Fed Up With Frugal Living, Your Brain and Credit Card Debt and Paying to Drive

I haven’t been around here much this week. We have been working so hard on our new business to get it ready for launch by the end of this month.

It’s been tough. We’ve hit some roadblocks along the way but we managed to get by them. It did set us back time-wise so we are working extra hard to meet our deadline. Lately I have been so pumped about working on it that I have been skipping my normal weekend routine of sleeping in. That is very unusual for me. I usually look forward to the weekend because I get to sleep in. Now I look forward to it because I can work on the business.

Of course, if we can launch before the end of June that would be great. The sooner it launches, the sooner the business can start making money

Ok, now on to some articles that caught my eye this week:

JW’s family is fed up with frugal living. I feel for JW with having older kids in the home. With our son, it’s fairly easy to live frugally since he’s so young and doesn’t have a lot of peer pressure yet. He’s quite content with going out of the house with ripped, dirty jeans. He groans when mom tells him to change.

Jeremy has a guest article on his site about the connection between your brain and credit card debt.

Shana is wondering what is your threshold is for paying to drive. When I read this article I remembered a little news piece (I think it was from Wisconsin) where they showed people’s reactions when gas prices hit $2.00/gallon. Almost everyone they interviewed said they would start biking and walking more. I wonder how many of them did it. What do they think now that gas is $4.00/gallon?

Posted by Tricia on June 14, 2008 at 1:55 AM in General Personal Finance | 7 Comments »
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Claire in CA, USA responded:
Posted: June 14th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Here in So Cal, we’re already paying about 4.55 a gallon…$4.00 was so two weeks ago.

We drive less. We have been for a long time. Then, the daughter (almost 14) auditioned and got a part in a play at a theater about 25 miles away from home. Industrious one that I am, she is hitching rides with folks that are going that way anyway (people we know, fyi, not random strangers). We will have to go out now and then, but not as much as we would have.

L.A. is not rapid transit friendly, unfortunately. My work takes me to people’s homes, and never the same one twice. I could never use rapid transit for my work, so I frequently am the sole driver in my vehicle. My husband works in our town, so his driving is very short-distance, thankfully.
Pamela Grundy responded:
Posted: June 15th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
I was just thinking about this at work Saturday. I make a fairly low wage plus commission, but the bank is doing so poorly commission is hard to get. Already it costs me $50 twice a month to fill up my car. That’s $100 off my crummy paycheck, which I need much less than the health insurance. It’s really frustrating and I have no idea how I will handle it. Biking it is feasible but not really safe, and yet I think I may have to do that.
Matt responded:
Posted: June 15th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Its great that your business inspires you so much; I’ve been slowly working on mine for a while but it hasn’t launched yet and I keep delaying it. After we move at the end of the month I’ll dedicate some time to finishing it up and launching it.

I can’t wait to hear about your project!
Brianne responded:
Posted: June 16th, 2008 at 10:49 am
At $4.54/gallon (what I paid this morning), I’m thinking seriously about public transportation. I carpooled with a co-worker this morning, but I’m moving to a different area at the end of the month.

To take public transportation to work after I move will require two trains, a bus, and a 1.2 mile walk to the first train station. Plus, I’ll need to leave my car at the last train station because it’s still pretty far from the office. But it will cost about $5/day instead of the $10/day for gas.
Sofia Kim responded:
Posted: June 16th, 2008 at 10:56 am
Credit card debt is on its all time high with today’s economy. Hopefully people can obtain the help they need to get out of debt. Thanks for the article!
Airline Credit Cards responded:
Posted: June 20th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Great post, I really enjoyed it. I will have to bookmark this site for later.
Ken Schellenberg in Arlington VA responded:
Posted: June 23rd, 2008 at 12:59 pm
I made a major decision last summer.

My motivation was really ecological: I was moved by the events of 7/7/7 to think about my car and why I kept it. I’ve been an avid bike commuter for years (I’ve only ever driven to my current job once… ever). But the green talk of that day had be thinking.. why do I keep a car? I don’t need it to get to work. I don’t need it to shop for groceries. I do use it to get to the gym, but wouldn’t biking there instead be better – you know – EXERCISE?

I justified my decision (a pretty radical once, since I have owned a car for my entire adult life and then some) by looking hard at the money I spent on it. Looking back through my Quicken files, I realized something. My paid-for car was actually costing me hundreds of dollars per month in fuel, repair, insurance, personal property taxes.

What I didn’t realize was that selling my car was the first step to financial freedom. The true cost of owning a car was actually far higher than I estimated. My rationale for selling it turned out to be even an understatement; since last August I’ve been able to pay off all my credit cards and a personal loan.

Now I pay cash for EVERYTHING. Best of all, I’m able to “splurge” on taxis and restaurants and theater… My quality of life has gone up.

Re-think your relationship to your “possessions”.. the one you think you need most may the ones that possess you!