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financial strategy

the key to wealth: stop acting rich

paul wheaton

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posted 13 years ago

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http://www.theresilientfamily.com/2011/10/the-key-to-wealth-stop-acting-rich/

My books, movies, videos, podcasts, events ... the big collection of paul wheaton stuff!

Staff note (Dan Boone) :

The old link went to the great link farm in the sky, but the Internet Archive still has it: The Key To Wealth: Stop Acting Rich

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I am seeing a difference between wholesome and commodity living in that.

Frankly, though, the wealth gap is so strong that I can't even afford to feel poor for only affording a modest amount of hand-made, USA produced, quality items like clothing.... $160 for jeans should be perfectly acceptable, particularly 25oz ones for working. They are not expensive, I am poor and worth nothing. That is one of the biggest misconception. "That is too expensive" like when people look at organic food, hand made wood furniture, etc... In the oxford way maybe they are correct but in context they are too poor to afford something really plain and honest.

The idea of being wealth generating by owning lots of things is a falsity onto itself outside of the factor of debt. You have no wealth if you got a closet full of GAP jeans per say. Showing wealth through cheap shit is not wealth at all. Even people with good incomes can hardly pay what it costs to buy high quality items from someone payed a "living wage" (that wouldn't allow them to contribute to other "living wage" earners).

I don't have an answer as to how an re-distribute wealth while simultaneously circumventing people buying slave-labor, worthless crap.

Denise Lehtinen

Posts: 102

Location: Tampa, Florida zone 9A

posted 13 years ago

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And the key to stop acting rich is to stop believing that it is meritorious to be rich and have things. The people who have trouble changing (the places in my life where I have trouble changing) are those where that story has not been changed yet.

Matt Ferrall

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Location: Western WA,usda zone 6/7,80inches of rain,250feet elevation

posted 13 years ago

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Isnt the frugality movement just propoganda from the 1%.?

There is nothing permanent in a culture dependent on such temporaries as civilization.

www.feralfarmagroforestry.com

Denise Lehtinen

Posts: 102

Location: Tampa, Florida zone 9A

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Mt. goat wrote:Isnt the frugality movement just propoganda from the 1%.?

Nope. In fact the mantra of the 1% is "Greed is good". (And it is what they live themselves.)

It is also their favorite tool for controlling the 99%.

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posted 13 years ago

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One of my favorite books related to the topics of frugality and simplicity is called "Less is More: The Art of Voluntary Poverty." It is simply an anthology of the most famous quotes and passages on reducing desires and why this is good. I can honestly say it has altered my worldview and led me to movements such as sustainable development and things like permaculture.

I have been finding sustenance in the waste streams of consumer society. For pennies on the dollar, I have furnished my apartment (until I graduate and leave the city) with thrift store or free items. Both of my couches and 2 chairs I found by dumpsters. I made my bookshelf from scrap cuts of sawmill used to enclose a barn. Tablecloths, wicker baskets, solid boxes, milkcrates, etc can all be found near or in dumpsters. Friends and I often go dumpster diving for food (something that r/Frugal tore me apart for suggesting). The fact of the matter is that we find hundreds of dollars worth of food set to expire the next day (almost always nothing wrong with it, those with a hint of concern are left behind) shortly after it is thrown outside by a bakery and produce section. I have eaten better on dumpster food from grocery stores then I would ever be able to afford previously. And to those who this alarms, I have never been sick from food scavenged from dumpsters, I have actually been healthier.

Some have joked with me that I treat older products with more care than newer products, and I guess that is true. I value products of the past that were built to last, cradle to cradle goods. In my fathers garage there are 3 drills, 1 broken new model, one new model on it's way out, and one metal hand crank drill from the past which has never so much as slipped. (although watch that you don't pinch your fingers.) The fact of the matter is there is no shame in frugal, modest values and a rejection of consumer desires. I feel better wearing $5 jeans and having money for books than I would feel in $150 jeans when I stain them or pop the knee open. Just my 2c

Dale Hodgins

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posted 13 years ago

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My friend Mike was born with two huge disadvanteges. He comes from a terrible family--alcoholism,violence and the accompanying poverty. He also has type one diabetes since childhood and he went blind 15 years ago. Mike has done quite well financially without ever having a job that pays huge. He has saved and invested. He is frugal.

Here is my favorite quote from Mike. " The main difference between rich people and poor people is that poor people spend all of their money." Even when Mike was a kid working at a gas station he saved a good portion of his income. When he was a mobile mechanic he saved over a third of his income. Even now collecting disability, he's a little richer each month. His brother has done very poorly financially and otherwise. He has called Mike greedy and "lucky". Again quoting Mike---- "Was the good luck when I developed diabetes or when I went blind?"

Mike still does almost all home and car maintainance. He completely rebuilt a model T Ford a few years ago. Most of his hobbies make money. He gets around quite well and gets every new gadget for his computer, home and phone to make his blindness less of a handicap. He manages his health constantly, never getting fat or doing other things to make matters worse. It comes down to discipline. He has far more than most of us.

Victor Johanson

Posts: 425

Location: Fairbanks, Alaska

posted 13 years ago

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Dale Hodgins wrote:He also...went blind 15 years ago. Mike still does almost all...car maintainance.

Huh? Hopefully he can afford a chauffeur!

Vic Johanson

"I must Create a System, or be enslaved by another Man's"--William Blake

Denise Lehtinen

Posts: 102

Location: Tampa, Florida zone 9A

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Dale Hodgins wrote: "Was the good luck when I developed diabetes or when I went blind?"

As someone who also grew up in a dysfunctional family (and has struggled with it for years), I (nowadays) have to say that anything that pushes you out of the mainstream is in fact a blessing. I have now come to think that the mainstream of normal behavior in our culture to be more dysfunctional than my family was. Perhaps it is also true that being stuck in that mainstream is more blinding than being blind is.

Once I stepped out of my family conditioning enough to be able to perceive how messed up normal is, I became free to discover bit by bit the art of living well. It sounds like you and others here have been on that same journey.

And just maybe there are enough of us now to effectively express dissent to the dogmas that the one-percenters use to mess up everyone else.

Dale Hodgins

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Location: Victoria British Columbia-Canada

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Victor Johanson wrote:

Dale Hodgins wrote:He also...went blind 15 years ago. Mike still does almost all...car maintainance.

Huh? Hopefully he can afford a chauffeur!

His wife does the driving, for now.

nancy sutton

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Location: Federal Way, WA - Western Washington (Zone 8 - temperate maritime)

posted 13 years ago

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Agreed, once we understand that 'rich' is not what our culture constantly preaches, and then find the courage to not care what others think of us (the hardest part :), we can begin to become truly wealthy in authentic human pleasures... sharing our stories, laughter, music, art; enjoying the natural world and it's gifts; peaceful cooperation and generosity; personal mastery, making and creating; the exhilaration of physical exertion; the social security of community, etc.

And when we PC'ers are the happiest folks around, maybe more and more will understand that 'counterculture', even if it 'look's like poverty, is what they are really looking for.

I might add that many of the wisest, among many cultures, from ancient times to modern, have warned of the dangers of usury, which feeds the enslaving monster of debt.

It's time to get positive about negative thinking -Art Donnelly

Denise Lehtinen

Posts: 102

Location: Tampa, Florida zone 9A

posted 12 years ago

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Lovely post, Nancy

Personally, for me some of the most liberating steps I have taken have involved releasing all the 'should's and 'have-to's in my life, and then allowing myself to listen for my own readiness to do those very same things.

While giving 110% like they preached when I was in high school may be okay occasionally (assuming you give yourself time to recover afterwards), if done as a routine habit, it is bound to lead to exhaustion and collapse eventually.

Leisure and rest and taking time to muse about my world are some of my most cherished pleasures... and pretty radical ones in a culture where so many rush around doing as much as they possibly can all the time.

Denise Lehtinen

Posts: 102

Location: Tampa, Florida zone 9A

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Another biggie for me has been learning to LAUGH at my mistakes. In those moments, I just see myself in Chevy Chase's roles and laugh at me as I make a muck of things.

One of the biggest makes I have discovered is taking myself too seriously and thinking I am supposed to be perfect -- this kind of laughter is the best medicine for when I fall into those moments.

I have begun even to look at our country's leadership (like those running for president now) and see how grimly serious they are and how any signs of a flaw is threatening to them and know how big their mistake is as they live that very toxic story.

Rachell Koenig

Posts: 71

posted 12 years ago

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Beans and rice..or rice and beans..i'm not sure who said that but i like it. For my family it's chili. We can afford fresh fruit and veggies because we're always eating chili for our main meals. Someday we wont have to buy all our fresh fruits, veggies, or beans!

Peter Fishlock

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posted 12 years ago

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I believe we have to just live to our means.

Jean Luc Picard said it best when talking about how the human race had changed over the last 300 years

"People are no longer obsessed with the acquisition of 'things'. We have eliminated hunger, want, the need for possessions. We've grown out of our infancy.'"

Perhaps we could take a leaf outta his book,

nancy sutton

pollinator

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Location: Federal Way, WA - Western Washington (Zone 8 - temperate maritime)

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Isn't the great adventure of become free so much fun, Denise! :) I sometimes think that old gospel songs about 'Freedom' can also be about the personal/emotional/spiritual liberation journey.

I don't know if this is apropo, but I love this quote ... supposedly from John Steinbeck, but interesting not matter whence it came -
“Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves, not as an exploited proletariat, but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires."

It's time to get positive about negative thinking -Art Donnelly

T. K. O'Brien

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Personally, my wife and I started this journey about three months ago after accidentally clicking on a link to a Jack Spirko podcast. Jack was interviewing Paul Wheaton. That's how I heard about permies.com.

Anyway, after listening to a couple Survival Podcast episodes, we decided to commit. I sold my beloved $30k, 4 door, 4wd pick-up. I had enough equity in it to pay off the loan and pay cash for a mini van. We cut the cable, land line telephone and cell phone data plans. I sold just about everything I owned that had any value and we used the money to pay off debt. As of right now, we have paid off over $20k in debt and have $1500 in an emergency fund. We will be debt free (excluding mortgage) by next spring. By that time, provided neither of looses our job, we will have about $2k left over each month to put toward the house and savings.

We're seriously considering selling this house and starting a small homestead.

I love the thought that I won't have to work at a job I hate for 15 or 20 more years. This whole process is liberating to say the least.

Fred Morgan

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Location: Northern Zone, Costa Rica - 200 to 300 meters Tropical Humid Rainforest

posted 12 years ago

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Stop wanting to be rich. Live simply, no matter how much you have, because what I consume that I don't need, takes from someone else, or makes me fat. Just because I could buy a Mercedes, doesn't mean I should. Do we really have the right to be selfish? Should we really make heroes out of people who are into conspicuous consumption?

There was a book called "The millionaire next door". What most people often don't get is that there may well be a very wealthy person living near you - but they are still living like they always have, and probably still working.

Those who want to act like their are rich rarely will be rich, but those who live modestly, just might.

"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth"

Said 2,000 years ago, still true. The Amish own most of the good land in some parts of the USA, when you aren't spending all you have on trinkets, you have cash for land acquisition, which increases your income, which means you buy even more land... funny how that workers.

Sustainable Plantations and Agroforestry in Costa Rica

Marcella Rose

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Location: Central Texas, it is dry here.

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paul wheaton wrote:http://www.theresilientfamily.com/2011/10/the-key-to-wealth-stop-acting-rich/

I love this article!

We are getting there. The only major areas where we spend money would be books or tools. But we do not remotely spend the way we once did.

For clothing or other "stuff", we like Freecycle and the thrift stores are our department stores.

We have alot of debt to get rid of, but we are trying really hard to get out of the Matrix and into a slavery free life...it will just take some work.

No land yet, but growing what I can with what I have!

Dale Hodgins

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Location: Victoria British Columbia-Canada

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I saw a very animated preacher on a PBS show who reminded me of AL Sharpton. He said----- "DEBT IS THE NEW SLAVERY. And we're signing up for it." :

India has long practised a form of slavery where parental debt is inherited by children. We do that by running up public debt.

maikeru sumi-e

Posts: 313

posted 12 years ago

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Kull Conquered wrote:I am seeing a difference between wholesome and commodity living in that.

Frankly, though, the wealth gap is so strong that I can't even afford to feel poor for only affording a modest amount of hand-made, USA produced, quality items like clothing.... $160 for jeans should be perfectly acceptable, particularly 25oz ones for working. They are not expensive, I am poor and worth nothing. That is one of the biggest misconception. "That is too expensive" like when people look at organic food, hand made wood furniture, etc... In the oxford way maybe they are correct but in context they are too poor to afford something really plain and honest.

The idea of being wealth generating by owning lots of things is a falsity onto itself outside of the factor of debt. You have no wealth if you got a closet full of GAP jeans per say. Showing wealth through cheap shit is not wealth at all. Even people with good incomes can hardly pay what it costs to buy high quality items from someone payed a "living wage" (that wouldn't allow them to contribute to other "living wage" earners).

I don't have an answer as to how an re-distribute wealth while simultaneously circumventing people buying slave-labor, worthless crap.

I know, why should "good" jeans should be $160-200 for a pair? I've gotten by very well with $15-20 jeans and grey T-shirts.

Fred Morgan

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Location: Northern Zone, Costa Rica - 200 to 300 meters Tropical Humid Rainforest

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let's keep this very friend. Just to be honest with you, my hourly rate is 250 dollars - if I am willing to work, not 17 so I am not saying someone who works hard shouldn't enjoy a decent life. I have to deal with something you perhaps don't. Let's say next year I net out 1 million dollars,shall I spend it all on me? At what point do I have enough? How about if I am doing damage to you? What if I decided that the place you work is a competitor and I want to make more, is it okay if I take my assets, and drive them out of business, causing all who work for them now to not have a job?

At some point, those who have resources and power do have to consider themselves their brother's keeper.

I consider someone who doesn't provide for their family a decent standard of living a lazy bum, and has basically the same issue as an over-consumer, they are selfish. And I consider wanting everything for my family, and screw everyone else selfish as well.

Regarding how I choose to live, you are fighting with the wrong person, I have a standard of living probably more than you may ever have. And I am anything but against productivity. Even though I could have been retired since I was 43 (I am nearly 53 now) I can't seem to stop being productive. The question is, how to not get into the trap of spend, spend, spend. Just so you know, I have cook / housekeeper, my own mechanic, and gardener. Really, you think I am a nomad lice picker?

After all, we are talking about "the key to wealth", right? Not, how to be poor. Actually, the best way to be poor, is act like you are rich, when you aren't, because then, it is all borrowed wealth, which you will pay for many times over. Nothing wrong with wealth, especially wealth in the hands of the right people. The government tends to take wealth and disperse it to those who are unproductive, or worse yet, go to war. But, warlords and monopolies aren't good either.

Sustainable Plantations and Agroforestry in Costa Rica

Chris Kott

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posted 12 years ago

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Sorry Fred. I got a bit carried away. Just to be clear, my criticism wasn't of you. I don't know you, though any time you post you always make great contributions. I actually can't disagree with anything you've said. To clarify my rambling position, I agree with the tag line. I feel, though, that in an attempt to take this idea to a kind of societal movement, the message gets taken to extremes or oversimplified to dangerous extents at times. For the record, I have nothing against nomads, or lice-pickers, or illiterates, for that matter. But I fear another Dark Ages. I fear that if, indeed, we get to the point of societal collapse, it will keep going into cultural collapse, and you will see humanity reduced to the status of animals. The numbers were simply to show that someone who makes an hourly wage outside of a high-paying trade can do better for themselves by applying themselves. I get frustrated when so much energy is used up on protests like the Occupy movement to so little real effect. I think, frankly, that there are so many different paths to take, it doesn't do any good to paint all the rich or poor with the same sort of broad strokes. I don't know where, exactly, we got turned around, but it seems that we are saying the same sort of thing.

-CK

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
-Robert A. Heinlein

paul wheaton

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I would like to offer my podcast on greed.

My books, movies, videos, podcasts, events ... the big collection of paul wheaton stuff!

Tyler Ludens

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maikeru sumi-e wrote: I've gotten by very well with $15-20 jeans and grey T-shirts.

It's hard for folks who make things that cheap to make a decent living, is what I think Kull was saying.

Idle dreamer

Fred Morgan

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Location: Northern Zone, Costa Rica - 200 to 300 meters Tropical Humid Rainforest

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Okay, this is going to be a bit of the surreal, given what I just posted, but my favorite place for pants, is good will. After all, I am just going to destroy them in the plantations anyway, might as well take someone's castoffs. I really scored recently in main and got some great, very expensive, hike pants, for 5 dollars. I suspect someone had bought them to hike in Acadia, and then decided hiking was too much like work.

Anyway, I got two great pair of pants for 10 dollars, which helped fund some work for others. win - win.

Sustainable Plantations and Agroforestry in Costa Rica

Chris Kott

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Wow, Fred, you got me beat. I like goodwill, and here in Ontario I prefer Value Village, but I have as yet to find a good pair under $15. My current longest-wearing jeans that don`t look like swiss cheese are a pair I got from Costco for $20.

Fred, if there`s a thread here somewhere where you talk about what you`re up to and where you`re going with it down there, I`d be most interested to read it.

-CK

Eric Thompson

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I've always been a super-fan of "Goodwill Outlet" -- the place they take all the stuff that doesn't sell at Goodwill Retail and dump it out in bins at $0.49/pound! I used to live really close to one -- wish I did now!

Chris Kott

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I'm also a big fan of reclaimed building materials. Salvaged wood from large piers are usually some variety of cypress, and my brother has a few pieces that, with the addition of panes of tempered glass, will make two lovely little end tables and a coffee table. A project of his that went rather well was the salvage of a number of wooden windows from houses who'd replaced theirs with double or triple-glaze vinyl, that he repurposed with mirror.

I disassembled a wooden mezzanine I put up in the warehouse at work a number of years back when we decided we finally needed a lot more floorspace and the added load capacity of structural steel. The only stuff that was taken to the dump was the ripped-up particleboard and any plywood in sections too small to be useful. Everything else, including most of the hardware (the joist hangers were a write-off, we had to disassemble fast) is sitting in a storage bin outside until such time as I get to change it into most of a residential garage at my home. All I will need to do is salvage some windows, salvage or buy a garage door, opener, and track system, and figure out a cheap roofing solution, preferably one that lets lots of light through (my garage sits at the south end of my south exposed back yard, where I have aspirations of a dwarfed food forest) and helps divert rainwater to my hugelbeds.

If one can learn to make useful, well-made pieces of what one needs to live, they might not be as stylish as what you might get at an artificially low price, but the ability to fix them or make them again from scratch is definitely a non-monetary type of wealth that is in short supply most places I look. My grandfather, a Polish immigrant to Canada in 1966, learned to make household repairs out of whatever material was available and suitable for the purpose. He could jury-rig or assemble from parts anything he put his hands on short of things with circuit boards. We still have, for a few months anyway, a fence he made from sections of steel pipe and wire garden barriers in our back yard, not to mention the not-exactly-to-code 12'x12' cold-room addition that, although the footings look like they were made of closed sections of corrugated steel culvert surrounding poured concrete. It's amazing what can be done when you have to do it. While health and safety still need to be a prime concern, if we could use materials salvage and repurposing to aid in our self-sufficiency, not only will we save what would otherwise go to a retailer, the sense of self-worth and pride of accomplishment does more good for self an all around.

-CK

Fred Morgan

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Chris Kott wrote:Wow, Fred, you got me beat. I like goodwill, and here in Ontario I prefer Value Village, but I have as yet to find a good pair under $15. My current longest-wearing jeans that don`t look like swiss cheese are a pair I got from Costco for $20.

Fred, if there`s a thread here somewhere where you talk about what you`re up to and where you`re going with it down there, I`d be most interested to read it.

-CK

The closest thing I have is our website at www.fincaleola.com. I will admit what I am currently doing was a fluke. I wanted to grow trees for ourselves, in Costa Rica because my wife wanted to live in Latin America to work on her Spanish - and I needed something to do. After we got started, others wanted us to grow trees for them too, since normally you have to have a decent size to do well in timber. In a bit, I built a website, and a furniture factory, sawmills, etc.

Now, we make our money on our own trees, and secondary processing on the trees that belong to those who bought them. Since we are debt free, it doesn't take much for us to do well. And we buy new equipment cash, not using the bank. Again, more frugal if you can do it. I am very well known for wanting to buy things once, and I will use things till they have no more value. Not much into keeping up with anyone else.

A challenging business, you have to know a lot, especially because we are in Costa Rica, different culture, language, laws, etc. But we love it here.

Sustainable Plantations and Agroforestry in Costa Rica

Chris Kott

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Thanks, Fred. I will check out your site. Do you consider all of what you do within the scope of permaculture? Is there anything, any part of your operation that you seek to rework with permaculture in mind? How much is it a part of how you do things? It seems to me that permaculture undertaken with a proper respect for the specific environment in which it is being carried out should result in greater efficiencies for the whole system. Have you had any experiences in this vein? Or have you had any educational surprises in your experience? I often hear that mistakes are more educational than successes, but pleasant surprises can be encouraging, too.

Thanks again,

-CK

Fred Morgan

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Well, my definition of permaculture is merely a system that can run, permanently... not being trained in PDC or anything, I have a few guidelines.

1. I hate waste of any type. Always find a way to use your waste, instead of letting it concentrate, and then become a pollutant. And example is wood shavings, they can leach out some really nasty stuff if you let them just pile up, but they are great used as a soil improvement, etc. (in moderation)

2. Wood scraps - use them to heat kilns, create gasification, etc. Good buried for soil improvement, of course.

3. Never clear cut, breaks the cycle of tree, fungus, etc.

Our forest are perpetual, and are always moving more and more to being natural, but with selective harvest to improve the good of the whole. We also use sheep to keep vines / grass down, instead of mowing with weedwhackers. We also plant nitrogeon fixing trees to encourage growth of other trees, instead of piling on fertilizers.

If a tree won't grow because of pest, we figure out how to grow it more naturally, instead of resorting to huge applications of pesticides.

We are doing a lot of experiment with free-range chickens, turkeys, goats, and soon, pigs.

When we butcher an animal, the waste goes to my channel catfish - which then feed me.

We share our "waste" with others, and teach people things like permaculture, rocket stoves, etc, using ourselves as an example.

Oh, and any time I have anything become a pest, my thought is "come on, something has to want to eat this...!"

Sustainable Plantations and Agroforestry in Costa Rica

Chris Kott

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posted 12 years ago

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I can agree with all you've said, Fred, and I love catfish. Channel cat and blue cat I love, great fishing, too. In the aquaculture system I'm planning, the Brown Bullhead, also known as mudcat or mudpout, and by a few other, less complimentary names, fills the role of your channel cat. and boy are they tasty! I like what I've seen of your furniture, by the way. I almost wish I lived in Costa Rica.

-CK

marty reed

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posted 12 years ago

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i feel rich and live in a little house 900sf it is payed for so im not a slave to debt. we all ways have money to put in saving every week. next month i plane to start gathering stuff to build a small travel trailer to live out of wail we stick build are house and rent out are old house hopfully 5 more years and ill be fully retired at age 36 im moving because we do not have enoff land to support what we want to do we are going to build a small smart efficient well built house

nancy sutton

pollinator

Posts: 939

Location: Federal Way, WA - Western Washington (Zone 8 - temperate maritime)

posted 12 years ago

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I probably should have kept up with this thread, but, better late than never? I'd like to add that I don't think anyone living in Canada (Chris?) has to worry about medical care. They seem to have decided, (along with almost all other advanced countries) that 'we want to take care of one another, health-wise' is a good way to live. It may also have a dramatic effect on one's ability to successfuly accumulate more and more and more (if that's what an individual is shooting for).

It's time to get positive about negative thinking -Art Donnelly

R Hasting

Posts: 188

Location: Mineola, Texas

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posted 12 years ago

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Dale Hodgins wrote: I saw a very animated preacher on a PBS show who reminded me of AL Sharpton. He said----- "DEBT IS THE NEW SLAVERY. And we're signing up for it." : India has long practised a form of slavery where parental debt is inherited by children. We do that by running up public debt.

Hey Dale, All I have to say to this is "AMEN BROTHER!"

In the past year, my wife and I sold the mcMansion, downsized our home. Sold the newest car, got an old 16 year old that runs great. We right-sized our expenses by over $2100 a month. We are almost finished with the "moving expenses" and in a couple months we will have the second car paid for. We should be debt free, ex mortgage, in under a year. and own the homestead in four years. We have a fifteen year mortgage on our new home, which we bought at $96K below original asking price, and over 2/3 of our monthly payment is principal. On top of this, we are sending our son to a private college. He is about to finish his Sophomore year. I wish he had joined the Navy instead:-) (Just kidding)

A couple of weeks ago, we accidentally created a financial problem, and we ended up having to be very frugal for those two weeks. It forced us to look at how much gas we used, whether we bought a bottle of water (or carried it from home) and the like. I think we need to continue in this vein for some while, as I realize that I don't need to buy a bottle of water for $1.40. We will be fine come payday, but it has been an interesting week for us.

I am not a 1 percenter. but I wish I were, and I spent a lot of my life trying to live a couple percent better than I have resources to.

Today, I just want to live simply, able to give to those who really are in need, and to share life. The only way to do that, I am now convinced, is to live debt free.

I wish I had heard Dave Ramsey 23 years ago.

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