Simplicity
My Continuing Journey
By Stephen R. Bock
Copyright © 2009
I contributed an article to this Newsletter a little over a year ago. I thought perhaps some readers would be interested in an update on my journey on the route to “simplicity.”
I have been recording my expenses and posting them on a spreadsheet for two full years now. For 2008 compared to 2007, I was able to cut my expenses by over $6,000. A lot of the savings came as a result of just being aware of where my money was going and making adjustments where I felt I was spending too much.
Some of the savings came from questioning my expenses. For example, I called my local phone company and told them I wanted to cancel all of my services except plain old telephone service and dial-up Internet. My phone bill at the time was $97 per month. The service representative asked me why I was doing this. I told her, “Because I am getting sticker shock each month on my phone bill when I receive it.” She asked me, “What if we can lower your costs, would you be willing to keep your present services?” My answer was, “That would depend on how much you can lower my costs.” At the end I wound up with all of the same services for $63 per month. So, I was able to lower my bill by 1/3 simply by asking. I applied this same method to my homeowners insurance and car insurance, lowering my premiums substantially. With my car insurance, I approached my agent armed with a quote from another company. That definitely got his attention. I doubled my liability coverage and cut my premium from $174 to $103 each six months, for $140 savings per year with better coverage.
As Job said, in Job 3:25, “The thing that I greatly feared is come upon me.” Late last year I was notified by the company I have worked at for 20 years that my job, along with 26 others, is being outsourced to India. The company I worked for did give me six months prior notice of my being forced into retirement. In addition they are paying a severance package of several months pay, which really helps. So at the end of March, I become a retiree several years before I planned to be in that position. The beautiful thing is that the Your Money or Your Life program has prepared me as much as one can be prepared for job loss. The only debt I have is my mortgage; I have paid it down $100,000 over the past five years and only have seven years to go. I know exactly what it costs for me to live each month. I am looking forward to reducing expenses this year by a much greater amount, due to saving the commuting and job costs. I can draw unemployment for 48 weeks, if I understand the extension correctly.
With my savings, my severance money, and my unemployment compensation I feel confident that I can pay living expenses until I am 62 (2.5 years), and can then draw Social Security. I should not have to use my 401(k) money which is depleted by the current stock market situation anyway. If we need to in the future, we can downsize our house, paying cash for a new one. This would add considerably to our savings, and at the same time cut our property taxes significantly.
My wife has really gotten on board with the simplifying of our house. We have hauled away truckloads of extra stuff that we did not need, and we still have a long way to go to simplify our personal belongings to a level that we will be happy with. We are selling a lot of things on Ebay, which is also padding our bank account for my forced retirement. My wife teaches art at a local Christian school, and since she is three years younger than me, she plans to continue to do this for several years given the opportunity to do so.
We are eating out much less and cooking our own meals. My wife looks forward to my cooking her breakfast each Saturday morning (we used to eat out every Saturday morning). I am excited looking forward to my new life of not working for pay any longer. I plan to do a lot of work on our house and yard, take up my Tai Chi exercise again, and go on many walks for exercise. I will continue to sell things we decide to get rid of on Ebay, and I plan to do some book signings to promote my book that was published a year ago: The Symbols Of Revelation. By no longer sitting at a desk all day, instead working around the house and yard, exercising, I believe I can lose a lot of weight and recover some of my lost stamina. I am looking forward to my new life with great anticipation. Due to having a grip on my financial situation, I am not worried and full of apprehension as I would have been without the last several years of preparation.
About The Author
Stephen R. Bock works as a computer programmer for money to pay the bills. He has been Christian for 27 years and pastors a small church. Stephen has been married to his wife Deborah for 36 years and has three grown, married daughters, and four grandchildren. He has self-published 14 doctrinal booklets, and his new book, The Symbols of Revelation appeared in bookstores last year. Stephen can be reached at srbock@fuse.net.
Related posts:
