Great conversation.
Let's not forget what we have adopted and imposed upon ourselves throughout the years. Take for instance my grandparents, they lived in the country, had no electricity, at least not at the start, no running water, no natural gas heat, no telephone, not even transportation. I'm not suggesting that was an ideal or wonderful life for them, but that's what they could afford and how it was.
Moving forward, people looked for more modern conveniences, homes became bigger with modern upgrades that reflected more modern day living such as electricity, natural gas, telephones, running water, and when one vehicle parked in the driveway was no longer enough, a second, even a third mode of transportation was acquired, then came the toys, campers, trailers, and boats, but exactly how to pay for all of this.
Well, back to my grandparents generation, they didn't live with debt, they lived within their means, today however, debt is living, and from all that my husband and I see, the more - the merrier. People living paycheck to paycheck, one payday away from the soup-line.
I was a fulltime stay-at-home mom and housewife, sure, we took a financial hit, but overall I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. I got to enjoy all the steps and stages of my children growing, then once in school, I was always home in case someone came down with something in school, the door was unlocked, the lights on, the heat on (cold winter months), and mom was home to take care of them. Today kids run amok, stepping into dark and empty homes, nothing prepared in the way of proper meals, a lack of family intervention and one-on-one time, less-and-less meals at the table where everyone is gathered around, any why? Well, because mom and dad both work outside the home and at the end of the day it comes at the expense of the poor children.
I grocery shop weekly, sometimes twice a week, and I watch mothers pushing their shopping carts around at the supermarket and big-box stores with two jumbo packs of disposable diapers stuffed into their carts. Meals prepared from scratch and at home isn't priority anymore, because with banks and lenders handing out money like they do nowadays, there's fast-food restaurants and meals out.
World travel today knocks both me and my husband off our feet, we've never been on a world trip anywhere, yet young families today enjoy new homes, two new vehicles sitting in the driveway, and trips around the world, and all while raising young and growing children. I for one always think to myself, how in the world are they doing it? How are they affording it all, then it dawns on me, yes, borrowing and living in a pool of debt.
When my children were little, pretty much everyone I knew (family wise), the women of the house stayed home to raise the kids and hold the fort down. We all had a long row of diapers and rubber pants hanging on our clotheslines (no Pampers or Huggies, and yes, they were around), we cooked and baked from scratch, made homemade baby food and formula, used glass baby bottles, not the disposable liner style plastic bottles of today, second-hand and hand-me-down baby furniture and baby clothes was common, and most everyone that we knew still relied solely on a single vehicle to get them around, and not a brand spanking new one either.
Absolutely adamant I was that my kids weren't going to be raised in a daycare or by a babysitter.
People nowadays, other than the well-heeled, are living way beyond their means. I get the impression that living an everyday average lifestyle today is passè, and judging by the wheels I see when I'm out and about, a normal average vehicle isn't good enough anymore, instead, vehicles need lots of bling, everything shiny and new, with bigger and better taking front and centre, and money being no object when it comes to price.
I am so happy my husband and I sat down and weighed our options when the time came as to how we were going to approach life, and knowing what we know now, we would both do exactly the same again if we were starting over from scratch.
A proud fulltime stay-at-home mom and homemaker I was and still am today. Can't imagine how tiring it must be to scramble out the door each and every morning leaving the kids to fend for themselves, because mom and dad are too busy chasing a dollar.
My apologies, Peter Petersheim, if I somewhat went off on a tangent related to your started conversation. As for double incomes, with more money coming in, more money goes out, thus breeding the concept of price gouging, inflation, and overpriced everything, hence what we are living and seeing today. As the old say goes, we the people are the product of our own making.
