Good things do come to those who wait. It’s a very unpopular concept, especially in our commercial driven culture that screams-out for us to constantly spend now and pay later. As a culture we have grown so accustomed to living in debt that it seems normal. In fact, prior to World War II, only 2 percent of Americans had a house mortgage and now it’s the opposite with only 2 percent of homeowners not having a mortgage.
In September I wrote the post, "Delayed Purchases Pay Huge Dividends". It featured a lovely picture of my dog laying on a concrete floor in my living room. I decided that living on concrete was better than our old dirty carpet that was a little past due for replacement. The idea was to save-up and wait until we had cash in-hand to have tile laid in our house.
The day finally came, after painting, replacing hardware and other upgrades, we had the funds available to pay for the materials and labor. Having freshly laid floors is like living in a new house and we are enjoying it very much. Best of all is that every single tile is ours paid-in-full. We don’t owe the bank or the legalized mafia, the credit card companies a nickel for them.
2 Comments
You got me in “good things do come to those who wait”. My dad kept on telling me that phrase before because he knew that I have an impulsive nature: I decide quickly and whenever I want something, I want to get it as soon as possible. But somehow, I am using that “wisdom” to control myself whenever I want to buy something…believing that there will be better product/model/version at a much lower price after few months.
Elvis, your dad’s advice will serve you well. I am still learning this myself. Whenever I am able to resist the buy impulse, I am always glad later. One good piece of advise I recently heard is to sleep on any big purchase decision. Far better than waking up and saying, “what have I done”?