Gratitude list

As we trudge through our global financial upheaval, I find myself mentally listing things I can be grateful for:
1) The last time I had a new car to pay for was 1983, and I probably won't own one again
2) I have never found it necessary to own an SUV
3) I don't have a cell phone - just a prepaid phone for emergencies; no one has my number
4) I haven't found it necessary to own an ipod, a big-screen TV, name brand clothing
5) Ever since I was a child, I have been interested in making things out of discarded items
6) I dislike shopping
7) I prefer home cooking to fast foods
8) I prefer to stay home rather than travel
9) I don't like to carry large credit card balances
10) I am an optimist, so I tend to believe that things will improve with time

Does all this make me 'odd'? Well, others may think so, but over the years I came to recognize that 'things' don't make me happy. I also found that I sleep a whole lot better when I'm not tossing and turning, trying to figure out how to get out from under a mountain of debt.
My brother died back in 1987, and left my sister-in-law with over $11k in credit card debt. Funny thing, he really didn't know what all he had purchased to add up to that much. That gave me a wake-up call, and I began to pay more attention to my expenditures. My main reason for having a credit card is to handle emergency expenses, like car repairs or items purchased that are more money than I have available at the time to pay for it. But I also make large payments to pay off the balance as quickly as possible.
My hope is that the parents of today's children will teach them how to manage their money, how to budget, and how to get through life without having to buy everything they see advertised! We are a nation of consumers who have totally lost control, and it's time we all came to our senses and started saying 'no' to endless buying! Washington might not think that's the best idea, but I sure do...

"Waste not, want not...."

Boy, did I hear that saying a lot when I was growing up! Being a child of parents who grew up during the Great Depression, who had to squeeze every penny until it cried, I was schooled intensely on frugality. As a result, I do have a tendency to do without a lot of 'nice to haves' with very little difficulty. And because of that, even though our recent and current financial roller-coaster has been unsettling to say the least, I am probably not as stressed about it as a lot of folks who have followed "spend like there's no tomorrow" practices. While I was growing up, we had a lot of instances where if I wanted something, often I would have to sacrifice something else in order to get it, or do odd jobs to earn extra spending money. So that taught me that my time was worth something, but that I couldn't always have everything I wanted. Boy, has that been a valuable lesson! I drive a 13 year old car that probably gets better gas mileage than most cars half its age; I don't own an ipod or an i-anything... as a matter of fact, my car only has a radio! I have bypassed getting caught up in the trap of thinking I had to have something because everyone else did, so while I'm not totally debt-free, the debt I owe is manageable and represents purchases or services to cover needs, and very little in the 'wants' category. Do I feel sorry for myself? Not even close! I can sleep at night, not having to toss and turn wondering how I'm going to keep from having this reposessed, or that foreclosed on. I am not bragging here... but I continue to feel a great deal of gratitude for the lessons my parents taught me early on... they have been very beneficial to me, which is probably why I am trying to document them here, in the hopes that others may benefit as well.