Monday, November 26, 2007

What I Won't Be Buying For Christmas

When you take the initiative to make your money work for you, it’s amazing how it changes your buying habits. Suddenly, you realize the things you thought you wanted just aren’t worth the price any longer. You are very aware that every penny you spend is taking you one step away from reaching your financial goals. I’ve decided I want financial freedom more than I want a new pair of jeans.

Here are a few things I’d love to have, but it doesn’t fit into our financial picture anymore. People, did you see that I paid $1200 toward my car this month? That is the direction I’m headed, rather than buying more crap I don’t need. Sorry, I got sidetracked. Here is my list of things I won’t be buying:

TIVO - I really don’t watch a lot of television because I’m pretty busy just trying to keep up with everyday life. But I have a few shows I would watch if I could pick and choose when I watch them.
DirectTV or something similarI really just want something that has Dave Ramsey’s show, since my local cable provider doesn’t carry it. But paying a monthly fee to get the one show is just plain wrong!

SUV - I loved my Yukon and would jump back into another one in a heartbeat, if money weren’t in the way.

Printer - Those new wireless printers look awesome! But since I already have a printer, I can’t justify buying one of them just because I don’t want to get up off the couch to plug it into my laptop.

Carpet - We have one room that really needs new carpet, or some other type of flooring. The carpet was cheap and it’s shot. But with 2 kids and 2 pets, I can’t see spending the money to put in a new floor.

House Cleaning Service - I used to have a housekeeper. She came once a week and it was awesome. With working full time and two kids to spend quality time with, house cleaning is way on the back burner. I’d much rather play a board game with the boys than scrub the bathtub.

Fancy Christmas Decorations - Every year I’ve always spent money buying new Christmas lights or the newest fashionable tree decorations, in addition to fresh greenery to hang throughout the house. This year we won’t be buying a single new decoration for the house.

The gain I'll get from not buying these things is well worth it...