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Meeting the Future Me

June 16th, 2009 at 05:30 am

I had the chance to visit a home for the elderly about two months ago and the experience has been truly life changing. I met some cool people there and the one elder that struck me the most was an old, single lady who has been staying there for only about 2-3 years. I found out that she worked for more than 20 years in one company and she admitted that one of her greatest mistake is that she celebrated her youth and singlehood mostly by shopping - thinking that she has all the time to save later. Until she realized much later in life that she was already old and retiring very soon without much saved for her retirement.

I can convince myself all I want that I'm different from her and I won't make the same mistakes she did, but the fact remains that the decisions we make today will have a huge effect on us tomorrow. I looked back and I realized that I have spent way too much on things that I felt I deserved just because I work too hard or I had a bad day. These "must-haves" has already ate a huge chunk out of the money I could have saved up and invested.

And besides, in our old days, i guess what we'll remember the most are the relationships we build, the places we've seen and the memories we've shared with people we love... and not the material stuff that we will eventually throw away.

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

6 Responses to “Meeting the Future Me”

  1. shiela Says:
    June 16th, 2009 at 06:31 am 1245133864
    1245133864

    good post.

  2. Apprentice Bliss Hunter Says:
    June 16th, 2009 at 01:09 pm 1245157752
    1245157752

    Great point well made.

  3. creditcardfree Says:
    June 16th, 2009 at 01:24 pm 1245158670
    1245158670

    Sounds like you met a very wise woman! We do live in a consumer culture...one that can literally drain us, if we let it.

  4. Broken Arrow Says:
    June 16th, 2009 at 04:54 pm 1245171280
    1245171280

    Great story. Thanks for sharing!

    I know an elderly gentleman tell me the same too.

  5. crazyliblady Says:
    June 17th, 2009 at 01:40 am 1245202813
    1245202813

    She sounds like a wise woman indeed! I noticed on the left column that you abstained from spending for a month. That's amazing, even if it was only not spending on that nonessential stuff like a coke or a magazine. I read on msn about some people who did that for a year and had very specific rules about spending only on necessities and what constituted a necessity (i.e., Q-tips were not necessary, but food is). How did you manage quelling the urge to spend for a whole month? I have no trouble spending only on what is on my grocery list, but my dh has different opinions on what is necessary.

  6. recovering spendaholic Says:
    June 17th, 2009 at 03:26 am 1245209184
    1245209184

    The first week was the hardest. But as the days went by, it just became easier. Actually, when the month ended, I just didn't need the feel to buy anything "to celebrate". So i guess just like any addiction, shopping and compulsive spending is something that we need to really abstain from for a period of time. If one month is too much, i know people who have no-spending days and no-spending weeks and they say it really helps.

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