Furniture Commercials Make Me Reflect on Important Things

Alright, I confess that at first I was going to say that furniture stores make me nauseous, which is probably a strong word but what I feel is combination of things and I get so frustrated that I want to throw the television against the wall. So what is wrong with furniture commercials? Furniture commercials for me were the first sign that this country was going to suffer a deep and overwhelming recession because anytime you can buy something and not have to pay for it, felt problematic. As someone who does accounting, paying for something in the future is the worst form of overhead, it's highly predictable and although a receivable and has the ability to increase net worth, I can't figure out why something as disposable as furniture would be put on an extended layaway plan.
Some of this goes back to my childhood, my mother was a major consumer of material things which might explain why her house is full of stuff but I digress. One of luxuries of life was new furniture which she bought on average every three to four years because we kids did our best to wear it out despite repeated attempts on her part to keep us off or she tried to teach us to be gentle but when your kid, gentle is some type of fantasy world thing. I watch these commercials and wonder if my mother has ever fallen victim to the buy now and pay later scheme and if she did, I'm sure became delinquent with payments because by the time she started paying for the furniture, it was old and worn out. What my mother really wanted to do in those moments was purchase new furniture and not pay for the furniture that sat before her eyes in our living room. Furniture that had plenty of defects, was worn beyond measure and was all but ready to be thrown out. But there in lies the trap of having to keep furniture that no longer appeals to you because you have to start paying for it.
I read one of those furniture contracts and what I discovered is that not only would it take my mother several years to pay off the furniture, the worn out, need to be thrown in the trash furniture but with the interest she would pay for the furniture not twice over but nearly three times the original price and this felt like high way robbery. I wonder why the furniture companies didn't create a commercial that showed the customer buying furniture with a happy face and then a section showing the customer years later with the new monthly payment plan. In big letters as oppose to small unreadable text, they could flash across the screen information about the furniture being worn out by the time you start your first payment and how in the end you will pay three tie the original cost. Now that would be complete disclosure in advertisement and allow people to make sensible decisions.
I've always been cash and carry every since my first credit card where I spent it on a pair of shoes for my boyfriend, shoes that I never ended up paying for and the credit card that made my credit awful for way too many years. I realized how much of a tight hold credit was and how deceitful the whole concept is. Credit means that you are owed something, but really credit in layman reality means that you owe and on top of what you owe is interest and on top of that more interest and by the time you get something paid off, you've bought the item at a price at least twice the amount indicated at the original purchase but why do people all over the globe buy into this concept?
It goes back to the need for immediate gratification which is something I've been guilty of but no longer find it rewarding. What I believe in more is short term sacrifice for long term gain, I'd rather wait than spend money I don't have and with that has come the fine art of living within my means. This lifestyle of living within my means is foreign to most people and at times I made to look like a freak because I refuse to play the credit game which only translates into being in debt forever game but you only live once, at least that what people say including my mother.
It's been nearly fifteen years of living this way and what I've discovered is that all the things that people say are required for living really aren't. I get by with so little yet I feel completely fulfilled and I have everything I need. And need is the operative word, I have every single thing I need, however I don't have many things that I think I want which in time I discover wasn't something I really wanted in the first place. My life is significantly empty of financial stress and I found it completely amazing when the so-called recession occurred (because I'm certain that in history, we are going to give this time period a different name than recession), I wasn not stressed out about anything really because I lived below my means and while I could suffer a job loss, there are two things that keep me sane and out of a worried space. Number one, I could work a minimum wage job and take care of my bills, barely but with appropriate planning it could work and I would work a minimum wage job to to do that. Secondly, since my expenses are so low, I could and would be open to sharing space to help reduce expenses. These two factors create in my mind solutions and therefore lessening the panic of job loss or reduce in income. This feeling of being able to handle what might come is different for me because there used to be a time when money dictated my mood. When I had money I was happy, when I was low on money I was miserable. It's a socially learned characteristic but when I took my personal power back and began to control my money versus my money controlling me, things changed significantly. No longer was I tossed about in the storm of unpredictable finances.
I see how the furniture commercials seduce us into thinking we can have something now and pay for it later but there is a price for immediate gratification followed by long term payback. The price is crippling, the price includes a noose around one's neck and the constant barrage of bill collectors calling and sending mail and emailing and text messaging and for those really good bill collectors, some come snoop around your home, some repossess what we can't pay for. They meaning the companies that handed out credit to any and everyone, they are clever yet they are the one's that put us in those situations in the first place. I find it so interesting when people suggest I just go get a credit card or get something on credit and no one ever ask me if I'm happy living without material things, no one ask me if I can afford to buy something I can't pay for and no one, I have yet to meet one person who encourages me to live within my means. So, luckily for me I am someone who struts to the beat of my own drum. I live with mis-match furniture, recycled bed and furniture. I don't have any new clothes and haven't for years. I found the best pair of boots, my size, leather and they looked practically new for five bucks at the thrift shop. I thanked the divine spirit for this gift, I wear them nearly daily and they are solid boots, made well and must of cost a fortune when they were bought originally, I just hope the owner isn't still paying for them on her credit card.
I want a new computer because my computer is so slow, I type faster than the letters appear which is an indication of not only the age but speed of my out dated computer. I don't when I will get another one but it doesn't matter, this one works and until extra disposable income becomes available, I will have to live with my computer because I refuse to buy a new one and pay for it twice or three times over.
Living within my means has been wonderful though, I find I am extremely lucky or blessed when I shop, I find the things I need as well as several of the things that I might want and all within the amount of cash I have on hand. I surrender this to the universe and allow the presentation of items to come in their own time. I'm never in a hurry for anything with the exception of food which is a requirement for living. I await the moment I happen to stumble into a store and find a item that needs replacing and the price tag is less than I thought I would have to pay, this delights me and what it does is gives me the opportunity to take the left over money and do something extra special for myself, something that not in the budget. For example, every so often I get to go to the nail place and get my toe nails done, it's not much but it's a special treat for me and I feel so blessed when I walk in able to pay without worry, stress or as a reaction to financial woes. I smile at the attendant who lovingly massages and cares for my feet, much in the way that I do and I select the color of the nail polish with a simple joy full of abundant peace.
My message is this the price of short term sacrifice for long term gain far outweighs and outlives any immediate gratification couched in long term and over priced payback. The price is peace of mind and that's priceless. And I'd rather have peace than a whole bunch of material things that are only destined to clutter up a landfill, I'd rather have meaningful connections to other human beings and I'd rather define my own self value beyond material things because I'm worth more and things are only temporary but I am full of the spirit that lives forever and that's enough for me.
I am whole and I am perfect and I am complete. I LOVE ME!