|
Your Letters
Reading
|
If you decide to create the opportunity to spend as much time as you would like with your children the chances are that it will mean a diminished income. Clearly I feel that the benefits of a happy home life far outweigh the disadvantages of being relatively poor. There have been times when I wished I had more money but I’m sure most people feel that occasionally.
Flowers for the lady!
We are lucky in the U.K. that the Government supports families on low incomes. Cliff and I have been graciously living on what most people would consider the bread line for years. But it hasn’t felt like the bread line to us. We feel extremely privileged to be able to stay at home most of the time with our children and we are glad that we receive some financial assistance from our Government to help us. In the U.K. as long as you or your partner work 16 hours a week you are entitled to Family Tax Credit.
Maybe some people think we are poor but our sympathy lies with the people who work their lives away so they can buy all the myriad of things they think they need! Every Christmas in the U.K., £9,000,000 is spent on unwanted gifts. I think poverty is a state of mind and I feel as though many of the people in Britain lead impoverished lives. They may have more money and “things” than me but that is a poor gauge of life’s quality.
Most “necessary” spending can be reduced with a bit of creative thinking and if you are not working so hard you will have more time to think. For instance as far as food is concerned I find that the wealthier I am the worse I eat! When I am managing my money carefully I buy raw foods, usually in bulk and make my own meals. Processed food is so expensive by comparison. We are vegetarians (minimal dairy) and enjoy making our own, bread, peanut butter, cakes, burgers, jams, quiches, pizzas, pies, etc. We also produce loads of fruit, veg, eggs and honey.
The real cost of an item is the amount of time you have to expend in order to pay for it. A £30 jumper is 6 hours of work @ £5 an hour. If you bought a similar jumper second hand for £5 you would have saved yourself 5 hours of working! Do this calculation when working out whether you “need” something or not and (if you like your family more than your job) you will be surprised at how many things you can reduce the cost of or go without.
Cliff and I have a very minimalist attitude towards clothing, we currently share a chest of drawers between us and if we overspill our one and a half drawers we have a clear out. OK, I'll be brutally honest, he lets me have one and three quarters!
Also since bought in entertainment tends to be expensive we create our own, with shelves full of music CDs, board (bored) games and jigsaws inside, and a trampoline, zip line and enormous tyre swing outside! Not to mention conversation, singing, making music, dancing, fire lighting, gardening, daming the stream, making dens, climbing trees, walking and cycling. So many free things are fun. Going out for a walk to pick wild fruits and nuts is useful and fun.
You never know what you can do with out until you try! And more to the point, trying can be fun! For instance at the moment we could do with a new bath. Yesterday I was telling a local farmer about our shabby bath and he suggested he's got one out in the field that we are welcome to try out! So I'll pop along there and maybe I'll get a trough bath. Certainly I'll get a funny story. Maybe it will be roll top with lion legs!
At the momment we earn money by providing respite support for children three weekends a month. Cliff also works one day a week splicing ropes, and runs a guided walking business. I have had some experience of public speaking and would like to do more ( Talks and Courses ). Just in case you're wondering, I'm very good - well excellent actually!
|
"A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty." Spotlight, Idaho
"Lifes greatest riches have nothing to do with money." Anon
"The day, water, sun, moon, night - I do not have to purchase these things with money." Titus Plantus 254 -184 BC
"Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months!" Oscar Wilde
"The most important things in life aren't things!" Quoted in Bulletin of Christian Church, Fairfield.
|