Comments on: Money Mantra

By: Marie

Marie — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:11:58 +0000

I came back to say that I really love your mantras/goals. Especially the last three:
We do not need more stuff.
We have what we need.
What we have is enough.
– YEAH! This really resonates, and it feels really good to be reminded.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:30:52 +0000

We are on decent financial standing. Although I don’t feel like our student loans are ever going to be paid off. Share one car which has been paid off for a few years, bought a condo because we knew we could definitely afford the payments etc. I do admire your ability to go on a spending haitus (birthdays definitely do not count) Off topic, what did you think of the 3rd twilight book?

By: meg

meg — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:05:52 +0000

I agree- pay off the debt as soon as you can- it is like a monkey on your back- we have a bit of student loan debt left and a car payment- the car will be paid off in the next year and a year after that the student loan…..the kids are young so they don’t understand/care about styles/name brands (although they do wear them- I just wait for huge sales or find them at thrift stores)…..we will be buying a house this year after we move so we’ll also have a mortgage in the next year- I relate to the poster who said she is almost embarrassed because the economy isn’t affecting her family- we too are not affected and are surrounded by people who are- we don’t live a “rock star” lifestyle but we are comfortable- we go on nice vacations and drive decent cars…….but we manage our money well- we don’t use credit cards and are fortunate that my husbands job is secure……but it is still hard when people you care about are struggling while you are not……crazy times.

By: lisa

lisa — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 05:50:04 +0000

You know I’m there on living debt free-I just have mortgage and the student loan from my MBA-which I am paying off as fast as I can.
The furniture in my house is all different vintage-I like to say eclectic-clothes are from Savers-and we share one car. I do struggle with the clothes part, because I AM the worst dressed person at my office, but I remind myself that I dress well, just not the cute styles. Some days it gets to me though, because I know how it impacts interpersonal dynamics.
And I am fortunate to live in one of the top neighborhoods in the country for holding real estate value right now. And, if we are going to move to Shanghai, we need to be debt free-so I keep my eye on that. ~lmc

By: Elaine

Elaine — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 03:59:33 +0000

Yup. Good stuff. Also, if you are seriously thinking of living overseas at some point, it is a good thing to be debt free. If we had been able to sell our house we would have no financial worries ‘back home’ because my spouse aggressively paid off everything before we moved. I never thought it possible to not carry credit card debt (especially during my grad school years). But it is. Now if we could just sell that damn house!