Life

Its so true that in good sound knowledge there can be found freedom. Knowing more about a subject can give us the opportunity to make better choices, to be better prepared and to feel less fear when we know the facts, especially if you follow the thinking that you don't worry about the things you cannot change and you change the things you can so there is no need to worry.

After the events of the day regarding the stock market yesterday, I felt the need to get a better grasp of just what is going on with the economics of this country, which is so tied to a global economy these days.

After reading, watching a few experts on the news and getting the facts, I feel better about things. Sure, we are having some serious problems, but what I read and heard made me feel that a "depression" is not around the corner. Deep recession, yes, but not another "great depression". The country has developed some sort of mentality that its o.k. to just buy the things you want, when you want them, doesn't matter if you have the money or not. When I was in my 30's, Emery let me handle the finances of the family, big mistake ! I had no clue and was excited to have a wallet full of credit cards, so I used them. Was thrilled that we had the money each month to pay the minimum payments. My girls each had closets filled with dresses, nice dresses too, expensive ones. I remember one time counting 80 dresses in each of their closets. I suppose I charged every one of them. We made good money, but I could live like we had even more. Got sucked right into the yuppie southern California life style. I didn't like that life style, but there we were in the middle of it. Peer pressure by some sort of osmosis. Needless to say after a few years like that, Emery had to take over the finances and work hard to get us out of debt. I had no relationship to the idea that this kind of debt can just grow by the interest alone. If you carry a credit card around with you, its so much easier to cave into the wants in life. Maybe something as simple as 2 yards of $8 a yard fabric, that you just "have to have" according to your thinking and then realize two years later, you haven't done a thing with that fabric. That sort of thinking leads us to roaming the isles of the home improvement stores, wanting a new kitchen, a new bathroom, or a new stove. Things we "want" but don't need. Ahhh, then it might just take us to the place where we "want" a new house, a bigger one, a better one than what we have. Sweet deals of nothing down, low interest (in the beginning). In no time at all these things can be like an albatross around the neck. Same for wanting that new car, that big shining SUV that drinks gasoline at such an alarming rate. That too becomes an albatross around our necks that we can't get rid of.

We may not ever see another Great Depression, but we sure should learn from this situation we are in that its o.k. to not have everything we want. What have we done to our nations young people by setting this example for them, and by giving them everything they ask for ? Have we prepared them to live in a world where credit might not be so easy to get a hold of ? Have we prepared them to keep from driving the nation into a depression ?

When we decided to break free from the use of credit cards, we also saw that we were on the way to raising some spoiled little girls. We didn't want that, it was a side effect of our lifestyle that we didn't see coming. That is when we took the plunge to head off to the mountains of Oregon, change our lifestyle for the simple life. Went from a big house with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms to a 2 bedroom cottage with one bathroom, wood heat and so far out in the woods that we had a bear den on our land and mountain lions were common visitors. Emery worked as a janitor in a hospital, made very little money but enough to live on. We got goats, chickens and worked hard to raise food in our garden. Happy as bugs in rug. Big change for us but we never looked back and haven't since. We moved to Texas for several reasons, some have shown themselves as divine planning. We wanted a longer growing season, easier living in winter, and certainly affordable. Emery makes big money these days, but we live the same as we did when he didn't. There is family to help, and some planning for the time when Emery can no longer work which we hope is a long way off since he loves his work. We feel blessed that things have worked out the way they have. It is a blessing and not luck.

We could have decided to put in a new fancy kitchen, or buy a bigger nicer home. I could carry around credit cards so I could buy what I want instead of thinking about what is a need. We could drive a new car or have central heat and air put in the house. But we choose this simple life instead. This simple life keeps a lot of fear at bay. That is part of what makes it so simple !