Comments on: Living Within

By: vanya

vanya — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 03:21:22 +0000

I absolutely love your show.. while I couldn’t get my husband on board, we have decided that each pay we give each other $200 for fun money, that way neither one of us ’strays’… he gets to golf, i get to shop, all is well.. BUT that extra $800 comes after all bills get paid, both have pension plans through work that money gets deducted from pay and employers match.. our son gets RESP and our debt went from 60k to 30k since i started watching ur show. this year we’re planning a huge trip to africa (which will cost 10k and we will save for it).. and when we come back, all we have is the car loan and student loan. my goal is to be debt free by the end of 2010. we both make decent $ (24/hour, working full time)… I just cannot wait for the day that we’re debt free, imagine all the possibilities w/ that extra money.. (PS, I’m looking for a part time job now to speed up my trip money.. I figured w/ a 3k income tax refund, 2 extra paycheques for both of us (additional 5k) we only need 2k between now and end of november.. =) it’s doable, thanks to you gail… all the best!

By: Susan Mladenovich

Susan Mladenovich — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 05:32:07 +0000

Saving queen, as I recall wasn’t that couple a DINK couple from New York city where they did alot of things for free. For example, the museum in New York is free (at least it was last time I checked) whereas in Toronto you pay $22 per adult and $15 per child so for a family outing you pay $74 plus parking or transit so the total is quite a lot by the time you get there, especially from the suburbs. Also, they had no kids to buy clothing for (which even at used or discount prices can be very costly, especially for winter gear like boots and snow pants). So while it may be interesting, I don’t think it is very realistic for a standard family.

By: Slinky

Slinky — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:57:07 +0000

This is why I suggest people write their budgets around how they live. A budget is a tool used to allocate your money where you want it, not to make you feel guilty. Then, once you get used to living ‘within’ a budget, if you’re not spending money how you really want to, you can start making gradual changes. It’s better to work on one sustainable change at a time, than to deprive yourself and go crazy. The best part is, you get used to living the way you want to, and stop feeling like you need to spend on this or that. Obviously, if you’re living over your income, some immediate changes are needed, but you don’t have to go crazy right away.

Also, nthing fun money or allowance or whatever you want to call it. I just spent mine to replace my broken headphones. I was going to get my piano tuned with a bit of my tax return money, but I should probably wait until the weather turns before I do that.

By: Land down under

Land down under — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 11:10:19 +0000

Riann
Have fun in Australia make sure you go on the Great Ocean Road in Victoria its the best.

By: Omzig

Omzig — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 03:49:46 +0000

Living within, I like that statement. I am doing something new this year that I have never done before – I added up all my annual expenses (car insurance, house insurance, land taxes) and divided by 12. I have an account where I deposit my 1/12 of the annual expenses so they don’t hit me up the side of my head this year, and I will actually have money to pay them. On time. With no stress. What a thought. Forgot to include the kids sports (got caught on that one already, soccer and ball season soon) but feeling more confident about finances in general.

By: Omzig

Omzig — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 03:45:42 +0000

I’ve read that book too, SQ. It was a while ago, but I do remember it as being an interesting concept and the couple did very well, with a few rough patches in there too. Gift giving and such was handled quite well, a special necklace for a niece that was graduating as an ‘heirloom’ type gift or something wasn’t it?

By: Riann

Riann — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 02:56:24 +0000

My husband and I have been saving (money and annual vacation time) for two years, and will be taking a 5 week trip to Australia in May. We are in our late 20’s, and figured we should have one big vacation before we thought about kids. We are both employed full time, and our only debt is a car loan (at 0.9% interest) which will be paid off next summer.

When my husband finished paying off his student loans 2 years ago we sat down and figured out what we should do with the money he had been putting towards debt. We had both wanted to visit Australia, so we set about trying to figure out how much we could afford, and what kind of trip we wanted. After some research we came up with a figure, and decided how long it would take to reach it. As a bonus, we planned the trip when our currencies were at par, but the exchange rate is now much more favourable!

Much like Julie we have an allowance of $200 each per month. We also have very affordable rent (we have a roommate to keep it that way), a penchant for home cooking, and a dearth of expensive hobbies. We are saving for a down payment as well, and are poised to buy something later this year when my husband finds out where he’ll working when his apprenticeship is over in July.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 02:03:05 +0000

I’m having a hard time treating myself lately. My employer is downsizing because of the recession. I’d rather have another couple weeks of food than the pearl earrings I want. I’ve almost completely saved up for this year’s vacation, but I’d rather keep it in reserve so I can pay another month’s rent. It’s really tough to spend when you know you probably won’t have a regular paycheck in the near future…

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:53:00 +0000

Our next big purchase will be a newer snow machine. Hubby’s motorcycle is paid off now and since we are not use to having the money we’re just saving what the payments were.

By: Briana

Briana — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:16:06 +0000

@Saver Queen: sounds interesting! Was it a good read?

By: Saver Queen

Saver Queen — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 23:34:43 +0000

Interestingly, I just read a book called “Not Buying It” by Judith Levine, where the couple goes for an entire year without buying anything that is not a necessity!

By: Lynne

Lynne — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 22:55:11 +0000

I think it’s a good idea that everyone has an “Entertainment Jar”. I used to think if you were seriously trying to get out of debt as fast as possible you wouldn’t want to have such a jar and put the $$ instead towards the debt. But by having such a defined category you are almost ‘forced’ into spending it – this may possibly stop that feeling of deprivation where you go overboard, spend bigtime and suffer buyer’s remorse.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 22:26:46 +0000

I am going to Nepal in November to trek to Everest Base Camp. Because I was able to use frequent flyer points for the flights I am able to get the whole holiday for less than $1000- AUD, not including gratuities along the way.

Because I have booked so early I can pay off the travel agent monthly when I get paid and I won’t have to fork out huge amounts of money at the end of the year.

I am soooo excited! Plus, the trip being so far away gives me ages of time to train as I am not that fit. Already done one 8km bush walk and walking at least 40 minutes per day.

By: Pol

Pol — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 21:33:46 +0000

I know exactly what our next spend is going to be….. our old truck is not doing too well (It’s 15 years old and a bit rusty and begged out engine and getting too small in the back for the boys) Off to find a bigger, newer truck before the other one dies…. we have less than a year at my best calculation. Not so bad really since we bought it for cash many years ago and have only standard maintenance and tires put into it since.
This upcoming expense is not a shocker! When you want to avoid car payments, you have an older vehicle… it’s worth it to us! AND some of the money we save every month (by having no payments and less costs in insurance) we have put away… we already have enough set aside for potentially the nicest vehicle we have every had. Again it looks like we will be doing it without payments.
Hooray for PLANNED SAVING!
We do not deprive ourselves, we drink the finest coffee and espresso (we make it at home), we have fun hobbies (that don’t involve club fees), we find ways to spend time together and the kids and friends, we eat good food prepared at home and we really genuinely like it.
Hooray for LIVING WITHIN!

By: Tammy

Tammy — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 21:14:24 +0000

This is exactly why I build my monthly facials and less frequent pedicures into the budget and automatically transfer money each month into the vacation fund. Yes, I need to plan for my retirement and stay out of debt but I also need to enjoy the life I am living now.