Stop Spending

Being one of the idle rich, I have a lot of free time on my hands. I am definitely idle, but not really rich. However, since I don't have enough money to spend all my free time shopping, I have to do other things.

Oprah had a couple on her show that needed someone to tell them that spending money until you are nearly $1 million in debt with much of not real estate (which mean true stuff) while making about $100,000 a year is probably not the best plan. Having to wear only name brand clothing, brand new name brand clothing at that, is not necessary to a full life. Driving new and fancy cars is not a way to impress the world. The world doesn't really care.

Suze Orman is an in-your-face sort of financial consultant. She was adamant that the family stop buying hundreds of dollars of clothing three or four times a week and get some health insurance for the kids. Wow! What a concept. These people were part of the statistic about uninsured kids because they simply chose to shop instead.

I was reading an article about a bipartisan bill to be introduced into the Ohio State Congress to limit payday loans and interest rates. The bill would limit interest to 36% where it can top 300% now. This used to be called usury and was illegal in the past. The loan shops say that it is just short term loaning and the APR is irrelevant because the money is not held that long.

The payday loans or car title loans or places that lend money to people who don't have money so that they can pay their bills are dangerous. If you don't have enough money to pay your bills this week and you borrow money from one of these places, paying an up front fee and then outrageously high interest, you aren't going to have enough money next week to pay them back AND pay your current bills. So you crawl further into debt.

What to do? At one time I was neither idle or even remotely rich. I had to watch every single penny I spent. I had to choose between formula for the baby and roast beef for the adults. The baby had formula and the adults lived another day on tuna, or hamburger, or no meat at all. I used to yearn for meat that had not be chewed up first. But I didn't buy what I couldn't afford.

It is probably a symptom of that long ago deprivation that I have 100+ pairs of shoes in my closet today. That and the fact that I don't throw anything away. I have some shoes in there that are over 15 years old but they are comfortable and I wear them rarely enough that they are still in good shape. So I keep them.

I could, if I chose to do so, spend up into bankruptcy court. It wouldn't really be difficult. There are many things that I could buy that would be fun to have. Starting with a newer computer right here in my office and working outward. Most of the furniture in my house is old, some we've had since we got married 34 years ago.

Children ask for all sorts of things. They are easily led to crave things by the advertising they see on television. Real parents learn to say "no" frequently. You can't have everything you see and learning that when you are two isn't really that horrible. My children can recite with the same intonation and inflection I have imbued the statement with – "We all have wants and needs that go unfulfilled." Get used to it.

Teaching your children that you are a bottomless pit and can supply all their earthly wants is cruel and a disservice to the small people put in your charge. There will come a time when what they want cannot be purchased from a store and after a certain age the lesson of self-denial gets more and more difficult.

I would like to be able to get in my car and drive to where I want to be without interference from other drivers or traffic impairment. It doesn't happen. I can deal with the denied want. Those who can't get road rage. They were not taught that life is full of disappointments and they are not prepared to handle the frustration of sharing the planet with 6.5 billion other people.

~ Stop buying so much crap.
~ You do not need to live in a mansion. It doesn't impress the rest of the world because the rest of the world does not care.
~ Designer clothing is not necessary and is usually ugly anyway.
~ Cooking is not that hard and much cheaper than buying premade crap or eating out.
~ A car is to get you from point A to point B. It is not a status symbol.
~ Living within your means might just mean you don't have to trip over so much stuff, and wouldn't that be nice?
~ Payday loans are a really bad idea.

Henry David Thoreau told us to "Simplify, simplify." It would be much easier if we did.