Act Your Wage

I was driving down the street the other day, and I saw this sticker on a car. I literally sat at a stoplight for 30 seconds, analyzing the sticker, thinking about what I thought it meant, forming an opinion of the driver of the older, white van who believed in this so much he put it on his car.

Clearly it's talking about not getting in over your head, and not spending more than you make. Who cares if you don't have a brand new convertable? Or if your house isn't the biggest on the block? If you act your wage, you'll be sitting pretty when it comes time to retire or send your kids to college.

Acting your wage is not just about not spending more money than you have - it's about enjoying life on a financial level with which you are comfortable! As Janet Jackson and Luther Vandross said, "the best things in life are free", and while I think that's a nice sentiment, you do need money to function on some level. Yes, it would be nice to jet off to some exotic locale for a vacation, but for now, I'll take the trip to eastern Washington (it's exotic in its own right). And not to say you can't vacation at an exotic locale - by all means do if it's in the financial cards! As new homeowners, a trip to Australia is not in our budget. Since it's important to me (er, us), we'll save for it and go when it is feasible.

Think about how many lives are damaged by out of control spending and unnecessary debt - marriages are ruined, friendships are ended, families destroyed. At Lean With Green, this is definitely the message we want to get across. Life is too short to be mired in credit card debt for meaningless purchases or wasteful spending. You can be happy without stuff!