We all know the proverbial rat race right?
Often we want to forget about what that means and just keep our heads down and keep working…..it’ll all be fine!
Or….yea it sucks, but what am I supposed to do? I’ve got to put food on my table!
But nothing every really changes does it?
Sure you finally get that newer car (on payments) or even the bigger house or apartment. (More bills!)
your working more, and you got a raise! you can afford to pay more rent now right?! (or pay a bigger mortgage, I mean your family’s growing, you just needed the extra space!)
But again….your still running around the hamster wheel aren’t you?!……
Ok…ok…..let me keep my head down some more, I’ll figure it out!
I got this!
I need to work a little harder,
We have to get a babysitter too!
Then my wife and I can finally both work!
then I’m sure we will finally be able to get ahead!
Work…..work…..and more work….
The kids are growing up fast!
Wow…..(you get the picture!)
I mean….we’ve both been working our asses off for several years since we last sat down and looked at our situation and our budget, that was when we decided to get the babysitter so we could both work longer and harder to get ahead…….
I hardly even have the energy I used to have…..the kids are just getting bigger and bigger….something’s got to give….
This family life thing is hard!
Who know?! all this could be so expensive!
the babysitter, we had to get a second car……
I knew we shouldn’t have taken time off to go on that two week summer vacation!
We couldn’t really afford it, could we?
But…..we were so worn out I just thought it would be nice, and we deserve it!
How is it possible we still have no real savings?
I mean…..we’ve actually got less money now (and way more debt!) than we did when we met, before we got married?!
How can that even be possible?
We’re not really any further ahead than we were five years ago…..but we’re both working way harder than we did then!
This is depressing!
And on….and on…….and on….,
Yep, that’s the rat race I’m talking about, and It really sucks!
(Hope my fictional story above did at least paint the picture I’m trying to convey!)
So, what can we do?
How do we actually get ahead and eventually get out the rat race?
While there is no one answer to this all important question, some important points that are quite obvious from the story above, but that took me years to figure out and learn (decades actually!)
1-Spend less money!
Yes, that’s right, spend less money, don’t get the newer car or the bigger house, or even the babysitter if you can avoid it!
2- spend less money again!
Budget, your expenses must be less than your income, write down your monthly expenses and your budget, take a monthly average over the next 12 months.
3- earn more, and, do not increase your expenses! Keep your budget the same! No new shiny things! Making more money means you save more money, it does not mean spend more money!
The answer is NO!
4- work smarter, find a skill that you already have and do it as a side hustle!
(You don’t have to retrain, just think about what you already know, who would pay to learn what you know? And How do You get it to them?)
5- keep doing your side hustle!
being consistent with it over time will start to pay off!
Ok, let’s stop there for now.
I think you get the point,
If you actually do the things mentioned above, you will be well on your way to getting out the rat race!
In a relatively short period of time, you’ll have a healthy amount of savings and a reasonably developed side hustle that’s starting to pay you. That’s awesome!
Next week we will continue……
