Another year, another resolution. What is life without compromise and consideration? From time to time, in order to make progress, in order to hold onto something that's quite dear to you, you must sacrifice a bit, and sometimes let go of another valued possession.
A Newer Year has arrived, and the time has come to reflect on our dreams and aspirations.
Just last year me and the wife planned on working towards getting a house of our own. We're a young couple, both working towards a goal; building a foundation for ourselves and our future. There's a lot we have to consider now, especially because of the rising costs. From the day to day expenses, to the necessities, prices are increasing rapidly, and it's all thanks to these pointless wars; also the news and its indicators of there being a recession upon us again.
We both already live a fairly minimal life; our goals are real, and can all be achieved through smart decisions, consistency, and time. Yet, it seems that we still have to make a few little changes to our lifestyle, minor tweaks and tricks. It must be done, especially if we want a house of our own.
Yes, getting a house of our own won't make much of a difference to our lifestyle or homely activities. We're already living in a fairly big apartment for just two people, and we don't plan on getting a mansion either; we're just in search of a place that we can call our own. Something that's big enough to fit us both and our children in the future. For now our pets will do just fine; our fur babies are already quite a handful haha.
So, the other day me and my wife sat down to take a look at the things that we can get rid of from our day to day life and overall lifestyle; things that aren't quite necessary. The goal is to reduce our overall living cost; whether it be taking the car out a little less or decreasing the number of shopping sprees we tend to go on, and many more.*
A slight downgrade and a little sacrifice now will open the door towards a freer future.
That's how we both see it...
Hence, we started with our most "expensive" habits, hobbies, and means of entertainment.
Of course a lot of our streaming and movie subscriptions had to go first, it's the first option to pop up on ones radar. It would be a good change I guess, we don't even get much time to watch movies or shows these days. The second would be our stock of junk food, which surely isn't a necessity. A proper three meals a day does the job for us anyways; all this junk food only comes in handy when we're watching something on TV.
So, as both these culprits go hand in hand, they were quite easily crossed out.
After taking care of every additional expenditure present in the house, it was now time to check our list of spendings that are all done outside of the house.
Now, other than having lunch during our office hours, there wasn't much we could find to cross out. We usually take our car to work, and it stays with the person that needs to get from one point to another more often on that day. The other person gets back home on public transport, or gets picked up on the way, if possible.
However, there was one thing my wife noticed, and just had to bring up. And that was my daily visit to the coffee shop when I'm halfway through my office hours. I drink some good coffee to energize myself, to be more focused at work.
Yet, it started off with the idea of treating myself every now and then; even though coffee was a daily thing, most of the coffee breaks were from the coffee machine back at the office. Soon enough though, a visit to the café became a daily thing.
So? You probably guessed it. My wife wanted me to keep my lavish visits to the café on the low, at least until we get that house. I was a bit hesitant at first, but I couldn't deny that those coffee shop visits of mine weren't cheap. Now, it was all easy for her to say, because she prefers tea over coffee, milk tea AKA chai, but I always leaned more towards a proper cappuccino.
Yet, the reasonable side of mine just had to oblige, for our future's sake. Because every little bit of effort and savings matters at this point.
She also suggested that I join her team, AKA the chai team. At least when we're at home, we could have a little tea date and a tea break; and to be honest, she does make a solid cup of milk tea. And I could still have coffee from our office kitchen and pantry, which is absolutely free, and not too bad in terms of taste either.
Now, let's go get that house.