parks, etc. Now,
we look for free activities to keep him entertained and excited. My son and I
have developed a real affinity for hiking, and I can’t think of any paid
entertainment that can match the beauty and feel-good exertion of a mountain
hike.
Grocery Delivery: Oh, Peapod, how I loved you. As a full time
working mother, time is short, and grocery shopping is a time-intensive chore.
With Peapod grocery delivery, it would only take me 5 minutes to complete my
grocery shopping online, and those groceries would magically end up right in my
kitchen. But since groceries were a major area of budget fail, my love affair
with Peapod had to end. Our discount grocery store is a 20 minute drive away,
and always insanely crowded, but I can’t beat those cost savings, so make the trek
I do.
Shopping: Again, I’m not much of a shopper, but looking back
I still see that I would pick up random items here and there most of the time I
was in a store. Like, I’d be in Target, and end up buying a random throw
pillow, or candle, or a plug-in scent, things like that. No longer. I buy
nothing unless I have already established that it is a family need, and given
good thought to when and where to buy it.
These are just a sample of the changes we’ve made (or didn’t
make), and I’m sure I’ll go over others as time goes on. What have you not been
willing to give up?
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