growing up, I was fortunate enough to always have food on the table, milk in the fridge, and a nice comfy bed to sleep in. With my parents being divorced and my dad living half way across the country, i never realized just how little he lived off of. We would go out and visit him for the holidays, or the summers, and while there was always a project of some sort to do, he also made sure that every time we went out there we did something special. it may have been a fishing trip, or visit some friend's cabin, etc. I can count on 1 hand the number of times we went to an amusement park, a movie, or a toy store. When i was younger, I never noticed, but now that I have my own children to provide for, I appreciate everything he did for me and it means so much to me. A few years ago, he came out and helped me with my house. He spent 5 weeks with us, did a ton of work on the house. About a year later, he called me up and asked if I wanted his truck. When I said yes, he drove his truck out, full of tools, old toys, a canoe, and other stuff that he thought I would like. I bought him the plane ticket back, and he's so grateful that I am using his 94 chevy as my daily driver.
My mom and stepfather always made sure that I had new shoes for school, new clothes, and enough to eat. They were by no means rich, but easily middle class. Just because they could afford it and I wanted it, did not mean that I got it. Since I was 13 years old, I have been working, doing odd jobs, washing cars, etc. My parents gave me a car when i turned 16, but I was responsible for the insurance, the gas, and the repairs. It also helped them out, because I was able to drive myself to all of the things that I needed to do. When I was in college, I worked 2 jobs (1 from 4:30am-9am 4 days a week, the other was 7am-6pm on saturdays and sundays), while going to class full time. I was able to pay for school without loans, and I was exhausted but I did not have any other choice. When I was looking at buying a house, My parents were able to loan me the money at a better interest rate than the bank for the down payment, but I was expected to pay every penny back on schedule. I remember when I was late on a payment since I was living paycheck to paycheck and my car had to be repaired, they didn't let me skip it, they made sure that I recalculated the remaining interest on my payments and adjust so I did not extend the terms of the loan. I know that they are more than willing to do whatever I need, and if I were in trouble, they would be there, but they have also taught me the importance of being fiscally responsible.
My wife and I bought a house that needed a ton of work, and everybody thought we were crazy (we are.... but that's a different story). We went way over budget, even though we did most things ourselves. We were trying to put 2 kids through daycare, both working full time, and working on the house. There were quite a few months when if it weren't for the garden, we would have not had fresh vegetables. We were feeding a family of 4 on a little over $200/month. We came really close to getting ourselves in trouble with credit cards, but we were able to keep each other in check and stuck to our budget. We took advantage of free days at museums, the outside parks, and projects around the house to entertain ourselves and the kids. We are teaching our kids about being responsible with money and the environment. We save money by burning wood (our average bill is $100/month less than before we put in the stove) and growing our own veggies. Our kids have toys, but most are hand me downs or thrift store finds, and they enjoy them all the same. We made a menu for our meals, made a budget for our groceries and our bills, and did what we could to eliminate debt. We sold a car that we had a car payment on and bought an older used one for cash. We came up with a list of projects and organized them by priority and costs, so that we could focus on the free projects while we had little additional funds.
We love each other, we find plenty to do that keeps us happy, and we realize that we are more fortunate than others. We have a roof over our heads, we have jobs, and we have food on the table. And of course, we have a nice toasty house (now that we have a wood stove!)
