“Moving” Towards Success

You know, when some people earn their first promotion at work, they go out and buy a nice television to celebrate. Not this guy.

Some people go out and upgrade to a nice, new car that makes them look good. Not this guy.

Some people will even go out and purchase a new home or get a bigger place immediately after their promotion. Definitely not this guy.

While I could probably afford any of these things, I’m actually choosing to lower my standard of living by getting a roomate. Why in the world would I do that? Because I believe that in order to be truly successful, you have to be willing to do things people don’t normally do.

Back when I first earned my promotion, I planned on doing my best to save cash for when I purchase my first home next year. No car, no fancy 3D TV; just straight saving. One day, while I was at work a co-worker and I began discussing our current living situations. He and I are a lot alike; both of us are young, focused, and looking to achieve financial freedom at an early age. We’re also both working on our MBA’s and have strong Financial IQ’s for our age. In our conversation, he expressed his desire to finally move out of his parents’ home while still saving some money, and then purchase his own home later next year.

I immediately saw an opportunity. If I could convince him to room with me, we could maximize our savings and have even more to put down on our new homes. Heck, maybe we can upgrade to a better home! I would certainly have no problem paying off my car by my target date!

It didn’t take too much convincing. As soon as I brought up the idea to him, he agreed, and now I have a roommate to split the rent and utility bills. This situation will definitely be one of sacrifice, though. I haven’t lived with a roommate in two years, and I’ve grown accustomed to having my own place. He also suggested living cable-free for the year-long term and switching to Netflix, another cramp in my comfortable lifestyle (Goodbye HD DVR!). I reluctantly agreed, figuring that if I make the sacrifice now, it will make things easier in the future… although just thinking about it still stings a bit.

And of course I have to deal with all of the other potential issues of having a roommate, such as the possibility of him being a slob or a neat freak, a night hawk or an early bird, totally oblivious to others or overly sensitive. Fortunately, I have worked with him for a few years, so I have some sense of his personality and upbringing.

Overall, I believe this is a good move on both of our parts if we can deal for a year. The opportunity to pay my car off next year is just too good to resist. And these opportunities don’t come very often either. I really believe that since our goals are so similar that we will be able to keep each other motivated to reach them.

But man, I’m really going to miss that HD-DVR…