Money

It is what makes the World go round. Some people say it is the root of all evil, I tend to disagree with that. Here is time concept of money:

When I was a baby, I had no idea what the hell money was along with many other things. I have no memories of that time in my life but if I wanted something I would cry and I would get it, I didn't need money to purchase food or go to sleep, my mother was kind enough to provide me with that.

As I grew up and learned a few life lessons, I soon realized that I couldn't get everything that I wanted for free. I would still cry and ask for things and often times I would get things. Food, clothing, shelter were all provided to me. I didn't always get what I wanted and didn't like having to follow rules, but I guess when you are a child, your parents basically own you and you have to live by their rules because the alternative isn't so great.

As I grew older and went to school, I started to appreciate money more. I would see other kids with toys, clothing, games, etc. that I would want and I would ask my mom for it and I usually wouldn't get it. It was at this point in my life that I learned about how money affected your social status. My mom would often use hand-me-down clothing or thrift store clothing for my brother and I. Quite frankly we didn't really care as long as we weren't naked. In fact it got to the point that I would wear whatever without caring and I will never forget what my mom once said to me. "Make sure you don't have holes in your clothes so people don't think we're poor." This never really made sense to me at the time because I didn't feel poor at all. I played competitive hockey and soccer, went to school, etc.

By the time I entered high school I soon realized the difference between the upper class, middle class and the lower class. I learned about allowances and hearing some kids getting 5 - 10 dollars a week and that was the first I learned about the term "allowance" and everyone seemed to laugh at me when I didn't know what an allowance was. So I asked my mom why we didn't get an allowance and she agreed to give us $2 a week as long as we helped around the house with chores. The allowance lasted for about 2 months and then slowly disappeared. Through high school a lot of my friends were getting video games or computers, cable, etc. We lived in the 2 channel Universe and I always wanted these types of things. They would usually come a little bit later than my friends did but we usually got nice thins for Christmas.

Then came getting a job and having to decide what to do with my life after graduating high school. I decided that I had wanted to go to University and then my concept of money took a dramatic turn. Wait a second, I have to pay to go to University and my living expenses by myself! University costs $10,000/year!?

Ok time to get a new appreciation of money and what it is used for once you get introduced to the real. I now have nothing for free other than my rent. Everything else I need to pay for myself. I learned a lot of things early in life about money and luckily one of them was how to budget. I lived off a very slim budget during my first 3 years of University and got through it fairly easily without ever being in any kind of financial stress.

Once I graduated University life was good, I no longer had to live off 4 months worth of income, I could now work a full job and I was still shortly removed from my spending habits that kept most of my disposable income in savings. The first year after I graduated University was amazing. About 85% of my paycheck was disposable income. I had a very small rent payment and that was pretty much it for bills. I was able to do pretty much anything I wanted. I ended up going to Las Vegas 3 times that year along with some trips to Vancouver, Calgary and Winnipeg. I miss those days because they were care-free and I had the money and freedom to do those things.

Now I have somehow managed to find myself in the most difficult financial position of my life. After buying a Mercedes that had 3 transmissions go on it, money seemed to get backed up. I had to start taking out loans etc. and soon I had some debts to take care of. I eventually quit my one job because I was not happy and returned to my current job where my income was cut in half. After developing certain lifestyle habits it is sometimes hard to change things. I recently made the decision to start working from home to increase my income and reduce my expenses so that I can get back to the lifestyle that I am used to.