Choosing Voluntary Simplicity » Personal Finance

Achieving a Simpler Life — Step 1: Track Your Spending

Shirley — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:30:42 +0000

People often write that they desperately want to change their lives but don't know how to start... or that they started making changes with great enthusiasm, and a month or two later found that they had fallen back into their old routines.

I think the most important thing is to realize that simple living isn't simple in the sense that it is easy, and that creating a conscious and deliberate lifestyle isn't a process that is going to happen overnight. The rewards of a simpler life are tremendous, but getting there requires a great deal of motivation and self-discipline... and also a lot of WORK.

There are so many aspects of the simple lifestyle that are much more important than money, but because the eventual goal of a simpler life is to be debt-free and have the financial freedom to enjoy that lifestyle... the first step in the process is to find out how you are spending your money now. Almost everybody knows how much money they earn, but most of us have had at least some experience with wondering "where all the money went."

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Getting Out Of Debt: Know Why You Buy

Shirley — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:42:22 +0000

Three people I know very well do a LOT of shopping. They each have vastly different buying habits, but the one thing they all have in common is that they all consider shopping to be a recreational activity, or something they do when they're bored. Buying something new makes them feel better, they say... at least for a while.

Credit Cards Don’t Have To Be The Enemy

Shirley — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:33:09 +0000

How many times have you read that you should cut up your credit cards and use cash to pay for everything? For anyone who really can't control their spending, this is probably good advice, but for the majority of people, this advice makes a credit card out to be more than it is. Properly used, a credit card isn't the enemy... it's just a tool, like cash or your checking account... and the right credit card can actually earn money for you, the same way a savings account accumulates interest.

Our Journey To A Debt Free Life

Shirley — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:31:00 +0000

On our wedding day, my husband and I were both just out of school. Neither of us had any savings or anything of any value to bring to our marriage, but I don't remember ever worrying about finances then. My husband had just started a new job and we had rented a small furnished cottage. We had student loans to pay off, and a car payment to make. We bought a bookcase and a sofa bed and signed up for monthly payments on them. We managed to save a small amount each month and we never accumulated a large amount of debt, but still almost every cent of every paycheck had a place to go even before the check was cashed.