TheSimpleLife's Personal Finance Blog

For over 10 years my husband and I were great friends with another couple. We became very close with them...almost as if they were family. Our families even spent a lot of holidays together.

Then their company started doing very well and they started making lots of money. And then they started spending lots of money. And I mean a lot of money. They bought a big house. Then a bigger house. Then a bigger house on the lake. Then a boat to go with the house. They bought fancy cars. Then they bought even fancier cars. And I mean really fancy cars in the six digits. They went on huge vacations to Europe and all over the world. They enrolled their kids in private schools. They didn't want to keep up with the Joneses, they wanted to be the Joneses.

All the while they tried to maintain their friendship with us, but it grew increasingly uncomfortable. If they wanted to go out to dinner with us on a weekend, they would hire a limo. And they wouldn't want to go to some average restaurant... it would have to be first class all the way. We were earning enough money that we could have afforded the fancy dinners and events now and then, but we saw it as throwing our money away. And to be honest, I've never been a fan of fancy restaurants and gourmet food anway. I'd much rather be at a backyard barbecue.

So we started declining their invitations more and more, until one day the invitations stopped coming. And I have to tell you it was a relief. It made me realize how much money had come to rule their lives, and I can honestly say, I don't think they were any happier when they had the extra money and they were definitely less fun to be around.

We haven't talked to them in a long time. I miss the friends we had in the beginning, who would sit out on the porch talking and laughing for hours. But by the end of the friendship, I felt enormous pressure to spend money just to hang out with them and I don't miss that at all.

So have you ever broken up with a friend over money?

My husband is in his 40's, is a bike-rider, and in good health, but he's been having chest pains for the past year and his blood pressure has been high. A year ago he went to a cardiologist and they did a stress test and echocardiogram which showed no problems. This weekend he had a heart attack. His 3 main arteries were all blocked, and they put a stent in each one. The doctor said if this was 5 years ago he would have been having triple bypass surgery.

In a way I'm glad they found out there actually is a problem so we can deal with it and move on. But it's also a very scary time until they get everything balanced out. He will be in the hospital at least one more day.

While in the waiting room I went to call relatives from my cell phone and there was a crack in my cell phone display and the whole screen was black, so even though it was working I couldn't see to dial numbers. Have no idea how I broke it, but the past couple of days have been a bit of a blur.

The kids and I are on our way back to the hospital now. I'll keep you posted with how things go.

I'd been doing pretty well on my quest to spend less money, but the last two days have been a bit of a set back. First my daughter came to me with her gym shoes worn clear through the bottom. I hate to buy her new shoes so close to the end of the school year, but there is still two weeks of school to go, and she has two mile runs coming up so I really can't wait. I hope her feet don't grow too much over the summer and she can still wear them next year. Her feet are only a half size smaller than mine right now.

Then the washing machine broke. I tried to go online and find a fix I could do myself, but that didn't work. The repairman is here now and it's going to be $150.

Then I pulled out the vaccuum cleaner, and of course it broke down too. I'm hoping what they say about bad things coming in 3's is true and this will be the end of it.

In my new effort to save money I have started my own personal challenge to see how long I can avoid going to the grocery store. In the past I would go every day, or at least have my husband pick up something on his way home from work. But at the beginning of the week I looked at our pantry and realized just how much we already had on hand. I was already stocked up on fresh fruits, veggies and milk. So far I've made it 5 days without going to the store which is not only a money saver, it's also a time saver. Tonight we are having homemade pizza and I'm making the crust from scratch. I think we'll be able to make it through the whole weekend without breaking down and going to the store. Might have to go back on Monday for a few more fresh ingredients, but I think I'm off to a good start.

I've been visiting this site for some time now, and decided it was finally time to join in with my own story.

I'll start with the good news first. After years of having a very modest income and scrimping and saving every penny, my husband and I finally got ahead in our careers. Because of this we have no debt. We've paid off the mortgage, the cars, and the credit cards.

The bad news is... once we could stop worrying about money, that's exactly what we did...stopped worrying about money. For the last two years we've spent a huge amount of money on things we didn't need and we've accumulated a lot of junk. At the same time we've neglected to buy the things we actually did need (like new gutters). It's hard to admit I've become such a wasteful spender, because for most of my life that hasn't been the case.

I was watching "Till Debt do us Part" this weekend, and got the idea to make an inventory of our belongings and figure out what our actual needs are vs. our wants. I've already started with the kids rooms. That's an eye opener. A 7 year old does not need 8 baseball hats. Today I am taking 4 large bags to the Goodwill. There will be a lot more to come.

I plan on sharing my progress here. My goal is to streamline our home, our grocery shopping, and our day to day life. I also plan on tracking the money we save, and putting it towards something important (like college educations).