27
Jul
Posted by the Dad in Climbing Out. 5 Comments
Have you ever seen a toddler drop the whole scoop off the top of his ice cream cone? It seems like slow motion as that thing falls, splat, to the ground in the all-enveloping silence before the crying begins.
No parent wouldn’t love to replace that scoop immediately. It’s human nature. We all have been there.
We want to restore balance, make things right, put them back the way they were as quickly as possible.
Maybe Things Don’t Need to Be Restored
Focusing our lives on becoming debt-free shines a painful light on this simple aspect of our nature; it’s ridiculous to think we are entitled to our things. …continue reading
12
Jun
Posted by the Dad in Climbing Out. 4 Comments
Every time I want to text someone with that crap phone I am reminded of our goals
Okay, there’s really nothing fun about buckling down and getting out of debt. Or is there?
No, there can’t be; it’s a barren, joyless trek through sacrifice with nothing but denial and self-discipline.
Ha! Haven’t you guys seen Mary Poppins? Spoonful of sugar, baby. Our family has had loads of fun while working this debt snowball. In fact it’s forced us to find free & low-cost things to do together that we wouldn’t have sought out back when we were brain-damaged. …continue reading
14
Jan
Posted by the Dad in Climbing Out. 22 Comments
Several months ago we hit that frustratingly expensive time in a man’s hygenic cycle: it was time to buy razor blades. Ugh.
I’ve been using Gillette Fusion blades since they came out and the Mach 3s before that. Why? Because they sent me a free handle, unsolicited, when they first produced the dang things.
I think they came with one or two cartridges too. However, at $25 per refill package they had become a painful slice of the weekly budget. I was done. …continue reading
30
Dec
Posted by the Dad in Climbing Out. 9 Comments
It is ironic that I was the one bolstered by my kids’ easy acceptance…
While I truly hope you all had as lovely a Christmas as I did, I cannot imagine that’s possible. My condolences.
It has been a stunningly wonderful holiday season. And not only was it all done with cash, we even paid down another thousand dollars of our debt.
At The Wife’s insistence we had a Christmas sinking fund and spent it on the kids; $100 each. That may not seem like much, but it was enough and generous grandparents from both sides of the aisle made for lots of love and plenty of presents to unwrap. …continue reading
23
Jul
Posted by the Dad in Climbing Out. 5 Comments
…these opportunities to save were there all along, but it took a shift in our perspective to put them into practice
When it comes to trimming the budget there can be big cuts like “Sell the stupid car!” or moving to a cheaper house, but lately I’ve been having fun finding replacements for smaller things that add up.
I’m not talking about small things we deemed unnecessary, mind you, these are things we genuinely enjoy. Some we cut immediately when we began our total money makeover, others we gave up reluctantly, and a few we were happy to give up when a replacement revealed itself unexpectedly.
Here are some of the replacements we have found that made a difference in our budget each month. …continue reading
20
May
Posted by the Dad in Climbing Out. 7 Comments
I was once again amazed, as I always am, at what the day cost
Looking back at the things The Wife and I would do before we woke up and got a clue often amazes me. Like, flat out, mouth-hanging-open, what-the-hell-were-we-thinking, Amazes Me.
I was raised thousands of miles from Disneyland and although I have now lived in Southern California for nearly 15 years, going there is still a great treat. In the years before the kids were born we made several trips to the Magic Kingdom and spent $250 to $350 each time. That wasn’t blatant extravagance, mind you, but we just refused to watch what we were doing. …continue reading
