Homeless

I recently read J. J. Brown’s blog post about her debt reduction experiment.  Last December I participated in the #reverb10 blogging challenge and one of the goals I chose for 2011 was dealing with debt.  Definitely the hardest goal I chose, it’s also the one I’ve successfully ignored for the last 4 months.  I can pay my bills and buy necessities but rarely have money for those unexpected expenses like broken cars and leaky roofs.  As I get older and my children become independent, I wonder if I’ll just be working to finance all the things in my life?

Brown’s largest expense after necessities and education is books. My house is filled with books and about two years ago, I put a moratorium on book purchases.  I love the library including that popular contact sport, library book sales, and have found a number of incredible books in local thrift stores.  Around the same time, I cut down quite a bit on clothing purchases because really, at my age, comfort is key and who’s noticing anyway?  My biggest chunk of cash after mortgage, food, and utilities goes to my cell phone carrier.  With 3 smart phones in the family, 2 owned by teenagers, that’s more necessary than discretionary spending.  So where is all my money going?

Let’s return to Brown’s blog post for a minute.  Her experiment was quite simple: when she’s tempted to make a purchase, she imagines herself homeless and “carrying that particular item down the street”.  I immediately saw my homeless self wandering down Route 35 in my must have Paula Deen onion goggles.  In my arms, I’m carrying my out of date iMac, in my pocket my iPhone with speakers (love podcasts), in my bag my painfully old netbook, too small external hard drive, tablet, and miscellaneous powercords, mice, and keyboards. I’d also have a dog on a leash, a cranky old cat in a carrier, and a gecko in a fishbowl balanced on my head.  Behind me I drag my new Rachel Ray saute pan, complete set of Fiestaware including pitcher, gravy boat and glassware, knife set, notebook full of recipes, a lot of beans, produce, and huge container of cumin.  I’m on my way home to my luxury apartment inside my broke down VW Bug.

Let’s not forget the two children trailing behind me.  The teenage boy sports his drum set, iPhone, and old Little Tykes wagon piled high with cereal, milk, and pop tarts.  The princess is busy texting on her Blackberry complaining about how no one offers to help her drag her 7 huge suitcases of clothes down the street while she struggles with her laptop bag.

Talk about first world problems!  My job may have it’s ups and downs, but I have a job and can support my family.  The rising price of gasoline is daunting and will force me to wonder how I’ll keep two cars on the road this summer but somehow it’ll happen.  Maybe I have to spend my vacation learning all about home improvement since sadly I can’t afford to pay others to do it, but I can afford paint and plywood.

So as I sit here paying my bills on my almost 3 year old iMac, I realize that I don’t really need a debt reduction experiment.  I just need to take the time to appreciate all that I have, reflect on where I’d like to be in the future not from a financial standpoint but in terms of what will bring me happiness, and recognize that the 3 year old iMac works just fine …

or maybe this is just one big rationalization as to why I gave up chasing the money and became a teacher.