A phrase we never say (anymore)!

Before we began living on a budget, we often found ourselves not able to afford certain things. We were constantly telling each other, “We can’t afford that”. It usually wasn’t anything overly extravagant, just normal items that today we can buy anytime we like.

By managing our resources we have found that we no longer have to say, “we can’t afford that”. However, what we have found is that quite often we don’t want to buy a lot of those items anymore. There are still times when we find things that don’t fit into our budget, but instead of saying “we can’t afford that”, we now say, “we have decided to spend our money on more important things”.

By putting the focus on what we have decided to do (instead of what we can’t do), we keep a positive attitude with regard to our finances. If there is something that we really want (like a cruise next January), we simply decide on how much we need to save to make it happen.

A positive attitude is extremely important when things begin to slow down or the light at the end of the tunnel seems to be getting dimmer. Anyone that tells you living financially free is easy hasn’t ever had to struggle to make ends meet. The ideas we talk about on this site are simple, but implementation of those ideas is anything but easy. The next time you find yourself wondering if it is worth it, just remind yourself that you have decided to be in control of your future. Remind yourself that you have decided to no longer make poor decisions based on emotion. Remind yourself that just because it doesn’t fit into today’s budget, doesn’t mean you can’t afford it. It simply means that you have decided to spend your money on more important things.