Whoever decided to pick on the Latte when it came to cutting expenses…
Starbucks probably wants to kill them.
But “giving up coffee” to get out out of debt is about as cliche as you can get. And if it were as easy as just giving up the Latte, wouldn’t everyone be out of debt?
The reality is that it takes more than just a single small sacrifice.
I’ve written about this before, but it really takes a complete mindset change to really “get it”.
I believe to be successful in getting out of debt it has to be something that you feel in every part of your body. You have to want it so badly to actually make the necessary changes to achieve it.
You might have too:
- Not see your friends as often (because their always going out)
- Get a second job.
- Sell everything you can
- live in your office.
- Give up coffee, eating out, netflix, movie rentals, your car, and more.
Yeah, you get the idea.
The idea of “getting out of debt” sounds very simple. You spend less. You try and earn more. And you pay off what you owe.
The reality is much more difficult.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
That’s for sure… well said! It’s a whole new attitude. As Moolanomy put it the other day on Twitter, to be debt free and stay debt free you need to *stop borrowing*. Completely. The simple choice to no longer put a latte (in my case I am actually to blame for drinking too many lattes:)) on your credit card is where it starts. The small things are important because they are deceptively innocuous.
I gave up lattes ages ago and I am still not out of debt – you are so right. I also think you have to educate your friends and familyt that you are working on being debt free. In my last post, I spoke about keeping frugality a secret, it is difficult to always so no to outings that are not in your budget. http://www.theleantimes.com/?p=861
The reality is hard. I am struggling with it. My food/transportation expenses are my main issue. I feel crazy always staying at my apartment especially since I just moved to a new area. I need to go out and meet people for my sanity. I do make sure to not buy anything when I go out though and try to pack in as much fun into one day as possible. I have found cheaper transportation alternatives as well. They take longer but at least I get there.
It’s better that people be more realistic with lives. Frugality needs not to be a secret
I live in different culture. In Asian countries, it is quite OK to show it to your friends and colleagues that you are trying to change your spending behavior. It the character that shows how smart you are in controlling yourself in spending. It is a proud to show people that you live modest life, but got no red figures (debt) with the bank. The best look is to be debtfree.
In my country, there is a say about people who spend a lot of money to buy brand name products that…. “just being rich will not make you qualified to buy those stuffs. You MUST have another qualification which is called “STUPID” too to be able to spend money that way!”…… Well, a bag is a bag! Basically, it is for carrying your things with you. If it is not too ugly to carry, is it necessary to be Hermes, Prada, or ect., right? Do you think people will believe you are rich just because you carry Prada? For me, I think people like that are poor and not so financial organized because they put large amount of moneymeaningless things.
I agree, you have to want it in order to achieve it. Sacraficing a lot of material things can be hard, but has to be done in order to live a debt free life.