Simplify.

“Nothing is too good for the heavily mortgaged.”

My buddy Jeff dropped this quote on me as we drove into a pricey mall in Orlando, Florida a while ago, and it has really stuck in my mind. This little eight word quote has helped me remain content with what I have as we struggle to make ends meet.

“Wes,” he said. “When we go into this mall we are going to see two kinds of people.  There will be normal looking ones like us. And then, there will be the ones wearing all the fancy “bling” and the designer clothes. The ones that look like us are the ones with the money. The ones with all the “bling” are the ones with all the credit card debt, pricey car payments, monster mortgages, and the stressed out lives.”

It can be difficult watching people walk by with nice new clothes, or seeing someone drive by with that new 2009 Honda Odyssey mini-van as we cram our two boys, a diaper bag, bike, stroller, and booster seats into our 1995 Camry with the 130,000 miles on it. I get a little “I-don’t-like-mini-vans-but-I-could-put-up-with-that” envy going on.

Maybe for you, it’s not “Honda-Odyssey-Envy”, but it’s  “Tropical-Vacation-Envy” or “Gucci-Purse-Envy” or maybe it’s just “Purdue-Chicken-Envy”.  You know what I mean.

It is easy to look on and think, “That would make life easier; I wish we had one of those.”

It is usually about that time that God or something I ate prompts Jeff’s quote to echo inside my head. The translation goes something like this. “Sure Wes, you and Kaley have great credit and would probably have no problem getting a nice fat loan so you could drive a new car. But, how would you like to give up your emergency savings and then some to have that $400 car payment hanging over your head every month…for the next 48 months of your life?”

It’s about that time that I thankfully look down at that beautifully worn grey steering wheel and think, “I sure am glad we own this car, it has been so good to us.” We haven’t had to pay anything more than regular maintenance on it for over five years now.  Our savings + $400/month x 12 x 4….$19,200 + interest to drive up to the same McDonald’s drive-through for the same greasy food everyone else gets.

If you are buried in payments and are having a hard time enjoying the simple things, I want to encourage you to simplify your life a bit.

It will be a little painful going without some of the conveniences others may have.  But know this: not EVERYONE ELSE has that particular thing you think you can’t live without.  Sell some of the things that “own you” on ebay or Craigslist and get out from underneath that financial weight.

Contentment is waiting right around the corner for you. She’s chillin’ in a rocking chair with a cool beverage in one hand and a wad of just enough cash to live on in the other.