Well, I wrote a huge novel, but y'all don't want to hear my life story, so here's a condensed version. Trust me...the original really was much longer.
We stretch our dollar. That doesn't mean we do without or don't have nice things. It just means we're not paying out the wazoo if we don't have to. A few examples: We have two Mercedes in our driveway. One is an old 85 300D diesel, it's basically my car that I have cause I just think it's cool, plus it serves as a backup car. The other is an 02 E320 station wagon. Paid about 10K under blue book last year, it cost barely more than the 2000 Hyundai Elantra we bought new (tip, don't buy new cars). It's as good or better than any new vehicle in the same price range. We have a 55" HDTV, but only paid $850 for it over TWO years ago! It'd be hard to find a similar TV for that price even today. The laptop I'm using now was bought as a refurb, and so was the one before that.
We currently have a tiny house which was perfect for us at the time. It's paid off, so no mortgage currently. We're looking at getting a new house, will try to get a loan the end of this month. We'll be getting a manufactured home. Some people will think we're crazy, but it's about half the price of a conventional home, plus it can be built as good (or bad) as a regular stick built house. We've done our research, and this is the best solution for us. If we were worried about what everyone else thought of us, we'd definitely just build and end up with a smaller house and a bigger mortgage.
We don't drink or smoke, so that saves a lot right there on a daily basis plus on a cruise. We do have the occasional drink, but we may have 2-3 drinks in a year's time, so that gives you an idea of how occasional I mean.
Most vacations I get a really good deal on. 7-day Carnival was about $507 each with a $100 onboard credit, a so-so deal. 11-day Celebrity was $575 per person with three people in a room (plus a $100 stateroom credit, and another $50 gift certificate after the cruise). Disney was...way too much but our schedule wasn't flexible for that one (had to book after new baby was 12 weeks old, and had to end before the 16 week maternity leave was up). All but one excursion was booked direct with a third party instead of through the ship (who would contract with a third party). The one exception was due to time, it was cutting it a bit close and we didn't want to worry about being left behind.
We eat out about three times a week, though recently it's been cut back to just two (saving for down-payment). I have no problem using a coupon or whipping out my "smart card" for local places. We may even splurge tomorrow and hit up Red Lobster...because it's shrimp lover's Tuesday and we'll just share a pick 4...with two drinks and tip we'll be just over $20, not bad. Lately we've been hitting up a lot of old favorites, like Ci-Ci's and Taco Bell.
And for how we dress, I'm happy in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Don't have many name-brand shirts, mainly just ones I picked up on vacation. Jeans are whatever were a good deal, I have some Member's Mark from Sam's Club, Levi's, Izod, and whatever else. I do have a semi-expensive watch, I'm happy with something cheap but it's something I can pass down to my son when he's older, before it I was happy with cheap knock-offs, Casio, Skagen, etc.
As for income...well my wife is a registered nurse, and I make about the same amount with my website. I only count on the money she makes when deciding on a big purchase such as our last car or the upcoming mortgage, since she's the one with the stable job (there'll always be a job for a nurse, but who knows what my site will do in the future).
Oh, and one more important tip, we rarely carry a balance on a credit card. In fact, a little over a year ago we didn't have a single one. Only got the ones we have now to build out credit for the upcoming home purchase (we started applying while my wife was pregnant). Just the money we saved by not having to pay interest has probably been enough for several vacations.
We stretch our dollar. That doesn't mean we do without or don't have nice things. It just means we're not paying out the wazoo if we don't have to. A few examples: We have two Mercedes in our driveway. One is an old 85 300D diesel, it's basically my car that I have cause I just think it's cool, plus it serves as a backup car. The other is an 02 E320 station wagon. Paid about 10K under blue book last year, it cost barely more than the 2000 Hyundai Elantra we bought new (tip, don't buy new cars). It's as good or better than any new vehicle in the same price range. We have a 55" HDTV, but only paid $850 for it over TWO years ago! It'd be hard to find a similar TV for that price even today. The laptop I'm using now was bought as a refurb, and so was the one before that.
We currently have a tiny house which was perfect for us at the time. It's paid off, so no mortgage currently. We're looking at getting a new house, will try to get a loan the end of this month. We'll be getting a manufactured home. Some people will think we're crazy, but it's about half the price of a conventional home, plus it can be built as good (or bad) as a regular stick built house. We've done our research, and this is the best solution for us. If we were worried about what everyone else thought of us, we'd definitely just build and end up with a smaller house and a bigger mortgage.
We don't drink or smoke, so that saves a lot right there on a daily basis plus on a cruise. We do have the occasional drink, but we may have 2-3 drinks in a year's time, so that gives you an idea of how occasional I mean.
Most vacations I get a really good deal on. 7-day Carnival was about $507 each with a $100 onboard credit, a so-so deal. 11-day Celebrity was $575 per person with three people in a room (plus a $100 stateroom credit, and another $50 gift certificate after the cruise). Disney was...way too much but our schedule wasn't flexible for that one (had to book after new baby was 12 weeks old, and had to end before the 16 week maternity leave was up). All but one excursion was booked direct with a third party instead of through the ship (who would contract with a third party). The one exception was due to time, it was cutting it a bit close and we didn't want to worry about being left behind.
We eat out about three times a week, though recently it's been cut back to just two (saving for down-payment). I have no problem using a coupon or whipping out my "smart card" for local places. We may even splurge tomorrow and hit up Red Lobster...because it's shrimp lover's Tuesday and we'll just share a pick 4...with two drinks and tip we'll be just over $20, not bad. Lately we've been hitting up a lot of old favorites, like Ci-Ci's and Taco Bell.
And for how we dress, I'm happy in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Don't have many name-brand shirts, mainly just ones I picked up on vacation. Jeans are whatever were a good deal, I have some Member's Mark from Sam's Club, Levi's, Izod, and whatever else. I do have a semi-expensive watch, I'm happy with something cheap but it's something I can pass down to my son when he's older, before it I was happy with cheap knock-offs, Casio, Skagen, etc.
As for income...well my wife is a registered nurse, and I make about the same amount with my website. I only count on the money she makes when deciding on a big purchase such as our last car or the upcoming mortgage, since she's the one with the stable job (there'll always be a job for a nurse, but who knows what my site will do in the future).
Oh, and one more important tip, we rarely carry a balance on a credit card. In fact, a little over a year ago we didn't have a single one. Only got the ones we have now to build out credit for the upcoming home purchase (we started applying while my wife was pregnant). Just the money we saved by not having to pay interest has probably been enough for several vacations.
Think of property taxes on 900,000......$13,500 per year just in property taxes. CA real estate has lost their minds!
