Everyone has their own idea on what makes a person "rich". We sure do hear about it a lot now in our political climate.
I can remember as a young wife and mother thinking once we could afford to buy butter instead of oleo we would have it made. Then I thought, okay we have butter now but anyone who can afford to buy fresh flowers for the house all year long is "rich". Funny, even when we could afford to, I never did.
I have always been on the conservative side when it comes to managing our finances. Many years ago after Leonard and I married, we decided to use the services of a financial planner. All the planning in the world does not prevent those unexpected expenses but having a long range plan has assisted us in our current situation.
I always wanted a large home filled with antiques. In 1992 we brought an old farmhouse built in 1850 that had a large 15 year old great room addition.
A couple of years later we added another room upstairs for my office, a Three-season room to the back of the house and later a deck.
The house sits on a little over two acres and is completely surrounded on all four sides by a large nursery. I felt truly rich. We entertained a lot. At our annual yard party we had up to 140 guests. I loved this house and feel blessed that we lived in it for 17 years. I cherish the richness of the memories.
As we started to think about retiring we knew we would downsize. And downside we did.
We have no debt and some money in the bank. But what really makes us rich are the experiences and memories we are gathering, the love of family and friends, the love of our Lord and our commitment to each other. We are indeed "rich".
What makes you rich?
10 comments:
What a great post! We unfortunately didn't follow any plan except that we spent, way too much and way too much on credit. Lesson learned finally and we are working hard towards getting out from under. It makes my day reading about people who did it right and are benefiting from it.
Congrats on following through and have fun!
Erik
Couldn't say it better myself. We are down to owning nothing but what we can pull behind us, but we feel richer than we did with two houses and all that came with them.
Nice post for 'R'!
Very nice post! I feel rich because I have a great life, a wonderful husband, a loving family. Harry and I look forward to the future, and we say all the time that a great life will be getting even better, if thats possible! :)
We always kid about what we will do when we are rich. I am not even sure we can define what we think rich would be. We have each other, all our family and friends are in good health, and we are seeing God's wonderful gift to us. That pretty much sums up rich to us.
Very well said. We feel that we are as rich as god wants us to be.
We consider ourselves 'rich'...in experiences, adventures, family, health, faith, compassion, empathy, and that we have enough money to get by on...so while we are 'rich' we are not 'wealthy' but we enjoy to the max all our riches!
What makes me feel rich? Good health. Everything else flows from that.
Great post.
Money doesn't always mean your rich. It's good health and being happy with what you have.
Well said. Money has nothing to do with being rich. We are rich because of the joy in our hearts. We are rich because we are free - free from the bondage of debt.
Thanks for sharing.
What a wonderful post.I wasnt rich when I camped in a small tent and sleeping bag in the Grand Canyon and shared my breakfast w/a chipmunk,but I sure felt that way. Would we like more $, of course we could retire earlier, but that will happen eventually anyway
Donna
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