Living On One Income

Minutes ago I visited a certain message board (which shall remain nameless), one in which the current topic was: Is it possible to live on one income?

Basically there were two groups of women posting:

Group A listed all the problems of living on one income (it wasn't working for them).
Group B listed all the good points of living on one income (it was working for them).

And never the twain did meet. Well, not really. It seemed neither group was actually--gasp!--listening to the other and both were determined they were right. Which, ok, is the way of most Internet message boards. 

(Hey, you know it's true.)

Anyway, I didn't post anything there, myself--I thought I'd save it for my own blog (safer territory--things were turning scary.). And basically, all I want to do in this post is share a skeleton list of ways I save money. 

Living on one income requires a whole different way of thinking/living/being.  You must be willing to learn new, odd-to-you things and become very good at what you do. You have to do research and invest time, effort and energy into succeeding. You have to be intelligent and willing to do math. So. Much. Math.

You need to view problems as motivating challenges, instead. (Spending hours at message boards, complaining, won't solve problems. Er hem.)

It takes a determined, motivated person to step-up to a challenge and conquer it. To remain hopeful and optimistic when the sailing for the first couple years is not smooth.

A few ways I save money and enable myself to stay home?

1. I often cook from scratch and make my own mixes. Yet, some things are cheaper to buy ready-made--I love to research that sort of thing and take notes (calculate energy costs of using an oven, etc.) and then decide for myself which way is cheaper and healthier. Oh, and I usually make homemade lunches for Tom to take to work.

2. We do not own a clothes dryer (by choice). I hang our clothes to dry in our basement or outside on a line.

3. We buy our clothes second-hand. Now, don't scream! If you know where to go, what colors/styles look best on you, and what to look for in these places, well, you'll walk away with incredible bargains. After you've saved a few hundred dollars you start to think of yourself as pretty darn clever.

4. Speaking of education, I use both the Internet and the town library to teach myself not only how to save money, but about anything-- history, cooking, economics, writing, decorating and health. I try keeping myself inspired. 

5. We saved tons of money this winter by keeping the thermostat at 62 degrees (lower at night) and just using a small electric heater in whichever room we occupied at the time. I use other major appliances during off-peak hours.

6. For exercise I walk around our neighborhoods and also work-out at home (way cheaper, less embarrassing and more convenient than a public gym).

7. I paint our rooms myself and do all my own decorating. Talk about doing much research and self-education over the years! Deciding exactly which look you're aiming for saves a lot of money and leads to far fewer money mistakes and clutter.

8. We currently do not pay for tv cable (though we have in the past). Instead, we bought an antenna (a one-time charge of $50 ), the kind you place in your attic. It pulls in 14 stations which is plenty for us.

9. Only occasionally do we drive to the theater to watch movies--and the tickets are only $3.50 anytime day or night because it's a 'second-run' theater (I love that place--so 1940's old-fashioned). 

10. I try hard to pay our bills on time (and then try not to kick myself when I occasionally pay one late). I use my credit card only for online purchases and usually pay it off each month.

11. We keep a list of things we'd like to buy and then when summer comes around, we shop at yard sales for those. We also use our income tax return for some things on that list and for major home repairs and improvements.

12. I grow a garden each year (container gardens are easy and require little space). We do all our own yard work, wash our own car, shovel our own snow and make our own coffee (well, 98% of the time). 

13. We've tithed for 27 years (highly controversial when you admit to that on the Internet, I know!). But hey, I truly believe in 'give and it shall be given unto you' and I've watched that concept work for us these many years. It's made a huge difference in our finances.

14. And a big one--we've always bought only houses we could afford.

Again, that's just a starter list. 

Mainly, Tom and I try to be careful of what I once heard called "leaky hose spending." You know, all those little ways that money swirls down the drain foolishly. But we've noticed it takes a lot of honesty to face leaky hose spending and to plug it up. Sometimes it takes help from God, Himself, to acknowledge where we've been careless and foolish and to forgive ourselves afterward. 

But then, that's partly why He's there.


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