Friday, July 17, 2015

I want to live how they used to

Growing up I lived in a nice middle class neighborhood right on the edge of a very wealthy part of town. Everyone in town knew that South Shore Dr. was where the mansions were. South shore drive runs right next to the lake shore (nice private beach front properties) and there are some fabulously elaborate and enormous houses there. Several CEO's, Dentists, Doctors, and state Representatives and Senators live along that road. My house was only a few blocks from South Shore Dr. and I had a paper route as a kid so that I had to deliver news papers to many of them (none of them tipped by the way).

Today on the radio I heard someone say, "I remember the days when you could tell who was the richest person in the neighborhood by who drove the crappiest car." She was commenting about how wealthy people, truly wealthy people used to be very wise with their money and they didn't spend it on things like fabulous cars and enormous houses. In fact the wealthiest people drove the ugliest cars. Hearing her say that brought to mind of when I was young and sometimes when it was pouring rain, or there was an enormous Sunday paper, or there was four feet of snow outside my mom would drive me on the route. I remember pointing out to her the biggest houses and the nicest cars and I would say something like, "wow, that person is sooo rich." Without fail she would always say, "No [inserting my entire name here] chances are they don't have any money at all." As a kid I did not get it. She tried to explain what she meant to me but I did not get it.

I get it now. More often than not, people who spend $200,000 on a car or $5million on a house probably don't have much money in the bank and in fact they probably are severely in debt. That's just the way it works now a days. The bigger your income the more debt you can rack up. The bigger your toys the more likely you have enormous amounts of debt. Obviously households are run this way, more often than not, businesses are run this way, cities are run this way, heck countries (mine included) are run this way. We LOVE our debt!

I'm sorry but where did we go wrong and when did this happen? I want to live how they used to. I want to be the person on the block with a nice small house and a comfortable older car who has money in the bank, money that I can give to charity, money that I can pass down to my child(ren), money that I can use in case of an emergency without borrowing. I want to own what belongs to me, not owe some banker man who lent me the cash to make the purchases. I'm not saying by any means that I want to collect and horde money and never spend it on things I will enjoy. But if I travel (and I will) I don't want to ever stay in the $20,000 a night penthouse sweet on the top floor of any hotel. I don't ever want to pay $300 for a meal out. I don't ever want to just waste money because I can.

I'm working to get there. It's taking a long time but I journeyed down a long road of debt and borrowing before I started to see the light. Someday. Every day we're a little closer to someday and I choose to smile about that.

9 comments:

  1. AMEN!!!! I am very happy with my little middle-class house in my little middle-class neighborhood in a VERY affluent city - and I KNOW quite a few of those people in the "mcmansions" are up to their necks in debt to pay for the private schools, fancy cars, decorators, etc. I would just say.....I would like some extra money to fix up my house....oh the list is soooooooo long :) But nothing major - replace leaky skylights, redo cracked patio deck from the roots of the million-foot redwood tree in our back yard, new flooring, replace garage door that is, oh, 60ish years old so I could actually open it because it wasn't so heavy - you know, LUXURIES like that.

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    1. You called it exactly! I want to own my home and own my car (not owing any money to anyone) and have these things be reasonable items, not luxurious things, that I can afford with cash to pay for repairs and to be able to spruce up a little now and then. Sounds like I want what you want :)
      Right now we need new front steps and a new garage. I don't want to owe anyone and I want to have the money in the bank to be able to pay for repairs for things like that, you know, without borrowing money from someone.

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  2. Well said. There is something comforting in starting an older, but well cared for car, or cleaning a room in my smallish house (when I get around to it), or a nice touch up of paint on an old but well liked piece of furniture, and feeling utterly satisfied and longing for nothing. Living rich is not the same as spending rich.

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    1. "longing for nothing," that's such a pleasant sounding phrase. Ahhh
      Perfectly put too, living rich is NOT the same as spending rich, in fact I'd say you're able to live much more richly if you don't spend richly. Just my opinion though :)

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  3. Ok....not sure what happened with my post.....what I was going to say if it shows up is....I'm not being judgmental about hiring a decorator, but I don't understand it....shouldn't your home say something about you?

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    1. Haha, no other post about decorators :)
      I agree though. I want my home to say that I live here, not some other cool person who's super into all the trends. But then I'm not very into aesthetics either, I don't even care what my clothes looks like so I'm not one to even start talking about decorators.

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  4. Oh that was so strange.....As I was SAYING before I was so rudely interrupted by my computer...that I REALLY liked what Sam said that "living rich is NOT the same as spending rich" - really good way to put it!!!

    I was just saying I know a lot of people who have hired decorators to furnish/decorate their home and I just don't get it....didn't want anyone thinking I was being judgmental about it, just trying to process it through my mind :)

    Yea, I don't think anyone would EVER mistake my house for one of the houses on the "Street of Dreams", but I'm ok with that :)

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  5. Your mum was right. When I was married I lived in such a large, beautiful mansion (not my choice). We had no money, but X's gambling habit contributed to that. Now I live in a bungalow in an old neighborhood. My house was built in 1940. It's just a few steps to get from one end of the house to the other. It's cozy and charming. Much better than marriage and mansions. I hated it when people introduced me and said, She lives in the house on the hill. The person was full of awe and said, Oh, that's so beautiful. They didn't have to clean it and pay for it.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. What a neat perspective. The house I live in was built in the 1940's too (my husband's grandparents built it). We have the same era homes :)

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