You are allotted one hour of screen time on Saturday and another for Sunday. Other than, you don’t get the option to use a tablet, laptop, phone, or Netflix.
Well, there is an exception, actually:
If Mommy or I feel like taking a break and watching a movie, then that obviously doesn’t count against your hour for that weekend day.
So this past Sunday afternoon while I was working on a big blog post I’ve been putting off, I insisted that Mommy relax and watch a movie.
Both you and your sister were doing a great job of convincing me that neither of you were tired enough to need a nap. That meant you got to hang out with Mommy instead of going to sleep.
You didn’t complain at all that Mommy was watching one of her straight-to-Netflix, Southern-themed romantic comedies.
Hey- it’s better to watch one of Mommy’s movies than no movie at all.
If you put your faith in the results of a lender or a mortgage calculator found on the website of a new home development, you may be pleasantly surprised to see how big and nice of a home you can “afford” based on your household monthly income.
However, Dave Ramsey teaches no more than 25% of your household take-home income; in an effort to prevent becoming “house poor”; where you could afford to pay your monthly mortgage but could not live a comfortable lifestyle.
However, that number was based on the total of both of our full-time salary positions. That does not account for the monthly income I make from my 5 side hustles; for example, I made $531 last month from my two YouTube channels alone.
When we consider all my side hustle income, we can easily yet conservatively count on another 1%.
Therefore, at around 12%, we are fortunately spending a little less than half of the conservative 25% of take-home income Dave Ramsey suggests.
While it is undeniable that at age 37, my wife and I are at solid places in our careers and are being paid accordingly, we also have no other debts other than our home. I have been driving the same 2004 Honda Element for over 13 years now. Not to mention, I spend literally all my free time on my 5 side hustles; which provides passive streams income for our family.
But perhaps most important is the fact our 1900 square feet, 4 bedroom, 2 car garage home is still much more humble than it needs to be, according to popular American dream standards.
The main take-away is this: We choose to live way below our means.
If we wanted to sell our current home, we could pocket an easy $50,000 and then “upgrade” to a half a million dollar home. I could even trade in my old Honda Element for a new Toyota Tacoma.
We could “afford” to do that.
But if I am going to impress anyone by my finances, it’s not going to by how much I spend, but instead, how amazingly little.
You had curiously yet quietly observed your brother’s karate lesson last Saturday morning.
So on Sunday afternoon, when I began trying to wrestle with you on the living room carpet, you shouted:
“Get your hands off me!”
You made it clear that you had listened well to the karate instructor when he explained how important it was to not only tell the person to stop hurting you, but also to announce it so everyone could hear.
A few days later, when I dropped you off at school, I even asked your teacher if you had shouted to any of your friends:
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