Save. Spend. Splurge.

In the world of Save. Spend. Splurge.: Rich people share what they thought was normal growing up

1. Normalized

I found this article – Rich people share what they thought growing up was normal, quite interesting.

I will say that when I grew up, I thought that everyone had their own room, because I had my own room (we were middle class). It wasn’t until I visited my friends that I realized they shared bedrooms, and tiny ones too, which I could see getting annoying if you wanted your OWN space. My friend was always so envious I had a big room all to myself.

In contrast, when I went to school with far richer kids, they all talked about annual vacations twice a year (skiing, then the beaches in the summer, usually abroad), and getting new cars when they turned 16 and got a driver’s license. I didn’t even have a driver’s permit until I was 23 because I didn’t see the point – I had been taking public transportation the whole time, with ZERO HOPE that I would ever be able to afford a car.

I also think a lot of family memories are created in these moments. One memorable one I read from a submission online was someone who said they couldn’t afford tickets to the baseball game, so their parents pretended their living room with the TV was the baseball game and they made tickets for the parents to “check” and tear in half before allowing them into the ‘stadium’, handed out homemade popcorn in little buckets, and “sold” concession food.

Later in her life, when she told her parents how much she loved it, her mother confessed they were embarrassed they were so poor but it’s just delightful that their children saw NONE OF THAT. They only saw love, great fun, excitement, creativity, laughter and a cherished memory. It’s heartening to hear how little of the pain and strife we adults face, that children don’t pick up on or even see if you don’t pour it on them.

We are by no means poor but that’s the kind of parent I hope to be when I refuse to buy another generic toy, and instead come up with ideas for Little Bun to repurpose his boxes, blocks and Stuffies to develop a creative imagination to what he already has. It is not out of necessity that I do this, or guilt, but out of – look how wonderful imagination can be WITHOUT buying that toy that looks like a specific landscape / train / car!

2. Authored

I am definitely buying this Author Clock when it comes out. I want the large one (they have a smaller version), and I think it’s fantastic. It has literary quotes for every time of the day, and I am INTO IT! How great would this be? You check the time and you get a literary quote.

3. Songstress

This beautiful song from 3400 years ago, transcribed from hieroglyphics.

4. Steamed up

This $30 USD steam power cleaner has completely changed my life. Okay maybe not quite that dramatic but close. We bought the home when it was a few years old, and it was cleaned, but it wasn’t DEEP cleaned. I have spent the past few years trying to use baking soda and scrubbing my arm off to remove the grout stains that have set in DEEP.

Then I saw someone post about this being used on their grout, I bit the bullet and got one because I thought – what the heck – and I thought it wasn’t working the first time I used it. I mean, I also misused it by not realizing where the steam was going, not having the right grout scrubby attachment on there… lots of issues.

I scrubbed and scrubbed and saw brown water lifting off the grout and tile but it was all darkened from the water in general that I couldn’t tell if it was working or not. I scrubbed a lot longer at one spot than I should have. Disappointed, I put it away and the next day when it all dried, I was surprised – the grout looks like new now. Just from some really concentrated, deep steam and a little scrubbing. GAME CHANGER.

5. Richie Rich

In the same vein as the first, 16 lessons people learned from being around rich people could interest you. The one that struck me as being so wholly, unequivocally true is not having any stress at all. You can do anything – lose your job, smash your car, drop a cellphone – and you can lean on your parents to help you, or you have they money to smooth over ANY STRESS that can be solved by throwing money at it.

This reminded me of that flat tire I had a while back that I threw money at. I contacted them come and fix it remotely, and install a brand new winter tire that was exactly the same one as the others I had as I was working at home and unable to be there, and they sent me the bill online which I paid. Then I just went and picked my car up later.

These problems are easily solved with money. What’s harder to solve with money is stuff like emotional bonding, security, the scarcity mindset I developed as child when my parents were just so up and down with their finances where one day they’d be flush and we’d be eating seafood, and the next, they’d be screaming about the bills at each other. It just made me think that money was a big gambling experiment, growing up; one day you had lots of it and the other you could be dead broke.

All of that contributed to my scarcity mindset. I was scared of investing or taking risks with my money once I made it (and irrationally speaking, spending recklessly goes into another category in my brain), and I would just hoard it. Now that I am slowly releasing those demons – I have enough – I am letting myself be less strict and trying to loosen up my spending reins.

6. Sherpa

I CANNOT FIND MY GLOVES. For the life of me, I have 3 pairs of cashmere lined, leather gloves and I have torn my house and car upside down and cannot find them. I am wondering if I donated them by accident (sometimes I tuck them into jackets and forget they’re there).

At any rate, I finally bit the bullet and bought a new pair of mittens rather than obstinately thinking I am going to find them. I picked up the Lululemon Sherpa Mittens. They’re comfy (it’s like wearing a teddy bear inside in the lining), they’re cute in grey to keep my fingers warm, and they flip up so I can tap on my phone without those specific silver-threaded gloves. I tried to find them secondhand (no luck), and decided to YOLO and buy them anyway.

(Watch, my other gloves will now show up, after I take the tags off and wear them.)

7. #$*#$&@!

If you’re anti-vax, please do not click on this article or follow me any more. For the rest of you, frustrated with our fellow human beings privileged resistance to a vaccine that has globally been proven to be safe (though I will acknowledge very slightly that super long-term effects which are 10+ years or more are yet to be discovered, AND YET if there were averse effects you’d see them in 6 months to a year, but I digress), please enjoy this article that sums up how I feel about all of this.

I am just flummoxed at people choosing to take their chances with this virus and their immune system (and others’ for that matter, while backing up our poor hospitals), than to take this vaccine that will and has proven to significantly HELP the situation. Not eliminate. HELP. WITH OUR AID, and with everyone still masking up, vaccinated, we could have slowly gotten rid of this. Instead, we are half in, half out and dragging this on a lot longer than we should/need to.

8. Sherpa to the max

My love for sherpa clothing does not end with just mittens from #6 because I went and tried on this coat at BR and it is just stunning. It is also pricey, and I am not quite willing to spend this for polyester. If it were on sale, or secondhand for $100 I’d snap it up. But at this price point, for polyester, I’d rather wait and buy the coveted one I really want which is of course the Max Mara Teddy Bear Icon coat in White.

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