Blog of a discontent conforming noncomformist

At Christmas time every year, take a look around you and tell me what you see. What I see is a whole lot of people going into debt just so that their children and grandchildren can have the latest and greatest stuff. They are afflicted by the disease called Instant Getification.

The cause of this particular disease is a small piece of overused piece of plastic. That piece of plastic is more commonly referred to as a credit card. The symptoms include, but are not limited to, buying more than a person originally intended to buy in the first place, charging more that you could possibly pay off in a month, and generally living beyond their means. These people think that they have to get present for every one.

Are your children and grandchildren really going to remember what you got them for Christmas? Or are they going to remember the time you spend with them? I would thin that the later is more true than the former. Most of the toys will more than likely be put down in the basement and largely forgotten.

Or they get the worst form of this disease by believing they just have to have a house instead of renting an apartment. They buy a house while not planning for such expenses as yard care and general maintenance while they think they are building value in their homes. The average appreciation of a house barely keeps pace with inflation. That does not include utilities like electricity, gas, or water. At least with an apartment, gas and water are usually included with the rent.