Budgeting

I spent the morning scrutinizing both our business budget, (trying to make payroll,) and our household budget too. 

Compared to most, we have had a life of luxury. Bills were paid with money left over to entertain, eat out, and do a little domestic travel. In the past I budgeted in bedding plants, home accents, new needless gadgets, and taking a quiver-full family out to eat on Sundays. 

For the first time in a couple years, it is time to cut back on the non-necessities.

Now, adding to that, we are adjusting the thermostat of few degrees off of our comfort zone, watching more carefully what we put in the grocery cart, and putting a reign on apparel shopping.

I do NOT expect to lose my home, but you know how conversations have a way of drifting, and every possibility is discussed before it is done. I had a couple friends here today, and they said it would break their hearts if I lost my home. They know I had had the blue prints ready eight years before I could afford to have it built. I have been living in it for two years. I looked them straight in their eyes and said with all honesty and peace, “I could handle it.”  I asked them, how many people get to live in their dream house for two years?  Not many.  I would count my two years a blessing, and be content.

Contentment is easy when your life is rich with love and family. If you have your health it is that much more so. This is my life; rich with blessings. I have a least three more times the US average in children, and they are great kids; not perfect, but great. I have a made it to my 25th anniversary, and even after ups and downs, have a better marriage than most. I have awesome friends and extended family. My mother in law is one of my most favorite people. (How many people can say that, lol.) I enjoy simple things, and if all I did for rest and relaxation was borrow books from the library, I would be entertained.

I chatted with another friend this weekend. We talked about lives full of world travel and luxury cruises, things we might never see. We both came to the conclusion; that we could live in shack, if with the right person, and be happy.

How much work do we put into our career, our businesses, our home, or wardrobe, and our image?  I think work is a good thing, and attention to details is a good character trait to have. It is especially good when this same effort is spent on our relationships too. But… How many of us have at times sacrificed our relationships to pursue more or better “things?”  Most of us are guilty of this once in awhile.

In days of reflection, we remember that it truly is our relationships with the people we love, that make life rich and rewarding.

So in this day of scrutinizing budgets, my mind turns to budgeting my time and energy; especially time. They are precious commodities that need to be more carefully spent. This is a budget that deserves my utmost consideration. Where will I spend, and where will I save, and possibly cut back?  What in my life is worth spending it on? What is waisting it?

Time with my children before they are grown, energy spent on nurturing them and family life, time and energy spent in lovemaking with my mate, long walks holding hands, nights spent snuggling, and bosoming with him four or more times a day…is time well spent.  These are all things money can not buy.  This is what living rich is to me.

This afternoon, we had an exceptionally wonderful bosoming love.  My heart was bursting with happiness. My mind could live awhile off the memory.  What a treasure! Rich indeed!