Count Your Blessings
Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
James 3:5
I was surfing some personal finance blogs today and came across a post by Frugal Dad about the language of the perpetual poor.
"You know the type - constantly complaining, poor-mouthing, griping about the price of everything and jealous of everything others have."
As Frugal Dad points out, these are often the people who line up on Friday nights to buy $20 worth of lottery tickets, troll the new car lots on Sunday afternoons, but can't manage to put $20 in savings.
As someone who is breaking a long habit of spending without thinking, I've come to realize that an important part of frugality is the way we talk about it, both to ourselves and others. Think how different the outcome will be while making a decision on a purchase if I say to myself "I deserve it because I work hard" versus "Is this a need or a want?" Or what if I say "It's not fair that everyone else has a new flat screen TV and I don't. I'll just put it on a credit card and then I can pay for it later."? Then when "later" actually comes, I can't afford the payments.
Whether we are living frugally out of necessity or by choice, there's no reason that we can't be positive about it. We can change our language from that of the perpetually poor, to that of the soon to be financially independent. Instead of saying to myself or my husband that my van is nothing but a ghetto cruiser, I can keep it clean and well maintained and remind myself that it gets us where we need to go and has plenty of room for our children and their friends.
Our words are very powerful. We can change our attitude AND our circumstances. It starts with our words.
6 comments:
What a great post! This really hits home, for me, and many others, I'm sure.
I am subscribed to your blog and have been reading for a long time without commenting. However I had to come by and say how true this is. I find that my most down days are when i am thinking negatively about our finances. Just realizing it and changing my thoughts helps tremendously.
We FINALLY started the envelope system, of putting an allotted amount of cash in envelopes for gasoline, groceries, utilities, etc, and not going beyond that amount for the two-week span between paychecks. We'd been saying for months we were going to do it, and never did, but, rising gas and food prices caused us to decide now was the time to do it. (Sometimes, tough circumstances can be a small blessing, forcing us to finally do something we haven't gotten around to doing!)
We all deserve the best in life. But, that doesn't mean that we need them. You hit the nail on the head!
Thanks for mentioning my post - I'm glad you enjoyed it! I have enjoyed looking over your blog as well and have subscribed for future updates. Keep up the great work!
Thank you Tracy!
Cajunchic, thanks for commenting. I'm glad you came out of "hiding". :)
Judi, you are so right. It's really the tough times in life when we learn and grow. It's not much fun to be stretched, but worth it in the end.
Gina, thank you!
Frugal Dad, thank you! I'm thrilled that you stopped by! :)
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