Today we live in a society driven by the dollar. Forget keeping up with the Joneses…they have skyrocketed to success and are now living uptown with a country club membership, and their children are in private schools.

We see the stress for success placed on us by society, and it seems to always increase. Just when we feel we have met the expectations and are on par with the rest of society, someone goes and raises the bar.

If you are one of those people who has fallen into the well-meaning trap of living better, and have run yourself deep into debt trying to keep up, maybe it is time to stop trying to live richer and instead live smarter.

One basic rule that will almost certainly guarantee your financial success, thereby leading you to greater personal happiness, is the 90% rule. Simply put, you live on 90% of your income, and save the other ten percent.

Easy, right?

Unfortunately in our society, we have become accustomed to living on 100%, 110%, or even 130% of our incomes. We put ourselves into financial hock to make up the difference, telling ourselves we will catch up the next time we receive a raise, or we will just work overtime to cover the difference.

Regrettably, this widely accepted line of thinking is leading people to greater and greater stress. Working overtime increases your level of fatigue and decreases time spent with your family, making happiness and work family balance difficult to maintain. Rising debt brings on its own form of stress, which over time can have a detrimental effect on your health as well as on your happiness.

Try to make a few changes in your life that will allow you to live by the 90% rule, and see how much of a difference this positive change can make. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Unclutter Your Life: Clutter in and of itself is a major source of stress for most people. Luckily, you can not only rid yourself of unwanted clutter, but take a bite out of your debt at the same time.

Organize a garage sale or list your unwanted items on a sales site such as E-bay or Craig’s List. Not only can you get unwanted items out of your way, you can use the money you make to pay down some of those credit card bills. If you earn $400 over a weekend at a garage sale, you can make a substantial payment towards one of your bills.

2. Mind Your Utilities: Basic home utilities add up so much faster than we realize. Take stock of your cable bill, your Internet bill, and your phone bill. See if you can bundle services for greater savings, or get rid of services you are not using.

Watch your electricity usage as well. Especially with energy costs on the rise, turning off those extra lights or adjusting your thermostat can add up to hefty savings.

Any money you can save by doing away with unnecessary utility bills can be used towards paying off your debts.

3. Buy Used, Not New: For major purchases such as a car, consider finding a quality used car. Statistics repeatedly tell us that a new car loses 20% of its value the minute it is driven off of the lot. Why not opt for a car that is one or two years old? Most will still be under factory warranty, and your car payment will be greatly reduced.

By making a few small changes in your life, you can reduce your monthly expenses and get back to enjoying time with your family - rather than spending your extra time working, trying to make ends meet to support your lifestyle.

Not only will you find you have eliminated all or most of your debts in a short period of time, but as you continue the process of saving money and living on less than what you earn, you can take your newfound money and invest it. Interest-earning bank accounts, mutual funds, and IRA’s are all ways you can put your 10% to good use, secure in the knowledge you have something saved for a rainy day.

In the overall goal of achieving work-family balance and in the pursuit of greater happiness, giving up some of the little luxuries is very well worth it.

当今 我们生活在一个被金钱驱使的社会中。忘了赶上那些富邻居们吗？...他们飞黄腾达，住在小镇的住宅区并且是乡村俱乐部的会员，他们的孩子也在私立学校里学习。

社会给了我们成功的压力，这种压力也在逐步增大。正当我们觉得刚达到我们的期望值和其他人平起平坐时，又有人超越了我们并提高了标准。

那些人们落入了一个善意的圈套：为了使自己过的更好甚至欠债来和别人攀比。如果你也是其中的一员，或许是时候该停止这种富裕的生活了，取而代之的是一种精明的生活。

有一个基本的规则，它可以让你完全在经济上获得成功，从而让你更加快乐，那就是“90%规则”。这很简单，用你90%的收入来生活，存入其余的10%。

很简单，是吧？

很不幸的是我们已经习惯了用完100%的收入，110%甚至130%。为了能够弥补和别人的差距我们欠债累累，并告诉自己下一次一定可以赶上，能长工资又或许只能加班来掩饰差距。

遗憾的是，这个被普遍接收的思维方式导致人们的压力越来越大。加班会增加疲劳减少与家人在一起的时间，以至于很难保持快乐也难以平衡工作与家庭。日益增长的债务带来了一种压力会损害我们的健康和快乐。

试着让你的生活做一些改变可以使你运用90%规则，并且瞧瞧这种积极的改变可以带来多大的变化。下面是一些建议：

整理你的生活：对于大多数人来说，生活本身的混乱是压力主要的来源之一。幸运的是，在摆脱多余的杂乱的同时你也可以减少你的债务。

在车库里组织一场大甩卖或者在购物网上如易趣、克雷格上列出你不需要的东西。这样你不仅可以打发那些不需要的物品还可以用赚来的钱支付一些信用卡账单。如果你周末的车库大甩卖上赚得了400美元，几乎可以支付其中的一张账单。

计算好必需品的开支：家庭的必需开支增长比我们想象中快很多。计算看看你的光纤费，网费，电话费。你是否可以取消一些服务存下更多的收入或者取消你没有使用的服务。

同时也要注意你的用电习惯。由于能源花费的不断上升，关掉多余的灯或者调整空调的温度可以节省一大笔钱呢。

通过省下不必要的开支而存下来的钱都可以还清你的债务。

只买旧的不选新的：对于大的购买品来说，比如买一辆汽车，可以考虑买一辆质量不错的二手车啊。统计的数据不断告诉我们一辆新车在驾驶了很长一段时间后只会损失其价值的20%。为什么不选择一辆开过一两年的车呢？而且大多数都还在保修期呢，这样你买车的费用就会减少很多。

在你的生活中做一些小小的改变就可以减少你每个月的花费让你重新回到你的家庭中享受美好的时光——而不是用你多余的时间来工作，拼命达到收支平衡，仅仅因为你那生活方式。

你不仅可以在短时间内摆脱你全部或者大部分账单，还可以持续这种省钱的方法用的比赚的少，然后用你新存下来的钱拿来投资。银行里的利息，基金，个人退休帐户都是你利用剩下10%的不错办法。有备无患。

我们总的目标就是达到工作与家庭的平衡，不断追求快乐和幸福，放弃一些小的奢侈品是很值得的。