the smallish house- which is also looking a little crooked- I should fix that. :)So, it's no secret, we aren't wealthy. Well, in comparing our financial package with the general worlds population we are actually very wealthy (I've spent time in one room, dirt floor homes), but for now I'm speaking relative to the majority of our cohorts.
We live in a smallish house which, coincidentally, has a smallish mortgage payment. We have ginormous medical bills (which we actually pay) and in contrast and, in part, because of, have a very small food and extras budget. When we do go out to dinner or to an event (95% of the time the outing being free to us because of gift cards or prizes) we almost always spend a portion of the evening wondering how and why people without prizes or gift cards actually spend money to do such things.
In the past I have been guilty of an occasional ''envy moment" but I have come to learn that that is just silly.
Last Thursday on our way to see Sarah McLauchlan (part of a prize package of course) we drove through streets that were decorated with beautifully, enormous houses, I thought to myself, why? First of all, you could feed a lot of hungry mouths with what you put into that. Second, I would never want to have to clean all of it and third, well just another why? Does a bigger house make someone feel better about themselves?
If we were wealthy the only "benefit" would be a sense of security that would come however I think it would be a false sense of securtity and also run a person the risk of thinking he/she can actually survive without God. I know, I know, that's silly to say but I think the theme is pretty evident in the pride cycle in The Book of Mormon, as soon as the author starts talking about wearing fine clothing the next thing you know they are drifting into prideful wicked ways. I know this is not true for everyone and some people handle the wealth they have been blessed with very well but I think it would be a tricky thing to do in a world where everyone is trying to have the latest and greatest or have their kids in every talent endeavor possible.
The other day I got one of my favorite publications in the mail, "The Forsyth County Parks and Recreation Calendar", I immediately opened it and read cover to cover of all the wonderful things I would like sign Zane up for. He is interested in tennis, he is one amazing baseball player, and he has an internal devotion to fighting...tennis, baseball or taekwondo??? I talked it over with Lee, we asked Zane what he would like to do, the more I thought about it the more I loved the idea but then I remembered our budget priority list...rec activities are on it but food storage happens to be above it and I do think that, in the event we couldn't shop at the grocery store, Zane would prefer to eat rather than to have played in a rec league...
Although I do not think we will be in the "poor years" forever, Lee is working towards his goal of owning his own agency, I am grateful for them. It is giving me a chance to learn the difference between wants and needs (something many people never learn), and to prioritize wants, once the needs are met. My goal, when richer financial times do come, is that no one will ever know...
Other items on our "priority list"
seat belt for the exploder- I should get on that one.
savings, savings
more food storage
a bedroom door for Tate (he's in the almost finished basement-it's lacking doors)
bathroom vanity in basement
Lee's knee operation
Contacts
New living room furniture (many of you that read my blog would recognize my awesome burgundy leather couch and big chair the minute you entered the house-it's got to be 20 years old-but still holding up-it's been though a lot...it deserves to be basement furniture now :) )
