Obviously it's different for everyone, but it's a question that needs to be answered. In defining what one "needs" in life to survive, it stands to reason all other acquisitions get defined as "wants", right? Is it that simple? To split everything into needs and wants and then only purchase wants after needs are provided for? Are there sub-sets and categories, overlaps and gray areas? I think the answer to all of those questions is "yes", but for the purpose of my exercise, I'm going to try and stick to basic, monthly needs. Those needs are the "essentials" I'm attempting to restrict my spending to during the fast. In the simplest terms, a person needs food, water, and shelter to survive, but that's a pretty meager existence when reduced to that level. I still need to operate in society as we know it. I'm not quite ready yet to establish my hermitage in the mountains, as appealing as that sounds some days.
So what's first? The big two are rent and car payment. As an aside I want to point out how much I loathe renting. I did it for over 10 years before I bought a house and now I'm heading into my 3rd year of renting again after. A quick estimate shows I've poured out close to $100,000 in rent in my life. That's a sizable chunk of a mortgage! and all that money went into someone else's pocket. The benefits of renting vs buying is probably best left to an entirely separate discussion, but it really grinds my gears when I see it laid out like that.
Back to the essentials. The car payment needs to get paid, period. It's a bank loan and letting it go delinquent would be a painful hit to my already damaged credit rating. Beyond that, transportation is vital in our world, and I live in an area that's spread out enough that walking or biking is impractical, at least where getting to work or taking care of my son is concerned. Car insurance, and insurance in general, is another racket that raise my ire, but again that's probably best left to a separate commentary. Gasoline is a necessity to make the car go, but at $3.50+ a gallon and rising, conservation is the name of that game.
Other monthly bills include gas & electric, phone, and cable & internet. Now the last three could be considered luxuries and I'd have a hard time arguing against it. I have a smartphone with a hefty data plan. I'm not sure the amount I use it justifies the expense. Yes a phone is essential in today's world, especially because I don't have an active land line, but a little analysis could go a long way to saving some bucks. It's an area I think I could, and should, trim back a little. As for the cable and internet I could live without both, and have, at times. I don't watch a ton of TV, but what I do watch is typically educational programming on cable. And cartoons for my son are now almost exclusively on cable. Does he need them? No, but he's delighted by some of them and I really don't want to deny him that pleasure. Network TV, for the most part, doesn't usually entertain me beyond certain sporting events. Internet is such a good tool it's hard to justify NOT having it these days. One might lament the rampant connectivity of our world, but when you need a certain piece of information it's hard to argue with it's resourcefulness.
The other bills that come in for me are student loans. That's been a tough one to manage since I got out of school. It's a significant portion of my monthly expenditures and usually the first thing that gets set aside when money is tight. I put student loans in the category of things I'd do differently if I could go back and try again. For starters I would avoid Sallie Mae like the plague. I work with three separate student loan entities and they are by far the worst. They change their policies randomly and without warning, their customer service is abhorrent, and god help you if you ask to defer some payments in a time of crisis. I've done some research on the company and they have a powerful influence in Washington that has allowed them to write their own rules as a lender. Stay away from them at all costs. Rant over, but the payment get made as they are an obligation I took on in good faith and need to repay.
After the bills, there isn't much left to tackle besides food. I intend to put up a separate post, or maybe more, about food. I love to cook and I love to shop at the grocery store. It's where some of my biggest impulsive purchases happen. In recent months I've tried to be more frugal as well as stock up on sundries when their prices drop, not necessarily when I need them. I know there are other tactics to be employed to cut the grocery bill and I intend to examine some of them later on.
So that's it. The monthly expenses that are "essentials". Seems pretty straight forward. Some of the bills are behind a month or so and need to get squared away. One other thing I'm going to try and do is line up some of the due dates so that I can pay bills in a couple of batches instead of having a bunch or random dates throughout the month. That should help make budgeting easier too.
The challenge now is going to be restricting my spending to just the items listed above. 3 days in and so far so good, but the next couple of nights I have some social engagements planned. That's going to be the real test. I've already decided to be the designated driver, which isn't the worst idea I've ever had. I'm also thinking I should eat dinner before going out, so the temptation isn't there to drop a bunch of cash on those damn delicious chicken wings and other fried bar foods. Wish me luck! Or more accurately, wish me self control.
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