Friday, June 11, 2010

5 Things Everyone Wants, But I Am Happy NOT To Have

1. iAnything!I don't own an iPod, nor iPad, nor iPhone, and I really have no desire to do so. I know, you are going to say it's because I don't know what I'm missing. So what if I'm a Nun of Apple! We have so many gadgets around here that I'm quite content with what we have. I know you're going to freak out when I tell you that I still listen to CDs and you'll faint when I say the other day I listened to an old CASSETTE TAPE. (I'll give you some time to recover...)...
...But life does not end without an iPod, nor begin with one. Really, it doesn't.

2. E-Reader
What is the point of using a device that requires BATTERIES to READ A BOOK?? Huh? Books are made of PAPER, and they SMELL GREAT! They travel well, you can tell how much of the story is left by the thickness of the pages on the right as well as how much you've read for that sense of accomplishment, AND they don't die right in the middle of a good part, nor do you have to plug them in! Plus, some of the cover art deserves to be framed!

3. Hybrid CarMy current old beater gets WAY BETTER mileage than the hybrids right now. Did you know they invented cars that got better mileage back in the 50s or 60s (I'll have to ask my dad) and the car makers refused to manufacture them??! They sat right in the oil company's pockets. The "new" hybrids aren't living up to their potential in my book. My glorified lawn mower can do better on it's 3 cylinders! I used to want one, until I read up on their stats!

4. Cable TVThat's right, we don't have cable or satellite TV. We hardly watched it when we did have it, so no loss! No more cartoons, but they were all getting stupid, like worse than Spongebob, which I banned, and which post still gets hits today. I also banned Fanboy And Chum Chum, Chowder and the list kept growing. My kids watched more TV than I ever did. We look up shows on channels we did like, and watch them online via services like hulu. But there aren't many.

5. Credit CardsI mean seriously, do we need them? No. I don't have any. I may not make the most, but I am debt free, unlike most Americans. Okay, so I have a house payment and Student Loans to pay back, but that is good debt. Those don't count against you. The temptation to spend over your means is far too great when you are faced with ads of happy people enjoying their new items. It is far better to live within your means than to go into debt for a fad.


So What Do I Want?

1. To Stay Busy
I have multiple writing projects going, I teach my kids at home, we go out to fun places, and we take care of the pets and house. The most satisfaction comes from completing one of those projects, though.

2. To Spend Time with my KidsThey are only young once! My little guy has had a lot of personality and has some new vocabulary words to go with it! Anything that is difficult, he says "That's dangerous!" We worked on emotions with these emotion cards the other day and he took the mad one and made it yell at all the others. Then he took the happy one and told the mad one to stop. I think he's got that down! The older one enjoys going to the library and is learning about weather, the United States, and reads silly books. We go swimming, to movies, and fairs, events at the library, Children's museum, VBS, and even the pet store to see animals! These are the best years. I dont' want to waste them. Afterall, soon I'll "know nothing" and be "annoying"!

3. To Still Have Dates with HubbyEven longer than my children will be around, I plan on keeping my husband around. :) I cannot forsake him to focus on any other area of my life, I have to include him. We are a team. Spending quality time alone together may be a rare event, but it is vital to our relationship. Even if schedules change, or babysitting is not an option, we can still find moments and ways to be together.

4. To Meet my Ficly FriendsI have made some wonderful friendships via the writing website I talk about often in this blog. You can read some of my works in my other blog as well, which is geared toward writing. Those friendships may be online only, but they are very real. My dream is to go have lunch with those that I write with, to meet them, talk with them, and form an even stronger bond. Ultimately, a convention would be nice, but I don't think that is in the budget!

5. To Travel and see an OceanI want to travel. Maybe I can go visit some ficly people, but ultimately I want to swim with some dolphins, go to a real beach, see the ocean, and a few other landmarks. I never went on a family vacation as a child, so this desire is rather strong. We've gone to a few local places, in the state, but never something huge. One goal is to go on a cruise. Not only would that constitute seeing an ocean, but it also would mean traveling outside the midwest to a port. I think the family would also like a train ride one day.

What do you value most? When it all comes down to it, we treasure our relationships, because they lift us up, and the memories we create will last longer than any job, or material object.

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6 comments:

Valerie said...

You can kill two birds with one stone if you go on a cruise that leaves from Miami; I'll take you out to lunch! Lovely list, and we should all be so blessed.

Matt Silverthorn said...

The only "don't want" on your list that I would disagree with is the credit card. My wife and I are also debt free (aside from mortgage and student loans), but we have a few credit cards for a couple of reasons.

1) We don't have to carry money anymore. If you get robbed and someone steals your cash, you're out of luck. If someone steals your credit card and tries to use it, you are not liable for any purchases made as long as you report it stolen in a reasonable amount of time.

2) We make money off of our credit cards. Yes, you read that right. Lots of credit cards have cash back rewards programs. By budgeting ahead of time and using our credit cards for all of our usual purchases, we build up a good amount of cash back, several hundred dollars a year. We pay off the balance every month with the money we would have been using to make our purchases anyway.

So, you may want to consider getting at least one credit card. Having one and being on time with payments also helps your credit rating, which can be useful when you need to get a car loan, mortgage, etc in the future.

ElshaHawk said...

Well you are fortunate, Matt, to be able to pay them off and avoid temptation.
Firstly, I have never had a card that gave me cash back, and I'd never earn it because I don't spend enough.
I don't carry cash either, I use my debit card to make purchases, with an overdraft account in case something goes haywire. I have a Club Card to my name, but I'll tell you, the only thing that improved my credit rating over my husband's was the student loan debt! It didn't matter one lick that we had a Club Card.

Matt Silverthorn said...

You know yourself the best, of course. If you know you can't handle the temptation, then don't get one. Do what works best for your family. But if that temptation is not a problem, you may want to rethink your position.

AK Huckeby said...

Love this post! Thanks for sharing!

Masquerade Crew said...

I have an older iPod that I got on sale. It gets me through boring night shifts at work. I listen to audio books mostly.

I have an e-reader that I got on sale. Though I hope real books never die out, I have read more with the e-reader, and somethings are just not available in print, like stuff published on Protagonize.

I agree with you on Hybrids.

I do not have cable or satellite, either. I do watch Netflix via my brother's account. He pays the bill.

I carry two credit cards. I am in slight debt but getting out of it. I moved last year and was out of work for a while ... that's the reason, not overspending.

There's my two cents.