I’ve always wondered about the phrase “keeping up with the Joneses” and how it related to me. Over the years we have gone from 2 incomes to now 1 full-time income and 2 small part-time incomes. So over the years our lifestyles have changed a bit. We use to eat out all the time, one due to lack of time and other because we had the money to spend. I use to buy new clothes all the time, I would say I needed them for work. It didn’t bother me then but looking back now, really did I? We didn’t think twice about selling our 2 bedroom condo for a new 3 bedroom rancher. And the minute our second child was born we ran out and bought a brand new van! What were we thinking!?
Now that I look back on it, we were just doing what everyone else our age was doing! We were keeping up with our friends, trying to make sure we out did their last move. Didn’t want them to be one up on us, we were keeping up with the Joneses!
But why? Was it necessary? Did we really need the brand new van when the 4 year old SUV fit 2 car seats just fine? Eventually yes we needed the bigger house and we did get a good deal on it, so I have to forgive myself for that one. But all those times we ate out we could have saved that money for the future, for now!! All those clothes that I thought I needed then they have now been donated!
Priorities Change throughout life
As I have gotten older (and more mature) I find that I don’t need to keep up with anyone. I am teaching my kids the lesson of being yourself, not let anyone else tell you what’s cool and what’s not and thought to myself I should have listened to this years ago!
I have friends all over the country, some of them successful business professionals, some of them SAHM, some of them are great teachers and others have the chance to work from home. Of all these friends a lot of them live in great big houses, don’t worry about paying bills and buying groceries, while others struggle week to week. So I think to myself, we are all still friends no matter how much money we have, so why do we need to compete with each other? So what John lives on the beach and has jet skis, that’s just an extra place for me to vacation!
Building for your future, not someone elses
I have come to terms that I don’t need the big fancy house in my life. I am happy with my 3 bedroom, one-story house, and a used car. I get to spend weekends with my kids playing and having fun and not worry about taking time away from them to clean my 3 bathrooms and vacuum my 8 rooms! I can clean my house top to bottom in 3 hours! Every day I think about all the money I am saving and what my future is going to look like. Eventually, I will put all 3 kids through college and my husband and I will see our tiny 3 bedroom house so we can move to a tiny condo and travel to see our kids!
And why, because we didn’t need to keep up with the Joneses all those years! We kept up with ourselves and were happy with what we had!
So I ask you, are you happy with what you have or are you still trying to keep up with the Joneses?
