Common Misconceptions: I Don’t Make Enough Money

Years ago I was talking to a co-worker at a bar after work, and she was lamenting the “fact” that she didn’t make enough money. I looked at her in surprise. She always wore the nicest clothes, always went out to lunch, and often made extravagant weekend plans. I assumed she made a lot more money than me, judging only by how much she spent. But this was not the case: she was sinking in debt.

Her idea that she should make more money actually led to her financial crisis. Why? Well, let’s take a look at how thinking that you don’t make enough money **may** lead you to financial troubles

**I must clarify that a few people unfortunately have no possible places to cut back and do not make enough money. This does happen, but many people can find ways to live on what they make.

The Thought Trap

Here’s where people can blame society: our nation of spenders encourages us to spend beyond our means. There’s always gonna be a new iSomething available. Magazines will forever supply us with flashy ads about the newest must-have egg beater or other such amazing kitchen gadget. We will basically be inundated with calls from society to buy, buy, buy for the rest of our lives.

The problem comes when we answer these calls to spend our hard-earned cash on items we don’t really need. We can easily spend beyond our means. In my friend’s case, she was living the life she wanted, not the one she could afford.

But I Really Don’t Make Enough…

Of course, my co-worker argued that she really didn’t make enough money. And my response: what do you need to buy? Food, water, and shelter. Period. That’s all we need to survive.

If she wanted some extra perks in life, she had to choose wisely based on how much she made, not on how much she felt she deserved to make. I agreed that she was underpaid for her experience, but that should not have been a reason to excuse furthering her debt.

Living Within Her Means

So how did my friend trade her troubles for a few smiles? She began to live within her means. That two bedroom condo for one person: gone. The endless chain of clothing: no more new purchases. Lunches, dinners and nights out: only for special occasions.

Basically, she started over. How? Well, she figured out how much she could actually afford by working backwards. How much did she really need for groceries? How much did she need to pay out for necessities like water, electricity, and gas? Did she need that big condo all for her lonesome? How much did she need to pay per month to pay off all of her debts?

After she added the absolute necessities to her list, she added in others, as needed and as cheaply as possible. Transportation was necessary, but she wondered if she could save money by biking, walking, carpooling or taking the bus. Sure she needed to eat lunch, but could she brown bag it at least a few days per week? The key here was to find ways to live off the salary she made, not her ideal salary.

I am happy to report that my co-worker found ways to cut back. She found a roommate for that spare bedroom in her rental condo. She stopped buying new clothes until the old ones were absolutely past their prime, and she decided to ditch her expensive car in favor of public transit. Overall, she decided to live within her means, not within the salary she thought she should make.

What do you think about the phrase “I don’t make enough money”?

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