Paying Attention

I was shocked when I learned that my friend had racked up a credit card balance; she's in a two-income situation and while I don't know whether she has incurred debt for school, she is both going to school part time and co-owner of a mortgage. Her income is healthy and I know she only puts $20/monthly into a 401K. That's a bit scary to me. How?

Why stop at $20? That's $240 annually. How will that help for retirement? Really. That means she doesn't have a big drop in her take-home pay due to retirement savings, which makes it even more remarkable to me that she didn't pay attention to her credit card use until she hit a balance of several thousand.

I admit I'm a bit obsessive about the debt-reduction, but I think it's appropriate; it was only a few years ago that I had a lot more debt than I do now and I don't want to return to that place, especially if we're talking consumer debt. My other goal is to buy a condo or townhouse.

While I'm not quite so fiscally responsible that I have created a strict budget to which I adhere, I'm focused on paying attention. In my case, it means using more coupons at the grocery store, but doesn't mean buying things I don't want/like/need because it's a good deal. I actually know someone who buys canned vegetables when they're on sale. Whether it's a vegetable she likes, or not! While it makes sense to me to stock up on things I like when they're on sale, it makes no sense to buy food I don't like.

Bringing breakfast and lunch to work every day does a lot for me; I save money and am able to have better nutrition. I also have a much better idea of where my money goes and how much of it is going where. I'm not opposed to going out for lunch or dinner, just opposed to doing so multiple times per week and at random. I'm sure that some week in the future I'll end up with too many lunches or dinners out, and that's okay too, as long as I don't fall into the habit of going out a lot each week.

I don't really need anything right now, except contact lenses; as I mentioned before, I can wait a few weeks for that. Next payday I order them.