To illustrate, this parody sketch from about 10 years ago provides an example of how some very simple, common sense money principles have become so hard to understand nowadays:
(If you didn’t notice, this is essentially the same message that we shared in the inaugural post of this blog. Don’t buy stuff that you don’t need!)
So What Does That Mean?!
But what about these common questions?
- If I charge it on my credit card (or take out a loan) and I am able to make the minimum monthly payments, doesn’t that mean I can afford it?
- Even if it isn’t in my budget but I have money in the bank to pay for it, doesn’t it mean I can afford it?
I would answer both of these cases simply with a reminder of this truism:
“Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”
Just ask yourself, what are you sacrificing that you may need in the future in order to have what you want now?
“You Can Afford Anything, You Just Can’t Afford Everything”
I sincerely believe that with proper financial habits and self-control, we can save up to afford just about anything (within reason) we want. It’s when we get greedy and want to keep up with the Joneses that we resort to debt to finance what we want–but let’s face it, we’ll never be able to afford EVERYTHING we want!
So yeah, even after 10 years, their 1 page book is still up-to-date.
Happy Mother’s Day!
