I distinctly remember the SECOND time that my father told us "the greatest gift he could give us". It was on his birthday, December 24 - and the reason why I remember the second time is because I forgot the first time!
He had been sharing with us at the dinner table. On December 24, my mother always would prepare a big feast for him. Having a birthday on the same day as Christmas Eve all your life is not easy. You don't get a birthday gift AND a Christmas gift. You tend to get one "bigger" gift and feel robbed! haha He said his gifts were always the same as what everyone else got - but they also got birthday gifts later in the year too! My mom felt bad about that, so she set out to make sure that his birthday was always extra special and separate from Christmas.
On these nights, we would be so full and fat and happy! haha Dining on all kinds of delicacies, we would often get sleepy from a food coma! LOL So you can't blame me when he started telling us the "important things of life" on such a drowsy end to a festive occasion.
What shamed me most, was that second time he brought it up the next year - and he asked if anyone had remembered what treasure he had shared the previous year. I was the oldest, I should have known! But my brother, who never listened to anything - actually HAD this time, and rattled out the secret, special words: "Stay out of debt."
The first time, I don't remember.
That time? I never forgot.
That principle is so simple, and yet so many of us find ourselves in debt. We call it necessary debt - mortgages, school loans, maybe car loans. Then we also tack on credit cards, store cards, and maybe even borrowing from friends and family. The weight of that really begins to burden people down with a sense of drudgery. We must work, not to live - but to pay off debt. That is a very difficult way to live.
Sadly, it's a very hard lesson to learn from words. It's something that usually has to be learned in the experience - the hard way. It's become something that we have tried to actually TRAIN our children to do. Not just listen to advice, but to actually walk them through HOW to stay out of debt, how to save, how to give - so that they can live differently than most.
So financial freedom has become the thing that we cherish most, right?
No, actually something more has become a greater treasure to me. This has probably grown in me in the last 15 years or so. I mentioned this in a post 2 weeks ago, and had several people ask me to define it more, and as promised, here is my attempt.
Financial freedom (to me) is the ability to live free - just as the phrase implies. To live in a way that allows you to not have the strain of debt, and burden, and to be FREE to spend your money in the way that YOU find best. If you want to go on a trip - you can afford it. If you want to buy the finest chocolates, you can splurge. If you'd like to buy a car, you can choose to pay cash.
Believe me this is a WONDERFUL thing to achieve. Very few people on this planet have the opportunity to live such a life, and if you can, God bless you! But having seen MORE of the world than most - and not just the fancy, ritzy locations - but the very poor, and downtrodden places as well, it hit me very hard that there would be times that I could afford ONE item in my house that would be able to have HUGE reach in other parts of the world.
One time in particular, I remember splurging and taking some family friends out to eat at a very fancy restaurant. When the bill came, we tried to grab it quickly but it wasn't before our friend saw the amount. His eyes became SO wide and he said - this? This would pay for the food of the entire town for a month. I went from being happy that I was able to do this extravagant thing for them - to feeling a bit of shame that maybe we should have just given them the money as a gift when we left?
Though I had always felt this sense of disparity before - now, it had become very personal and very integral for me to not only have financial freedom - but to exemplify FINANCIAL EFFICIENCY.
Now, at the time that I wrote that 2 weeks ago, I thought I had created a novel phrase. haha Tonight, I googled "financial efficiency" and found that it has already been used- but not quite the way I mean it.
For me, FINANCIAL EFFICIENCY is simply being able to live the level you like - for the least amount of money.
It seems to me that the richest people in the world live without a care of how much they spend - and spend frivolously, no hesitation. But can you imagine if they chose to use their money differently? This post isn't about bashing the rich and wanting them to take care of us all! haha It's more about you and me.
When you think of how you spend your money - is there a way for you to live well - for less? Can you think of the places in your budget where you can allocate differently? Instead of name brands, can you get by with store brand? And when you save those bits of funds, what will you do with them to plan for a better future?
This concept has been driving me a lot lately. I haven't let it completely change my life and there are still times when we spend in ways that others might call frivolous. I think its important to find the place where YOU are most comfortable - a place that is reasonable and also able to be maintained. But once you start to find these little places to become more efficient, it almost becomes like a game - stacking up little "profits" for you to grow, invest, give, or set aside for those drEEm projects to build!
I'm very curious if you can see places in your own life where you can adjust to a more financially efficient model! What about even on Hive? Perhaps setting aside a portion of your author/curation rewards for new purpose?
Tell me in the comment section some of your ideas! Maybe you'll spur others on to try also!
WHERE THE HECK IS DREEMIE CLUE!
These two pictures were taken about 3 minutes apart! That's how fast weather changes where I'm at today!!! Add this to your list of what you know... use Google if you need hehee!
Image created by me, Midjourney