There are a lot of things that we do right financially. We save half of our income and max out our Roth IRAs. We both pick up extra work and bank the additional income. We brown bag our lunches and cook dinner at home almost every night of the month. But there are also a lot of ways that we go against the personal finance grain. And you know what? Rather than turning in my PF card, I feel A-okay about them.
I don’t track our net worth. I know. I should have given you time to brace yourself before I just unloaded like that. But now you know that there’s a reason why you don’t see those numbers on the blog. They don’t exist. Sure, I know what’s in our bloated savings account, our paltry taxable, and in-between Roth IRAs. But Zillow and Redfin cannot get their acts together when it comes to a housing estimate. They differ by $25,000 give or take. Never mind the fact that we’re not moving anytime soon. I also have no clue what our pensions will amount to or if they will ever be paid out. The information simply isn’t available. Regardless, I could ballpark our net worth fairly easily, but I don’t track it to the penny and don’t intend to start anytime soon.
I don’t bike. Ever. It’s true. Not only do I really take issue with the claim that biking is a magic bullet for everyone, I don’t even own a bike. Technically, I suppose the rusted heap that is hanging out in my parents’ shed is still mine. But I haven’t ridden a bicycle since I popped a wheelie under the guidance of a childhood neighbor and promptly broke my jaw. If you think I’m only awkward and bumbling on the internet, you’ve got another think coming. Assuming that I’ve fine tuned some of my motor skills since elementary school–you know what they say about assume–I’m still not down with biking. Nevermind my commute layout, all of suburbia simply isn’t cyclist friendly. In fact, I would estimate the bike to bike accident ratio in my town to be an utterly unscientific 2:1. Right now, my commute takes approximately 15 minutes, and I use a tank of gas every 3-4 weeks. Not only am I an uncoordinated fool, but I happen to believe that my time is worth something. So I’m keeping my car. And does it really matter, anyway, now that MMM sells* t-shirts? Cars for everyone, I say!
*Yes. I know the t-shirts are at cost. But if he can justify a t-shirt, I can justify my car.
I outsource my cleaning. And other things. It’s true. Mr. P is really handy and has done the bulk of the renovations and remodeling both inside and outside our house. But I’m also just about the most obsessive person you’ve never met. So sometimes, it’s just not worth it to DIY. The personal finance blogosphere abounds with lovely backsplashes and retiled bathrooms. We have those, too. The only difference is we paid for someone to do them. Could we have saved a few grand in the grand scheme of home renovation projects? Probably. Assuming that I didn’t make Mr. P take the tile down and start over when the cuts didn’t line up exactly. Until I learn to relax, I have no problem with outsourcing on occasion.
So Tell Me…Do you do anything that conflicts with conventional personal finance wisdom?
All the time! I drive pretty much everywhere in a car I bought new. While I probably won’t buy a new car again ( or any car anytime soon), most of the places we frequent are several miles away over busy roads.
And we still have way too much stuff. Our budgeting is meh, and my side hustling is non-existent. I feel like a faker a lot of times.
Whenever I start to feel like an imposter, I realize that these are probably exactly the things that need to be said. There’s no one right way to do it…even if a lot of the advice and anecdotes sound awfully similar!
I refuse to bike because both bikers and drivers in my town don’t know how to obey traffic laws and I don’t want to get injured. I walk to work, and should walk more places, but I 100% content with never biking as a mode of transportation.
We are going to hire someone to do the tile back splash in our kitchen. Originally Mr. Beach Life was going to do it. Then we realized we’d need to buy a tile cutter and it would take forever. Instead, we can pay a professional to do it, it will look great and it will take a day (instead of weeks.)
After the renovation is done, I’m probably going to hire a house cleaner to come in a couple times a month. You know what I hate doing? Cleaning. I would rather pay someone to do the heavy stuff and then keep up with it myself throughout the month. If it means one less meal out, well then that is something I am willing to sacrifice.
I look at it as what’s the point of saving money if you’re never going to spend it? I would rather spend my money on things that improve our quality of life long term over a simple in the moment comfort.
That’s exactly my philosophy on my cleaning lady. She’s wonderful. If nothing else, she keeps me honest! My house is always the tidiest and most organized right before she arrives 😉
Yep. We’re in the same boat with going against the grain we have the some of the decisions we made in regards to PF. We definitely don’t bike considering where we live. We bought our house before we were out of debt. We borrowed from our emergency fund to get a bigger car. This helped us avoid a car payment and interest. We won’t do that one again since we didn’t like paying ourselves back. Lol. But also because it wasn’t the greatest idea. With some of our home updates we have done them ourselves or with the help of Omar’s parents. And other times we have thoroughly enjoyed paying someone to do it.
So no, we don’t always do what the PF community say. We can see the importance in a lot of it, but ultimately we do what’s best for us and just try to make wise decisions.
I love the balance you strike, Kim! And paying yourself back is the worst feeling. It’s good to avoid debt, but I think that’s why I’m so averse to actually using my emergency fund. That’s probably another oops on my part!
Uh, yeah. I have a few conflicts. 🙂 The two glaring examples: We own a boat and we own a truck. But I’m not ready to turn in my PF card either. We all have our “things”. The keyword in personal finance? “Personal”. I think the key is to be intentional, and realize the trade-offs.
OH MY GOSH, A TRUCK! Haha. I grew up in a house where a van got swapped out with a Suburban for another van, etc. My parents had a boat when I was little, and we’d drive through different states on vacations all summer. No way was my dad going to tow it with a car.
You’re right. It’s all about intention and purpose.
THIS? Honestly, I’m with you on the first two, Penny, and would like to be on the third haha. Everything’s personal.
Hmmmm. The hubs and I have DIYed most things over the course of 37 years including a 12 x 24 foot building on piers. When it came to building the garage/workshop combo however, we had to weigh the cost of someone else doing the slab and frame-up/roofing against our available time/energy/skillsets. We paid someone else to the slab/frame-up and we did all of the finish work….interior walls, ceiling, lighting, doors/windows, siding, ect. We just recently paid someone else to do the 12 x 64 foot patio slab and cover and to reroof the house. We could have done the roof…. we’ve reroofed the house ourselves before. But we wanted a standing seam metal roof and we felt that was a job that needed to be done professionally. The patio? We could have done it. But we want to go tent camping a lot this summer and it would have taken up our entire summer and fall weekends to do it ourselves. Sometimes you save the money, sometimes you spend the money. None of us want to live like Scrooge, amiright?
Here’s my favorite money joke….
Rich man makes wife promise that when he dies she’ll bury all his money with him. She agrees. Her closest friends are appalled that she agreed. Rich husband dies. At the funeral her closest friends ask if she kept her promise to bury all of the money with him. She says yes. Friends are appalled! She says “A promise is a promise. Of course I buried all of his money with him. I wrote a check.”
Buh dup tah! You’re welcome.
Ha! That is the BEST joke! How have I not heard this?!
I think you’re exactly right about the renos and the remodeling. You have to consider what you’re trading. Sometimes it’s time, sometimes it’s money!
We should return our card too. We like our heat in the winter and our AC in the summer. We have an “even pay” system with our electrical coop which is $112/month. For us it’s relative. We paid much more in NY for 1/3 the space and we were gone all day.
I still go for my $50 hair cuts every 6-8 weeks. I even did a Keratin treatment a few years ago that cost $300. That was a bit wasteful but only because it didn’t last as long as I wanted it to. If someone can get my hair flat for 6 months, now that would be worth $300 again.
Yep, I guess I’ll have to turn in my PF card too. I’m still paying off my new car loan (my last ever) but at least it’s at 0.9%. I enjoy watching my baseball games on cable TV. And my wife gets her hair colored at the salon every 2 months (if you average that out with my $7 haircuts, it’s not so bad).
While they may not earn us PF points, those are all conscious decisions that we made. We certainly cut back in other areas to balance everything out.
My name is Kevin and I’m a hotel snob.
What about having a ton of kids? That seems like a pretty poor financial decision – especially because we’re still paying off debt!
In my opinion, we get PF Cards because we put more thought into our financial decisions. We plan ahead (and calculate, calculate, calculate) and consider the give and take of our spending decisions. The less-than-frugal expenses are just a reflection of our personal priorities. For us, we wanted a big family and accepted that we would have to cover extra expenses.
I also have a housekeeper, and it would be one of the last things I’d let go if I had to tighten my budget. I love the time it frees up to do things that I actually want to do, and I love that it gets done regularly regardless of how busy/tired/stressed I may be.
I have a cleaning lady who stops by every two weeks. I could do it myself but would much rather spend my time blogging 🙂
I know she’s not actually a need, but she IS. I will paint my own nails and my husband will gladly have me cut his hair to make room in the budget for her!
I track my net worth and I bike. But then I do things like go on multiple personal trips a year (just got back from a cruise) and eat out a decent amount. Everyone has their thing (or things). But as long as you’re hitting your savings goals – I’m all for it!
I gave myself an impressive concussion + road rash + enormous blood loss in an biking accident that did not even involve a car. No, thank you. The drivers in my city are excessively aggressive and actively try to hit cyclists. No, thank you. I’ll take the bus and enjoy the time I get reading while someone safer does the driving.
Thanks for your honesty. We all have our own way of reaching FI. It is best to be true to yourself. I track our net worth, but like you I don’t bike. Also, like you we save more than 50% of our income. That is what truly makes you hard core and allows you to slack a little bit in other areas.