Growing up, I loved watching "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." I'm not sure what it was, the songs, the candy, the fact that my brother was terrified of OompaLoompas. Whatever the reason, I enjoyed the movie. One of my favorite parts is the spoiled little snot (which one?) that decides she wants the golden egg. Bianca decides that she wants a goose that will lay her the golden egg and dramatizes a beautiful dance to prove her desire of that goose. "I want it, and I want it nooooowwwwww." Aww, poor Biance got dropped down the chute to the trash. "She was a bad egg," Willy Wonka tells us. Indeed she was.
I have been marveled at by a few who have learned of my budgeting. I feed a family of four on $320 a month. Now, that extra $20 just came into being in our March budget, and we've kept it. I've had to adjust in other places, but it works for now. People can't seem to figure out how in the world I can feed all four of us on such a small budget, and I'm not a coupon master. So, what do I do? I cook meals that require just one chicken breast split between us. I use stores like BJ's and Wal-Mart, using what coupons I can, to get the most bang for my buck. I know there are stores I could go to that would be slightly cheaper for certain items, but with my schedule, it makes it harder to drive a couple towns over. Here's the big issue we are facing: Americans in general want the goose with the golden eggs. We want it, and we want it now. We spend our money just as quickly as we make it. This country has created generations of self entitled people who believe that they should get everything they want just because they want it. Even as a child I loved when Bianca fell down the chute because I couldn't stand her snobby butt. I learned from a young age that we work for what we want. BUT we must first work for what we need before we deal with the wants. I spent years "budgeting" and scraping and sacrificing only to come up short each month. I didn't do a budget correctly, for one. Then after all my sacrificing I would get upset that things didn't work out well and you know what I would do? BLOW IT ALL! I would do something stupid, or buy something fun. I just couldn't handle the stress. Now, I have a correct budget. I still skimp on things and make sacrifices, but we live within our means, and we budget for fun stuff so we don't get too stressed out. I cannot get over how selfish and entitled so many people are. I can't get past the fact that people are not willing to work. I'm not getting into welfare issues and everything else. I mean the people that have regular jobs, but choose to not take the extra hours when they are offered, and then complain they don't have any money. I have had far too many encounters with people that are upset that they don't have money, but then purchase items that aren't even close to a need within their household. We have been in that place of just not having money, and we didn't buy the unnecessary. Even now, I no longer say, "We don't have any money." I say, "We don't have money for that." What a difference that is. What freedom that is. We have money. It isn't a lot, but it's enough. And each penny has a place where it belongs. And if there isn't enough money in that spot, than we don't have money for that. We can't get the ground turkey or the name brand bread. (I miss that bread so much.) We have what we have. We make simple sacrifices now, so that we won't have to later. We work ourselves to the bone, so that we won't have to LATER. That's the key. It's all about the later. Bianca yells, "I want it and I want it NOW!" That's where everything comes from. We want things now. I want to lose weight. I workout for a week. Where are my results?! I should be thinner. I should weigh less. I should have abs. NOW! People, we need to look for the later as well. I'm all about the fact that we can't take it with us when we go, but don't we want to leave something for our kids? Don't we want to teach our children that hard work pays off? And shouldn't our kids learn that we don't need these things right now, we want them now, but we may not even care about them later. Time is a beautiful thing. We use it up so quickly, and in vain. We long for the days of sitting on the porch sipping sweet tea and not doing anything. Yet, we use the time we have poorly. We waste it on television, drinking, excursions to dives, instead of diving in the sea, reading a great novel, spending time with the ones we love. Those things we seem to push off for later, but those are the things we need now. Those things remind us of why we sacrifice the little things, or even the bigger things, for what we truly want later. Some days we have leftovers, other days the family cleans their plates, pots, and pans. We will go without some things, but we have everything we need. I wish, I desire, I hope for others to live a life that will lead to fulfillment and enjoyment for all of life, not just right now. Bye, Bianca. You're a bad egg.
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May 2023
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