Financial Pinch

I work part time as a Collector for a large financial services firm, and in that job I hear every possible reason for late or omitted payments to a customer’s account. Now I am not saying that all of them are false, I'll even venture to say that I believe most of them, which is sad. I understand that our economy is poor, and that those of us in the generations X and after have discovered a new meaning for the word "struggling". However, there are plenty of hard working Americans who are not suffering as much as the rest of us, if they are suffering at all, and a lot of them do not make six and seven figure incomes. Their secret is simply living a reasonable lifestyle to begin with.

I am as much of an offender as the average American when it comes to spending almost every dime that comes into my household; so I can be hard on you, the reader, because I am also scolding myself. Is it impossible to live on 40% of our income regularly? Is it possible to save thousands of dollars every year, not out of necessity, and not for a particular purchase like a vacation, house, car, etc.? Is it possible to enjoy saving? Is it possible to walk past that restaurant, nail shop, hair salon, clothing store, jewelry store, movie theater, etc. and ask yourself: "Do I really need this?"

Let me dissect this word "need". A need can be physical (food, clothing, shelter), and there are the morale needs (self esteem, confidence, satisfaction). If you spend your entire life depriving yourself of wants (or morale needs), then you will find yourself hating your life and finding happiness in the wrong ways. Bear in mind that a morale need shares close borders with a want. For instance: If I like to purchase clothes because when I look good then I feel good, then the need to look good is a morale need to make me feel good and keep me useful to myself and others. So, purchasing clothes every so often, even if I have plenty of clothes already, satisfies this need. But, purchasing clothes in such a way that the desire takes money away from my other necessities becomes an expensive want. This is simply an example, and the point of overabundance is synonymous with your budget and household.

I read about individuals that never made a large salary at their jobs or in their businesses, but that retired better than some workers that made the big bucks. It's all about management. At another job of mine, I speak regularly with an older man who constantly asks for monetary coins from his coworkers. He carries dozens of dollar bills in hopes of exchanging them. After observing this for a couple of weeks, I asked him why he exchanges them every night; I do not see him with dozens of soda bottles or chip bags. He said simply that it was his version of money management. After dabbling deeper, I discovered that by making change of these dollar bills, this man is less prone to spend. He places that change away in his house, and sets some aside for morale spending, and some for long term savings. He is so adamant about saving, that he is certain to ask every person he comes across for change every night. He told me that once, in a two month time period, he was able to change and save $800. This is his way of saving, a way for him to trick his mind and detour his financially unhealthy desires. He sat down, identified his spending strengths and weaknesses, and determined a plan that works best for him. What is your plan?

I agree, again, that times are very hard for all of us, so do we learn from these hardships or do we continue to make the same mistakes? Hopefully we all learned that it is not about the quantities in our lives, but the quality of our actions.

S. Langh
Write About Everything
slanghorne@hotmail.com