Loving what you already have - by Georgina (Nans Common Sense)

Welcome to this week's guest blogger - the lovely Georgina Kalwak. She is known to many of us as the 'owner' of the inspiring Facebook Page - Nans Common Sense. 

As I sit here and think of what to write (after having worked an 80-hour workweek in the past 8 days), it has slowly and surely dawned on me that simply being at home is wonderfully serendipitous. Now, please don’t get the impression that in the past being at home was not at all a pleasant experience.  What I rediscovered was the longer you stay away from your home, whatever shape that takes, the more you long for all the wonderful and even unappealing qualities that reside there. Every day during the past two weeks thoughts of our comfy bed, our 18lb not-so-mini dachshund, gardening that needs to be done, and even overdue spring cleaning was foremost on my mind.  Yes, even cleaning seems appealing.  

As I continued to reflect, I found that I am thankful for things that are not tangible, but are to most of us, representations of luxury.  They are: freedom and autonomy, an amazing husband, intelligent sons, newly acquired friends, other people’s wisdom, family traditions, the availability to pursue education, gifted health practitioners, security of employment and a soon to be and much needed retirement from the military.  These things are acquired throughout life as the journey brings us around all the twists and curves of a life well lived.  None of these (tangibles) can really be purchased except by way of experience and interaction.  Their stations are what I hold dearly to my heart as my life enters it’s fourth decade.

The value we place on our treasures and belongings is each singularly unique.  As we de-clutter our homes, and often attitudes and minds, we essentially come to the core of what we really need in order to appreciate this gift we call life.  My grandmothers used to dispense sage advice in the simplest of terms when we had tea together; and there was lots of tea.  There were long afternoons of sorting out the mysteries of relationships and what goals to pursue next. The message that both of my “Nans” conveyed was very often, “Punt.” Meaning, don’t overlook the important things now in order to see too far down the road. Relax. Breathe. Appreciate. 

Over the years there were many times we needed to manage with less material possessions than desired.  But as time wore on, incomes have climbed to a comfort level that reflects very little about lack. As I look back on those days, I cherish those long talks. I cherish the creativity that abounded afterwards and while during tough times. I cherish the moments that cannot be retrieved now that both grandmothers are no longer here. Their legacies permeate my being every day.

Lessons now to my adult son are about holding those moments close to your heart. I strive to be a better mom and confidant for him as he finds his own answers in life. I try to be the wife I need to be to keep a wonderful marriage strong.  Both of those things could not and would not flourish if those quiet moments had not happened with either grandmother.  As my husband and my life continue to incorporate simpler and more meditative beliefs, I find I love what I have been blessed with in ways deeper than previously known.  Travel is sweeter. My mind is quieter. The house is more settled - all the while life speeds past the rest of the world at a seemingly incredulous pace. 

One thing still resonates after all this contemplation…the simpler life is what we all yearn for in one form or another. I know my grandmothers are looking down on us these days and are (hopefully) saying, “You got it, gal.  You got it.”

Georgina Kalwak

www.nanscommoncents.wordpress.com

Johnson liberating an unfortunate debtor

Welcome to this week's guest blogger - Philip Brewer. 

Choosing Freedom

There was a time when most people were self-sufficient. They acquired what they needed through some mix of hunting, gathering, fishing, farming, raising animals, and making things themselves. Not many people do that any more.

It's a hard way to live. It requires capital, because you need to own the land that will provide your bounty. It requires skills that you probably don't have. It requires a lot of hard work. And if you invest your capital that way and put in the hard work, you'll still live at a pretty low standard of living. You'll probably eat better than the guy working at a minimum wage job (because he's probably eating off what fast food joints used to call the dollar menu, before prices went up). But even at the bottom of the wage scale, someone who works at a job will be able to afford a much higher standard of living than a subsistence farmer, at least to the extent that you measure standard of living by how much stuff you have.

As a society, we've chosen to make this trade. Almost everyone works for wages. In return, they get a reasonably high standard of living. Miraculously high, really—the reason for the quaint old customs of hope chests and bridal showers is that it used to take two families saving diligently for years to outfit a new household. And the reason that those are now quaint old customs is that now you can earn enough to outfit your kitchen and linen closet in a few days at minimum wage.

It's a pretty good deal. You get everything you need (and plenty of wants) and all you have to trade is your freedom.

Personally, I always wanted freedom.

Fortunately, although society has chosen to take this deal, you don't have to. Even better, you can pick and choose—you can take the parts of the deal that appeal to you and reject the rest.

The key is to avoid debt. That isn't easy. It wasn't easy when I went to school, and it's much harder now. But if you avoid debt (or get out of debt), you can choose freedom.

You can even have a job, if you want. (As I say, you'll have a much higher standard of living than someone who strives for self-sufficiency, although perhaps not as much as someone who runs their own small business.)

To make it work—to preserve your freedom—you need to live within your means (and by a good bit). That lets you put aside some savings as a cushion. More important, it means that if you lose your job you can take a lower-paying one and still support yourself.

Most people don't seem to care much about that sort of freedom. Most people take on commitments—leases, mortgages, debts of all sorts—that obligate them to come up with cash that would be totally beyond their means, unless they had a job. And not just any job—the highest paying job they can find.

In the past, when people were trapped in bondage, it usually required the use of force to catch them and force them to work: slavers, debtor's prisons, and the like.

Now we've come up with a system where the use of force is barely used at all. (That is, barely used at all to make people go to work. It's used plenty to "keep order.") We don't enslave people; we convince them to enslave themselves. And most of them do it for little more than a big house and a fast car.

I wanted the freedom to be a full-time writer. It's not an impossible sort of freedom to achieve, if you start by accepting that you'll probably be pretty poor.

Personally, I think it's a much better trade.

Philip Brewer writes science fiction and fantasy stories, and also writes for the personal finance and frugality blog Wise Bread.