AB is MOST of the way onto the "I need" side. Encouraged mostly by the fact that Costco online is having a sale on Dells that ends Sunday. I shouldn't just call it a sale, no, it is an extravaganza! More far reaching than what my company discount offered by far. First take Costco's fantastic prices and then further discount them by up to $500. Most of the computers we are looking at are discounted $250-$350!
The other force that is pulling him to the dark side is seeing the 20" flat panel widescreen monitors that are INCLUDED in these fantastic prices. He is already talking about putting the new computer into our room instead of the library and getting rid of our little 13" TV in there. Bad, bad, bad. Leif and I will *never* see him again.
Here is my big problem... it is in my hands. Literally.
When I was 16 I had my palm read. It was a horrible experience and so far everything has been wrong about this, save for one thing. I was told that I would marry many times. Which freaked the hell out of me and always has, would I never find true love? What saved me from this freakness was July 29, 2004 when a little boy entered my life. You see, according to my reading, I was only supposed to have girls. Three of them to be precise. No boys. So my palm reading must have been BS. Save for one little thing.
"Uh oh," said my palm reader as she looked at my palm.
"What?" I asked her panicking.
"You see these two lines here?" she said as she pointed towards the bottom of my hand towards my wrist.
"Yeah?" I said.
"They don't intersect," she says with a down inflection.
"What does that mean?" I asked her.
"It means," she said, "that money will come into your hands quickly and leave just as fast. You aren't a saver."
*Sigh* I never have been. I like my toys. I like things. Money does make me happy. (Not as happy as my husband and son, thankfully.) But I enjoy life where I can buy the things I want and need. There, I admit it. BUT, I do realize how very lucky I am to be in the position to buy the things I want. I do try to reign myself in. AB is better than me and so he helps, or tries to help. I have an amazing ability to sell, unfortunately only in regards to convincing AB we need something. (Someday maybe, this will transition to the grant writing process I face regularly.)
So here is my *sob* story... After my parents divorced, my mom made $3.25 an hour and I (full of shame) took free school lunches. I didn't ever dare ask for a pair of Jordache jeans. And the days of seeing my mom sigh when I would tell her that I need $5 for school the next day for whatever are burned into my brain. Then there was college where I worked a real job (as opposed to anything on campus - I realize they are "real jobs"... as AB likes to remind me) to pay for school, I struggled with student loans and ate pancakes for dinner many nights because I didn't have any money to buy food, yet I had flour in my house. My mom couldn't afford to help me pay for college at the time, and my dad felt that it was my responsibility if I wanted to go to college. Sob story... no I am kidding. No sobbing about it, I had a great childhood and I really appreciate the fact that I put myself through 9 years of college.
What I am getting at is that I do very much appreciate being able to buy what I want for the most part. I have been on the other side of life and I survived. But those periods of having nothing have probably jaded me some. If I can have something that I want, why shouldn't I?
Now how to raise my son so that he appreciates the value of saving? Oh search me. I will make a deal with AB, I will talk about the birds and the bees and he can talk about the value of saving ones money.
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