It's always been scary AF living beyond or close to my means. Probably bcuz I lived far from home without a lot of financial help available. With the recent Trump shakeups and seeing so many of my people in DC scared and scrambling, putting their homes up for sell. Got me thinking, are we living beyond our means and we don't know it. Seems most of us are just a few weeks of being unemployed away from being poor and back in the hood anyway.
Personally, the smartest thing i've done in my life was by a run down house in the hood im from in 2017. Bought it as an investment property for the low, with thoughts of this being a fail safe / back up plan in case my career/life took a down turn as it always seems to do. I've had money, lost money a few times and finally realized when you're up, you need to put things into place that can help you when thing are down. Hit a few licks and was able to renovate and pay it off in about 5/6 years. Moved to DC and rented it out for 18 months. Tenant was ok. After that expensive stay in DC, about to 4k a month in bills and being burnt out in the IT field. Lifestyle just didn't fell sustainable long-term. I decided to move back to my little house in the hood. Not the most treacherous hood, bcuz i grew up there and know a lot of good and bad people. Now my bills are around 1500$ which is sustainable even with a lower income. At 40+ now, i really want to live a modest, way below my means lifestyle.
The whole 12+ years I lived in DC i made great money but never felt comfortable bcuz of the high cost of living. Never liked the feeling of having to work consistently, never getting a month break. Maybe I'm just lazy. My thing is, I'll live in the hood and really save and stack up to where I can afford a better place to live without having to depend on a 9 to 5.
Personally, the smartest thing i've done in my life was by a run down house in the hood im from in 2017. Bought it as an investment property for the low, with thoughts of this being a fail safe / back up plan in case my career/life took a down turn as it always seems to do. I've had money, lost money a few times and finally realized when you're up, you need to put things into place that can help you when thing are down. Hit a few licks and was able to renovate and pay it off in about 5/6 years. Moved to DC and rented it out for 18 months. Tenant was ok. After that expensive stay in DC, about to 4k a month in bills and being burnt out in the IT field. Lifestyle just didn't fell sustainable long-term. I decided to move back to my little house in the hood. Not the most treacherous hood, bcuz i grew up there and know a lot of good and bad people. Now my bills are around 1500$ which is sustainable even with a lower income. At 40+ now, i really want to live a modest, way below my means lifestyle.
The whole 12+ years I lived in DC i made great money but never felt comfortable bcuz of the high cost of living. Never liked the feeling of having to work consistently, never getting a month break. Maybe I'm just lazy. My thing is, I'll live in the hood and really save and stack up to where I can afford a better place to live without having to depend on a 9 to 5.
yall nikkas better cancel them prime and hulu subscriptions, get rid of that car note and get a used car. i drove a beater for 8 years and saved up, now im in a 2016 lexus paid for.. theres a reason most people dont have 1k in savings.
