The Bare Necessities

"Don't spend your time lookin' around For something you want that can't be found When you find out you can live without it And go along not thinkin' about it I'll tell you something true, the bare necessities of life will come to you"

I must say when I was a kid the jungle book was one of my favorite movies. I danced to it, sang to it and remembered almost every line. Never in a million years would I have thought about there being a message to the simple Disney cartoon.

Its amazing how things have shifted to whats considered a "necessity" over the last century. We have nessesitized just about everything imaginable from, cable, to cell phones, to internet all the way down to a bottle of expensive "tap" water. I am not that old, but I can remember when a 10 dollar a month pager and a quarter for a pay phone was a luxury, but today we spend hundreds of dollars on cell phones to talk about "nothing".

here are a few more items we consider to be a "necessity" vs 20 years ago

Home computer
air conditioning
tv
clothes washer/dryer
microwave (by way some kids don't even know how to operate a stove)

As I have delved into the Dave Ramsey program very intensely and purposefully, I have discovered how much I don't really need. I have since 2008 cut out cable and internet, flat screen tv's, new cars (which was hard to resist when my credit score went up), expensive apartments and furniture. People don't really understand that this program is not about falling out of debt but its about sacrifice and living like you have never lived before.

I have learned really what it means to be content throughout this process and honestly enough its still a struggle but each day I am better. I get to realize that being without something doesn't actually "Change" the person that I am, nor does it kill me to resist sometimes. So I ask everyone who is considering starting the debt free plan, how much could you really do without? We now live in a microwave society where we get it now and fast and nobody waits for anything. If you want to learn a lesson as simple as enjoying the simple things I say this program is for you. I have read some amazing stories about how cutting everything out led to their family being closer or how they learned how to make things to save money like soap and deodorant. Yea sure its funny now but think about how much we have that we didn't before and how simple life really was.

So I have made some sacrifices over the last two years but I am grateful for what I have learned because I know the lessons are much more valuable than anything I could think of. I now think more about raising a family than I do having a large home, I think about paying for my kids college over driving an expensive car. My life is forever changed and I encourage everyone who thinks is hard to do just try it and you won't regret it.

better to be a nobody and yet have a servant,
than pretend to be a somebody and have no food
 
proverbs 12:9