Pages

Translate

Friday, February 10, 2012

The (Former) Un-Happy Non-Consumer, Finance Friday


There is a HUGE nonconsumer movement happening.
Some call it minimalism,
others green living

but no matter what label you give it, there is an army of people making decisions to spend their money less and enjoying life more.
Take @thenonconsumer - a very thrifty gal I follow in Twitter.

Her blog is an awesome compilation of savings tips and thrifty inspiration. Her motto:
Use it up. Wear it out. Make Do. Or do without.
I like it. Has a nice ring, yeah? She's totally making having little look cool.

I, too, am living a nonconsumer lifestyle.
But I've not been one to brag about it or embrace it!
Why?
Because thrifty living was thrust upon me - I didn't choose it, it choose me.

And for anybody who knows me well knows I'm a bit of a contrarian (meaning my very core baulks whenever I am forced or expected to do/feel/or say something).

I want to be free to speak my mind. (I lost my voice for a few years)
I want to be free to do what I want (mothering 5 kids was an adjustment for me)
I like feeling free to make my own choices (what do you mean this town only has one grocery store!?!)
I want to feel like I am conducting my life, not the other way around.

So when life didn't go the way I had planned (can we say way off course?) I lived in the land of tears and frustration.

Determined to learn from this experience rather than cave to it
required an awful lot of soul searching
journal-ing
and blogging

and I think I finally found the source of my discontentment
the main nerve
the nail on the head ... (and without expensive therapy thankyouverymuch)

I wasn't struggling because of our financial situation
I was struggling because of the lack of  freedom I had because of our financial situation.


I didn't care that I didn't have a brand name bag.
I cared that I couldn't buy one if I wanted one.
I didn't want to go on a cruise
I was angry because I couldn't go.
I don't need another sweater, but I was mad that I couldn't buy one if I did.

get what I'm sayin'?

The core of my dissatisfaction wasn't in what I didn't own, it was that I wasn't free to own whatever I wanted.

I felt like a slave to numbers that were missing from our check book.
And, as I mentioned, I don't do well with restrictions.

So that's my confession this Finance Friday. And I gotta tell ya ... it's like a weight's been lifted off my shoulders. It was a personal light bulb moment for me. And I needed it. I needed to understand the source of my frustration so that I could learn
grow
deal
with it like a grownup
instead of a sulky teenager.

So whether or not I found myself a volunteer for the minimalist movement is irrelevant. I'm in it. And I'll be dammed if I struggle against it one minute longer than I have to. It's Friday, friends. Finance Friday. Thanks for stopping by my blog today!