Food, Faith, Family & Frugality

I am amazed at how much money I was making while I was in the Air Force and how much I seem to have wasted.  The truth is that I had a lot of unnecessary bills.  Bills for things that I did not need and could not seem to let go of.  I had a house that I was losing money on each month.  My justification for keeping it was my fear of it being vacant and having to pay a mortgage on an empty house with no rental income.  Well, when the thing started falling apart, I said, "Enough." and put it on the market...cheaply, so it would sell quickly.  It went under contract within a week, but the buyer's financing fell through at the last minute so we put it on the market again, and again it went under contract it about a week.  This time it worked out.  Overall, I lost a lot of money on that house, but I made about $14K by the time the money was distributed.  I paid off my van, a trailer I got stuck with during the divorce, and paid off a credit card.

Anyway, I have come to realize that it may not be a bad thing not having the income I had.  I actually seem more in control than I did back then.  I would buy things on credit because I didn't have the money for them.  In contrast, I haven't purchased anything on a credit card in ages.  If I can't pay cash for it, I probably don't need it.  It's a lesson I should have learned in my 20s or 30s, but I guess better late than never.

Also, I was once a snob.  Not a serious snob, but I cared more about what people thought.  I bought things I didn't need and spent money I just didn't have.  I am looking forward to being more conscious in my spending in the future.  My next job probably won't be making me rich, or even comfortable as I had imagined, but I think I will be better off than expected.