Sustainability in Hard Times

Some say that not since the great depression have we had such hard economic times. Certainly, most of us up until now have been living the high life – buying things on credit, caving to all of those ‘don’t pay for a year’ ads, and mounting more and more debt until we were swimming in it with seemingly no way out. Still, we did not concern ourselves too much: after all, the economy was good, we had our jobs, and we thought we’d be able to sustain our standard of living.
Then came 2008; and with it brought a hurricane of massive layoffs, stock market crashes foreclosures and bailouts. It has gotten to the point where we don’t want to listen to the news anymore; we’re tired of the doom and gloom forecasts. We’re all trying to keep our own heads above water and climb out of the holes we’ve dug for ourselves.

But maybe this is exactly what we need - a hard reality check. We need to get back to the basics with our lives and our finances and take a good look at everything we’ve bought over the years that we are still paying for. That new pair of shoes we thought was such a deal at $60, has now cost over $100 because of interest charges on our credit card. That beautiful new car that we’ve been making payments on is now worth only half of what we bought it for, but we are still paying full price plus interest and taxes. How about that house that we just had to have because it had a pool and a gazebo? We can’t sell it because it’s not worth as much as we sitll owe on the mortgage.

We’ve become a society that wants things now, whether we have the money or not. Credit card companies are all too happy to extend credit, because they know they can charge an exorbitant amount of interest. Ads are everywhere, telling us to buy now and pay later; we deserve that new car or that new furniture, we work hard for it.

Sustainability in hard times comes down to being sensible when times are good. We need to make better choices about what we buy and how we buy it. Keeping a credit card for emergencies is a good choice; buying a new pair of jeans that have just come on sale is not an emergency. Let’s start paying for things with the cash we have; and only buy things we absolutely need. A good strategy is to wait and think about what you want for at least 24 hours before you buy. Chances are you will find you do not really need that item, and can live just fine without it.

Cut up all your credit cards but one; and save it for emergencies. Start putting some money in the bank instead of living paycheck to paycheck. The hard reality is that we can’t count on our next paycheck to be there.

Consider taking on a second job to help pay down your debt load and get some needed cash in the bank. You may even think about doing some consulting or freelancing to give you some added flexibility; you can work around your current schedule this way.

If we get ourselves into the habit of only buying what we need, and not over-extending ourselves, we will be in a much better position financially; and when we are not worried about our finances, we are much happier and less stressed. We’ll be able to sustain our standard of living for the next wave of economic turmoil.