Oct
Avoiding The Scarcity Mentality Whilst Cutting Down Your Outgoings
In the process of creating our LIP life, we went through a period of having to cut down our expenses and tighten our belts - especially immediately after Jonathan was made redundant.
At the same time, we were aiming to create a fabulously abundant life for ourselves as location independent professionals. Problem was, the two goals were conflicting.
One required an abundant outlook on life - the belief that we could afford to do everything we wanted, achieve our dreams and that we had everything we already wanted. The other required us to restrict what we could have, constantly question what we could afford (and then naturally, what we couldn’t) and focus on cutting back.
What happened? We ended up suffering from a scarcity mentality - the belief that there was just not enough, that we didn’t have enough and we began focusing on the lack in our lives.
But we still had to tighten our belts a little. So how did we do this, without continuing to focus on lack, on scarcity and on there just not being enough? How did we maintain an abundant mentality whilst cutting down, trimming our expenses and restricting ourselves?
Here’s what we did…
- We identified everything that really was an extravagance in our spending - things like organic fillet steaks, 4+ meals out every week and DVDs/CDs/books we wanted but really didn’t need.
- Having identified our extravagances and realised that we really never thought twice about treating ourselves to that handbag (me), those DVDs (Jonathan), our favourite Indian restaurant (twice a week) - you get the idea - we asked ourselves this question every time we wanted to buy something: “Are we really going to need this or use this, in the next 6 months in Panama?” (Panama was where we went first).
- We agreed to go on a “health kick” (in preparation for swanning about in our bathing suits in the tropical heat of Panama, of course) which meant that we really shouldn’t be eating out so frequently, drinking alcohol nor popping out for pastries and coffee every day anyway - saving ourselves a small fortune in the process.
- We nominated Saturday as our “treat” day. On this day, we’d treat ourselves to a meal out, or a coffee or whatever it was we’d restricted during the week.
- Treat day still didn’t include buying “stuff” - things that ultimately we’d have to store, if we bought and didn’t take with us - another great trick for changing your mindset from one of “we’re not buying that because we can’t afford it”, we weren’t buying it “because we really won’t need it when we’re living our dream lives swanning around the Caribbean”.
- We made a daily mental list of everything we already had that we were grateful for (health, house, family, savings, laptops, skills etc. etc.). Not only did we build this practice into our personal daily routines, we frequently discussed it and asked each other what we were grateful for.
The reason it worked? We began focusing on all the things we did have and not on the things we didn’t.
Give it a whirl…or if you have any other tips, let us know…share those abundant feelings with the world!
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This is my challenge. I have exactly 2 days until I am no longer in the cubicle world, and while I am not exactly going to NOTHING, the clients I have on deck will NOT pay my bills. So I have to find a way to reduce costs while at the same time be optimistic and pro-active about taking care of my freelance duties.
I was raised in starvation mentality, and it’s probably the biggest challenge. I find that one thing that helps the “panic attacks” is to create my own mini-luxury - for example, sitting in a comfy chair with a glass of scotch and a good book for an hour or two. Forcing myself to remember that I don’t have to be able to go out for a bit of luxury relaxation.
Anyway, your website is inspirational, and I’m taking off for Chicago this weekend, and next week it’s Vegas, L.A., and back to Vegas, and then, with a little luck, Mexico at the end of November. It’s not quite the 6 month thing that I wish it was…but it’s something, and it’s a start. thanks for sharing your stories.
Welcome Gray!
Wow, 2 days, hey? Congratulations on making a move - I am sure that everything will come together as you need it to. Thanks for the tip about creating your own mini luxury - I love the idea.
Enjoy your forthcoming travels…I am sure they will be the first of many exciting journeys to come for you. Let us all know how you get on…
Lea,
I really like your site and your LIP philosophy! I just had this conversation with a friend about the difficult choice of “where to live” and the question “should one more to a city where there are better job prospects?”
I’ve always been of the opinion that people don’t need to find “the perfect place.” What people are really looking for are options and flexibility with regard to location. It’s definitely more of a challenge to do so on a budget, but it’s amazing how little one can live on for extended periods of time in certain contries (especially Latin America/South America) where expenses are much lower.
Thanks for the inspiration!