Budgeting Tip - I Don't Need It

I've noticed one thing that has helped me to meet or beat our monthly budget amounts. I say to myself, "I can't afford that now. I'll wait until I really need it, or I won't get it at all." In fact, my wife hates asking me what I'd like for my birthday, Christmas, or Easter because I'll say, "Ooh, I'd like to get a new gadget for my computer," followed immediately by, "…but I guess I can get by without it."

I'm amazed at how often this works for me. Since I have an unfortunate tendency to obsess about new gadgets, the most recent of which were a VitaMix super blender and a Flowbee, I really need to have an "I don't need it" or "I can do without" mentality. As I recently read in an Og Mandino book, The Greatest Miracle in the World, it's not necessarily the one who has the most who is happiest. It's the one who needs the least.

I'm amazed now at how much my folks managed to do without. I'm in my 20s, so they obviously weren't raised in the Depression, but sometimes they act like it. They eat beans and rice for dinner and home-ground cracked wheat cereal in the mornings. They drive a 20+ year old Toyota van and a 15-year old Toyota Camry. They scrimped and saved to pay off their house, and they finally did it in near-record time. They could afford to eat better, and they could drive better cars and live in a new house, but they choose not to. And now, at the age of 55, my dad is going to be able to retire.

Compare that to my uncle, the general contractor. He has probably seen and had more money go through his hands than my father ever did. He has made tens of thousands in profit on some of his construction jobs. He has bought and sold real estate and generally done pretty well. He lives in a newer house than my folks, and drives newer vehicles. His kids have had many of the toys that they wanted over the years, including dirt bikes, ATVs, hunting gear, game consoles, and cars and trucks. He and his wife and kids take a vacation at least once a year to go to Montana and hunt.

But my uncle will never be able to retire. Not because he's self-employed. He could have set up a retirement account for himself. Not because he hasn't had enough money. He's had plenty. It is entirely because of his sense of entitlement, his lack of ability to delay or deny gratification. He doesn't know the words, "I don't need it."

I'm in my 20s, and I still don't know it all. I'm still choosing my role models, deciding which people can show me how to get what I want. I'm 27 years old, and I don't think I've changed that much from when I was a little boy - I still want to grow up to be like my dad.