How to manage your millions – a guide to budgeting for the good life.

I remember when I was a young adult, my mother sat me down and explained to me exactly how much of my pay should go to housing, how much to food, utilities, medical expenses and savings. That was a VERY long time ago, but those lessons have stayed with me throughout the years. Although on the OUTSIDE it looks like we live BEYOND our means, we do not. If you read some of my older posts (especially Finding the Mansion), you’ll see that I’ve used some rather creative techniques to get a home at a price that would make my neighbors jealous, to say the least (houses in my neighborhood go for about 3-4 times what I pay).

I’ve chosen to rent rather than buy. When I look at housing prices that haven’t yet leveled off as well as an economic situation that’s iffy at best, it seems to make the most sense to us (at least RIGHT NOW). Of course, that’s a totally personal decision, and you need to do what is best for your situation.

A few months ago, a reporter from MSN.com contacted me about some quotes regarding WHY I choose to rent…..here is what I said….

Zipporah Sandler also appreciates the simplicity of renting.

“People always ask, ‘Why don’t you buy?’ ” says Sandler, a 50-something retiree who rents a 2,700-square-foot Mediterranean house in a luxury South Florida community for less than it would cost to own a 1,000-square-foot condo.

She and her husband had planned to buy, using cash from the sale of their New England home, but to their surprise discovered after five years of renting that “life has become much easier,” she says. “I absolutely love it.”

You can read the article in it’s entirety on MSN Real Estate.

By not overpaying for my regular expenditures, I have the luxury of having extra money for those things that help me to live the good life. If you’d like to figure out EXACTLY how much of your money should go where, AARP has a very nice Home Budget Calculator that lets you see where your money is going and help you to make improvements so that YOU can live the good life as well.