Self-Discipline
One of the problems with trying to get out of debt or maintain a budget is that things just keep right on breaking, often before you've even paid them off. Tires go flat, plumbing needs repairing, the alternator in the car needs replacing, the computer goes blank, the belt on the washing machine breaks- and sometimes all at once. These unexpected equipment failures can wreak havoc on your financial plans, especially if you're already stretched too thin. This is why Dave Ramsey, in his Financial Peace plan, includes working hard to set up an emergency fund as one of the earliest steps in his plan- even before paying off debt.
Dealing with these issues takes more than one strategy for those of us without large discretionary spending abilities. First of all, you try to budget for those emergencies as much as a possible, setting aside a designated amount of money every payday for just such contingencies. I know it's hard, and for some of us in some circumstances, there just genuinely isn't any money to spare anywhere, all expenses have long since been pared to the bone, and you can't really budget what you do not have.
But to be honest, for many of us? If we came naturally by that sort of self-discipline many of us wouldn't be in debt in the first place. At some point in our lives we have to be grown ups and stop saying, "I'm just not like that." We have to be like that. Might as well start now. One very good place to start is so-called 'free money,' that is money you weren't expecting, either through a present, or selling something for more than you expected, or finding a bill is lower than expected- however you get it, hen you come across 'free money,' such as a few dollars sent by a friend or relative, an unexpected refund, a present- don't consider that mad-money that you can spend on anything. Apply it either to your debt or to your emergency fund.
After a series of financial crises, our emergency fund has long been depleted and we have more debt than we'd like. That discourages me, but I have to remind myself that if we hadn't had the emergency fund in the first place, we'd be even further in the hole than we are now. We are digging our way slowly and painstakingly out as we rebuild that emergency fund and pay down debt. One rung on the ladder out came recently when I found a great deal on some food items one month, so we had extra money leftover in the grocery budget. We could have used it to buy a couple of steaks, but instead, at the end of the month we rolled it over to pay down a debt. In another case, we had set aside 20.00 to buy shoes for the youngest two children, who are still growing and they each needed shoes for the wedding last month. Then we found them new shoes, amazingly, for a combined total of five dollars each (thrift shop, half price). That extra savings wasn't 'free money' to blow on something 'fun.' It was money to return to the emergency fund or to apply toward a debt. Once those things are where they should be once more, we would just add it back to our clothing fund the next month.
Meanwhile, we learn and relearn to sacrifice in other ways. There's no reason in the world to feel entitled to the things we feel entitled to- coke and/or gum at the check-out, a movie out, running through the drive-through.
When the microwave broke we did without it until Granny Tea told us of a used one for 30.00. Lots of people do not have microwaves (some think they are unhealthy and wouldn't have them at any cost), and of course, for centuries everybody did without. I am old enough that I remember the family standing around the microwave to watch butter melt and marshmallows expand. It's a want, not a need. If the DVD player breaks, play board games, read books, and take walks for your entertainment, or listen to tapes or the radio. Play solitaire. Write letters. Put up a birdfeeder outside your window and watch the birds for a while, until you can afford to get a replacement. Maybe by the time you can afford a replacement you won't even want one anymore. I was also fortunate enough to live in a household with no television until I was six, when my mother says somebody who felt sorry for us gave us a black and white set. "We" didn't get a color television until after I left for college in 1980, and I was not deprived.
Once you've saved up enough money to pay cash for repairs or replacements, see what you can find used. Join a Freecycle list, put the word out with your friends about what you're looking for, and visit thrift shops and consignment stores.
Keep your eye open for your local (and not so local, we've driven up to an hour away for a good one) library book sales. Libraries aren't just getting rid of books, sometimes they are selling old computers, printers, movies, tapes, and even on rare occasions, bookcases. We've even purchased large art prints at a library sale.
Aunt Sophronia offers her young friends these rules for improving their economic circumstances in the 1870s.
"...I will give you the rules, which are few and simple, and easily performed by self-sacrifice. Work hard; see and improve all small opportunities; keep out of debt and carefully economize. That is the best that all the wisdom of the world has been able to digest and formulate as rules for getting rich. The matter is simple and lies in a nutshell: have the end definitely before you; do your own work toward it and do it honestly, and don't give up until you have reached your goal; the same plain, straight, unadorned and yet passable road is open to all."
These rules still apply today. There are exceptions, yes, disasters, crises, things outside our control that can happen to anybody. But even then, those who developed the trait of self-discipline will do better than those who have not.
Want more like this post? Read on!
- Should An Emergency Fund Always Be In Cash? Many economic counselors recommend having an emergency fund available for basic ...
- Frugal Ice-Packs and Learning to Plan Ahead I assume we all know the emergency tip about using...
- Frugality Is Not Black & White Writing about frugality is trickier than it looks. There's always...
3 Responses to “Self-Discipline”
November 13th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
Thanks! A great reminder right before this crazy Christmas time begins.
November 14th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
And it ended up being a timely reminder to me. The day after I wrote it I ended up cleaning out a box of things taken from a house I inherited a few years ago (the house is completely unlivable, requiring 25,000 worth of work just to get power and water and fix the totally unlivable kitchen, and it was FULL of junk. I am still going through stuff from that house).
In that box were the things the nursing home had given my uncle when his father died, in 1997. He just took it home and set it down somewhere. My grandfather’s wallet was there, and it had 40.00 in it. I must confess that my first reaction was “FREE MONEY!!!” But then I remembered this article and there is a bill it needs to go towards.
November 16th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
Thanks for this post i really enjoyed it.. We are a famliy of five that has just gone to one income because of some health problems i am having after the birth of our Son 5 mo ago. I have really enjoyed following your blog.. thanks!
Leave a Comment