Money, Money, Money

I hate money.
I love money.

This love/hate relationship has long been brewing.

When I was young, I hashed out this grand scheme. I planned out this perfect, little Utopian society where everyone loved everyone.

And there was no money, no currency.

Everyone was equal because there was no money. Everyone could just 'have' clothes or eat out because nothing cost money. Every person could have a nice car and beautiful flowers because, of course, nothing cost money. Everyone could work and share their talents and gifts with others, free of charge because everyone would be in the same boat.

It was a grand and glorious plan where everyone smiled a lot.

I distinctly remember the day that I figured out that my plan would never work. The day that it finally occurred to me that although some people would still continue to work, some would not. Some would be lazy, some would then work too much to shoulder more than their fair share. And unless every person in the whole world agreed wholeheartedly to my plan, it could never work. I realized that money, no matter how you feel about it, it is a motivator.

It was a sad day for me.

I've come to a few conclusions though:

People who say that they don't care about money probably have money. Maybe they don't have stockpiles of it in the bank, but my guess is that they aren't hungry when they go to bed or sick with an abscessed tooth but can't afford to go to the dentist.

Everyone has their 'things' that they like to spend money on. Mine is eating out. If we have any extra money, I'm eating out. I just love that someone not only makes food for me, but they clean it up! Imagine that!

People who do not have money can be just as proud of not having money as people with money can be of having money. Where one feels proud of their nice car or clothes or boat, the other feels high and lofty because they are 'common purse' or not frivolous with their money.

My son had a birthday this week and we were waiting for payday. I mean, really waiting...I did plan ahead and list a bunch of stuff on ebay, but not one of them sold the last two rounds. So, what should we have done? Skip the birthday? Sorry, son, you'll have to wait for a birthday gift or dinner or party until my stuff sells. Oh yeah, and then wait for me to get paid...

Nope. We took him out and never said one word about the money. Sucked it up and made him feel like a king. We scraped the bottom of the barrel. We did not go crazy, but we bought him gifts and ate where he wanted.

Did we have bills that needed to be paid with that money? Yup. Important things, too.

Was it worth it? Absolutely, positively.

So my question today is, on what do you enjoy spending money? When things are tight and you know they are tight, what still tempts you? And when do you give in? What makes that thing/those things worth giving into? And are they worth it?