Things the rich do that the poor don’t

[roamer_1]

It's a plus if the roof doesn't leak.

That's true.

There are many ways to measure 'wealth'.

The good Lord saw fit to tweak my perspective a while back... I was doing alright by worldly standards - Hard to separate me from my businesses, but low-to-mid six-figures... Never really lived high on the hog,  I guess, or that's what I told myself... But what stress! It's funny how you get used to it... How getting up barfing blood every morning can be 'normal'...

Then the Father hit me upside the head with a 2x4 that put me in a bed/wheelchair for some years - Lost it all, including my family... Right down to nothing, not even able to count on my own two hands.

Then he healed me.

It ain't been fun, and it ain't been easy. Been a whole lot of falling down to do along the way - But I'm used to getting up... been doing it all my life. That I CAN get up is all I needed. And every step is a joy to behold.

And I have been reminded of the simple things in life. I am under a tin roof again - God how I love the rain beating down on a tin roof - My little cabin is just outside of town - too close to the road, and the road is fairly busy, especially in the summer when folks are running out to the lake... But at night it gets quiet, when everyone's gone on home... It ain't like out in the sticks but I can see the stars, and real darkness, sacred, black, solitude ...

I grow most of my own food... my freezer is full of fish and game for the first time in 20 years... I make magnificent meals for myself, and sometimes friends - REAL home-cooked food, every meal of every day - The food I've always loved. I fix things for folks - something I have always been good at and love to do. How grand it is that my hand can hold and work a screwdriver again!

But I surely ain't lying when I say I live on what I used to spend for coffee every month... Poor as a church mouse, but I eat good. REALLY good. A redneck boy has always wanted money, but he really don't need all that much at all. Take away all that town stuff, and the fast food, grow and hunt your own food, and the cost of living goes way, way down... Makes me wonder what it was I was chasing that whole time.

I ain't done... I fuss with the horses, down at the family's place - My mom still lives there, and that old barn has been a part of me since I was a pup... I fuss with them, but I haven't been on them yet. You have to know how important is for me to crawl up into that saddle... It'll come... Can't take a full pack and 15-mile hike either... I can't hardly do five miles, but again, it'll come.

I remember a time, not more than five years ago, sitting in that cursed chair, smelling the wind - The spring wind coming down out of the canyon - I could taste the high country in that breeze, and my heart broke inside me, knowing for a fact that I would never walk above the treeline ever again...

But that's all changed. There's a place I know, way back in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, clean all the way at the upper end of the White River Trail... There's an overlook on up in there where the trail makes a sudden bend and there you are, looking out at The Chinese Wall for the first time... The Father has put it in my heart that when I stand right there again, this phase of what he is doing in me will be considered complete. He has put it in me that I will stand right there again, and I surely will.

But at the big cookout on the 4th this last summer, with my dear old mother, and my brothers and sisters, and my kids and grandkids all around, I found I was well past content. Happy. Joyous. More than ever in my life. And PEACE... Man, the peace of it... It took half my life to turn me back around to this hard-scrabble way, full of love and life, and a wealthier man can never be found.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRjQmIqA1dY

There are many ways to measure 'wealth'. I am ever reminded that only one of those can follow us to the grave and beyond.

 

[Sanguine]

Both of you are rustic philosophers.  Which is the best kind.  Very, very nice.

 

[Gefn]

I grew up in a town famous for it's old money, and DAR's. I learned a lot of things from observing them compared to the "Nuevo Riche" that invaded.

The old money lived in the homes that were built in the 1700 and 1800s. Their cars were old , they ran them until they were over 100,000 miles or more and fell apart. They never washed them.

They never advertised they had money, with the exception their kids all went to prep schools and Ivy.

A lot of the ladies wore clothes that were famous labels but wore them forever. A Channel suit like Jackie Kennedy's could be worn until the millennium. It never went out of style.

Minimal jewelry. Wedding band, engagement ring and watch. Maybe a simple necklace.

And every house had a library.

Now the new money flaunted it, and bought new cars every year, new clothes, but they were never really accepted. It was like watching a Dickens or Trollope novel in real life.

The kids I grew up with who became trust fund babies from their new money parents- they are so messed up. Spoiled rotten, they got into the alcohol, divorces, never happy. They and their kids think money can fix anything. They don't save it the way the old money does.

I think that is the difference. IMHO. It's like the person who wins the gazillion dollar Powerball. Then they are broke in a decade.

I don't have a lot of money. I have a ten year old car, I live in a 50 year old apt. But I don't owe anything on my credit cards and I get by on my fixed income. I have an education and love to read.

My health is getting better, and my only wish for myself is to have a cat next year.

[Gefn]

That's true.

The good Lord saw fit to tweak my perspective a while back... I was doing alright by worldly standards - Hard to separate me from my businesses, but low-to-mid six-figures... Never really lived high on the hog,  I guess, or that's what I told myself... But what stress! It's funny how you get used to it... How getting up barfing blood every morning can be 'normal'...

Then the Father hit me upside the head with a 2x4 that put me in a bed/wheelchair for some years - Lost it all, including my family... Right down to nothing, not even able to count on my own two hands.

Then he healed me.

It ain't been fun, and it ain't been easy. Been a whole lot of falling down to do along the way - But I'm used to getting up... been doing it all my life. That I CAN get up is all I needed. And every step is a joy to behold.

And I have been reminded of the simple things in life. I am under a tin roof again - God how I love the rain beating down on a tin roof - My little cabin is just outside of town - too close to the road, and the road is fairly busy, especially in the summer when folks are running out to the lake... But at night it gets quiet, when everyone's gone on home... It ain't like out in the sticks but I can see the stars, and real darkness, sacred, black, solitude ...

I grow most of my own food... my freezer is full of fish and game for the first time in 20 years... I make magnificent meals for myself, and sometimes friends - REAL home-cooked food, every meal of every day - The food I've always loved. I fix things for folks - something I have always been good at and love to do. How grand it is that my hand can hold and work a screwdriver again!

But I surely ain't lying when I say I live on what I used to spend for coffee every month... Poor as a church mouse, but I eat good. REALLY good. A redneck boy has always wanted money, but he really don't need all that much at all. Take away all that town stuff, and the fast food, grow and hunt your own food, and the cost of living goes way, way down... Makes me wonder what it was I was chasing that whole time.

I ain't done... I fuss with the horses, down at the family's place - My mom still lives there, and that old barn has been a part of me since I was a pup... I fuss with them, but I haven't been on them yet. You have to know how important is for me to crawl up into that saddle... It'll come... Can't take a full pack and 15-mile hike either... I can't hardly do five miles, but again, it'll come.

I remember a time, not more than five years ago, sitting in that cursed chair, smelling the wind - The spring wind coming down out of the canyon - I could taste the high country in that breeze, and my heart broke inside me, knowing for a fact that I would never walk above the treeline ever again...

But that's all changed. There's a place I know, way back in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, clean all the way at the upper end of the White River Trail... There's an overlook on up in there where the trail makes a sudden bend and there you are, looking out at The Chinese Wall for the first time... The Father has put it in my heart that when I stand right there again, this phase of what he is doing in me will be considered complete. He has put it in me that I will stand right there again, and I surely will.

But at the big cookout on the 4th this last summer, with my dear old mother, and my brothers and sisters, and my kids and grandkids all around, I found I was well past content. Happy. Joyous. More than ever in my life. And PEACE... Man, the peace of it... It took half my life to turn me back around to this hard-scrabble way, full of love and life, and a wealthier man can never be found.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRjQmIqA1dY

 

@roamer_1 your posts always make me feel happy and peaceful. Your serenity gives me hope and serenity. I'm blessed to read them

[Smokin Joe]

I grew up in a town famous for it's old money, and DAR's. I learned a lot of things from observing them compared to the "Nuevo Riche" that invaded.

The old money lived in the homes that were built in the 1700 and 1800s. Their cars were old , they ran them until they were over 100,000 miles or more and fell apart. They never washed them.

They never advertised they had money, with the exception their kids all went to prep schools and Ivy.

A lot of the ladies wore clothes that were famous labels but wore them forever. A Channel suit like Jackie Kennedy's could be worn until the millennium. It never went out of style.

Minimal jewelry. Wedding band, engagement ring and watch. Maybe a simple necklace.

And every house had a library.

Now the new money flaunted it, and bought new cars every year, new clothes, but they were never really accepted. It was like watching a Dickens or Trollope novel in real life.

The kids I grew up with who became trust fund babies from their new money parents- they are so messed up. Spoiled rotten, they got into the alcohol, divorces, never happy. They and their kids think money can fix anything. They don't save it the way the old money does.

I think that is the difference. IMHO. It's like the person who wins the gazillion dollar Powerball. Then they are broke in a decade.

I don't have a lot of money. I have a ten year old car, I live in a 50 year old apt. But I don't owe anything on my credit cards and I get by on my fixed income. I have an education and love to read.

My health is getting better, and my only wish for myself is to have a cat next year.

I'm glad your health is improving.  ^-^
As for old money, those were my observations as well. Quality, not ostentation, reasonably well cared for, and not worrying about being trendy, just classic style.  Pay cash and don't rent someone else's money if you can avoid it. Moderation in all things, except where real quality counted, then quietly buy the best you can. Take care of what you have and it will last years.

[Gefn]

I'm glad your health is improving.  ^-^
As for old money, those were my observations as well. Quality, not ostentation, reasonably well cared for, and not worrying about being trendy, just classic style.  Pay cash and don't rent someone else's money if you can avoid it. Moderation in all things, except where real quality counted, then quietly buy the best you can. Take care of what you have and it will last years.

My dad was a baby when the stock market crashed in 29 but he taught me to pay cash for everything and if I use my credit card, pay it off immediately.,

I learned that lesson the hard way. Now it stays in a drawer for emergencies only, I use it once a year or so to keep it active. If I need a credit card I have my ATM card or I write a check.

[Smokin Joe]

My dad was a baby when the stock market crashed in 29 but he taught me to pay cash for everything and if I use my credit card, pay it off immediately.,

I learned that lesson the hard way. Now it stays in a drawer for emergencies only, I use it once a year or so to keep it active. If I need a credit card I have my ATM card or I write a check.

When we had the fire, I had to put the motel room and some other stuff on the plastic, knowing full well the insurance would cover it. I racked up about a grand in 'cash back' during that mess, and try to keep the card level below that, and pay it off every month and let the 'cash back' balance ride, just in case I get pinched in a crisis so I can pay the balance off.
I am not in the habit of using it, so its mainly for online stuff, and Discover has been great when someone who wasn't supposed to have access managed to get the info. (Zero fraud liability, and they call for out of pattern and area purchases). I learned when I was young to not carry a balance (Carter years, HUGE interest rates). Most things will wait.

[mountaineer]

My mother's (1925-2014) stories about how difficult the Great Depression was for her family are what turned me into such a frugal person. I avoid debt like the plague. People who just have to buy the latest gadget and use credit cards for everything are going to be in a world of hurt some day.

[Smokin Joe]

My mother's (1925-2014) stories about how difficult the Great Depression was for her family are what turned me into such a frugal person. I avoid debt like the plague. People who just have to buy the latest gadget and use credit cards for everything are going to be in a world of hurt some day.

Either that or they are going to skate like fat rats when the balloon goes up. It doesn't matter to me, my conscience will be clear, just as my debts are.

[sneakypete]

It's a plus if the roof doesn't leak.

Only people I know who have money who aren't bedeviled by it are old money. You won't see most of them at the latest resort, or on the pages of People or any of the gossip mags. They live quietly and well, for the most part.

@Smokin Joe

Guys,my take on this is that it doesn't matter if you have mega money or not. What matters is the value YOU place on having mega money. I probably grew up a lot poorer than most of you and I do like a certain amount of comfort. Things like a vehicle to drive,ac in the summer,heat in the winter,and windows,walls,and a roof over my head of some sort.

As a VERY junior NCO in the US Army I had a VERY senior SF CSM explain life's realities to me one night while we were sitting around waiting for something to happen. I was complaining about having a brand new car in the company parking lot,and sometimes not even getting to see it but once a month because I was always being sent somewhere to do something.

He then told me "Money and possessions don't mean squat (he used another word). When you boil life down to what is important,if you can't eat it,wear it,ride in or on it,and can't bleep it,it's extra and you really don't need it."  Let's just say that was not only profound,but a life-changing moment for me.

I went for close to 10 years not even having a permanent mailing address after I got out of the army. I wandered to suit my will. If I woke up one morning and wondered what the weather was like in St.Louis,I just might be in St.Louis the next day if I was really curious. Never been afraid of working hard,had a few skills,and I was living like the good CSM (Command Sergeant Major) advised me. I was as happy as a bug in a rug.

I once drove from Reno,Nevada to North Carolina,and it took me 30 days. I'd stop to eat a meal somewhere,get talking to a waitress,and stay for a few days. Got put in jail 3 times. Don't believe the lies people tell you about everybody in little towns being friendly. It just ain't true if you are a outsider. They have their little power structure in place,and don't like having their boats rocked by strangers.

I now have more income coming in each month than I earned most YEARS when I was a young man,but to me it's  just numbers. It's useful to have and sometimes fun to play with,but it's just not that important beyond what it takes me to live.

One of my biggest fears has always been to die with money in the bank. To me,that means I screwed up because I COULD have and SHOULD have spent that money having some sort of adventure.

Above all,life is for living,loving,and laughing. As far as I am concerned,the rest of it can work itself out to suit itself.

BTW,as of yesterday I have a total of 4 payments left on my house,and I will own it,the big workshop full of tools,and all 8 acres free and clear. No,it's not a McMansion,although my workshop comes damn close by MY standards,but I can go out in my yard anytime of the day or night and fire a 12 gauge shotgun or a 30 caliber rifle and nobody lives close enough to pay any attention to it if they even hear it. If I want to walk around my yard naked,I can walk around my yard naked.

When it comes to what is important,being free and being secure are pretty damn hard to beat,and I don't have to cheat or steal from a single soul to live my life in the manner than makes me happy.

THAT'S what *I* call "rich".

[sneakypete]

..... my only wish for myself is to have a cat next year.

@Freya

Do yourself a favor and get TWO from your local animal shelter. They will be so grateful to get out of that place alive it's amazing,and if you have two you can amuse yourself watching them chase each other around the house and play-fighting. I adopted two Tuxedo cats from the local animal shelter a couple of months ago after my cats died of old age. One is a 16.5 lb tom,and the other is a 5 lb female. It took them 2 or 3 days to accept they were free from the shelter and being locked up in cages,and then they virtually exploded with energy. It's hilarious to watch them mock fight and see the 5 lb female "overpower" the big tom and "wrestle him to the floor". Earlier today she had jumped up on his back while he was sleeping and was mock "biting" him to death at the nape of his neck. He was playing along for a few minutes,but then he just stood up and walked over the water bowl,with her still riding on his back and her legs not even going half-way to the floor.

Alone,neither one of them would do anything but lay around and eat and sleep. No creature should be forced to live without the company of another of their species.

[roamer_1]

@roamer_1 your posts always make me feel happy and peaceful. Your serenity gives me hope and serenity. I'm blessed to read them

Thank you for your kind reply.

[Gefn]

@Freya

Do yourself a favor and get TWO from your local animal shelter. They will be so grateful to get out of that place alive it's amazing,and if you have two you can amuse yourself watching them chase each other around the house and play-fighting. I adopted two Tuxedo cats from the local animal shelter a couple of months ago after my cats died of old age. One is a 16.5 lb tom,and the other is a 5 lb female. It took them 2 or 3 days to accept they were free from the shelter and being locked up in cages,and then they virtually exploded with energy. It's hilarious to watch them mock fight and see the 5 lb female "overpower" the big tom and "wrestle him to the floor". Earlier today she had jumped up on his back while he was sleeping and was mock "biting" him to death at the nape of his neck. He was playing along for a few minutes,but then he just stood up and walked over the water bowl,with her still riding on his back and her legs not even going half-way to the floor.

Alone,neither one of them would do anything but lay around and eat and sleep. No creature should be forced to live without the company of another of their species.

I'm actually been thinking about getting two this time, my apartment complex will allow me to have two as long as they are either spayed or neutered, indoor only and up to date with all shots. It's a very good idea, @sneakypete

[Gefn]

Thank you for your kind reply.

You are so welcome. :)

[sneakypete]

I'm actually been thinking about getting two this time, my apartment complex will allow me to have two as long as they are either spayed or neutered, indoor only and up to date with all shots. It's a very good idea, @sneakypete

@Freya,you will be happy you did,and spaying and neutering is a must. I don't know your financial position,but I will offer this suggestion in case others may find it handy. If money is a little tight,you can always contact organizations like Feline Hope and they will pay most or all of the vet bills for neutering or spaying,rabies shots,etc,etc,etc.

Feline Hope is a national organization ran by local volunteers,and any donations you make to them is tax-free. They will never put down a cat that can be treated,and if a cat they take in is old and nobody wants to adopt it,they will keep it until the cat dies of old age or they finally find a home for it.

Feline Hope is one of the few organizations in my will. 

[Gefn]

@Freya,you will be happy you did,and spaying and neutering is a must. I don't know your financial position,but I will offer this suggestion in case others may find it handy. If money is a little tight,you can always contact organizations like Feline Hope and they will pay most or all of the vet bills for neutering or spaying,rabies shots,etc,etc,etc.

Feline Hope is a national organization ran by local volunteers,and any donations you make to them is tax-free. They will never put down a cat that can be treated,and if a cat they take in is old and nobody wants to adopt it,they will keep it until the cat dies of old age or they finally find a home for it.

Feline Hope is one of the few organizations in my will.

I’m on a fixed income. But i donate $15 a month to my local animal shelter.  I am cyber adopting two of their kitties. Every month they send me an email with pictures. It’s important to me. I skimp on other things, but I do believe in giving to certain charities.

I will look into Feline Hope and send them them a small check too. 5 dollars. Thank you for the information

[uglybiker]

@Freya

Many local vets will discount their services for shelter pets. Check with your shelter.

[sneakypete]

@Freya

Many local vets will discount their services for shelter pets. Check with your shelter.

@uglybiker  @Freya

ughly biker,thanks for reminding me. Freya,most local vets will have contacts with organizations like Feline Hope,and if your cats get sick they will contact Feline Hope and make the arrangements for payment for you. Of course,the vets give Feline Hope a discount just like the local animal shelter does.

Another tip if you want to adopt 2 cats is to go to the local animal shelter to look for them. Any cat you adopt from them will already have all their shots and will already be spayed and neutered. My last two cats came from the local animal shelter,and I paid $55 each for them,but since it normally costs a little more than $200 to have a female spayed and given all her shots,that's a hell of a bargain.

Another tip is to try to pick adult cats,or even elderly cats if you can. They aren't so energetic and already know to not scratch the furniture,etc,etc,etc. Also,you are probably saving their lives and they seem to sense this. Everybody wants to adopt kittens,so too many perfectly nice adult cats remain in tiny cages until they are put down because nobody will give them a home.

Besides,people old enough to be retired are too old to adopt kittens because the kittens will probably outlive them,and then put put down when nobody adopts it after you die. Leave the kittens to people with young children.