There’s this great myth out there that we call the “Over-consumption Myth,” which goes: If you earn a decent income, and you’re in trouble financially, it must be because you’re blowing all your money at the Gap, and TGIF. The myth is so powerful, it almost seems like heresy to question it. But when we actually looked into the data on what real families actually spend, it’s just not true. An average family of four actually spends less on clothing than their parents did a generation ago, adjusted for inflation. That includes all the Tommy Hilfiger sweatshirts and all the Nike sneakers. How does this work? Well we forget all the things we don’t spend money on anymore — how many kids have leather shoes for Sunday school anymore? How many people dress up in wool suits for work everyday?

The point is that families today are spending their money no more foolishly than their parents did. And yet they’re five times more likely to go bankrupt, and three times more likely to lose their homes. Families are going broke on the basics —housing, health insurance, and education. These are the kind of bills that you can’t just trim around the edges in the event of a downturn.

Amelia Tyagi (via moontyger)

Yes. This. I can’t tell you how many times I have been around and around and over and under our budget, and there’s nothing else left to cut. I shop carefully — my son’s summer clothes come from thrift stores because he grows so fast, his school clothes come from Old Navy, bought on sale a season ahead of time with coupons and during ‘clearance even on clearance.’

My groceries are healthy but careful.

My only indulgence is my tablet, and that’s $23 a month until it’s paid off. Hardly a bank-breaker.

(via vaspider)

A minimum of 50% of the expensive, nice, electronic things in our home have been gifts from one parent or another. Including one of his cars. We’re shaving so finely in the budget I’m nagging him about the $5 he spends on a drink and snack when he buys gas, and worried about the $5 I spend on lunch at work.

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