The Simple Life at Home

Ok, so I'm not really a Rolling Stones fan. I'm more of a Beatles girl. Early Beatles, before they got influenced by whatever influenced them to write Sargent Pepper's. Which, by the way, I like. But, c'mon...it's out there.

But I digress...

Have you ever had that feeling that if you just had that one more thing, be it something tangible or intangible, that then you would finally be satisfied?

I've had that a lot lately. Since the move, I've been so focused on what I've had to give up from our life back home. Stupid things really, like curtains I like (which I didn't have to start with - I had all blinds!!!), a dryer, cute dishtowels, etc.

I have to keep reminding myself that all those things are unimportant. I have a loving husband, two wonderful kids, a beautiful home, a great church. But even more importantly, I have a God who loves me much more than I could ever imagine.

To be completely honest, I had a picture in my head that when we moved here we would be rolling in the dough. I thought I'd be able to buy whatever I wanted without even thinking about it. After all, Hubby would be making three times the amount of money that he did in the US.

However, the housing market hit us pretty hard. We had planned on paying off all our debt with the selling of our rental properties. You can imagine how that went. Nothing sold, and that debt is still there. We are working on paying it off, and, yes, I've ordered that Dave Ramsay book to pick up while I'm back home. But in the meanwhile, it's cutting into my spending.

Now back home, we just would have continued to live on credit cards, still feeding my every whim. But Hubby and I are committed to not going deeper into debt. We are struggling to live within our means and that means learning to not just run to Target (ah, Target...sigh!), every time I'm bored and spend "just a little bit." It means opting to shop for a bargain.

It means learning to be content.

And that's the bottom line.

I'm working on it, but it will take time and plenty of training this ol' brain to adapt. Yes, I may want to have fall-themed dish towels, but no, they aren't going to bring me long-lasting joy.

So, yes, I may not have every little thing I want. But what I lose in those little, daily, dying-to-self moments, I will gain in having a better perspective on what really matters.