Everyone wants to be able to live in a nice home and drive a new car. It is just part of the American dream. We work very hard to achieve these goals and many times it means long hours at work and more time spent away from the family that we are trying so hard to give these things to. It can make you wonder if all the best things are actually worth the trade off that has to be made in order to have them.



For some people, it is common practice to have a new car at least every few years or so. Have you ever asked yourself why not pay that car off and just drive it for a few more years and not have to worry about that car payment every month for a while? It will mean that the one you are driving may not be the latest thing and it might have a few scratches or a dent form a little wear, but really, who cares if it can allow you to spend a little more time with your kids before they are grown and gone away before you know it?

Living in a home we can not really afford is great, but have you ever asked yourself if you would actually have a better life if you did not have to spend as much time working and worrying about whether or not you will be able to meet the mortgage payment next month? We have a bad habit of trying to move up in the world sometimes before we are really ready and this is what lands so many of us in a financial prison of our own making.

Sometimes it can be easier to be really happy when we have a little less because we do not have to work as many long hours to pay for it. It is wonderful to have all the nicest things, but when you are continually sacrificing the quality of your life today, it might not be as important as we think it is. It is not uncommon for us to have to neglect time with our spouse or our children in pursuit of having the best of everything.

When you get right down to it, it is not the things we have that always makes us happy anyway. It is the spouse we married and the children we have. It could be that if some of us spent a little more giving our loved ones ourselves instead of everything else, then we all might be a little happier and have a better chance of actually staying together long enough to enjoy what ever we do have.