Our week as Cheap-O's

A couple of weeks ago on the way to spend a day at the beach, I was at a friends house (picking her up) and spotted the Dave Ramsey book Total Money Makeover, and she let me borrow it. Every now and again, I'll find a good read that takes me from the usual "willing myself on" from one page to the next, to "wow this is fantastic did I already just read 100 pages?" The Total Money Makeover was just that, but the best part is, that it has completely motivated me to actually really do what the title suggests.

A little background here will be helpful, probably, to put into perspective why this idea is appealing to us. Prior to last summer, when we got married, Brigham and I had essentially lived completely debt-free lives, meaning, until the age of 26, neither of us acquired a cent of student loan or credit card debt, and had never personally felt the burden of "interest never sleeping." However, our decision to move to Boston immediately after we got married so that Brigham could attend the Boston Conservatory of Music was one that required loans. Lots and lots of zeros on the end of a 1 (by the time he graduates) are now our friendly companions, never too distant to forget about.

Some people would be more inclined to bury their heads in the sand and/or embrace the feeling "I'm screwed for the next 20 years", but that attitude only causes us stress, and it simply doesn't work for us. When we were making the decision to come here in the first place for this opportunity, we carefully and prayerfully considered the financial cons, yet all signs pointed to yes and all of the doors opened for us to walk through. We prayed individually and felt confirmed in our decision and encouraged to move in this direction. We have been nothing but blessed beyond measure in every way since we moved here, and I have a hard time believing the Lord will leave us in a bad financial situation for doing what is right for our family. It's time to increase our faith, and we all know that faith without works is dead.

So, there is hope for us. The signs: a few weeks ago, I simultaneously finished the Dave Ramsey book, we wrote out a budget for August, moved into a more affordable apartment, and I started a better paying job (30% raise). It was the perfect opportunity to start a financial experiment to kick-start our new Money Makeover attitude.

The experiment was "Lets see if we can go a whole week without spending any money."

The results, I have to admit, give me even more hope. First off, Brigham was actually excited to get up and pack his own lunch each day. We did spend money, but not nearly as much as normal, and each night, because Brigham and I reported our day to each other, we felt more like a team and in love with each other. Aside from our regular fixed monthly expenses due this week, like our rent, phone bill, and subway passes, which aren't noted below, we did pretty well.

Here are the actual results:

Monday: $0

Tuesday: $4 - 15 min parking

$10 - brig gave money to a bum

Wednesday: $2 - 1 breakfast muffin

Thursday: $17 - date/dinner (our one date for the week)

Friday: $0

Saturday: $2 - drink while on an outing downtown

$12 - 3 books (Borders going out of business sale)

$16 - groceries

Total: $63.00

Considering we spent more than this on one date (dinner and a movie) and then some on other stuff we didn't need the week before, its a huge improvement. And the best part is, the feeling of accomplishment and gratification we felt on Saturday was even better than the feeling of having saved some petty cash; in fact, it's propelling us to do exactly the same thing this week!

Who knew being a cheap-o could be so rewarding?!