I am sure a million people have already gone, "THAT'S AN OLD SHOW!" Yes. Well you see, we don't have cable in our home. In many ways my husband and I have taken on this "Downsized" mentality even before an "expert" has to remind us, that it's always good to "Downsize"!
My husband worked for 7 years at the same job. He NEVER thought he would leave that job, at least not until he graduated from college which because of ..ohh I don't know...LIFE...he has taken a little longer than most students to complete.
Well, in 2007 after 7 years the company was sold and guess what, hundreds were laid-off. Laid-off? My husband's mind and world were blown away, he had not been without a job since his teenage years. He was now; 28, still in college, with a mortgage and thoughts of starting a family! Well everything was placed on hold and he set out to finish school and find a new job. At that time, we cut back on a lot. No more parties at our house, no more expensive dinners, no more yearly vacations, no more of a lot...how selfish and dumb of us to wait for a situation like this to happen to change our mind set! We were humbled to say the least. "Everyone" around us was "moving on up", doing and being. Or so we thought. Here we were, stuck and down about money. ABOUT MONEY? Wow. Needless to say it changed our entire perspective about everything.
I didn't grow up rich and neither did my husband. I have stated in the past that I took my first job at 14 years of age. I cleaned houses and office buildings during my summer break with my Mom and Aunt. All the while my Mom would tell me, "Ya ves, por que te digo que acaves la escuela y que pongas atencion...para que no acaves como yo!" ("Do you see why I tell you to do good in school and to not loose focus...so you will not do what I do for a living!") And yes, I did finish school. I have a college degree but these days, even that isn't enough.
My husband grew up pretty much the same as I did. With very little but just enough! Even so, we both had two VERY different mentalities; mine was "If you have it spend it!", his...not so much. He is a very wise money decision maker. He always has a savings account ...WITH MONEY IN IT [Ha.] and looks for a good bargain... me..not so much... and then we got married. I quickly adopted his money views, he is usually right about money! Another thing that we differed in was about our children. Before we got married, I always said.."I am going to GIVE my children ALL that I never had! And, that's that!" Wow. How selfish on my behalf! To negate my children of learning about selfless-ness, about hard work and good ethic, about earning your way!
I now know that the best way for my children to become wise money decision makers is NOT by giving them EVERYTHING I never had; but by treating them as if I can't give them everything and reminding them that hard work is the REAL way to earn your way in this life. It will hopefully and God willing make them more money conscious and selfless as well as make them humble and Godly human beings.
I didn't always get what I wanted when I was young, and we didn't always have what all the other kids had! But, we never went without food, shelter and love.
When I started working and making money I thought, let me use it up and go crazy, huge mistake! I was quickly in debt and broke!
I didn't get the correct money education, thankfully God knew that and He placed the right man in my life...who would quickly knock me off my high horse and remind me to clean that floor until my finger nails bled to earn my way through life!
It sounds harsh but I appreciate it very much!
No comments:
Post a Comment