Jul 08 2008
Financial Obligations…
Ask anyone that knew me before I became a father and they’ll tell you the same stories, I worked two or three jobs and consistently ran out of money a few days before payday. My credit cards were perpetually maxed (that’s how I thought they worked, like a loan I hadn’t yet begun to pay off). I had no savings, and only a little bit stashed in RRSPs which I would dip into for significant purchases despite the tax implications.
Not a clever lad we’re describing here, is it?
I was in my mid-twenties and my father would still get the odd phone call asking him to throw a hundred bucks into my bank account to cover me until payday (it is a testament to my fathers patience that he resisted the urge to lecture each and every time, and still delivered in spite of the inconvenience).
I would ALWAYS spend what was not spoken for in my chequing account. ALWAYS. I did eventually learn to allow for bills that were coming out, but I rarely left myself any cushion against unforseen expenses. This pattern continued well after I moved back across the country, the only difference was that with the pay cut I took I simply didn’t have any disposable income to waste.
When Lisa became pregnant I realized that the system I had become accustomed to was simply not working, and that there was more in this equation than me, and that things needed to change fairly quickly.
I changed two things. Whenever I told myself “I want” something, I would pause for a second and ask “Do I need” it. Nothing major there, just a few moments to shake off the impulse to buy something, a moment to consider the expense in a greater context. The second was that I started embezzling money from myself.
You heard me, I started skimming from my paycheques. I’d have a few pre-authorized withdrawls set up for payday, and they’d skim away $25, $50 and sometimes $100 before I had a chance to spend it mentally. Pretty soon there wasn’t much left in my chequing account except what was needed for the bills.
Found the point again… skip onward to the next post as I try to pick up the thread again.
Yeah brother I hear you. I used to spend like a drunken sailor. Although I was never a sailor but was often drunk. Wife got pregnant, stopped working, and I hit the brakes and started paying down credit cards and saving. Now the kid is one and a half, and she is about to start nursing school. In two years…with the dual income again…yeah, I will probably start spending like a mildly buzzed sailor.
Yep, having kids sure changes your finances!!!
And will for a long time to come!!!
It seemed like this was going somewhere…….
Matt: Amen… I had all kinds of shiny things, no money in my account, but shiny things as far as the eye could see.
I’m looking forward to tipsy sailor spending myself.
Merle: Thanks Merle, but the good news is?
Merle? Merle?
Piet: Getting there… easily derailed are my thoughts recently.
-GRIN-
I hear you. I’ve taken similar approaches as of late in preparation for my impending enforced vow of poverty for the next three years as I do law school. As I no longer drink, smoke, do bad things, have sex with other people or otherwise do anything that can be construed as “fun”, if I didn’t know better, I’d think I got into Monk School, not Law School. Actually, I’m glad I quit all that bad stuff. I’m not saying I had big addiction problems, but when your dealer comes to your intervention, you know you have a problem.
Where was I? Oh yeah…In addition to the whole brown bag lunches(Plus I’ve gone on a no/low carb diet to boot to try and skim off the flab. I can run 10k easily, but I still have enough material at the midsection to give Norm hours of material to make fun of) and no store bought caffiene(Working in an office helps, as I have a morning coffee at home and drink tea all day long), I also hit upon a neat financial approach that I had tinkered with before, but am really enjoying again: I sold my car…sniff…paid off the credit card with the proceeds and then promptly locked up my credit card and bank card in my pistol safe.
Yes, I can get into my safe in under a second, but the point is that they aren’t in my wallet. This means no casual spending and no impulse buying. I’m saving a crapload and don’t want those bits of plastic back until I’m done with law school and am making more per year than my current mortgage balance. Then I plan to buy Bolivia and turn it into my sundeck/artillery impact range.
The good news is that children can be the greatest joy you’ll ever know.
Just bring them up to do the right thing - you know the rest!
I’m a firm believer in raising kids the “old fashioned” way.
Don’t let them run wild, like so many other parents do - like the ones you see in the mall, etc.
Merle
My wife controls my spending…’nuff said.