Agreed re: living more on a budget and cash cushion. My income is good as a freelancer but my wife and I buy nothing on credit and our one big splurge is travel. Our idea is that is times ever get tough we can just give up travel for as long as needed.
I am definitely not "feeding the economy" by buying a lot of stuff (being a good little consumer) as I would have 10 or 20 years ago.
I have traded a desire for and ownership of material things (house on the ocean and a beautiful sailboat) for a lot of freedom and control over how I spend my time. A good trade!
Similar story here. We've still got a somewhat hefty mortgage, but no other debt, and my wife and I both work from home. We just splurged by getting a second car (used, paid cash), as I'm traveling to client sites more, and I've left my wife stranded at home for 2.5 years already.
Outside of some work equipment/supplies, we've definitely been working on saving and having liquid cash available. We had multiple emergencies this year - my wife got very sick and we had an emergency room visit, and we had some deaths in our family which required a lot of travel. In all cases we were able to pay cash from savings rather than charge it, which, 10 years ago, would have been my default way of thinking.
It'd certainly be nicer to have some sort of different health care in the US such that a trip to the emergency room didn't cost thousands, but it is what it is.
I am definitely not "feeding the economy" by buying a lot of stuff (being a good little consumer) as I would have 10 or 20 years ago.
I have traded a desire for and ownership of material things (house on the ocean and a beautiful sailboat) for a lot of freedom and control over how I spend my time. A good trade!