Love The World You Find – Patrick Riley’s Blog

My wife and I never imagined that one of us would be jobless for more than a month or two, but for the past four months my wife has been in the process of nailing down a job as she was recently laid off by Barack Obama (mainly because she worked for the Bush administration). 

When we got hitched in September, we were spending money at or just above the amount of our two paychecks.  This unnecessary spending stopped in February when we came face to face with the reality that unless we seriously adjusted our expenses, we would be in trouble.  We paid even closer attention to our money and saw that we had to cut our monthly dining and grocery expenses (which averaged $1,000) in half to break even.  Also, any “extras” like decorations for the house or clothing had to be on the cheaper side or given to us as presents.

In the past two months we’ve realized how happy we are now that we live with fewer expenses.  Dinners happen in the house more.  Lunches are brought into work and turn out to be healthier than the cafeteria.  Dates are creative and usually to free events.  Clothes are bought at great prices but still look good.  And my wife and I are growing closer to one another amidst it all. 

Since February our total expenses have been lowered by almost 50% a month, and we continue to pay off debt and give money to our favorite charities. When we finally have two incomes again, we already made a pledge to keep our spending where it is (at least before kids) and put the rest in savings or give it away. 

Ben Franklin said, “If you know how to spend less than you get, you have the philosopher’s stone.”  Our hope is that we continue to spend less than we receive, have peace about our finances and help our friends come to find the same joy we’ve found by living with less.