Agreed, People rarely step back and assess how they are spending their money, and take the time to determine if the purchase is a need, or a want. Then... there is the assessment re: is there a less costly way to achieve the goal? Before hubby and I were even married, we were saving for our future. After we married, we lived on one income, banking the second one. We only owned one car, with hubby often walking or biking to work. We paid cash for our land, built our house. After kids were born, I did not work for 5 years, then... only part time, working 3 - 11 shift so that the kids were only at a baby sitter for 8 hours/week. There were plenty of sacrifices: cloth diapers (most of them home made), only rarely did we eat out. Dates were a picnic in the park or a trip to the library, a drive to a local lake or the ocean. I would cut down an old pair of jeans to make overalls for the kids... sewed all their and most of my clothes. I would not change a thing. When I look at the frantic lives lived by many of my peers, and the younger generations, I can't begin to wrap my head around the amount of stress that such a life style must entail.
