Slice of Life
Embracing Poverty
We have a family code word for the times we have to be extremely frugal in order to meet our financial goals for the pay period. We gather the children together and tell them we are now on "Super Saver."
Super saver, just like it sounds, means we only purchase the essentials. Gas. Basic food. No meals out. Any non-essential items we want to purchase during that time get added to a list to be bought when the financial situation is less dire.
The first time I announced Super Saver to our kids, I expected shock, irritation, maybe even a little fear. Instead, they were energized. They planned ways to use the food in the pantry, to have staycations, and utilize the resources we already had around the house.
Unexpectedly, it was ME having trouble with Super Saver. I felt sorry for myself. Although our pantry held plenty of food, I convinced myself that we were deprived, and my attitude toward the budget and everyone in the house was lousy.
It wasn't until we lost our household belongings to mold that I began to realize the kids had been right all along. It really was easier to function in the relative poverty of just a couple of boxes of belongings.
Recently, after a good hard look at our (over) spending, I called Super Saver for the first time in years. The older children smiled and began to reminisce about Super Savers of past years when the little children were too small to remember.
They laughed, the little ones clapped. No one mentioned deprivation. No one even remembered missing take out. They just remembered being together on a family adventure.
They remember feeling a real unity with the homeless on the street, and gratitude that our situation was not so dire as theirs.
In short, embracing poverty became a source of family wealth. A wealth of joy, bonding, character and shared experience.
Then the need for Super Saver passed, as difficulties do, but the good effects have continued.
Intermittent poverty, it appears, is good for all of us.
~ Sylvia ~
