Dear Friends and Family,
Last Friday, Mr. mouse got his bonus. And, after some back and forth we agreed how we would deploy it. 56% of it went into our savings account towards our retirement. Normally, we try to put 90% of it towards retirement savings. But, we wanted to pay off a loan we had made to ourselves from our short term savings account, so we used 34% of it to effectively pay ourselves off. And, that left 10% of it for a vacation. That was our reward to ourselves for the months in 2014 when we were living on a super tight budget. So, I guess, in a way, we did save 90% of it, just in two separate accounts.
And, that, feels so good. I feel like, as long as we continue to live within our means, we won't find ourselves in the dire straights we found ourselves in last summer. And, truth be told, they were dire only because I wanted to dig myself out quickly. There wasn't ever any real danger of expenses not being met. It was more of the little conveniences that go away when each dollar counts. For example, parking was a huge deal - $8 here, $12 there, and before you knew it you could spend $100 on parking, in a month, easily.
In a way, living on super tight budget is easy. There's less to think about, less to worry about. Some decisions get made for you. What's for dinner tonight? Easy. We're eating whatever's in the fridge because we're not going shopping tonight and there's no money to go out. What's the plan for the weekend? Easy. We're playing with the toys we have because we're not buying new ones and there's no money to go out. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
Now, for some people, it may sound like tragedy to live in a world of no. But, I'll tell you, I enjoyed it once I got used to it. By not going out, we had some of the best weekends with P. We built crazy concoctions out of Lego. We went exploring in her rocket ship to far worlds like Mars and Trophy Planet. We learned about science through cooking. P learned how to help with folding laundry.
So, now, even if we could go off of our budget, I've decided to keep us on a budget. It won't be as restrictive as the one we were on. But, we'll still have plenty of opportunity to make our own fun.
Cheers!
mouse
Last Friday, Mr. mouse got his bonus. And, after some back and forth we agreed how we would deploy it. 56% of it went into our savings account towards our retirement. Normally, we try to put 90% of it towards retirement savings. But, we wanted to pay off a loan we had made to ourselves from our short term savings account, so we used 34% of it to effectively pay ourselves off. And, that left 10% of it for a vacation. That was our reward to ourselves for the months in 2014 when we were living on a super tight budget. So, I guess, in a way, we did save 90% of it, just in two separate accounts.
And, that, feels so good. I feel like, as long as we continue to live within our means, we won't find ourselves in the dire straights we found ourselves in last summer. And, truth be told, they were dire only because I wanted to dig myself out quickly. There wasn't ever any real danger of expenses not being met. It was more of the little conveniences that go away when each dollar counts. For example, parking was a huge deal - $8 here, $12 there, and before you knew it you could spend $100 on parking, in a month, easily.
In a way, living on super tight budget is easy. There's less to think about, less to worry about. Some decisions get made for you. What's for dinner tonight? Easy. We're eating whatever's in the fridge because we're not going shopping tonight and there's no money to go out. What's the plan for the weekend? Easy. We're playing with the toys we have because we're not buying new ones and there's no money to go out. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
Now, for some people, it may sound like tragedy to live in a world of no. But, I'll tell you, I enjoyed it once I got used to it. By not going out, we had some of the best weekends with P. We built crazy concoctions out of Lego. We went exploring in her rocket ship to far worlds like Mars and Trophy Planet. We learned about science through cooking. P learned how to help with folding laundry.
So, now, even if we could go off of our budget, I've decided to keep us on a budget. It won't be as restrictive as the one we were on. But, we'll still have plenty of opportunity to make our own fun.
Cheers!
mouse
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