by Kimberly Wolf

Created on: March 11, 2009

Making the most out of living on less was a well practiced lifestyle that was integrated into both sides of my family life rather than it being something I had to learn due to a drastic life change or unfortunate turn of events.

My parents separated when I was very young, leaving me to spend the majority of my childhood and adolescence with my father. Living on less was a choice in his household and his reasoning was for this was to show my brother and I that we can have the advantage of living a full life with a full pocketbook by making wise and creative decisions.

Instead of making expensive trips to the mall and dining out frequently, we would make a picnic lunch and hop on our bikes to go to the park. There we enjoyed our meals, roamed the play area, and played some frisbee or catch. We would visit state parks, canoe, swim, and camp. We held barbeque's where everyone invited brought a dish so we weren't footing an enormous bill. We went out to places like amusement parks only if tickets were free or on sale.

We also went to movies and dined out occasionally, but usually had more fun doing the things that cost little to nothing. I will always remember being in the good company of our friends and neighbors at barbeque's and spending quality with my family but I couldn't tell you what movies I went to see or where we ate out. Those things seemed trivial and insignificant when I reflect on my childhood.

Living a full life on minimal income in my father's household provided me with great childhood memories that I hope to create for my own children one day. Our household could have afforded nice family vacations and expensive modern gadgets but chose to stick to shopping on a budget and still manage to find ways to make life exciting and enjoyable while ensuring our financial security.

I went to live with my mom when I was 16 years old where living on a budget was not an option, but a necessity. Along with my mother and stepfather, I shared a home with three younger siblings which left no room for luxury.

We managed for the most part to keep afloat but there were the times when I remember digging through the couch cushions and searching under furniture for spare change for groceries. It was during one of these times when we decided that the household finances were in need of some serious re-adjusting.

We only shopped at discount stores and cut out loose spending. In fact, life as far as spending went was not much different than it was at my father's house (minus the need to conduct a "family scavenger hunt" for loose change) but the one major difference I noticed between the two households was how it was handled. For my father, living on less was a choice that was viewed in a positive manner. Living on less in my mother's house was viewed as a problematic situation which created a tense environment in the house.

The negative outlook soon changed when everyone in mom's household began to see the not only the financial advantages of a regulated budget but also noticed the improved quality of family life that it rendered. Without everyone running off in their own direction, we were able to come up with creative and inexpensive ways to spend the newfound family time together.

Eventually finances picked up due to my stepfather's good fortune in landing a very prosperous job and to everyone's amazement, the budget plan for the most part stayed in place. Living on less is now a chosen lifestyle that was enjoyed in both of my family households.

Now that I have my own family, it is a lifestyle that I encourage and continue to carry on my own household today.

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