A weird thing happens to many Americans when they get a pay raise or some financial windfall. I know it happened to me and I assume it has happened to many of you.
There will be a few who, after receiving a nice bump in funds, will go out and make a grand purchase, like a new car (on credit, of course) or maybe new ski equipment, which will run you about five grand.
But the vast majority of people, after said windfall of funds, will begin a journey of slowly bleeding to death.
Add Netflix to your cable bill, no worries, an extra ten bucks per month.
Start going out to dinner, with the wife/husband/partner twice a month, no worries, an extra one hundred per month.
Buy a couple extras from Amazon you have had your eye on, no worries, an extra one-twenty per month.
Start buying name brand instead of generic, no worries, an extra forty per week at the grocery store.
Do you see where this is going?
I have been guilty of this, for sure, in the past. If you want my full truth and nothing but the truth, I’m still guilty. I bleed about two hundred a month buying mocha at the coffee stand. It is my singular weakness with regards to the economy, definitely something I do not need, and yet no worries, it’s only two hundred per month and I’ve got it to spend.
Except many people do not have it to spend, not really, especially if some of those papercuts are purchases via credit card, and paying the Piper will come due sooner rather than later.
This kind of buying behavior seems to be ingrained in us all. I don’t know anyone immune to it, and believe me, the retailers and major corporations are counting on us purchasing addicts to keep on purchasing, whether we have the money or not, just keep on keeping on . . . until you can’t, at which time this conversation turns dark very quickly.
The average citizen of Western Civilization is hit with approximately 10,000 ads per day. We are talking billboards, business signs as you drive by, television ads, radio ads, newspaper ads, pop-up ads on social media, ads on clothing, ads trailing behind airplanes overhead, and ads delivered, up close and personal, by those darling Girl Scouts in parking lots across the U.S. Ten-thousand ads, and the marketing companies are betting that we are not strong enough to ignore that deluge of marketing enticement.
And that is a solid bet on their part because we have proven them correct.
Death by a thousand papercuts . . . doesn’t sound like much fun . . . and yet we all partake in the pleasure.
I’m telling you, friend to friend, there is a better way. It’s called simple living or, if you prefer, intentional live, slow living, or minimalism. It is shrugging off the yoke of debt, casting a blind eye to the temptations, and concentrating on what is truly important in life.
There are wonders to be experienced in this lifetime and they have nothing to do with our worthless fiat currency or the latest fashion trend hawked by eighteen year old social media influencers.
When was the last time you took a walk in the forest, or dipped your toes in a stream, or walked through a field of wildflowers?
Just wonderin’
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I doubt if fame will ever be mine, but I am very grateful for the journey and for meeting people like you. Thank you!
I do not even know how I ended up here but I thought this post was great I dont know who you are but definitely youre going to a famous blogger if you arent already Cheers.