I played a fair number of video games growing up. I enjoy the media as an entertainment platform.
One of my favorites was SimCity.
As my wife and I have come to the realization that we’ll never be wealthy, we’ve had to learn to live better within our means. To do this, we’ve developed a “game” we play called SimPoverty.
The basic gist is this: pay yourself less than your take home pay and live off of it.
So, my take home pay is about $20 per hour. I pay myself $5 per hour for my work hours at my job and any work I do at home. My wife receives the same pay for her work. There’s no way we can make more than I earn on my checks.
This leaves us money leftover at the end of every month. Our savings is growing instead of shrinking.
I realize that this, to many smarter folks, just seems like common sense. “Spend less than you make.” Yup.
With my wife quitting her outside job last year, it’s been a little bit of a struggle to learn how to live on less. This “game” has helped quite a bit. Once I understand it better, maybe I’ll write a book about it.