Saturday, September 20, 2008

Musings On Money



If I win the lottery I will keep enough of it for my daughters and my niece to attend the college of their choice, for each of them to have some savings for a down payment for a house. I will pay our house off and add two more bedrooms and a bath upstairs. I will buy a used car that is in better shape than the one we own now. I will be sure all our debt is paid off and that we have money for retirement. I will buy a place in Italy as our vacation home. I will put enough in savings so that we can travel to Italy twice a year. I will be sure that we have great health insurance for our family and my niece. I may indulge in getting one more French Bulldog. I would also attend Jenny Craig and lose that weight I need to lose.

I really do not feel that we need much to be happy. In fact, we are pretty content right now with not much money at all. We live in a small 1000 sq. ft. cottage with two bedrooms. We drive old used cars, send our kids to public school, shop at TJ Maxx, yard sales and thrift stores. We do not own a LCD/HDTV with all the channels that are available through cable. We do not have a super duper stereo system or even a garage door opener let alone a garage. My kids do not own any of the fancy hand held computer games or have their own rooms. They do not wear designer clothes or have designer birthday parties with everyone in the class attending. We travel in the RV if we want to go on "vacation". Which, by the way, is now too expensive with the rising gas prices so we only use it once a year now. And I can truthfully admit that not only are we happy, but we are content.

What I am trying to say is that money does not buy you happiness. I drive around and see all these huge houses with two or four people living in them and I wonder why these couples think they need such a large house? I could see if they had 6-8 children but they don't. They are also driving huge cars that can fit 8 people but usually mom is in the car all by herself on the cell phone with who knows and not paying attention to the kids if they are in the car. Is all this just to impress other people? I am not impressed. I am perplexed.

I would love to win the lottery to help others. To help feed all those hungry children that live here in the good old USA. Don't people feel guilty living in those huge houses knowing that there are children starving every night when they go to bed? Don't they feel guilty buying that huge SUV knowing that it is killing our earth? Don't they feel guilty that they are too selfish to think of anyone but themselves and how much more they "need" before they feel good?

This is just something I do not understand. It truly perplexes me on a weekly basis that people believe that if they just had a bigger house, a more expensive car, bigger breasts, less wrinkles, bigger diamonds, more clothes/shoes and give less to others that they will be happier. I just do not understand it. Why are these people so selfish? I know that I would feel guilty if I had a lot of money and did not give it to people that truly need it.

This is me free writing about something that has been on my mind, bothering me today since I drove by some big houses on the way home from spending time with my mom. I hope that this has not offended anyone. I hope it makes you think about how you spend your money and your time and why you choose to spend it that way. No edits made......and it is scary to send it out there..........but here it goooooes......

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