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Wish # 6

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Halfway there!  My sixth wish (goes along with Wish # 5) is that we as individuals work to reduce our debt on a path to eliminating it.  Our society is screwed from top to bottom because of debt. Quit using it, pay it off, and live on cash. It will make your life a lot easier and you will breathe easier because you will be free, personal debt is sufficating and our national debt mounts daily.  We as individuals should set an example for those we vote to run our country.

There are a lot of programs available, the most popular being Dave Ramsey (click here for his website), type “living on a cash basis” into your Google search and there are over 5 million results of books, blogs, news articles, magazines and online tools to help you get started.

As a Realtor, I no longer receive that twice monthly paycheck that made budgeting and life in general so much easier and struggle with making those monthly payments on credit cards I used freely in my past.  I have found that unless I have the cash, I no longer purchase anything – I look around my home and realize I have absolutely everything I could ever need…

Do you think you could live a cash based lifestyle?  Share your thoughts with me!

2031226m5o2fytgr4Vicki Reed

Wish # 5

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My fifth wish is that society curb their consumerism…do we really need a bigger TV to be happy?  Does constantly accumulating more “things” make you happy?  I’m the first to admit…I love shopping!  I love nice clothes, purses, coats…and oh the shoes!  But do I need them to be happy?  Probably not, but the right shoes with the right outfit makes me happy and these red ones, they just make me feel great…Red Shoes

I see people every day, working hard and spending more for things you wonder if they really need or more likely, do their children.  Growing up, we had everything we needed, sure there was plenty of stuff we wanted, but I couldn’t tell you now what any of those things were.  My favorite things are the experiences we had as a family.  My Pappa was a school bus driver and a farmer (goes hand in hand more often than you would think).  His route took him past our house for a drop, then he would come back by…we would yell to Mom where we were headed, he’d pick us up at the end of the drive-way and take us home with him.  Mamma would add more plates to the table and after Dad got home and finished feeding (we too lived on a farm), he and Mom would come to retrieve us.  There was always ice cream (sometimes homemade that we had to crank!) or watermelon and cantaloupe, sitting on the front porch, laughing, talking enjoying the breeze and each other before jumping into the back of the pick-up and heading home.

With Christmas just around the corner, it is a great time to take stock, look around at what you have, decide what you really need before making that Christmas wish list, think about what you have, what you don’t use any more and donate usable items to your favorite charities…Goodwill, Salvation Army, Red Cross…the list is extensive.

My friend (and Co-Blogger) Mary O has a great solution – she has 3 sons, all married, 2 with kids, (1 with dogs) – instead of shopping for things…she takes each family to dinner and an event.  Plays, the Circus, Children’s Museum…she is making memories that her Grandchildren will remember for a lifetime…that’s what life is about, not the “things” you accumulate…

What could you live without?  What are your wishes for positive change?  Please share!

Vicki Reed