Less is more - cut cut cut...

The Age is reporting that families are cutting spending and feeling the pinch.

About time. This has been happening to us for months. Creeping petrol and food costs have us repeatedly dipping into cash reserves to the delight of the bank who makes a mint from all the money shuffling. More than once this month I've been gobsmacked at the total at the supermarket checkout, having to fish out the "emergency" credit card to pay for the blowout. Utility bills have reached crippling with a $75 overall increase per bill in the past three months. The only thing that hasn't gone up is the phone bill, but we're waiting. It's depressing I tell you!

On payday I used to save via the tried and test method of "pay yourself first". Some money was set aside for the kids, some for us, set aside rent, enough for food, pay the bills, the rest was treats... there was always enough.

Now payday is "fend off the debtors day" as I spend the bulk of it on the phone to people we owe money trying to keep everyone happy while avoiding those (apparently illegal) overdue fees. For the first time ever I've had to fill out a Medicare form and wait for the cheque instead of smugly queuing at the Medicare office with my paid medical bill. For the first time in living memory I went for two weeks without fruit, saving what was left for the kids while I put off going to the shops. For the first time in ages, when exhausted and thinking take-away might be nice, I have to look hard at the $30 and wonder whether I'll need it later.

Middle-class whining? Of course it is. There are some people on the verge of losing their homes and I'm complaining about my lack of fish and chips? Wow, times are tough eh?

Actually, yes, they are tough. The problem with my family, is that we've gone soft. We have oodles of bad habits brought on by being too comfortable aided and abetted by being children in the last recession. Last time money was this tight we sailed through it thanks to the cushioning of the adults around us. Compound this by both sets of parents abjectly failing to educate us about money and you have a couple of fiscal losers. Here's a great example of my financial stupidity: When interest rates on savings accounts were at 14% I withdrew my thousand dollars savings out of the bank and bought a dress on a whim that I never wore, ever. If my son tried anything that stupid he'd be the figurative equivalent of horse-whipped for it. Then again, my son probably wouldn't because he has me to talk to about things like that. We're trying to make sure he has good habits. Lets hope he doesn't follow our example.

We are slowly but surely changing our habits - and we have some BAD habits. Saturday sleep ins are now "drag yourself out of bed and get to the market" days; mobile phone calls are short and abrupt; we bring our own food everywhere; fast food is less take-away and more opening of tins; we speculate as to how many luxury bought coffees a saving of $10 will buy; walk when we would have driven; drink herbal tea instead of boutique beers; are draconian about switching off lights and heaters, and save money on overdue fines at the video shop by renting our DVDs via the mail.

When I look at that list there are at least three things on it that are going to make us healthier people - this can only be a good thing, right? Will having less make us more disciplined, healthier, dare I say, superior people? I tell you it had bloody better, or the next person who cheerfully  tells me, "Less is more!" might just get a hard flick on the nose.