great living simple article...

I came across this article. As a warning, it is very long, but even if you just skim it a bit, there are some really great bits all throughout.

http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/110275/but-will-it-make-you-happy

Especially of interest is the psychological tie-in to ‘conspicuous consumption’. Don’t know what that means? Then you will really enjoy this article as it explains very well why keeping up with the neighbors is full of fail and brings sad-panda type sadness.
Also, for the first time, someone seemed to touch upon that sense I get when I’m at a concert, trip or other live event. Kinda like taking it all in is almost impossible, but yet you enjoy cycling through the memories for long periods of time afterward. They contrast how the participating activity effects you long term in many positive ways versus buying stuff like a TV which wears off pretty fast. Very interesting stuff.

That was a great read. I find it interesting how many people are discovering that deficit spending that not only put the nationa’s financial health at risk, but personal financial risk as well. My work depends on new construction, and has suffered greatly as the economy corrects itself, yet the strongest who are surviving are the folks who had solid financial standing, instead of debt.

I took a significant year over year pay cut as a result, and yet as we’ve altered our lifestyle to match, we’re not finding a measurable negativity to our lives. On the contrary, we’ve found fun that fits our lifestyle, rather than matching our lifestyle to our fit our fun. There’s power in living financially well. And since we’re a couple of months away from being consumer-debt free, that’s when the real happiness will start.