« Great Chart From Y Combinator’s Paul Graham | Home | Great post to high school grads from Peter Shankman »
Confession: Tired of the $20,000 nut
By Charles Martin | June 16, 2009
Today, a good friend said to me that he was “tired of the $20,000 (monthly) nut”.
So am I.
So are you. I’ve spoken with you and I know you are. I’ve seen your bank account. Don’t try me. I have your social. I know where you bank. I looked it up.
So, let’s band together and admit the $20,000 nut isn’t really what it’s all cracked up to be. I mean, in mid 2007 it was grand. Today it sucks. Royal. Big time. All the time.
I spend more physical and mental time on my $20,000 nut than I do making new business ideas, taking care of my kids, or going to a good movie. It’s really consuming the American upper middle class family. Sure, we used our homes as ATMs and now we pay all the transaction fees as if they were deferred for 2 years.
I know there is an alternative and I am already on the bandwagon to fix it. Credit is dried up so there’s only one way and that’s UP. UP with paying it off. UP with doing more with less and UP with evening out the highs and lows. I think we all have to admit (and again, I know you are in this boat so don’t deny it) that the times are ripe for re-tooling and adjusting our goals and gains. Let’s figure out what’s important and jettison the rest. I think this will prove very helpful when the economy becomes healthy again. We will all rejoice as our lifestyles have been torqued down to more acceptable levels.
You dreamed of the Gulf IV (now I’ve been told it’s a Gulf 200) and you dreamed of the brand new Mercedes in the drive every 18 months, but let’s gear it back. Most of you — yes you — can’t do without. What you don’t see is that the richest of rich are taking this moment to assess their over-expenditures too. We all have them.
Why not park it in the bank if you have it and challenge yourself to the largest of all challenges:
The challenge to live on much less.
I’m living that challenge and have been secretly acting behind your back. I’m on that trail and life is better. It’s not fixed and ready, but the Spackle is being applied and the paint (economy priced of course) is chosen. Let’s have a dollar store party and celebrate. Let’s see what comes of it. Sure, we’ll have spurts of chaos and forget our goals, we live in LA after all. But if we keep on track at least 50% more, we’ll survive.
Tired of the $20,000 nut.
Topics: Mind and Planet | No Comments »