Okay, so I'm a little fired up today and I always feel better after a little writing. There is nothing quite like writing to clear my head. It's the cheapest therapy out there, I'm telling ya! And since none of you who read this blog fall into the following category, I feel like I can go with it.
So I have a little gripe with this world today. Why can't people live within their means? I mean, I get it. Life is tough, the economy's not what it used to be, but I think most people have this feeling of entitlement. Don't get me wrong, I catch myself feeling this way, too. But the truth is, most of us have it pretty good.
I don't own a house. Would I love to have rooms without white walls and neighbors that don't smoke 6 feet from my door? Absolutely! Do I dream of a space to call my own complete with a backyard? Heck yes. Would I love to watch movies from a big flat screen tv with surround sound? Yup, but my circa 1990 television with a depth of 24 inches will just have to do!
Right now we're living within our means... and our means don't inable us to jump into home-ownership just yet or allow us many other luxuries like flat screen tv's... or a Wii... or new couches to replace the 20-year-old set we have now.
We're working towards it, but right now it's just not possible. The hubby and I have tried and tried to cut back and here we are, unable to cut back anymore. Do we eat out? Nope. Go to the movies? Not since 2009. Decorate our apartment? No. Vacations? Those days are long over.
We've actually looked at our budget and determined nothing else can be done, with the exception of $60 for cable/home phone and my $50 monthly shopping allowance. And so we consider it...
And for the most part I'm okay with things. I'm more fortunate than most. And despite my lack of things, I'm really happy.
But occassionally, I'm reminded that while I live within my means there are people that I know that get state assistance (not that I'm against state assistance... as long as it's being used in the way it's intended!) that have more and I mean MUCH more than I do! Nice homes, vacations, big screen tv's, you name it.
I was recently told by someone that I didn't have the right to expect to have nice things when I'm a stay-at-home mom. I get it. We're a one-income home in a two-income world. And I am willing to give up my right to have nice things and, in order to stay home with Ryan, be completely content with "okay" things; with small, but adequate things; with I'll-take-extra-good-care-of-them-to-double-their-lifespan things.
I guess I'm just frustrated that I ever thought it was possible to have those "adequate" things and still live within your means, because so many people that are making the same kind of money as us are living with SUPER nice things.
Which leads me to one conlusion: they do it with tons of debt. And that's what gets me. That on the outside it seems attainable and yet it's really not.
And so I sit here in my 900 square foot apartment, inhaling my neighbor's second-hand smoke as it billows in the window, determined to be happy no matter what.
