Michael...How are you managing?

I have been getting that a lot. People have been asking over and over again how we are possibly managing to live on just a fraction of our income. So in this short post I decided to share some of our philosophy with anyone that needs it. Over the last four months of unemployment I have had a chance to be online more just reading peoples stories and its not secret. People are hurting, and I would be right there with them if we did not take control of our lifestyle early on in 2009.

The first thing we did was simplify. We just started leading simple lives. We got rid of careless spending and stupid bills. Stupid Bills that we hated to write every month (cable, internet). We also simplified by getting rid of stuff. When we got rid of our cable package there was no sense in keeping our flat panel HD TV so we sold it on Craigslist. Craigslist is a beautiful thing. So when we were simplifying we were actually making money to help us out.

Of course we are not fully where we want to be on Simplifying the Morehart household. We are looking at getting rid of our 2nd car. I would take public transportation everywhere if I could but with going across the river to Cincinnati a few times a week it would take hours upon hours to get to my final destination.

So what can you get rid of to simplify your life?

Another thing we did was downsize! We are renters and right now in our lives we are totally fine with it. For years we thought we needed a house. We have to be "mature adults" and buy property. The fact is that mentality is totally wrong. It's just more stuff..Yes there are great tax benefits and yes someday we would enjoy having a house but we are not letting it control our lives anymore. We were living in a three bedroom town home and paying close to $800 a month to be in one of the worst school districts in Northern KY. So we got drastic! We decided to invest more in our childrens future by downsizing where we lived. We packed up and moved into a two bedroom apartment so our children could be in one of the better schools in the state of Kentucky. Yes that means our three children are in the same bedroom, and you know what? THEY LOVE IT! Of course they are only 6,4, & 2 so they love being around each right now. Of course all of this could change, but this is what is helping us at this point in our lives. That move to downsize allowed us to better our childrens education as well as save us $200 a month on rent. I wasn't crazy about the mood at first but really felt like it was something we just had to do. Not know that 3 months later I would be out of a job.

That extra $200 bucks has definitely come in handy. So you might be thinking...Well I can't do that b/c I own a house! UHHH...it's just a house. My question to you is...Is it really a home if your mortgage payment is killing you to pay every month? The truth is if things would of went our way back in Feb of 09 we would of had "our house" and we would of been paying a crazy mortgage to have "our house". But it wouldn't of been our house to long b/c we would of been foreclosed on b/c I wouldn't of been able to make the payments after losing my job.

Mandy and I have our dream house in mind, and someday we know that God will bless us with a great opportunity to have a house. Until that day comes we are extremely happy with where we are.

Along with those, we also just stopped crazy spending. This was the hardest part b/c those $4 lattes and $8 books add up. I was going to a coffeeshop on a regular basis to get a coffee that I could of easily made at home! I got the skills!!! I would also buy quite a bit of books at Borders and it was starting to hurt the bank. So I started going to this building called a library where you can just borrow the books for a while for free. Its a pretty novel concept and I think will take off. I had that mentality that I had to own the book so that I could write in them. Then it occurred to me, if I just stopped writing in them then I really don't need to keep them around. So now if I need to write something down from a book I got from the library I just write it down in a journal. It's pretty simple!

What crazy spending habits can you get rid of?

The final step I had to make was I had to stop letting money control me. Money is a great thing, but it can also be a very evil thing. I loved to spend, I loved to buy things and that had to stop. I not only had to stop letting money control me, but I had to control what money I had.

God saw us through all of our financial burdens and we had to learn every step the hard way. We had withholding's b/c we couldn't pay the debts that we had already accumulated. All of that is behind us now and we are totally seeing God being our provider through all of this. He has shown me that if we are smart with what He has given us then He will bless us through that!

My approach on life and success have changed so much over the last 4 months and it has been a message that God has been trying to teach me for years. My ramblings are not to gloat but that maybe it might help you realize that petty stuff and cool gadgets are not important to God and they really shouldn't be that important to us.