Tuesday, August 15, 2006

The Nickel and the Dime

Before I begin, many of you may be wondering if I've been able to keep my joy so far. I'd say yes. While there are things that are frustrating or annoying going on, I still feel like I could simmer with the happiness thats rolling inside me. It ebbs and flows, like an ethereal sea of contenment, sloshing against the eternal beach of ME sending frothy bubbles of Smile into the air.

With that said, there's something I wanted to get off my chest. Saving money is hard and not hard at the same time. It takes discipline. The thing of it is, learning discipline is the hardest thing, especially when you are forced to do so against your will, and you may or may not have had to have discipline earlier in your life. There are so many shiny things in the ocean, it's so easy to get off-task, off-goal and swallow the brighty, luminous little bobbles that wriggle and sparkle all around you. The American Economy is made of mostly baubles and lures and wriggly things that ultimately, just lead to the hook. But what does that have to do with me? Well, Im just saying that sometimes its easy, and sometimes its hard. Somedays its simplicity itself to say, 'Now, Benticore. Surely you dont need that breakfast sandwhich. If you had had the foresight and the fortitude to wake up a bit earlier, you could have dined on frosted flakes at home, thus saving yourself a bit of money and a lot of cholesterol. Why dont you wait until lunch.' Other days, its like. 'Fuck you, Im hungry. Gimme that!'

But Im the man of the house, the head of my home and family. I have to be the one that sets the tone and example. I have to be the responsible one, no matter how hard it may be to do it. I understand that. I get it. I accept it. It's just that sometimes, its hard. I hate denying the things my family loves, I hate seeing them dissappointed or frustrated with our current lot in life. The only thing that gets me through those sad or angry faces and looks is the thought that, in the long run, we have a chance to be healthy, financially, and every little bit helps. I want to make my family's every little wish come true. But I want to stop the hemorrage of nickels and dimes more. If you're not careful, you'll bleed yourself to death with tiny little cuts. But those cuts add up and soon, if you're not vigilant, you can find that when it comes time to do the BIG Things, implement the Important Plans, there just isnt enough left. THAT is something Im sick and tired of.

So, daddy is taking a stand for economic stamina and fortitude. I'm putting my foot down and Im going to lead my family to a more stable financial future. One step at a time.

*lifts a glass of water* Cheers!

Benticore
Out

4 comments:

Raquita said...

Okay - I know - i'm with you , but I'm allowed to pout, when for weeks all I've wanted was a measley twleve dollars worth of sushi, and the one time that we got a little taste of sushi, it... well, didn't quite work out for me..... and then the great dinner thingy fell through and I STILL haven't gotten any sushi... i think I can be a bit bytchy about that. I'm beign responsible, just bytchy too. and thats fair.

Raquita said...

at least I'm not still pining away for crab egs or maryland crab cakes from timbuktu.com at the very least I should have earned the right to pout on that alone! GHEESH

Andrea said...

Hey, I'm there too. My husband and I just traded in an SUV that we LOVED! (I wrote about it on Friday last week, and Queue was the first to chime in that she felt my pain.) This thing was stacked to the gills with luxury, but we couldn't afford to drive it any more. It was taking too much money just to put gas in the thing. It was weighing too heavily on the budget for family trips, to the point where we had to pass on a family trip because we didn't want the $200 gas bill that would come with the trip.

And when you just don't have the money, you just don't have it. We've had to postpone having our second child a year, and we've had to resign ourselves to living in our current house for longer than we originally planned before finding the last house we want to buy/build. A lot of our bigger picture plans have had to be postponed because we're too spendy with the shiny things. We're learning our lesson the hard way. The key is that we're learning it. Thus, the car trade-in.

Thanks for the comment on Little Bald Doctors yesterday! Good to see you there. And Jaelithe said she went to high school with you!?! Small blogging world.

NeenaLove said...

what might change your view on money... go to google video and search for The Money Masters. it gives you a TOTALLY different perspective on money and how you might be able to manipulate it in your favor.

hugz,
neena

BTW: there are an infinite number of ways to create wealth. you'll never save yourself rich.