In Which My Sister-in-Law Decides to Get Rich Slowly
Monday, 14th January 2008 (by J.D.)This article is about Choices, Debt, Real-Life
On Saturday, I joined Kris and her sister for a quick tour of local thrift stores. They picked up clothes; I picked up books. After a few hours of shopping, we took a break to grab some cheap tacos for lunch.
“You’ve inspired me,” Tiffany said as we waited for our meals.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I’ve been reading Get Rich Slowly,” she said. “I’ve realized there’s more I can do to save money. And to earn money. I’m thinking about finding a second job.”
She explained: “I’m not extravagant. I don’t buy a lot of fancy things, but I don’t live frugally, either. And I don’t want to. I like going to the movies with friends. I like going out to dinner sometimes. I like shopping at thrift stores with you guys. I’m not wild with my money, but I don’t like to pinch pennies.”
The waitress brought our food. As I spread hot sauce over my tacos, Tiffany continued. “I still have some credit card debt. It’s not a lot, and I’m paying it off, but it’s slow. I’d like to pay more. So I’ve decided to find a second job — a part-time job — at Nearby Department Store. I’m hoping they can give me a full day on Sunday. That would be perfect.”
She explained the math to me. If she worked eight hours a week at minimum wage for Nearby Department Store, she could have her credit card debt eliminated in a few months.
“Plus I’ve started saving,” she said. “Every month I’m transferring $100 into my savings account. That’s not a lot, I know, but it’s a start. And once I’m done paying off my credit card, I can save even more.”
I love to hear reader success stories. Get Rich Slowly has been a great tool to help me learn about money, and it’s good to know that others find it useful. But I find it especially edifying when I hear that the site has inspired friends and family to pursue their goals. Keep up the good work, everyone!
That’s great!
My brother has recently gone to the cash envelope system that I touted as well. Nice to know you are helping someone!
Good Brother!
This is a great story and what Tiffany said about *not* wanting to live frugally really resonated with me. I think there is a common perception that personal finance means living like a miser. To me, it’s the exact opposite–it means working towards financial stability so that you know that once you have your debt paid off, your retirement savings on target, and a solid emergency fund, you don’t have to worry as much about how you spend the rest of your money.
GRS and The Simple Dollar have helped me a great deal over the past few months. This is the first time that I’ve ever really had to deal with credit card debt, and getting encouragement from you guys has certainly helped me keep the end goal in mind. Thanks!
Hey - I wanted to share my “success” story. I wouldn’t say I’m wealthy yet, but my success is developing a consciousness about wealth-building. GRS is one of my top two or three favorite blogs, the one I look to for personal finance advice. Thanks for all your work, I know I really appreciate it!
Side note: one book you sister-in-law might want to look at is All Your Worth. It’s designed for people who don’t really want to penny-pinch or “clean out used Ziploc bags” as the authors say.
All of these personal finance blogs have inspired me to get myself out of debt. For a long time I knew that I was trying to get out of debt; I just never knew where to start. Thanks to people like you, I’ve begun putting money into an emergency fund, as well as a freedom account, and I’m going to start a debt snowball plan. I’ve been planning like crazy. Really, the blogs have been a Godsend to me. Keep it up!
I think that’s likely one of the most rewarding things I can hope to accomplish. Getting some dollars from advertisements is nice, but I think that’s probably the meat and potatoes.
Good job at encouraging someone in your life to live more responsibly.
And Sister In Law: If you are reading this, good luck!
Very nice, good luck to her! I recently had a friend start talking to me about debt reduction after reading my blog for a few months. It’s awesome to know that blogs really do help/inspire people. I’m sure yours has helped a lot!
I’ve been reading GRS for a few months now. I have lots of good habits in place, but I know I can do more to stop frittering away (that’s my Dad talking) money and be more mindful about my spending. I’ve contacted my bank to get all account fees cut, and opened a savings account with ING. I’ll be using TaxCut for my taxes this year. Just paid off ALL my credit card debt and paid for a vacation in March — with money already in my checking account. I really enjoy this blog, it makes me think and reminds me that I can live more frugally and simply if I just slow down and think. Thanks for all the good work!
This is by far one of my two favorite blogs (the other one is about cooking!
). Thanks for writing, and writing so often and with good topics. Sometimes I just read old articles too even if I’ve read them in the past just to get inspired and stay on track.
That’s wonderful news! All the best to her on her journey to better financial health. I resolved this year to stop paycheck living and be more savings-oriented. Hopefully 2008 will be a great financial year for us all.
I don’t think there’s a regular reader who couldn’t credit GRS with improved finances. It’s osmosis. Even if the results aren’t realized yet for each of us, we benefit from clearer focus on the prize.
I hope that your SIL doesn’t find that she is so tired from working six days per week that her performance at Job A starts to diminish. That would be counterproductive.
Once we move into our new place, I plan on starting to tutor math. It’s amazing how much just a little bit of extra money can really open up some possibilities for meeting your financial goals.
I think it’s something every one will have to individually assess - is working a second job one day a week, paying off cc debt in a few months from it, worth it? I look at the money I could bring in from a second job and how it could definitely help speed up debt payments and savings - but being bone tired from working 60hrs a week (day job plus 20hr/wk second job) isn’t worth it to me (yet LOL). If a ‘perfect’ p/t job came along, I’d definitely consider it, though. Good luck to your SIL!
Personal finance isn’t really about pinching pennies, it’s more just about living within your means. If your means require you to pinch pennies, then that’s how you need to live life. If you aren’t happy, then you need to work to increase your means. Bravo sister in law!
I heard about Tiff’s good thrift store finds with you guys. I also wanted to add that since I’ve been reading your website (which has only been since the summer I think), I’ve also decided to take a stance on my finances. I’m hoping to have at least half of my debt paid off by the end of 2008….all of it by mid-2009. I don’t have much saved for retirement at this point, but after I get my debt paid off, I am going to put all of the money that I was using to pay off my debt into a IRA and start saving for retirement. So thanks for inspiring me! I just wanted to thank you.
I bought my brother ‘Personal Finance for Dummies’ for Christmas and recently went over my sister-in-law’s debts, finances, and house buying plans with her. Even my wife is (very) slowly coming on board with some of my frugality.
Stuff like this is why I’m involved in PF blogging at all.
You can never under-estimate the power of positive feedback. It motivates us all, but is not always shared.
Best Wishes,
D4L
Increasing your income is a great way to get out of debt. Another thing that I’ve found, is that working that second job (or taking on more hours at your first job, if possible) takes up a chunk of time that you might otherwise be spending money. (Let’s go out to dinner! Hey, wanna see a movie? I’m just gonna run to Target for a minute…you know how it goes.)
One thing though, remember to take into account anything that’s going to end up costing money: transportation to the job, specific clothes or tools you need for the job, take-out food you have to buy because you have less time than before, child care costs, etc. Weigh your costs against what you will make after taxes and decide if it’s worth it.
I hadn’t hit the thrift stores lately but last week my local consignment store sent out an email that their winter items were 50% to 75% off. I printed my coupon for an extra 10% off and headed in to check out what they had. I came out $32 poorer but with: one brand new bicycling top (in a nice fluorescent green so the cars will see me for my bike trip this summer), 1 - also new - swim suit top (for my middle aged body, I combine swim shorts with swim tops), a wonderfully soft merino and cashmere sweater with the Marshall’s tags still on it, a nearly new pair of Land’s End jeans, and an incredible alpaca sweater in gorgeous colors that is showing a tad of wear on the inside but looks fine on the side that people see and will keep me so cozy in my slightly cool house and sometimes too cold workplace. And hey, for $3 if it unravels after a few wears, it can become a gardening/camping sweater. The two summer tops were not on sale (though way cheaper than they’d be in a regular store) but the other items were about $3 each. I can use all of these. For $32 I couldn’t buy any of these items in a regular store or catalog, much less all of them.
I used to hate shopping for clothes in regular store but I often have a great time shopping in thrift stores. Each item is individual. Since I started shopping this way, I get way more compliments on my clothes than I ever got when I shopped in regular stores - and I spend one fourth as much.
Thanks for your rich, in-depth and multi-prong financial blog approach.
Your presentation style gives in-depth look into the pros and cons of various financial options.
Reading this blog opens my mind to exploring what I can do to make my personal financial portfolio more robust.
Thanks for presenting us with a variety of perspectives and financial angles.
I sincerely appreciate all that you do.
Again…Thanks!
[...] Get Rich Slowly inspires (and is inspired by) his sister-in-law. [...]
Wouldn’t it be better if she found a job that pays better? Minimum wage doesn’t sound so good - still better than nothing, though. But I suspect the way to grow rich is to be paid better, not work more. For example, I think she might be able to work in an office sorting out letters or stuff like that, and earn more than in a department store.
Another way to increase the pay is to take a job that also earns you experience (so the pay is money experience). Not saying that you don’t learn things in a department store, but there might be better options depending on her longterm plans.