You know, I'm in one of those moods right now where I'd like to just mope for a little bit. I think, maybe if I show how much of a failure I am, then I can give some hope for everyone else out there. Because the truth is, I've been doing a great job of NOT following my own advice recently.
About two weeks ago, my bike was having trouble shifting so I took it to Bike Beat to find out what was going on. They've always taken care of me there and because I bought my bicycle there they rarely charge me for any of the work that gets done. I've developed a good relationship with the manager, who I share a mutual friend with, and I've been happy to give them business when I can. This past time, the manager wasn't there and I spoke to a few of the other associates that work there, and they informed me that I needed a new rear cassette, chain, and break pads for my rear wheel. I also have been wanting to put on a bigger ring up front so that I could travel faster with the new road tires that I recently installed. They also did some adjustments to my brakes that were giving me problems as well. When all was said and done, and I went to pick up my bike, the bill came out to $280. This was after I had just spent another $200 over Christmas on new pedals, shoes, and the before-mentioned tires. When all was said and done, I easily put over $500 into my bike these past two months, and the bike store informed me today that I have another $50 part that needs to be replaced soon. I could probably have saved about $120 if I had done all the work myself, and probably another $100 if I had listened to my own advice and eschewed comfort and convenience. But I also understand that riding my bike is very mentally taxing for me and the faster and easier I can make my ride to work, the more likely I am to get on my bike every morning and get out the door, and that is worth more than all of the money I spent. I also understand how powerful of an investment tool riding my bike is.
My wife and I also celebrated our 5 year anniversary! We decided to splurge and get a hotel out at the beach since it's the off-season and we figured we could get a good deal. We ended up finding a nice room at a decent rate, and proceeded to live lavishly for a couple days. When all was said and done, we spent over $350 on our weekend. Now, we could have made the excuse that we needed to celebrate even bigger because of the momentous event. And I am not disappointed at all with the money we spent because we had a blast and I think it is necessary to let go every now and then. But I also understand that we could have had just as much of an amazing time together and spent a third of the money we did, because what made the weekend special wasn't the hotel room or the fancy restaurants, but the opportunity to share time together.
I've also been spending wastefully on a personal level. I'm halfway through February and not only have I blown my entire entertainment budget for the month, I also spent every last penny that I've earned babysitting as well. I've been going out to eat, and throwing money away on energy drinks, snacks, and alcohol.
All in all, we could easily have another $500 in our bank account right now. And I should easily still have $40 in my pocket to spend however I want to. But you know what the crazy thing is? We still invested at least $1100 this month. And I made a $1,000 transfer into our savings account, and we have about $4,000 left in our checking account. We should be able to pay a little extra on our house this upcoming month as well, because we are beginning to put money down on the house so that we will be able to move within 2-4 years.
How is this possible? How is it that we could have such a shameful month of spending, and yet still have more than enough money to meet our immediate goals? It's because we've designed our way of life to not just live below our means, but well below our means. And if we have any hope of reaching financial freedom and/or early retirement, months like this one have to be few and far between. Because even though we've had some nice progress this month, we really need to be aiming to invest over $2,000 a month, which we easily could have done this month if we hadn't been wasteful.
The moral of the story is that most of us have absolutely no excuse for living paycheck to paycheck, or with constant stress over our mounting debt. With hard work and diligence, even relatively wasteful budgets can easily allow us to have more wealth than 90% of the people around us. And there is no reason that within a year or a few years that we can't have a safety net around us so that if the unthinkable happens, money is the least of our concerns.
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