For some of you this is a bye week. Yep, you get to relax and rest up for next week. If you still have work to do – get at it! If you’re feeling good about your financial life, on top of your bills and not in debt and pretty happy with what you earn and how you spend it, take this week to work on any home de-clutter projects you missed and get yourself ready for week five.
For the rest of us this will be a tough week. No heavy lifting, no trips to Goodwill, no teary recycling of your fifth grade Language Arts binder.
This week we’re talking about finances. Money. How we use it for good and bad. How we feel about ourselves when we think about our financial life. And if we’re in debt, the little sigh we let out when we open our student loan statement or the $9 we spend at Starbucks after getting news of a $700 car repair bill.
What are Minimalist Finances?
Honestly, I don’t know. But I do know that changing how much stuff we have and how much stuff we buy, and searching for more simplicity in our lives, has radically changed our financial life and how we view money. This change has lead to getting out of a considerable amount of debt and finally feeling some peace about where our money goes each month.
If you’ve struggled to stick to a budget or feel your finances are as cluttered and confusing as that giant box of family photos you grabbed from your parent’s house, I hope you’ll stick around this week for ideas and some hand holding as we look at ways to get out of debt and take control of our finances. I’ll share ideas from experts, our own story and the many things we tried before we found success and we’ll talk about why talking about this is so hard.
People would rather tell you about their most embarrassing moment or have semi-nude photos of themselves pop up on Facebook than talk about money. And not talking about these things is one of the reasons so many of us let things get out of hand.
If you’re in debt or feel like you’ll never be able to stick to a budget first know this: YOU ARE NOT ALONE.
So here’s my hall of shame for finances:
- I once got a credit card because a picture of my rowing team was on it. The APR was ridiculous but I said I was never going to use. Guess what? I maxed it out.
- From 17 to 33 I always carried some form of non-mortgage debt. I thought this was pretty normal.
- Even after committing to getting out of debt we took a very expensive last-minute vacation. We were not perfect then and we aren’t perfect now.
Some of our minimalist wins for our finances:
- My husband I paid off over $80,000 of non-mortgage debt in around two years. We used a lot of minimalist concepts to become debt free, it wasn’t easy and we got a couple of big breaks that drastically helped us get the number down quickly.
- We’ve tracked 95% of our spending to the penny for the last two and a half years.
- We haven’t carried a credit card balance in three years.
- The biggest win: communicating frequently and without judgement about spending and our financial choices has been really good for our marriage. Three years ago when my husband asked me why I bought something that was listed on our credit card statement there was a good chance of tears and an argument. Today we’re both on the same page about where our money goes and why.
A big question for you now: do your finances feel like your basement/attic/hall closet? Is there a correlation between the clutter in your home and the clutter in your financial life? There certainly was for us and I am interested to see if others have experienced the same thing.
Oh, and if you’re not comfortable talking about finances right now feel free to file these posts away for another time. It’s a big subject with a lot of emotion tied to it. Take a Clutter Cleanse rest week or pick away at some other areas of your home.
Hi,
Late comment, but …here goes.I’m 32 and leave in Europe. I use a notebook to keep track of all my expenses (every last bill is written down in a certain category:food, clothes, books, medicine, regular bills ). It’s easier for me this way, as I use the same notebook and don’t have to start the computer to check-in a sum.At the end of each month I write the total sums in an excel, to get a better overview of the money spent compared to the rest of the year, or compared to 2-5 years ago. I have a good overview of the transport costs, holiday costs, going out. I started using this method only to have an idea of where was all the money going, but in the last 2-3 years it helped me to see certain costs going down, maybe make some predictions of how much we can save.
This is going to help me. I am very open to state that I have cc debt due to expensive childcare. My two children were at a small preschool last year. I kept them there despite the financial burden b/c their teachers were great and they were together. This year my daughter entered kindergarten and the cost dropped. I found a.preschool for my son that offered free enrollment and a discount. I also had a third child in November and have been able to save money while on maternity leave by not paying for daycare. I found a daycare for the infant and preschooler that offered 2 months tuition for the price of one. Deal (and they are clean and nice.) I will be able to finish the school year ( I teach kindergarten), and move up on the pay scale for next year. I’ll need that extra money for daycare 🙂 I am slowly paying my credit cards. Sometimes I think it would be best to take from my retirement account and just pay it all. Don’t know if that is a good idea.
The baby has been lucky in hand-me downs. A friend supplied us with cloth diapers. He is a special gift.
hoping to learn from your posts. Thanks.
Groceries are our biggest expense. We eat mainly in season local/organic. Easy to do in California. Still expensive.
We already live simply. The baby has been lucky in everything hand-me downs. And a friend supplied us with cloth diapers. Wish I had done this with the older kids.
Childcare costs really are a huge burden. I see what my friends and family pay to keep their kids in good daycare and it is a huge chunk of their income. I guess the good thing is that it is temporary.
Cloth diapers are great!
Guess I get a week off then? 😉
I’ll carry on with the physical clutter clearing. Have made major progress since the new year. Bags of stuff have gone. Feeling really positive about it. I had a post planned on decluttering and getting organized to make it an efficient process but…. got sidetracked.
Started reading Winston Churchill quotes, and that inspired something totally random…
((Oh how I would have loved to shared a beer (think his tipple was whisky?) with Churchill….))
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
I reckon the one above relates to decluttering. It’s never completely done, and it always can be if you haven’t started yet. Just keep going!
Love your Churchill quotes up on the blog today.
Yes, you get the week off 🙂
🙂
My husband and I don’t have any CC debt, just student loans and a mortgage. That being said, we have been living beyond our means for over 7 years and have dwindled our savings from $30,000 to $205. We are no longer able to overspend and now have to face the reality of our lifestyle. We’ve never spent money on big things, like vacations or ATV’s, most of the money has gone to eating out and entertainment. I’m anxious to see what you have in store this week. Yikes.
The little things add up, eh?! Watch the pennies and the dollars take care of themselves. I heard that saying many years ago and it has really stuck with me. I find when I’m focused on trimming the little spends, resisting expensive out of season produce, skipping the coffee out and finding a great movie on Netflix (instead of a new release on iTunes), the bigger picture finances are all on a good spot.
My husband and I were both blessed with frugal, money-wise parents, so neither of us have had ever had student loans or consumer debt. We currently have a “tracking” budget in Excel spreadsheet (i.e., we track all of our expenditure, but don’t have hard-and-fast budgets for anything except our personal spending money). However, we want to boost our savings — I don’t feel we’re extravagant, but I know we could probably cut back more (I really need to work on the delayed gratification concept…). So while we’re in the black and doing fine, I’d like to do better by becoming more familiar with our finances. I’ve been really enjoying the clutter cleanse thus far, and am looking forward to this week of financial posts!
Blessings,
Shannon
Great to hear you are enjoying the Clutter Cleanse!
Yes, delayed gratification is a hard skill/habit to get into. I think it will be on my list for life long learning…
I need to be consistent with recording my spending, and also arrange to go to the bank to sort out my long term savings and make sure they are getting a good rate of interest. I’ve just opened a savings account which give better interest with regular monthly savings, which should encourage me to save every month.
My finances are fairly simple, and I have found that I am much better about not spending money on stuff now that I am in a more minimalist mindset- I find myself looking at things that I want but don’t need, and thinking ‘actually, I would prefer the empty space and not to have to clean that’!
You’ve made the switch 🙂 I find I have the same thoughts when I am thinking about buying something. Do I really want to clean that/take care of it/use up a drawer or floor space for it?