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How would you like to see the world while you pay off your debt?  Living without cable or a car seems much more pleasurable in a fascinating new culture than it does on Main Street, doesn’t it?

These are the kind of stories I just love.  Fran Young had debt and took a creative approach to paying it off and setting her family up with a great lifestyle in the process.

Fran tells her story:

We are a couple who left the U.S. to live abroad in 1992.  We sold our house, left our jobs, and went to six different nations to teach in U.S.-curriculum schools.

Within 1 year we were completely out of debt, including our college loans, and were banking money.  We also got to live in a nice lifestyle, while having maids, cooks, drivers, gardeners, and nannies (had we wanted them).  Our two children became citizens of the world, learned independence, understand diversity, and received excellent educations of which we were in close contact since they were at ‘our’ schools.

We took extensive worldwide vacations, and when we had to leave a country (under attack) in 2001, had enough cash on hand to buy a large house with acreage in the U.S. mid-west.  We’ve recently put our son through college, debt-free; and have purchased income property, again with no debt.  Currently we are ‘hanging out’ in Germany.

We are invested in retirement packages, and contributed to Social Security.  We had our travel to and from school locales paid for by the schools.  And we have friends, like our children, all over the world with whom we stay in touch.

I can’t say enough about teaching abroad, including the fact that one does not need to necessarily have a teaching certificate to teach in international schools.

You can find out more about Fran and teaching abroad by checking out her website.  She says this has been a great career move for her family of four.

I know several people who have taken this route to pay off bills and see a bit of the world at the same time.   Would you ever consider doing something like this?

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Betsy Talbot writes about carving the lifestyle you want out of the life you already have. When she’s not writing, she’s paring down, saving up, and getting ready to travel the world with her husband Warren.

Photo by Alan Cleaver via Flickr

This is part of a series called How We Saved Enough Money to Change Our Lives and How You Can, Too. Click here to get all the posts delivered directly to your email inbox or feed reader.  You’ll want the inside scoop on how we saved $75,000 for the adventure of a lifetime!

You can really complicate your budget process by adding a bunch of tools, reading a ton of books, and listening to everyone’s advice.  The truth is, there is no real shortcut to saving money except the basic truth:  “Spend less than you earn.” (thanks, Trent)

That being said, it does pay to have your budget updated and within easy access, and I’m always a fan of following other people who have done exactly what it is I’m trying to do.  So below I have listed just a few handy tools to keep track of your money as well as my favorite personal finance bloggers – people who walk the talk and won’t steer you down a bad path.

Online money management tools

• Mint is a free personal finance tool that allows you to create a dashboard of all your accounts for easy management.  You can see where you are for any budget item at any time, and you can track your investments as well.  If you have an iPhone, you can even get the Mint app to check your balances from anywhere.  I like Mint because Warren and I can both view our finances at a glance anytime we want.
• IOweYou is a great site for roommates or shared expense situations.  You invite the members of your group and  list your shared expenses, like rent or groceries).  All roommates can see the expenses and who owes what at any time through the site.  The service is free for up to 5 people.
• Calculate your net worth to see just what your overall picture looks like.  It will either reassure you or motivate you to lower your debt!

Recommended Personal Finance Sites

• The Simple Dollar is one of the most popular personal finance blogs around. Trent Hamm writes about finance in a way that makes it easy to understand.  He also walks the talk and shares his story of going from crushing debt to his dream of working debt-free from home as a writer.  Be sure to download his free ebook called “Everything You Ever Really Needed To Know About Personal Finance On One Page.”
• Ramit Sethi of I Will Teach You To Be Rich will show you some bigger ideas about saving money.  I learned how to better negotiate on expenses like cell phone service, insurance, and my cable bill, which resulted in hundreds of dollars in annual savings from just 3 phone calls.  Ramit also has a book by the same name.
• Baker over at Man vs. Debt blogs about his own goal to pay off debt and start a new life in New Zealand with his wife and child.  You’ll be amazed and inspired by what he’s already done and continues to do.

Some of our own readers write about saving money, too.

• My Year Without Spending details Angela’s year of living on the Compact. Angela is a frequent commenter here and many of you found us through her.  I wish we lived closer together because I just know we’d be great friends.  You probably feel the same way about her.
• Move to Portugal is the story of Laura’s quest to move from the UK to Portugal by 2010.   I hope to meet her on our travels when we are both living our dreams. Follow her on Twitter @movetoportugal
• An Exercise in Frugality is all about saving money while being green.  I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Kate, and she is just as interesting in person as she is on her blog.  Follow her on Twitter @frugaldoogal
• Moneyfunk just posted that she is selling everything she owns. It will be fun to follow Christine as she tries to convince her husband to do this.  Follow her on Twitter @moneyfunk.

Do you have a favorite personal finance tool that I haven’t mentioned?  Or a favorite financial blogger?  Tell us about it in the comments.

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Betsy Talbot writes about carving the lifestyle you want out of the life you already have. When she’s not writing, she’s paring down, saving up, and getting ready to travel the world with her husband Warren.

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One thing that can easily throw you off track with your budget is a birthday or holiday.  Guilt, habit, and social pressure make it harder to change our spending habits.  I think this has to do more with the fact that it includes another person.  After all, our budgeting largely affects only ourselves and immediate family, the same people who will benefit from the lifestyle change this money will bring.  But this other person who is celebrating a birthday or expecting a holiday gift is neither part of the sacrifice or part of the windfall at the end.

One thing I’ve learned during our savings plan is that the people who love and support you will understand.  In fact, when your friends and family see you making big strides in your savings plan (and getting rid of your junk) it will inspire them to do the same.  There is not a week that goes by that a friend, reader or family member doesn’t comment on how our activities are inspiring them to make changes in their lives.

People really do want you to succeed (and if they don’t, you need some new friends).

So take some time now to decide how you will handle birthdays and holidays.  Below is how we handle ours.

Birthdays: We call our friends and family on their birthdays and even occasionally sing to them.  For close friends who are nearby (our family all live far away), we get together for a birthday lunch or small party with several friends.  The gift is in the celebration – the gathering of friends, sharing of homemade food and community-sponsored drink, and spending time together.  The cost is minimal, but the memories are far stronger than any item you could buy.

If you want to give gifts to your children, partner, parents, or others you can.  Remember, this is YOUR budget.  Just make sure you add those expenses in when you plan your budget.

New Year’s Eve: This is a biggie, isn’t it?  For those who like to celebrate this holiday, it often means a new outfit, tickets to a great party, and plenty of booze and food until midnight (and possibly a big breakfast out afterward).  If you want to go out, you can do it on a budget.  Wear something you already own, or shop at a consignment shop or Goodwill to find a great outfit.  Better yet, trade closets with a friend so you both find something fun.  Save a little bit out of your entertainment budget in October and November to add to December, and you can enjoy a night out without any guilt.

Last year we took overnight bags and our dog to visit some good friends.  We made a potluck dinner, combined resources for beverages, and after we watched the ball drop we had a Wii tournament.  The next morning our hosts made a delicious breakfast of eggs benedict, and we were home by noon.  For us, it was a perfect low-cost, high-value option to the typical New Year’s Eve outing.

Valentine’s Day: I’ve written about this before.  Setting aside one day a year for an overpriced romantic meal and a trinket is just plain crazy.  I want love and romance all year long!  So we decided early on not to celebrate February 14 but to infuse more attention and affection in our relationship every day.  I don’t care what you got for Valentine’s Day last year – it cannot beat what we’ve done for our relationship throughout the year.  I hope you’ll consider boycotting Valentine’s Day this year in favor of 365 days of love and appreciation.

Mother’s and Father’s Days: Most of us have been making gifts for one or both of these holidays since we were small children.  Remember the homemade cards, ashtrays (I’m dating myself), and flower pots you made as a budding little artist?  I’ll bet your mom and dad still have them.  If you live near your parents, consider cooking them a fabulous meal at your home instead of going out.  You’ll be able to have a better conversation, and you can take time to look at old pictures or talk about some of your favorite times together without worrying that you are overstaying your welcome at a restaurant.

If you live far away from your parents like I do, consider going old-school and make your parents cards again.  A personal note from you, even via email, that reminds your parent of a special memory, your appreciation of something they have done for you, or your wishes about future plans together would be just as valuable as those old flower pots and ashtrays used to be.  Trust me.  Wouldn’t you love to get a card or letter like that?

Independence Day: I love this holiday.  Not only is a BBQ the cheapest kind of party, the casual nature of it means you don’t really have to sweat too many details.  Whether you are going to a party or having one yourself, potluck is the way to go.  Almost every party I attend these days includes a small contribution of food, drink, or cash from the guests, and it makes it easy on everyone to get together and have fun.  If you can view the fireworks instead of buying them yourself, you get the view without the hassle and the cost.  What a great way to celebrate!

Labor Day: Most of the expense of this holiday is travel, and if you plan it in advance you can easily fit it into your budget.  Otherwise, Labor Day is just as easy as Independence Day in terms of planning, except that you don’t have to worry about fireworks.  You can also think about small home projects or creative endeavors.  Last year I participated in the 3-day Novel Contest and wrote a book!  Three days is a great boundary for trying something new.  After all, it is just 3 days!

Halloween: We live in a neighborhood with very few children and have none of our own, so I’m not an expert at saving money on Halloween.  We do it by default.  But I do know that there are many resources online for low-cost Halloween outfits you can make yourself.  You can also find candy on sale if you will be home to hand it out.

Check out your city calendar for free Halloween events.  In our neighborhood we have a large troll statue (he’s quite famous!) and there is an annual “Troll-o-ween” parade that draws a few hundred people each year.  Festivities like this are usually free and a fun way to celebrate the holiday.

Thanksgiving: I remember as a child wondering how my mom could enjoy a holiday that was so much damn work for her.   After toiling for a couple of days on a delicious meal, it was then enjoyed with gusto by our family and then we all turned into couch potatoes to take a nap or watch a football game while she cleaned up.  What a horrible way to spend a holiday!

Thanksgiving is another great potluck opportunity, whether you are hosting or guesting.  It allows each person to show off their “specialty,” no one works too hard, and everyone helps with the cleanup.  When everyone takes part in making the day successful it seems like attitudes are better and people try harder to make the day special.

A tradition that I love is to go around the table and have each person state one thing they are grateful for.  It brings the thanks back into Thanksgiving and doesn’t cost a dime.

Black Friday/Christmas: This is the biggie, isn’t it?  Some people love the excitement of shopping for big deals the day after Thanksgiving, and other people dread it but do it anyway to save a few bucks.

Guess what?  You can save more money by having a smart strategy.  I used to spend hours shopping for the perfect gift for everyone on my list.  I was usually tired, cranky, and over budget by the time I finished each shopping trip.

The Christmas holidays are meant to celebrate your connections with family and friends, not to send yourself into further debt.  Would you want someone to worry about paying their bills in January because of a gift they bought you in December?  Then why would you do that to yourself?

Set up boundaries with your family and friends before Thanksgiving so everyone is on the same page.  When I moved away from my family we decided that my visits home and their visits to me would be far more valuable than any trinkets we could buy for each other.   We do not exchange gifts with anyone but our parents, but you may come up with an idea that includes a dollar limit, drawing names, or buying one large gift for the entire family.

During this season we spend the time seeing our friends at holiday gatherings, calling and sending cards/emails to those far away, and enjoying our tradition of Chinese food on Christmas day followed by a movie.   I do not venture into a retail store between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, and my sanity and bank account remain in balance.  It is a lovely way to enjoy the holiday season, and I have no fear that January’s bills will send me over the edge.

Remember, it’s your budget

My way of celebrating may not work for you, and that’s okay.  My point is to demonstrate that you can enjoy the holidays without breaking the bank if you do a little planning.  When you make out your budget, think about how you want to spend the holidays and what it will cost to do it, and then factor that in.

Having a plan is half the battle, and knowing you have control of your finances will allow you to relax and enjoy your time with family and friends.  And isn’t that what it’s all about?

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Betsy Talbot writes about carving the lifestyle you want out of the life you already have. When she’s not writing, she’s paring down, saving up, and getting ready to travel the world with her husband Warren.

The Kofke family, happy and debt-free! (Photo courtesy of Danny Kofke)

This is part of a series called How We Saved Enough Money to Change Our Lives and How You Can, Too. Click here to get all the posts delivered directly to your email inbox or feed reader.  You’ll want the inside scoop on how we saved $75,000 for the adventure of a lifetime!

As part of this series I want to show you other people who have reached a personal financial goal.  Today’s focus is on Danny Kofke, a special needs teacher in Georgia, and as you can see from the picture he has a beautiful wife and two small children.  Danny’s wife is also a teacher, and when they had children they made the decision for her to stay at home with them.  It is very important that they be able to do this and live well, and they spent a lot of time focusing on their finances to get them in a place where they could live their dream.  Not only are they able to live well on one salary, their only debt is a recently refinanced mortgage, which will save them $100,000 over the life of the loan.

Danny started out trying to survive on a teacher’s salary, and now he can confidently say his family is thriving.  Read on for three of Danny’s tips to making your money work for you.

Plan Ahead – Have A Goal

This helped Tracy and I a lot.  Before having our daughters, Tracy was a teacher too.  We had a long-term goal of having her be able to stay home once we had children.  During the time she was working, we used her salary to pay-off our debt and build an emergency fund.  We knew that if we wanted to live off one teacher’s salary, we would have to have minimal expenses.  Even though we made a good amount of money – for us at least – we lived like we only had one income coming in.  Since we lived like this, we are now able to do well on one moderate salary.

Know Where Your Money Is Going

I think the reason a lot of people are in financial trouble today is because they have no clue how they are spending their money.  Buying houses and cars that you cannot afford have hurt some but I think the reason that some are in trouble is because of those day-to-day purchases that add up over time.  For example, let’s say during the work week you buy coffee out at $3 a cup, buy lunch out at $10 per meal and buy a soda and snack from a vending machine at $3 a pop.  This may not seem like a lot but, if you add it up, this equals $80 a week, $320 a month and almost $4,000 a year!  You are not spending a large amount each time so you don’t realize how much money you are spending on these things.  Shortly after we married, Tracy and I started tracking our spending habits.  For one month, we walked around with a piece of paper and pen and wrote down everything we spent.  This was tedious but we were able to see exactly how we were spending our money and cut out things that we really did not need to buy.

Create A Spending Plan

After seeing how much money we needed each week (by tracking our spending), Tracy and I started using cash for our purchases.  Every Friday, we would go to an ATM machine and pull out the exact amount of money we needed for the week – this money was for living expenses along with a little for entertainment.  This helped us in many ways.  Let’s say it got to be Wednesday and we wanted to go out and eat but we did not have any cash left.  We would have to eat leftovers or a sandwich and wait until Friday rolled around before we got our weekly money out.  Using cash also helped us cut down on spontaneous buying.  Many people have an emotional attachment to cash that they don’t feel when swiping a piece of plastic through a machine.  In fact, there are studies that show most will spend 12-18% less when using cash instead of a credit card.  Using cash helped us create a spending plan and encouraged us to stick to it.

You can see that Danny’s tips align pretty well with what we’ve already discussed with setting your goal, finding out where your money is going, and creating a budget.  There is no magic formula or secret sauce to saving money, though you can learn a lot about mental tricks and successful habits from people who have done this.    That’s why I’m sharing Danny’s story with you.

Danny Kofke is currently a special education teacher in Georgia. He has also taught kindergarten, first grade and second grade.  Danny’s love of teaching others led him to write the book “How To Survive (and perhaps thrive) On A Teacher’s Salary.”  To learn more about Danny and his book, please visit his website.

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Betsy Talbot writes about carving the lifestyle you want out of the life you already have. When she’s not writing, she’s paring down, saving up, and getting ready to travel the world with her husband Warren.

Photo by Plutor via Flickr

This is part of a series called How We Saved Enough Money to Change Our Lives and How You Can, Too. Click here to get all the posts delivered directly to your email inbox or feed reader.  You’ll want the inside scoop on how we saved $75,000 for the adventure of a lifetime!

So you’ve made up your budget and you’re on the way to financing your big dream.  And then you look around your house and see the evidence of your past self, the one who spent all that money on stuff you don’t really need.  What should you do?

Well, instead of looking at it and feeling guilty, why not make a few bucks?  It will also clear your space, which will help you better imagine your new lifestyle.

Over the years we’ve made a few thousand dollars selling our stuff on Craigslist.  The highest-priced item we have sold is a dresser for $500 that wouldn’t fit in our townhouse.  The cheapest thing we’ve sold is a random box of cords for $5.  You can really sell almost anything on Craigslist, and if you just want to get rid of something that you don’t think will fetch a price you can also list it as free.  Believe me, someone wants your crap.   (Freecycle is another option for giving away items.)

If you have smaller items to sell or live in an area that doesn’t have an active Craigslist audience, you can use eBay or even yard sales or consignment shops.  We are planning to start using eBay to sell things like my purses, some jewelry, accessories, etc.  I’m going to put a widget in the sidebar so you can see what we’re getting rid of every week to inspire you.

Again, you really won’t believe what people will buy.  Oh wait, of course you will.  You bought it first!

Here are some tips when selling your items on Craigslist:

• You get what you pay for.  Ads are free and there is no online payment to guarantee the transaction until pickup.  People are sometimes unreliable, and even when they show up they may decide the item is not for them.  Keep in contact with at least 2-3 interested people so you don’t have to repost the ad later.  Let #2 and #3 know that you are holding it for someone until X date and if they don’t show or don’t want it you will contact them.
• State “cash only” in the ad.  Be very upfront about this and firm.  You are selling to someone you don’t know, and an honest face does not necessarily mean honesty where checks are concerned.
• Specify whether you will help them load or not. An older person who buys a large piece of furniture from you may want your help loading.  If you can’t do this or don’t want to, make sure you state in the ad that you cannot load so they know to bring help.
• Are you willing to negotiate onsite? Once someone is there to pick up, they will often try for a last-minute bargain.  This isn’t necessarily bad, you just need to be prepared.  My favorite tactic is to have a “staging area” of all my for-sale items and offer something else in addition to the main item and stay firm on the price (selling a chair – offer a small area rug or throw pillows).  Then everyone wins.
• Be honest in your ad description. Not everyone who stops by will actually buy, so don’t waste anyone’s time by claiming something is in excellent condition when it really isn’t, or that it works when it doesn’t.  Always include a picture. College students, the newly divorced, newlyweds – many of these people are looking for bargains and don’t mind a little wear and tear, but they certainly don’t want something that is not as advertised.

For those that need a little bit of help navigating Craigslist, you can download this handy guide.  We normally sell this on our e-books page because we have a licensing deal with the author, but I really want you to make big bucks!  So download it now while we have the pay button down.

Selling your junk on eBay

eBay is a great resource if you have quirky or more valuable items to sell.  Maybe your collection of vintage lunchboxes is no longer serving your interests.  This is the perfect item to sell on eBay.  Or you have a beautiful vase that no longer fits your decor.  Anything a collector would look for is perfect for eBay.

eBay is an auction, and your potential buyers have time to bid on your item until closing.  You set the minimum bid so that you will never lose money.  The flipside is that if your minimum bid is too high your item may not sell.

You will need to set up a Paypal account and register as a seller to be able to post your items, but neither of these are hard to do.  If you want to bypass that and have someone do it for you, you can always look for an eBay reseller to do it for you for a percentage of the profits.

The same rules for Craiglist apply to eBay:

• Be clear and honest in your product descriptions and photos.
• Let potential buyers know about delivery (UPS, postal service, pick-up only, etc.)
• Specify payment options.  Some eBay sellers take checks, but I don’t recommend it.
• eBay works on a bidding system, but you can also specify a “buy it now” price.  This price should be between your minimum bid and what you expect it to sell for.  The “buy it now” price is for the convenience of both parties.

If you need more information on how to sell on eBay, click here for a handy downloadable guide (also free right now because I want you to make money!)

Consignment shops are another option

It is a little bit harder to make money this way, especially when you can probably sell your best pieces on eBay for more money.  But for the convenience, it can’t be beat.  If you have clothes that are in good shape and still fashionable, you can sell them in a consignment shop.  Costume jewelry and accessories are also good for a consignment shop.

Be sure to check out your consignment shop ahead of time to make sure they are selling what you have to offer.  Some offer a little bit of everything, including furniture, but others cater to baby clothes or jewelry.  Do your homework so you bring in the right items to make the most money.

Click on this article to find out more about making the most of your consignment selling experience.

If you have dishes, crystal, or silver to sell, check out Replacements to see the value of your items and the demand.

Yard Sales – if you have to!

We’ve all been to them, and most of us have held them.   In my way of thinking, this is really an awful way to make a few bucks when there are so many other options that don’t require a late Friday night of  pricing every little knick-knack for a Saturday morning sale.  We don’t even have a yard anymore, so I guess I’m saved from ever having to do one again!

If you have a pretty active group of yard-sale shoppers in your area, it might be worthwhile to do this.  You can also check with your city or county to find out if there is a group yard sale event during the year.  You will have to pay a small fee for a booth if you do this, but you get guaranteed traffic, no weirdos coming by your house early, and most of the time your unsold items will be hauled away by the city for Goodwill.  The downside is that you have to transport all your junk to a new place.

What can you sell?

You can sell everything from a car on down to measuring cups, but what I’ve found most popular are electronics,  furniture, sporting equipment, and stylish things like purses, scarves, and jewelry.

The strangest thing we’ve ever sold is a set of 6 silver dollars, which you would think would sell for $6 (we almost gave them to the child of a friend before we checked the value).  We ended up selling them for almost $100!  So always check the value before you decide something is worthless.

We also sold our remaining 100 or so books on Craigslist for $75.  We may have been able to get more money from a used bookstore, but all we had to do was take a picture of them on our bookshelf, list the ad, and then take the money while the buyer boxed them up to go.  He was a homeschool dad and loved that we had a lot of classics.  A good deal all around.

Last but not least, be sure to deposit the money in your savings account right away.  We actually keep the cash from these transactions and just make a bank transfer from our checking to our savings account as soon as we get it.  That way we aren’t tempted to use the cash and never make it to the bank.  It is more convenient than an ATM if you sell a few things every week.

Now that you see how easy it can be, can you think of a few things you’d like to sell?

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Betsy Talbot writes about carving the lifestyle you want out of the life you already have. When she’s not writing, she’s paring down, saving up, and getting ready for a year of travel with her husband Warren.

Photo by D Sharon Pruitt via Flickr

This is part of a series called How We Saved Enough Money to Change Our Lives and How You Can, Too. Click here to get all the posts delivered directly to your email inbox or feed reader.  You’ll want the inside scoop on how we saved $75,000 for the adventure of a lifetime!

Now that you’ve worked out how much your big dream will cost, where you are currently spending your money, decided which expenses are necessary and which are not, and put that all together in a new budget with a savings plan, you should be very proud of yourself.

But you are probably wondering how you are going to keep on enjoying life while you save money for your big dream.  It doesn’t have to be a no-frills social life, you know.  You can save money and still have fun.

When we first went on a budget, we felt like we hit a brick wall in our social lives.  We had been going out frequently, enjoying trips out of town and out of the country, and not blinking at ticket prices for our favorite entertainers. And then…nothing.  It took us a while to figure out that we could still have fun on a tight budget, and below are some of the things we discovered.  Perhaps you have something to add to the list?

Replace going out with staying in

• Potluck is in. You can linger at the table as long as you like when you are in your own home.  Invite your friends over for a potluck dinner and prepare the main dish.  When everyone brings a bottle of wine and their best dish, you have an inexpensive evening that allows you to get to know your friends better.  I would have never known one of my friends is such a pumpkin fanatic had we not shared homemade food together.  The best part?  Your friends will pay back the favor, insuring that your social calendar stays full.
• Host a game night with your friends. Whether you choose video games, board games, or charades, you will be surprised at how much fun it is to unplug and just be with your friends.  One game we like is a take-off on charades called “Celebrity” and you only need a pen and paper.  Each player writes down 10-20 celebrities on small strips of paper that will be folded and put into a bowl.   The celebrities can be fake, like Homer Simpson, or real, but they must be well-known.  At your turn, you choose a celebrity and help your team guess the name.  In the first round you can use words but not the name, in the second round only one word, and in the third round no words.  (each round means going through all the papers in the bowl).  This is a really fun game, especially if the players grew up in different areas or are different age ranges.
• Start or join a club. It can be as simple as starting your own book club with a few friends or branching out to meet brand-new friends through a group like Meetup.  These meetings are usually free or very low-cost.  My book club meets once a month, and the 15 or so women in it each bring a food or beverage item to share.  We laugh and talk for hours once a month and stay connected through sites like Facebook in between.  If you want to pursue a different interest, you will likely find it on Meetup.  The motto is “do something, learn something, share something, change something,” which covers a lot of ground!  I’ve used Meetup before to meet other new people to Seattle and other urban hikers.  Just type in your interest and your location to find meetups near you.

Tip:  If you choose to host an event, make it special by using a free service like Evite to invite your friends.  It makes it seem more festive than a potluck and allows you to easily share photos after the event with guests.

Change your definition of going out

• Explore your city. When you’ve been in an area for a while, it is easy to overlook the events that happen around you.  Check your city’s event calendar to find out about free performances, festivals, and events around town.  Many are free or low-cost.  Just this summer I attended a lunchtime concert downtown with a fabulous band called “Children of the Revolution.”  The sun was shining, the music was terrific, and the musicians put on quite a show.  It was a free and fun way for my friends and I to connect over a sack lunch.
• Change the time you go out. Do you always go out to eat or to the movies in the evening?  Try a morning date!  I love to go to the movies, and I was thrilled to find a 10 a.m showing on weekends at a special rate.  By bypassing treats in the movie theater, you will have plenty left over for a breakfast special before or after.  You can make a whole morning of it.  We also exchanged dinners out with happy hours and appetizers, saving big bucks and still enjoying the feeling of being out.
• Try an old tradition in a new way. Warren and I always have a “wine and cheese” picnic in the hotel room one night during our trips.  It is one of those things we did once out of necessity and loved, so we kept doing it.  Now that we aren’t traveling very often, we’ve just taken the idea into our home.  We make two little perfect cheese trays with fruit, pour our wine, and curl up on the couch for a picnic at home with a foreign film to transport us to another place.

Do all those things you never have time to do

• Organize your recipes/pictures/mementos. If your pictures are like mine, they are a mess.  You can easily join a free service like Picasa to edit and organize your pictures into online albums that you can then share with family and friends.  I like this because it makes it easy for me to make customized cards with my Send Out Cards membership (this is an affiliate link – I have had this membership since I owned my consulting company and plan to continue with it to send cards to family and friends once we start traveling – no worrying about international postage!).   It can be fun going through old pictures, recipes and mementos again, and once you have them organized to share online you can spend hours reminiscing with your family and friends.
• Learn a new language or skill. Warren is making good progress learning Spanish with Rosetta Stone, and we were lucky enough to win this program in an online contest.  But there are many ways to learn languages that are free or almost free.  You don’t have to have an iPod or iPhone to sign up for a free iTunes account.  Once you have one, you can search the iTunes store for podcasts on just about any subject under the sun, including language lessons.  Most podcasts are free, and you simply download them to your iTunes account and listen to them from your computer.
• Exercise. I live right off a lake near a bike trail and just down the street from another lake with gorgeous scenery and a walking trail.  In addition, you can rent a kayak or canoe for just a few dollars.  It wasn’t until we started saving money that I started utilizing these great resources for exercise.  Even better, I invite friends to join me so we get to chat and workout at the same time.

What do you do for fun that costs little or no money?

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Betsy Talbot writes about carving the lifestyle you want out of the life you already have. When she’s not writing, she’s paring down, saving up, and getting ready for a year of travel with her husband Warren.

Every dollar counts

This is part of a series called How We Saved Enough Money to Change Our Lives and How You Can, Too. Click here to get all the posts delivered directly to your email inbox or feed reader.  You’ll want the inside scoop on how we saved $75,000 for the adventure of a lifetime!

One woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure.  And what’s right for me may not be right for you.  But I think we can all agree that we spend our money on things that not only unnecessary, but impractical and not even satisfying.

Why do we buy this crap?

When you don’t have a plan for your big dream, it is easy to get distracted by bright shiny objects in your everyday life.  Check out yesterday’s video post from my closet to see evidence of my past misdeeds.

For example, instead of designing your life and your spending habits to coincide with your dream of writing a book, you keep working at a job that leaves you little free time to write and you spend your money on things to help fill the creative void.  Or maybe you want to buy your own home, but you keep spending money on things to decorate your existing rental to make it feel more like your own and have no money left for your house fund.  You get the idea.

We all do these things to ourselves, often without realizing it until much later.

What I’m asking you to do today is stop and think about what you really want and how your daily actions – money and otherwise – are contributing to that goal.

How we changed our spending habits

Below are some of the changes we made to our expenses in the couple of years leading up to our decision to travel as well as the fine-tuning we did after that to save big bucks.  Keep in mind that you can make minor changes every month or quarter instead of making one big leap and still see financial gains.  And of course, your mileage may vary.  What works for us may not work for you – the idea is to get you to think about freeing up some of your money to put toward your big dream.

Tip:  Think of everything as unnecessary at first and then add back what is necessary for you.  It may seem crazy to do this with expenses like the electric bill, but as you go through your expenses you’ll see how this exercise changes the way you think about budgeting.  It is a much more productive mental process to add things back than it is to take things away.  Trust me.

Housing

• We moved from the Boston suburbs to Seattle and exchanged a big house and yard with a townhouse.
• We saved money by eliminating landscaping/maintenance fees as well as snowplowing.
• Our utility bills (especially the oil we used for heat in the winter) went down considerably.  We don’t even have an air conditioner here.

Transportation

• We sold my car before we moved, and since then we’ve paid off Warren’s car.
• Warren took a job that had a shuttle service so he doesn’t have to drive, and I now work from home.
• Since we drive less than 10,000 miles per year, we lowered our car insurance to “recreational vehicle” to save money.
• We walk to most places and use the city bus system to get around (and avoid parking fees).  The bus costs $1.75.
• Since we rarely drive, we spend very little on gas.  We actually only fill the car up every couple of months.

Food

• Our grocery bill has actually gone up, but that is because we are eating in a lot more.
• Our dining out expense has gone way down.  We used to eat out 13 times a week (together and separately), so cutting this down has helped us save a lot of money.  It was hard to change the habit, though.   Keep track of how much you eat out each week and you might be as surprised as I was to see the number.
• We like to drink wine with dinner, so we did not cut this out.  However, we did lower our standards a bit and spend time looking for good wines at low prices.  When you make your budget, you have to leave in some luxuries, even if you change them up a bit.
• Last October I gave up my morning caffeine habit, and this also cut out my coffee dates with friends.  My main drink during the day is water, which is just about as cheap as you can get and why I don’t beat myself up too much for the wine in the evenings.  In fact, I just realized that my wine habit costs less than an equal amount of Starbucks coffee per day!

Travel and Entertainment

• As I said above, we love to go out for dinner!  But we had to cut back on that as well as dinner dates with friends.  We’ve made it easier by encouraging potluck gatherings with friends, eating out for lunch instead of dinner, and socializing at a happy hour instead of dinner.  It is still very important to keep the things you like in your life – you just have to be a bit more creative.  Our latest endeavor is “Soup Kitchen Night” where we invite a few friends over to share an inexpensive pot of soup with us.  They each bring a bowl and bread or wine to share and we all have an evening that costs very little.
• We used to take one fabulous trip every year and several smaller ones.  Now we only take local trips or long weekends when we aren’t visiting family.  It has been tough to be home so much, but considering I’m soon going to be able to see the world full-time for 3 years I can’t really complain, can I?
• We cut our cable completely this summer and saved big bucks.  We started a Netflix account and kept our television, so we can watch DVDs when we want.  I like that our television watching is more purposeful now, and it has been much easier to give this up than I thought, though not without pain.  Instead of watching TV, we read, talk, cook together, learn Spanish from Rosetta Stone and get together with our friends.
• We still have a Wii, but we have not bought any new games.  Thankfully I’m content with Wii Fit and Warren is happy with Tiger Woods Golf.
• We got rid of our books through Craigslist (a homeschool father bought our whole collection at once!).  We were gifted with a Kindle and we enjoy reading The New Yorker on it for a couple of bucks per month and books that range from $7-10.  Before the Kindle we switched to shopping from the used bookstore so we could trade books back.

Clothes and Personal Care

• I used to go shopping for the heck of it.  A new pair of shoes, an outfit, or a hat were regular purchases for me.  But since we cut back, I’ve learned to rethink my wardrobe and use my accessories more.  I have bought a few things, but only a fraction of what I would have bought before the budget.  For added inspiration, check out The Uniform Project to see how one woman can wear the same little black dress for 365 days straight (thanks to my friend Paula Russell for the tip).
• Like many women, I am slightly obsessed with my hair.  I want it to be shiny and healthy and without any grays.  I used to pay quite a bit for this to happen every month, but now I color it at home and only invest in a good haircut.  We could probably save more money if I went to a different salon, but again, you have to keep some things in your life or you’ll feel deprived.  I also buy cheaper shampoo and conditioner than before.  Warren gave up professional haircuts altogether and switched to a buzzed cut that he can do himself at home.
• In keeping with my desire to live a simpler life, I’ve also cut back on makeup – both wearing it and buying it.  Sure, I still put on a little powder and lipstick/chapstick most days, but the everyday mascara/blush/eye shadow/foundation is a thing of the past.  My skin is radiant due to all the water I’m drinking, and I don’t really miss the chore of daily makeup.
• Once we got close to hitting our savings goal, we decided to treat ourselves a little and schedule monthly massages.  Warren has since stopped getting his, but I’ve become addicted to mine.  This is an indulgence that makes me feel better, sleep better, and grind my teeth less at night.

Shopping in General

• Stop going to stores and malls when you have no reason to be there.  If you are “just looking” you will always find something to buy.  At first this is weird, but you’ll see how much easier it is to save when you stay away.
• Eliminate magazine subscriptions that tempt you to buy things or live up to a lifestyle you can’t meet on your budget.   Advertising is more powerful (and pervasive) than you think.
• Shop with a list and stick to it.  I actually buy my groceries online and it saves me both time and money (no last-minute temptations to throw in the cart).  I could save more by watching ads and driving to several different stores, but because I want a walkable lifestyle this is a great solution.

One thing I want to stress is that we started our simplification process a few years ago because we wanted a better life with less stuff.  That decision led to all the other decisions, and finally we were in a place to entertain the idea of traveling the world.  We would have never been able to consider this idea had we not taken that first step to start living a life truer to who we were. That first step may be small, but in terms of your future it can be huge.

The decisions you make today about getting out of debt and saving money will open doors and spark ideas that you may not even be able to comprehend right now.  Isn’t that exciting?

In our next post we’ll talk about how to have a social life on a tight budget.  Saving for your big dream doesn’t mean that your life right now should be meaningless – far from it.

Do you have any questions about this post or how we saved money in general?  Just ask me via comments or email at btalbot (at) marriedwithluggage (dot) com and I’ll cover it in a future post.  Don’t be shy!

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Betsy Talbot writes about carving the lifestyle you want out of the life you already have. When she’s not writing, she’s paring down, saving up, and getting ready for a year of travel with her husband Warren.

The point is to start thinking of those types of purchases, why you made them, and how you can exercise a little self-control in the future.  After all, what you are saving for is more important than any purchase you make now in a moment of weakness.

Enjoy the video (and the cameo by my dog Max), and stay tuned for tomorrow’s post on Necessary and Unnecessary expenses.  To catch up on the entire budgeting series, start here.  And to sign up for email delivery or RSS, click here.

If you are viewing this post via email or a feed reader, you may have to click through to the site to watch the video.

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Betsy Talbot writes about carving the lifestyle you want out of the life you already have. When she’s not writing, she’s paring down, saving up, and getting ready for a year of travel with her husband Warren.

This photo has nothing to do with money, but I sure do like it. (photo by Warren Talbot)

This is part of a series called How We Saved Enough Money to Change Our Lives and How You Can, Too. Click here to get all the posts delivered directly to your email inbox or feed reader.  You’ll want the inside scoop on how we saved $75,000 for the adventure of a lifetime!

Back in my spending heyday, it was nothing for me to drop $300 on a pair of boots, plan a weekend trip to New York, and then wonder how I was going to fit in my car payment and electric bill – all in the same week.  Ridiculous, isn’t it?  (Side note: I’m still not sure why I’m confessing all my bad habits to you.)

In hindsight, I can see that my spending habits were a reflection of my state of mind at the time.  As a newly divorced woman, I was excited and overwhelmed by all the options in front of me and routinely made as many bad decisions as I did good ones.  It was a time of great highs and lows in my life, and my bank balance and debt level followed that pattern.

Does this sound familiar to you?

You may not be going through a life transition like marriage, divorce, or a big move, but I’ll bet that your spending habits mirror what is going on in your personal life.

Do you recognize any of these situations?

• Sad:  When I was sad, I bought things to make me happy.
• Scared:  I once applied for and received a Pier One credit card and bought a dining table and chairs to comfort myself the same day I got a notice that my main credit card was going to be suspended.
• Smothered:  I used to plan trips and excursions to get out from under the people and situations that were smothering me.
• Restless:  I once bought eyeglasses and a big rug on the same day, and I didn’t need either one.  Not being able to focus extended to my spending.
• Bored:  Ever go shopping because you have nothing better to do?  Yeah, I did that, too.  And I lived next door to a mall for a time.  Yikes.

Think about how your spending and saving habits reflect your life.  It will be hard to rein in the spending and contribute to savings if these things are still out of kilter.  That is one of the beautiful things about latching on to a dream and then starting your savings plan.  You have focus, hope for the future, and workable plan right in front of you for inspiration.  You may find, as I did, that having a dream was all I needed to get my act together financially and emotionally.

How to Set Up a Budget

Now that you know what your dream costs as well as what you are spending, you can move forward to create your budget.  Below are two posts that will help you in both setting up a budget and finding agreement with your partner if you share finances with another person.

How to Set Up a Budget

How to Agree on a Budget

1. Evaluate all of your existing expenses and look at them with a fresh eye.  Do you get an equal or greater value from the item/service than you would from using the money toward savings or debt reduction to follow your big dream?  In the instance of water and heat, the answer would be yes.  But things like a gym membership, deluxe cable package, and daily lunches out may have cheaper alternatives (exercising outside or at home, Netflix, and cooking on Sundays for a week of healthy bagged lunches) that allow you to still reap the benefit while adding to your savings or decreasing your debt.  Look at everything as if you were your own financial advisor – because you ARE!  (We’ll talk more about necessary and unnecessary expenses in a future post.)
2. Think about the one or two things you do that bring you comfort and joy and make sure you keep some form of that product or service in your life.  For example, we love to socialize and had to keep that activity in the budget.  We changed dinner dates to happy hours, added low-cost potlucks and dinner party clubs to our social calendar, and ate lunch at home before a matinee movie instead of our usual dinner-and-a-movie dates.  We also kept wine in the budget because we like to drink it with dinner, so we now spend just as much time scouring the reviews for good wines at bargain prices as we did just looking for the good stuff before (and I can’t tell you how cool it is to find a delicious bottle of wine for $8 – like a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!)

Now that you have evaluated all your expenses and trimmed the fat, and then reevaluated those cuts to make sure you left in a little bit of good living, you are ready to fine-tune your budget.

Using this Budget spreadsheet or a similar one, add in your income, budget amounts by category, and your planned savings/debt reduction money for each month.

Evaluating your New Budget

How much money do you have in the savings or debt reduction category?

Is the plan livable?

Is this in line with the amount you need to save/pay off to hit your dream deadline?

If so, congratulations!  You are now in control of your finances and on track to reach your dream, at least financially.  If not, you will have to make adjustments, either by decreasing your spending or changing your timeline.  Remember, this up to you and you have to be able to live with it.

If you are having trouble adjusting to a tighter budget, consider doing it in waves.  Cut out 10% of your budget for the first 3 months, followed by another 10%, and so on until you get to the savings level you need.  The gradual adjustment will make it easier to stick with the plan.

Saving money is a lot like exercising and dieting; just as you wouldn’t run a marathon without any training, you shouldn’t go on a strict budget without preparation or you will surely fail.

Stay tuned for our next post where we will go into greater depth on Exercise 1 and talk about necessary and unnecessary expenses and how to make livable adjustments to your spending.  If you are new to the series and want to start at the beginning, click here.

Additional Resources:

I Will Teach You to be Rich, by Ramit Sethi.  Ramit is a genius at personal finance, and I put his advice on negotiating to good use with my cable company, cell phone provider, and insurance company.

Man vs. Debt by Adam Baker.  Baker and his wife saved up their money, sold most of their possessions and took off for New Zealand with their young daughter to live the life they wanted (they are like us, except with fewer wrinkles and small human companion).  You can read their personal finance blog to get the skinny on their continuing battle with debt vs. living the dream as well as enjoy occasional tidbits about their new life.

The Simple Dollar by Trent Hamm is one of the most comprehensive personal finance sites out there, and Trent writes from personal experience.  He eliminated his debt, quit his job to pursue writing full-time, and now has a book deal.  You’ll find solid, practical information on personal finance from Trent’s blog, though I do sometimes cringe at his level of yard sale consumption (probably more my issue than his, given our plans.)

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Betsy Talbot writes about carving the lifestyle you want out of the life you already have. When she’s not writing, she’s paring down, saving up, and getting ready for a year of travel with her husband Warren.

How much are you spending?

Can you tell me how much per year you spend on groceries or cable TV? Or how much money you charge each year on your credit cards?

If you don’t know, you are not alone.

What’s important to many of us is what we can have right now, not what we can have later on.  So it makes sense that our spending habits function much the same way.  We worry if we have enough cash to get a cup of coffee in the morning, not whether we can really afford the habit in the first place.

(I was spending $30/week on my regular fix of coffee and a pastry before we started paying attention. Not only did I blow $750 that year, I gained 8 pounds.)

One of the other reasons we spend money is to soothe ourselves.  This is especially dangerous if you are unhappy with your life, either personally, professionally, or both.  “But I deserve this for all the hours I put in at work,” you might say.  Or perhaps we justify that a new outfit will help us find a mate or that shopping with our girlfriends on weekends is a bonding experience.

Warren and I worked crazy hours in jobs with a lot of responsibility, so on weekends we were carefree with our money to make up for it.  Expensive wine, lunches and dinners out, weekend getaways, or just random shopping trips could easily rack up hundreds of dollars a weekend.  All in an effort to soothe ourselves from working too hard during the week.  It’s crazy when I think about it now, but back then it made perfect sense.

In our last post we talked about the importance of knowing how much money you need to realize your dream.  On the flip side, it is just as important to know how much you are spending today so you can merge those two numbers into a budget that works for you.

Avoiding it won’t make it go away

After my divorce 9 years ago I went on an avoidance spree that cost me $32,000.  Don’t get me wrong – I had a LOT of fun that year in a new city with lots of great experiences waiting for me.  What was not fun, however, was spending the next 3 years paying off the $16,000 that went on credit cards and loans.

I looked for all the easy answers, including a debt consolidation program.  While I don’t necessarily recommend that route (more on that in a later post), what I do recommend is the first thing they had me do:  Write it all down.

Hard to believe I was competent enough to manage 50 people and travel the country meeting with executives for my job but I was not savvy enough to actually list out my debts and try to find a workable solution to my financial problems.

When Warren and I started dating I was already working on my financial recovery and a little bit scared to mesh it with a guy who was also recently divorced.  But because we were both chastened from out of control spending  in our previous lives we did pretty well at keeping our debt under control.   Our spending was still too high and unnecessary, but when you can pay it off every month you learn to justify it.  More on that when we talk about necessary/unnecessary expenses in a future post.

How your spending affects your dream

I’m not against spending, and you shouldn’t be, either.  What you should be against is the kind of spending that takes you further away from your dream for just a moment of pleasure.  When I think back, that $6/day on coffee and pastries only bought me a short period of pleasure followed by a long period of pain (the weight gain and impact to my budget).  There is nothing that coffee and pastry did to bring me closer to my goal.  But to be honest, at that point I didn’t really know what my goal was.  I spent so much time soothing myself for all my hard work that I didn’t really have time to think about the bigger picture.

Think about your spending for a moment.  Is it working toward your bigger dreams, or could it be preventing you from getting there?  Are you so caught up in debt and spending that you haven’t had time to think about what you really want?

Your homework

What I’m about to suggest to you is going to be tough to do.  But on the flip side, it is going to be incredibly liberating when you are done.  You will know exactly where your money is going on an annual basis, which makes it easy to see what is most important to you.  If you don’t like what those numbers say, it is up to you to change them.

Getting real with your money

• Take out all your statements and receipts for the past 12 months.  If you bank online this should be pretty easy for you to do.
• If you have daily habits in cash, be sure to specify those (lunches out, coffees, etc.)
• Document your spending by category on an annual basis and then divide by 12 to get your monthly spending.  Dig deep in your credit cards and spread those balances out among the categories, too.  Don’t just call it “credit cards.”
• Remember your occasional expenses like car repair, property taxes, and healthcare costs and annualize them by adding them up and dividing by 12.
• Use this budget spreadsheet to enter your monthly totals per category.  Don’t worry about income or making it all balance out yet.  Just enter your monthly expenses – all of them.
• Now that you’ve added it all up, it may be a good time for a walk around the block or a stiff drink.

Are you happy with what you see?  Is is helping you move forward to your goals or holding you back?  Are you surprised that you spend that much every year?

Credit cards and loans make it easy for us to overlook how much we actually spend every year.  And for those of you who just realized that you spend more than you make, stop hyperventilating.  You have the power to do something about it now.

In the next few posts we’ll talk about how to set up a budget, online resources for managing your money better, and how to live a great life while you save money to realize your dream.  Because I’m all about living well right now, even while on a budget.  I am no martyr and will never suggest that you be one, either.

I’ll leave you with this one thought:  If we had not gotten control of our spending and eliminated our debt, we would have never been in a place to even contemplate taking this trip around the world.  In other words, our spending could have prevented us from even entertaining the idea when it came up.  And the closer we get to making it happen, the bigger tragedy that seems.

I want you to have what I have – and then some!  So get started on your homework and meet me back here with your results.

This is the part of a series called How We Saved Enough Money to Change Our Lives and How You Can, Too. Click here to get all the posts delivered directly to your email inbox or feed reader.  You’ll want the inside scoop on how we saved $75,000 for the adventure of a lifetime!

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Betsy Talbot writes about carving the lifestyle you want out of the life you already have. When she’s not writing, she’s paring down, saving up, and getting ready for a year of travel with her husband Warren.

What is the price tag on your dream?

This is the first in a series called How We Saved Enough Money to Change Our Lives and How You Can, Too. Click here to get all the posts delivered directly to your email inbox or feed reader.  You’ll want the inside scoop on how we saved $75,000 for the adventure of a lifetime!

How much money do you think it takes for two people to travel around the world?  Actually, let’s take it a step back.  When you think of doing something like that, do you even put a price tag on it, or do you just assume it is out of your reach?

What is the price tag of your dream?

We all have big dreams, and only a few of us ever really turn them into something.  There are a host of reasons why, but I think one of the main culprits is a lack of planning.  We can’t even comprehend the logistics of making our dreams come true so we never seriously think about making them come true.

We all want to win the lottery so we’ll have the means to make our dreams come true.  Some of us actually count on that and play every week.

I hate to break it to you, but that’s probably not going to happen.  You have a better chance of making your dream come true through your own hard work and planning.

In our case, we thought it would take a lifetime of saving to be able to enjoy a retirement with a few years of travel.  In reality, we will be living our retirement dream 27 years ahead of schedule.

How did we speed up the original timeline?

In order to take your dream from idea to reality, you have to face reality.  Instead of thinking that you don’t have the money/time/freedom to pursue your dream, simply take the time to map out what it would take to make your dream come true.

1. We did some research of seasoned travelers and found that they spent between $5,000 and $80,000 per year on long-term travel.  Find several people who have done something similar to your dream and learn from their experience.
2. Where we travel, how we travel, and the speed with which we travel make a huge impact on the amount of money we need.  Based on our preferences, we were able to estimate $100/day for long-term travel, which comes to $36,500 per year.  Just because someone else can live in Asia for a year on $5000 does not mean that is how we have to do it.  Rework the math from your research to accommodate your dream as necessary.
3. We decided that we wanted to leave in time to celebrate our 40th birthdays on the road.  Creating your timeline doesn’t have to be anymore scientific than that.  But you have to create a deadline or you won’t ever feel compelled to finish.
4. All that’s left is basic math. If your goal is to save 50,000 in 2 years, you have to make adjustments in your spending and saving habits to account for putting $2,083.34 in the bank each month  (we’ll address the “how” in a later post).
5. How much money do you have now? We had a small savings account for travel that we used as our launch pad for the Big Trip.  Whatever spare change you have laying around can be the start to your savings plan, and we’ll show you how we added to this little nest egg in the upcoming posts.

What is your big dream, and what are you doing right now to make it happen?  Because if you aren’t actively working on a dream, it would be easy to mistake you for someone who doesn’t have one.

Series Posts:

• Where is your money going?
• How to create a budget for big savings or debt reduction
• Necessary and unnecessary expenses
• How to have fun on a tight budget
• Making money off your junk
• Financial success story: living debt-free on a teacher’s salary
• Birthdays and holidays on a budget
• Online tools for managing your money
• Financial success story: teaching abroad
• How we saved enough money to change our lives and how you can, too

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Betsy Talbot writes about carving the lifestyle you want out of the life you already have. When she’s not writing, she’s paring down, saving up, and getting ready for a year of travel with her husband Warren.

Referendum 71 was placed on the Washington ballot by a man who doesn’t even live in Washington State.  He became outraged when our legislature passed a domestic partnership bill that allowed the state’s 6000 or so registered couples to care for a critically ill partner, have the same access to partner healthcare that other public sector employees have,  and dozens of other rights that committed heterosexual couples enjoy.

Why anyone would vote against those rights for a committed couple is beyond me.  Giving rights or freedoms to other people does not diminish the rights of the people who already have them.

At this point most people who are against this measure bring up their opposition to gay marriage.  While I am actually supportive of gay marriage (actually, I think all marriages should be civil unions for legal reasons and let couples choose privately if they want to have a religious ceremony or not – one that has no effect on the legal union), the current issue up for vote has nothing to do with gay marriage.  And as a childless by choice woman, don’t even get me started on the “marriage is for procreation” argument.  If you want to go that far, then for all intents and purposes Warren and I are a gay married couple.

I’m a firm believer that what you put out in this world is what comes back to you.  I choose to put out freedom and equality and hope that you do the same.

Thanks for listening my soapbox speech.  I know we don’t get political very often here, but I couldn’t let this go by without comment knowing how it would affect the lives of people I love.  If you are a Washington State voter, I hope you will consider approving Referendum 71 when you fill out your ballot.

Photo by Betsy Talbot

You’d think someone who is willing to get rid of all her worldly belongings to travel the world would not be so focused on safety nets, but I am.  Lately I’ve been thinking about the small ways the idea of  a “backup plan” keeps us from reaching farther toward our goals and actually reaching them.

In other words, the potential pain of not having a safety net (or having a very small one) could make us work harder to reach our goal.  After all, there is no soft landing if we fall.

We’ve all seen this past year how a financial safety net can come unraveled with an economic crisis.  And getting a degree is no guarantee of a job.  With layoffs you can’t even guarantee that the job you dislike so much will be around to pay your bills.

So, what’s an optimist with big dreams to do?

I am an advocate of laying the basic groundwork for a healthy life.  This means a regular savings plan, appropriate insurance, and marketable job skills.  But beyond that, everything is adjustable.  Everything.

• If your bills are too high for the job you love, adjust your lifestyle.
• If your degree is in accounting but you long to write a book, become an accountant for a publisher.
• Are you saving for a rainy day or obsessively saving for an upcoming disaster? Remember that your safety net is a backup plan for your life, not the goal of your life.

Lately I’ve been considering getting a tattoo on my forearm.  It sounds like a small thing, but the voice in the back of my head is saying “but what if it prevents you from getting a corporate job later on?”

Newsflash:  I don’t want a corporate job.

And knowing that should make me work harder at successfully making a living working for myself.

What are the safety nets you have in place that might be preventing you from reaching farther toward your goals?

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Betsy Talbot writes about carving the lifestyle you want out of the life you already have. When she’s not writing, she’s paring down, saving up, and getting ready for a year of travel with her husband Warren.

My friend Karen holding the cash! (Photo by Warren Talbot)

We’ve talked a lot about our lifestyle changes over the past year as we get ready for the Big Trip.

Now that we’ve hit our financial goal, however, it makes sense to tell you exactly what we did to save almost half of our income in a year (and the things we did leading up to this year) so you can do it, too.

Whether you are planning for a trip like ours or a completely different goal, having the financial freedom to pursue it leaves no more excuses.  Are you ready for that?

We’ll start the posts on Monday, and I’d like to hear your specific questions now so I can be sure to include them.

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Here is the proposed list of topics:

• Credit card debt (you knew that would be first, right?)
• Evaluating the cost of your lifestyle (including your job)
• Protecting your assets (as much as you can)
• Setting up your savings goal and the plan to get there (how much money do you actually need?)
• Necessary expenses and unnecessary expenses
• Bonuses/raises/unexpected money
• Making money from your junk
• How to have a social life while you’re saving money

Have something to add?  Let me know in the comments or email me at btalbot (at) marriedwithluggage (d0t) com.

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There really is nothing on TV tonight!

It has been over 3 months since we pulled the plug on cable.  How are we doing?

First, a Recap

You may recall my first post about television being a problem for us when we implemented TV-free Tuesdays at our house.   That worked well for a very short time, and then we began backtracking by switching the date around to coincide with nights we already had plans out of the house (how convenient!).  Then we just started skipping it altogether.  We were not getting anywhere closer to our goals of being more productive and intentional with the way we spent our time.

In a burst of self-control, we decided to break our addiction by getting rid of cable altogether, saving about $100 a month.   Warren started learning Spanish, I was reading more books and cooking healthier meals for us, we exercised, and we began to socialize more.  You can watch our video update from 6 weeks in here.

3 Months and Counting

Right now we are just over 3 months and we’ve noticed some things.

• We are still socializing more than we did before on weeknights and weekend days.  A big plus!
• We’ve come to rely on Netflix far more than we did before, and if we were truly committed we would likely cancel our membership.  But we’re not there yet (I mean, seriously, we just finished watching Dr. Who season 4 tonight, and we haven’t even made it through Arrested Development yet!)
• We spend more time online – both of us.  Sometimes side by side.
• We do have more time for hobbies and outside interests.  There is no way I could have completed the 3-Day Novel Contest over Labor Day weekend if we had cable.  Besides his Spanish lessons, Warren has been able to take his photography up a notch and even start organizing them online.
• Now that football season has started, Warren watches the games and catches updates on his laptop.  We also have friends who have invited him over to watch games, which he has done a couple of times.
• I’m becoming very fond of Hulu for watching television shows online.  But one thing I have noticed is that the sitcoms do not translate well for me.  I have given up watching those and instead catch dramas like House during my lunch break.
• When the Ken Burns documentary about the National Parks came out I was sad to not have cable to watch it, though I can’t think of any other television program that has made me feel the same way.  And of course I can watch that on DVD when it comes out.
• I’m still a little worried about how this will affect my pop culture IQ, but I don’t really know how my life will be diminished by not knowing who the next American Idol favorite will be or how those crafty CSI folks always get the bad guys.

What’s Next?

Our goal in giving up cable was to have more time for the things we wanted to do and save more money for the Big Trip ($300 so far).  Even though we have filled some of the cable gap with online and Netflix options we are still making progress on our goals. We plan to put the house on the market in the spring, and we will likely give up television completely when we move out and into our temporary housing.  That will be the final break, and I think by then we’ll be ready for it.

I’m really amazed at how easy it has been in most ways to give up cable but how hard it is to give up watching television altogether.  To my friends who have been TV-less for years, I salute you.  To those who watch too much and want to cut back, know that it can be done but it will be tough.  Like going on a diet, almost.  You know eating healthy is good for you, but sometimes you just really want a bag of fries.  Sometimes I just really want to watch Dr. Who.

Have you ever tried to stop watching television or give up another daily habit?  What helped you change your ways?

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Betsy Talbot writes about carving the lifestyle you want out of the life you already have. When she’s not writing, she’s paring down, saving up, and getting ready for a year of travel with her husband Warren.