The Root of All Evil

I've been ruminating over a topic lately that I tried to forget. When I dwell on it I just get confused and frustrated. It's a topic that is common to all of us.

It's money.

I look at the world today and can't possibly understand how people are managing their money. I don't think we're frivolous. We might spend less than $100.00 each month for clothes. My kids wear hand-me-downs from friends and neighbors. We've had the same living room furniture for 17 years. Our kitchen table and dining room set is 20 years old. I see no need to replace it since it's still in fine shape.

What I can't understand is how everyone around us lives like kings. I see many women wear the latest fashions. Their kids have clothes that actually match. Many in our neighborhood have in-ground swimming pools which, when a mandatory fence is added, can cost upwards of $30,000. Many of these women work within the home.

My husband can't understand why I obsess about all this. I certainly don't envy them with all of their stuff. I'm happy with my life. What I don't understand is how they can afford all of it. Are they inheriting money? Are they not saving for retirement? It seems they don't have any more money than us, but I marvel at their lifestyle.

When I was growing up my parents both worked. They had good jobs but certainly not high salaries. Back then they saved their money and bought cars for cash. My Dad built our house next to my grandmother's house. They had a mortgage but paid it off as quickly as they could. The idea of a 30 year loan was unheard of. Our furniture was old, but we never went without. We were able to go on vacation once a year and they managed to pay for most of our college education.

What has happened to our mindset? Why do we need all of the bells and whistles that are available today? Why can't we live within our means? My idea of buying a house when we got married was to start small. We had both saved up quite a bit of money since we worked for years before our marriage. There were lots of nice houses we looked at that would have worked, but in the end we built a house for almost 75% more than we originally planned. We could easily afford it, but after taxes and upkeep our savings didn't grow much.

For some reason I was never comfortable in that house. After ten years we decided to move. Our dream was always to live on a river. We had found a lot on the river in another development. After consulting with a financial planner we were assured that we could afford our dream house.

The house was grand! It had two story windows looking out on the river. The yard was over an acre and we had a three car garage. However after living in it for a few months, the mortgage and the upcoming taxes were overwhelming. Also, while visitors marveled at the house, I realized that I wasn't marvelled anymore. It just became another house, but was much more to clean. Not long after we decided to sell.

A man from California came into town and bought the house. We made quite a profit on it and again, I wanted to downsize in order to be more comfortable.

We now live in a neighborhood that is highly regulated as far as appearances go. When we moved here we had to make a decision quickly. The area was not what we were looking for, but it was close to everything. We had made quite a profit on our first two houses and hoped to buy our new home with no mortgage
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The first home we looked at wasn't our dream home, but it was new and we could have paid cash for it. Unfortunately someone put an offer in a few hours before us.

The second house was more expensive but it was beautiful. Again, we lost out on it by just a few hours. Instead we asked the builder to recreate it on another lot.

Our home is wonderful. It's very comfortable. The worst part is the development, but our neighbors are great. Because of our large down payment our mortgage is not bad at all. Actually, our taxes are more than our mortgage. That hurts.

My husband and I have great jobs. We have completed 20 years at each of our employers. One would think we would have money to spare... I wish!

In reality, we are in great shape financially. We have saved in retirement accounts for over 20 years. Our mortgage is low. We have no credit card debt. Then why is there so little left after payday?

In my next blog I'll ramble some more on this aggravating situation.