Photo by: schmilblick

Months ago the wife and I decided to cancel our TV.

This was a big decision for us, and I actually fought against it for a while. I was a bit of an addict.

What was interesting was that we knew that TV was a Want, but it was actually part of our Needs on our budget.

Now, TV is obviously not a need (for most people), but the bill for the TV was attached to the Internet (which is very much a need for us) and the telephone. It was just easier to lump the same bill into the same category – so it hid there for a long time.

But it wasn’t accurate, so we made it a Want.

With a new and more correct perspective, it was easier to realize we wanted our 95% going to more important and more satisfying things.

(Also, pretty much anything we want to watch is available on the internet these days.)

I’m not saying everyone should cancel their TV, but maybe you can re-look at your “Needs” and see if any “Wants” are hiding in there.

Photo by: Gilles Gonthier

If I learned anything from elementary school, it’s that groundhogs have the cosmic ability to predict how long winter will last depending on their shadow.

This supernatural event only happens on the 2nd of February every year. If the groundhog sees his shadow he goes back down his hole to hide from six more weeks of winter. The universe will have spoken.

We have no ability to change whether winter will last another six weeks or not – that is up to the cosmic groundhog – but you do have the ability to choose to follow a budget for the next six weeks. Try signing up for One Month of Budgeting for some extra help:

If you’re reading this in a reader, you can click through here to see the form.

(Ok, the One Month of Budgeting emails only last for five weeks, but you still get six emails.)

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PS – I was going to include a bunch of mildly obscure references to the movie Groundhog Day, to drive my wife nuts, but I deleted them.

Oh what the heck:

Watch that first step… it’s a doo-hoo-sie! Am I right, or am I right? Right? Right?

Photo by: silent-shot

It rained all last week here in the AZ, and the wife and I passed our fair share of accidents on the road.

Coming from a slightly wetter climate than my wife, these sightings often lead to short conversations between us about driving habits between different states.

The thought I always seem to return to is that when roads are wet they play a trick on you.

Most of the time you feel just as in control as you are on a dry road, and most of the time you might be. But it only takes one awkward puddle, or slick spot, or glare (or another bad driver) to take that control away. And on a freeway that’s all it takes.

The best thing, as most people know,  is to simply give yourself a reasonable buffer between you and other cars.

Some months, for my family,  it’s tempting to live right at our means, or even beyond – but it’s just like hugging a car on the freeway. Most of the time we’ll get through the month just fine, but it only takes one instance of “life” to take that control away.

Try to live within your means and give yourself a bit of a buffer. The more you save each month, the safer you’re driving. You may run into heart pounding situations (that may leave you using colorful language), but you just might have enough room to avoid an emergency.