The Freedom of Frugality

Planning for the few trips I have in June got me thinking about my Dad's retirement and how blessed he and my mom are to retire with everything in order at a relatively young age (he's under 60).  I know the main reason they were able to do that was because of how frugal our family was when I was growing up.  It's funny to look back and remember how I viewed things as a child and to see them as they are now; I actually thought we were poor growing up because of how often my parents said "no" to the things my brother and I wanted, or how little we went out to eat, or because my parents didn't always purchase a brand new car every three or four years (much later, I found out that people who get a new car that often don't really "own" them, they lease!).  We lived in a small, humble home (that my parents have expanded and renovated since my brother and I left the house) and I remember my parents ALWAYS looking for a bargain wherever they could find it.

Back then, it embarrassed me slightly:  I remember when I was in high school, I carpooled one year with two other families who lived in our area (and since we went to a private school, the drive was kind of far) and those two families purchased new SUV's and a van specifically for the carpool, while my parents kept their modest Chevy station wagon that seated three in the far back trunk area.  In order for the lucky three to sit in the back, they had to open the back trunk and climb in while facing the back of the car (or whoever was driving behind us, lol).  So whenever it was my mom's turn to pick us up after school, we'd all climb in--four out of five of us dreading how it apparently looked to the rest of the carpoolers.  One night my parents got a call from one the families, "Do you guys think you could think about getting a newer, bigger car for carpooling--our kids are kind of embarrassed to be seen in that thing."  I was mortified when I overheard my parents talking about it.  And a little angry, too.

But it's okay, because now my parents are retired and I'm pretty sure both those families are still working to pay off their high mortgages and fancy cars.

At any rate, the older I get the more I'm embracing the desire for financial freedom and not so much the desire for stuff.  The more stuff we get the more enslaved we are to maintain all that stuff, and too often it can snowball into something that's more agonizingly stressful and annoying than it is beneficial.

I knew a girl in a youth orchestra once who told me "I really think money can buy happiness"--of course she's dead wrong about that not to mention that she and her parents were one of the most miserable people we'd ever encountered.

I guess the point of my rant is: be content with what you have!  the more we think we "need" things or stuff, the more miserable we're going to make ourselves; in the end, the high that comes along with purchasing or acquiring things will wear off and we'll just be left with a mountain of crap that we realized we could have done without anyways.

now, I'm so proud of how savvy and in control my parents were and are of their finances and their lifestyle.  It paid off, and I'm eager to follow in my dad's footsteps as far as leading a non-extravagant lifestyle.