Well, funny that the very next post I write kind of puts a damper on the last one. We have debt now! Hahaha... We've been needing a second car for months and months, and we found the perfect one, and pounced on it. It's a hybrid Honda Civic and it's a beautiful sky blue and it drives like a luxury car. We mainly just wanted it to save on gas and have something safer to buckle our kids into. With one car, Gavin has been quite a chauffer, and it will be nice for him not to have to drive back and forth between Orem and PG so much. The hybrid gets excellent gas mileage too, so that will help a lot. But with that, we have decided that we can't afford to give quite as expensive gifts as we were planning, and that we are really going to cut back on our spending for awhile, until we can get out of debt again. It's only a two-year loan, and we got a good, fixed interest rate. December will certainly be poor though, between registering the car (including tax on it and all that), paying rent, Christmas and all that. But we have been blessed financially, and I'm sure Heavenly Father will keep an eye out for us, as along as we continue to pay a full tithe. Anyway, all that responsible stuff aside, I love our new car!
Once upon a time...
This is the age to buy. The age of maximum property and minumum responsibility. This is the time when a 21-year-old can, and is nearly expected to, drive a brand new car, move into their own house (a big one, too), and fill that house with designer furniture. Those who have those things seem more domestic. They seem more organized and responsible because of what they have. They seem settled down and grown-up. There's just one gaping problem with this: debt. Tons and tons of debt. The prophet has warned us against unnecessary debt, and people aren't listening. The young adults of our society are very greedy. They see what their parents have, and they see the way to get it all, right now. They don't realize what kind of sacrifices their parents had to make in order to eventually get some of these things. They only see the appealing ads and the things other people around them have. They need to prove that they are equals.
Grow up.
Stuff won't make you happy, and debt hanging over your head certainly won't make you happy. I get it-- if you can afford nice new things, power to you. If you're smart with your money and you are one of the handful of people in this country who don't have debt, but a little savings stached away, go for it. I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about everyone else.
Yes, the prophet has made two exceptions to the debt thing, saying that it is allowable to go into some debt for education and some for a house. The education thing is obvious. Tuition is expensive and most people don't have the immediate means of affording it. Pay it off quickly. Pay it off as you go. The house thing though, has been misunderstood. He didn't mean, "Everyone, run out and buy a house now because you can!" and he didn't mean that loads of debt for the fancy house on the hill is acceptable. He simply meant that almost no one has the kind of cash where they can go and buy a house straight-up, and so a bit of debt on that front is acceptable, as long as the house matches your needs and your ability to pay it off.
My point is that you can be happy-- in fact, happier-- without all the stuff.
Gavin and I are the proud owner of a humble, nearly-falling-apart little car. It runs decently well. It even has working heater and AC. All the seat belts work and the insurance on it is very low. It's nothing fancy, but it does the job well. We rent out a two-bedroom apartment that we feel is very spacious (it was a rip-off deal). It has ugly floors and uglier wall paper and we're not allowed to put any holes in the walls. It's filled with second-hand furniture that was all either bought for dirt cheap at yard sales and stuff, or second-hand gifts from family. It's not top grade, but it definitely works. We buy off-brand food and don't go out too eat too much. I cook with a ghetto stove and a Wal-Mart mixer. And do you know what the interesting thing is?
We are comfortable.
We are happy.
We have no debt. None.
It's so nice to look at our bank account and see that the small amount accumulating in it from Gavin's hard work and our compromised frugality is ours. Completely ours. We don't owe anyone anything, and that is a priceless feeling. We know we can afford to buy a car when the time comes, and pay it off quickly. We have excellent credit. We realize it's going to be years before we get into our own house, and we're fine with that. We wouldn't expect anything sooner. We live simply, we take things one step at a time, and we are happy.
To those of you who don't know, I am a secret Harry Potter fan. I've read the books twice (I know, no great feat for a "real" fan), and I love them. I was really excited to go out and see the first half of the last movie next week... that is, until I heard about the nudity. Apparently there are two different scenes in which Harry Potter is completely naked. One of them involves Hermione Granger. Does anyone else have a problem with this? When I heard this, I racked my brain to figure out when in the book I had read about any nudity. I did come up with one vague scene, but it wasn't really the kind of thing that made nudity at all necessary to portray. The other scene was a mystery to me, so I Googled it. Having read the books, I wasn't afraid of any spoilers. The second nudity scene was absolutely unnecessary and the very idea of it made me uncomfortable. I am very disappointed in the director, and appalled at Rowling for allowing this. The books are excellent the way they are, and in case they didn't notice, they are plenty popular without any garbage in them. Why corrupt a perfectly good, well-written story by throwing that kind of scum in there? It's pathetic.