Shane and I recently discoverd Mr. Money Mustache, and we have been so inspired reading his posts we are now changing our lives pretty quickly. He's one of those "let me tell you how to make a bazilion dollars" guys, but there's something very different about his method that we like. He seems to preach more about spending money on the things that truly make you happy and indefinitely spending less on the things that take away from the things that make you happy. Because the whole goal of becoming debt and financially free is ultimately the idea of acheiving happiness, right? So Shane and I have made a list of things that we enjoy and things we could care less about. We are re-thinking everything we think we need. Take iPhones for example. We use them and have considered them a neccessity for our lives. I've gone through 3 different iPhones in the last 6 years, and last week I dropped my latest one in the toilet! It's officially a gonner but surprisingly, I am not missing it. Shane and I do want to become debt free and in general, rely less on money. After making our lists, here are the things we are cutting back on or getting rid of...
1. Utilities
As much as we'd love to forego utility bills and replace them for well water and solar panels, we just can't right now. However we are cutting our power and water usage as low as we possibly can because we would rather spend our money on vacations and experiences than let the tv, lights, and electronics suck all of our excess money toward the power bill. Here are 3 drastic changes we are making on our utility usage:
- We are keeping the dryer unplugged. Our dryer is on it's last leg and takes FOREVER to dry a load of laundry. 2 HOURS to dry towels! I can't imagine how much money I've been wasting by using that thing when line drying is so easy! I've been doing it for a week now and I actually find hanging clothes to be relaxing. It all dries pretty darn fast in the sun too!
- We are unplugging from 1 - 7pm. Alabama Power charges 5 cents per killowatt hour used on weekends and weekday evenings and mornings. From 1 - 7 pm on weekdays they bump it up to 25 cents per killowatt hour! At 1 pm every day, I stick it to the man and unplug all of our electronics and crank the a/c up to 80 degrees (leaving the ceiling fans running). I also flipped my cooking; I cook meals for lunch most days, then we eat sandwiches or something quick in the evenings for dinner. Supposedly doing this is healthier too. I'm also going to try and get more meals prepped ahead of time during the weekends.
- Less washing laundry and dishes, but when we do, washing in cold water. I'm not talking about becoming the smelly kids, but I am talking about being less wasteful. I tend to throw clothes in the hamper when they've only been worn for like 2 hours. So we're committing to only washing truly dirty laundry. I became so accustomed to washing everything (including my hands) in hot water, but it's not really neccessary. We're using cold water 90% of the time.
2. Electronics
There are 2 changes we are making to our fancy "keeping up with the cool crowd of nerds" electronics.
- Phones and Phone Service. We are getting rid of our iPhones, which is HUGE for us. Shane uses his a TON for work. Not just for texting and emails, but specifically for apps that better his lessons with students. However Shane has an iPad that carries all the apps he needs (and it's way easier to use with students in lessons). With the freedom of saying goodbye to our iPhones comes the opportunity to pay so SO much less for cell phone service. We researched it and have decided to switch to Republic Wireless. Their lowest plan is just $5 a month for unlimited talk/text/data. We currently pay $180 for our phones and data. We're going to save a CRAZY amount of money! I'll let you know how it goes when we switch over next month.
- We are saying bye bye to Shane's Macbook. I have a $200 Chrome Book and I LOVE it. It does everything I need it to. Shane has the top of the line Macbook with all the memory and cool things. Shane is ALWAYS grabbing my Chromebook at home and he also steals the front desk Chromebook at the studio to use during lessons. He brings his Macbook back and forth from work, but he rarely turns it on. It turns out he doesn't really need his Macbook like he thought he would when we bought it. He actually likes the Chromebook more! We think we can sell his Macbook for $800, which will put $600 back in our pockets after he buys his own fancy schmancy budget friendly Chromebook!
3. Furniture
Ok this is the crazy one, but it is the one I am most excited about. Let me first go on a rabbit trail and tell you about about a book my aunt gave Josiah for his birthday called, "The Big Orange Splot." The story goes like this:
Mr. Beanpot and all of his neighbors have houses that look the same and are the same color, "and they like it that way." Then one day a bird is carrying a pail of orange paint and spills it on Mr. Beanpot's house. His neighbors say, "Too bad you have to paint your house!" and Mr. Beanpot says (in what I assume to be an Eeore attitude) "I suppose I do." Well Mr. Beanpot doesn't paint his house the same way it had always been, or in a way that the neighbors approve of. He paints it a trainwreck of rainbowness. Then he sits in a hammock in the front yard and drinks lemonade...with his pet crocodile. Like a boss. The neighbors get annoyed and think he's gone insane. Anyone who finds the courage to talk to him about the matter ends up going home and painting their house into some crazy messed up thing. In the end all the neighbors have crazy looking houses and say, "Our neighborhood is us aand we are it. It is all of our dreams and we like it that way."
Mr. Beanpot and all of his neighbors have houses that look the same and are the same color, "and they like it that way." Then one day a bird is carrying a pail of orange paint and spills it on Mr. Beanpot's house. His neighbors say, "Too bad you have to paint your house!" and Mr. Beanpot says (in what I assume to be an Eeore attitude) "I suppose I do." Well Mr. Beanpot doesn't paint his house the same way it had always been, or in a way that the neighbors approve of. He paints it a trainwreck of rainbowness. Then he sits in a hammock in the front yard and drinks lemonade...with his pet crocodile. Like a boss. The neighbors get annoyed and think he's gone insane. Anyone who finds the courage to talk to him about the matter ends up going home and painting their house into some crazy messed up thing. In the end all the neighbors have crazy looking houses and say, "Our neighborhood is us aand we are it. It is all of our dreams and we like it that way."
I tell you that story because Shane and I have been inspired to forego the typical "have the same furniture as everyone else and set that furniture in the designated rooms" mindset. Because it's our house and we can do whatever we want! Well I don't like how our dogs sit on the top cushions of our couch and frankly, I don't find our couch to be very comforable. So we are selling it. And we are not replacing it. No couch.
Yeah, maybe we'll eventually get a rug and some floor cushions. We actually think we want to make our living room just a giant play room. We'll put some sweet things in for Josiah, and maybe a pool table for us at some point. We're talking about taking our small office and making it into a movie lounge area with our TV and some cushions on the floor. It's liberating to realize that our house doesn't have to look like every one else's and we can be children again and let our imaginations run wild with how we want our house to look and be set up!
The whole idea is this: we're going to strive to get rid of the unnessessary things that do not make us happy in order to make room for the things that do. We might be crazy, but I'm excited because we are not going to be suckered into paying for things we don't really want or need anymore!
I'll keep you updated on the ensuing craziness and how it all unfolds.
Yeah, maybe we'll eventually get a rug and some floor cushions. We actually think we want to make our living room just a giant play room. We'll put some sweet things in for Josiah, and maybe a pool table for us at some point. We're talking about taking our small office and making it into a movie lounge area with our TV and some cushions on the floor. It's liberating to realize that our house doesn't have to look like every one else's and we can be children again and let our imaginations run wild with how we want our house to look and be set up!
The whole idea is this: we're going to strive to get rid of the unnessessary things that do not make us happy in order to make room for the things that do. We might be crazy, but I'm excited because we are not going to be suckered into paying for things we don't really want or need anymore!
I'll keep you updated on the ensuing craziness and how it all unfolds.
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