A few weeks ago I did Part 1 in this series. I talked about some of the smartest financial decisions I made up to university. Now I’m going to talk about some of the decisions I made after finishing university.
Here are three more of the best money decisions I’ve ever made:
- Rent a basement apartment the first few months out of school.
- Not live beyond my salary.
- Buy a house below the amount I was approved for.
1. Rent a basement apartment the first few months out of school
I was lucky enough to graduate with a job in hand (the last place I did a co-op term for!), so I knew where I was going to be working. In order to not have to rush into moving all my stuff right after I finished school, as well as save up some money for first and last month’s rent, I rented a basement apartment for three months before I moved into my new apartment. I was lucky in that I had a nice landlady and I was so used to moving that one more move didn’t really phase me – and it helped me save up most of my paycheck for several months.
2. Not live beyond my salary
I graduated with a pretty good salary – not a crazy high salary but certainly enough that I could have splurged way more than I did. Instead, I immediately started putting money into my retirement savings plan, as well as some non-registered accounts. Where I worked wasn’t downtown, so going out to lunch wasn’t really an option – so that helped me save too. I certainly didn’t deny myself the odd treat (and I definitely did a little travelling the first few years after I graduated), but I also made sure not to live beyond my means.
3. Buy a house below the amount I was approved for
When my husband and I were ready to move out of our apartment and look for a house, one of the first things we did was get pre-approved for a mortgage. We could have definitely bought a more expensive house than we did, but we choose to get something in a more affordable range. I’m not going to lie – while the house itself and the location was fine – I hated sharing a wall (we were in a semi-detached house) and living on a corner because it was a high-traffic area. So if I had a chance to make this decision again, I’d likely have spent more in the interest of peace and quiet!
The Takeaway
These good money decisions have helped me a lot. It meant when I ran into some unexpected costs later in life, I had enough money saved up that I could still afford to pay for them without going into debt. It also meant I wasn’t “house poor”. I definitely cut back on travelling once my husband and I bought the house – but we could still afford to eat out and go to the movies – the fun things in life!
What’s a good financial decision you’ve made in regards to spending below your means or buying a house?
