Life is Funny!
Growing up with not too much extra money leads to a mindset that my kids and their friends don’t know or understand. WHY, they have not experienced it yet. My mom taught my sister and I never to buy something on time, always save and get what you want. To “Lead By Example” we did not have a dining room set until I was 14. My mom saved for 14 years before getting exactly what she wanted. Until then, we had an empty room.
When I married my wife Tami, we rented a two bedroom apartment with a Drum Set from my high school days, $50.00 used kitchen set, Lazyboy chair I bought in college and a bedroom set I bought out of the money I saved working at Shoney’s Big Boy Restaurant. Tami and I saved for 18 months to get a sectional sofa and bought it with cash. These life’s experiences create a firm track to run on for years and even decades to come for me and my family.
My kids did not understand why we did not spend money like their friends parents. My extended family called me cheap and made jokes about I had stored the last dollar I earned. It heur my feelings and even made me feel like my path was wrong from time to time.
Then when this past economic downturn happened, the payback for the saving for a rainy day and planning the future was never so clear. Many of my friends, family and business associates were under incredible financial strain that truly effected them and those they loved. Some of those folks had to make some very difficult decisions that would affect them for years to come. My wife, children and I really blessed and did not change a thing. We were affected just like everyone else but we were also prepared.
All the folks that made fun or me were now asking me for counsel. My children stopped lecturing me on my conservative spending habits and I thank my mother for instilling these values in me.
Life is Funny!