Comments on: Quit Your Unsustainable Life

By: Dusty Coutu

Dusty Coutu — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 06:06:24 +0000

My husband is our wage earner. I work from time to time to contribute but I do not have a lot of education (unlike my husband who is a translator) and can only find temporary jobs. He would like me to go to school or something but I think the kids, the debt and our daily lives are important. I do have wishes like new couch, fixing the house, and so on but whenever we start to get out of debt, he needs a vacation. He has gone on trips to Japan and recently spent $2000 on a trip to Paris (which was not taken because his passport was declined). And to make matters worse, he did not buy insurance so now we are out the $2000. I know that I harbour resentment for that because every time that he will not give me money for groceries or gas for the car I bring it up. He also thinks that since he works, I have to take care of everything in the house (including the kids). He has a lot of outside interests and spends a lot of time with friends and acquaintances. I am forever at home with the kids or just taking care of things. Again, I harbour resentment because I do not want to spend money and go places because I know that we cannot afford it. I also resent the fact that I buy all of my clothes at second hand stores and he buys brand name because he will not wear other people’s things. He also has an appreciation for the finer things in life where as I was brought up poor and have an unhealthy respect and fear of being as poor as I was when I was a kid. I never buy things for myself out of fear and guilt. I buy stuff for the kids and try to do my best by them. But I am forever forgetting about myself and fall into depression often (I have been taking anti-depressants for years). And because of my depression I feel like I am a drain on him emotionally and in a way feel guilty for saddling him with a horrible person for a wife so I believe he deserves the single vacations and extra things and expensive clothing. After all, he is the wage earner.

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By: Links Worth Sharing « Simply Frugal

Links Worth Sharing « Simply Frugal — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:00:09 +0000

[...] Quit Your Unsustainable Life – I think Gail has been reading my mind! var a2a_config = a2a_config || {}; a2a_config.linkname="Links Worth Sharing"; a2a_config.linkurl="http://www.simplyfrugal.ca/2010/03/links-worth-sharing-15/"; a2a_config.show_title=1; Leave a comment [...]

By: Canadian Personal Finance Blog » Blog Archive » Random Thoughts: Let the Madness Begin!

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 06:10:15 +0000

[...] V-O points out that if you can’t live within your means, maybe you should Quit Your Unsustainable Life, but you already knew that didn’t [...]

By: MomOFfour

MomOFfour — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:00:02 +0000

The posters who said they traded in their airline miles for movies got me to thinking about my miles. I travel quite a bit for work. We live in Southern California and I have enough airline miles for a week at a posh San Diego resort during spring break! Because San Diego is only an hour drive, I can pack groceries and we will save by having little picnics at the beach. Thank you all for the awesome ideas and inspiration! I was beginning to feel the need for a get-away and this is a local spot we can stay at for FREE!!!

By: *pol

*pol — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 03:22:27 +0000

You are getting through Gail!!!!

I love hearing loved ones quoting Gail-isms, it is music to my ears! My mom was telling me that to control her shopping now, she “drops her bag at the door to have a look around” her own house pretending she is you and what you’d say. She says it puts it into perspective that she has enough stuff. See also says she hears your voice asking her if it’s a want or a need, and if a purchase is in the budget. That is amazingly powerful stuff!

Also, my sister and her husband are now on a budget (including their his and her allowances). For the first time in their marriage they agree that debt is bad for the relationship and budgetting might just be the answer to their problems. It was your worksheets that helped make it real and do able- they are trying to quit their unsustainable life!!!

By: b

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:19:21 +0000

I have fallen “off the wagon” with eating out and books are my passion. I am restarting the eating in though and I think I will love it as I am sick of unhealthy foods.

I also negotiated two work days at home to save on gas, parking, etc.

Can’t give up those books – but now for birthdays, etc. that is what I get for gifts.

Fortunately, we are debt free and can enjoy the fun. But our favorite tag line is “what would Gail say?”

By: Belinda

Belinda — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:05:33 +0000

Something else I have learned through having a cell phone I need for my job. Take 1/2 hour once a month and phone your cell phone company and try to negotiate better deals, they always seem to have a “new deal” every month that ends up saving a great deal of money, but make sure signing a new price plan doesn’t bind you into a longer contract.

By: Belinda

Belinda — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:03:02 +0000

I agree with Gail. We have 4 children and we always do the “staycations”. Utiliziling your community resources (you pay your taxes for) is a great cheap way to entertain the family. Trips to the library to take out movies and books is a great way to save, swimming and skating at your local rec centre is great family fun and very inexpensive. Tobogganing in the winter and a walk to the local conservation area are great ways to have some family fun and also educational for the kids. I have learned in the past through spending money on lavish vactaion that my children at a young age are just as thrilled to spend a day at cobourg beach as they are to go The Gulf of Mexico. It is your time together as a family that is most important. In this busy era family time is something that suffers greatly so why not enjoy with the least financial stress possible..in time our children grow up, go to school and have more needs at that time you can take the trips but teach them to contribute and save and they will appreciate it that much more!

By: Natty

Natty — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:46:22 +0000

Just wanted to mention to those defending their right to have gym memberships: Gail said cancel anything that you are NOT using. If you have using your gym membership (and aren’t overpaying) than it’s a totally valid expense. If you have the most expensive cable package but don’t watch tv, you obviously need to downgrade or cancel. If you’re paying for a gym membership but don’t even know where the locker rooms are located, cancel it!!!

By: Sharon

Sharon — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 06:53:47 +0000

I forget who was mentioning the second-hand books. When I was single, I read a lot, I would buy a lot of books both second hand and new. A few times a year, I would trade in most of those books at the second-hand shop for credit, and that helped a lot.

I’ve always had a cell phone, since I moved around a lot when I was younger, and often it wasn’t reasonable to get a land line. Now that there are cheap voip plans, and my cell phone bill recently ballooned, it’s starting to look a lot better to switch to pay as you go.

As for movie tickets, my boyfriend and I have been cashing in our Airmiles for free passes with popcorn and drinks, and there is also the option to cash in for free movie rentals at blockbuster. That really helps when our entertainment budget is tight.

By: Amanda L. Grossman

Amanda L. Grossman — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:45:11 +0000

Hello Gail!

First of all, I just want to say that I love your show! I am in the U.S., and watch it every Saturday night (or DVR it to watch later).

Anyway, I am completely frugal at heart, and love reading about others who have found ways to save money.

Here are a few we have found to cut out luxuries from our budget…while still enjoying them:

I love Bikram Yoga, and periodically a place in downtown Houston offers classes for free at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday mornings

I purchase all books from half.com

I use frequent flyer miles and mycokerewards.com to get magazine subscriptions that I Love (such as O Oprah, Martha Stewart, and Real Simple)

I never pay full price for anything

I unplug all electronics when not in use

I turned down the temperature on my hot water heater

Check out my blog–every Friday I do a Frugal Confessions Friday where I post about someway that I have saved money, and others share their stories as well!

By: Cait

Cait — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 04:49:39 +0000

I joined the cell phone plan of a family member; I pay $10/month for the cost of the additional line on their plan, and I get essentially unlimited calling. I don’t bother with a land line.

I found a local play house that primarily uses volunteers for staff. I go to two or three shows or movies per month in exchange for ticket taking, seating patrons, and a few minutes of cleaning up afterward.

I found two local beauty schools where a hair cut is less than $10 and manicures or pedicures are about $5.

My family does a lot of gift certificates for holidays and birthdays. I usually receive spa or clothing or iTunes certificates.

I borrow movies and books from the library instead of buying them.

Most of my furniture came from parents and grandparents down-sizing their houses. I bought three pieces of furniture out of everything in an entire apartment.

My clothes, which need to be very professional in my line of work, come from sales and thrift stores and hand-me-downs, and of course, gift certificates. I learned how to do basic tailoring for myself.

I started planning meals, and I shop once per week. I can plan to have leftovers on days when I know I won’t be in the mood or have time to cook. The money I save on food goes towards loans and savings.

My last big area of savings was to carefully examine my loans and refinance some of them. My actual payments are unchanged, but I was able to reduce the interest and the loans will be paid off several years sooner.

By: Nic

Nic — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:45:15 +0000

I was quite amused by this blog today.
Just this morning, my husband mentioned about upgrading the TV in our bedroom to a bigger flatscreen. We have a 13 inch colour TV that is about 12 years old. My response, “Why? This one works perfectly well! We have a 27 inch TV in the living room so go watch that one if you want a bigger screen.”

By: Jenn

Jenn — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:39:48 +0000

We gave up our Costco membership last year. Yes there are a few things that were either much cheaper there, or you simply couldn’t find elsewhere. The problem was, we’d go in for $20 worth of that stuff and come out with $200 worth of other stuff. Once or twice a year I go with a friend who has a membership but for the most part we’ve just dropped it from our lives.

Good suggestion about the gift cards though. That would allow us to go and get just the couple of things we want and nothing else. We normally have no trouble sticking to a list, but that place is deadly.