Trying to plan for the future is hard. In the ant and grasshopper story; I'm the fiddler. I fiddle cash on clothes, bags, food, books... Am I extravagant? No. I buy what I can afford. At least I thought I did, until we went to see a financial planner. I'm not too far off track, which is the good news, but I'm not making my money work for me, either. Phooey. What I can't afford is to have no savings, emergency fund or retirement investments. So I'm not spending what I can afford, I'm spending my future. Pretty sobering. Looking at my scuffy Luella bag makes me mad at my spending plan. Looking at the shoes I wear that the cat chewed makes me mad at my spending plan. Looking at the lifestyles of my friends and acquaintances makes me mad at my spending plan. I am jealous that they spend so freely yet I have this stupid spending plan. Then I read an article in the Washington Post by money writer Michelle Singletary about being happy with what you've got.
The subject of the article expressed the same frustrations I have and asks the straight-shooting columnist for a figurative smack on the head. Ms. Singletary uses a quote from Thoureau; "A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone."
I have to quell my green-eyed monster and realize that because of my stupid spending plan, my fiance and I will pay for our wedding outright without using credit cards. That because of my stupid spending plan, the only debt we have will be our mortgage. That because of my stupid spending plan, car repairs aren't an emergency and December shopping bills aren't the thing that wakes us in a cold sweat come January. And, finally, because of my stupid spending plan, if bad things happen, the safety net we worked to build will be there.
Thinking about it that way, perhaps more people should be jealous of me, even if I have cat tooth marks on all my leather shoes.
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