Old Habits or New?

This is a really interesting question. The answer is not a clear one for me, because of the experiences I have had over the years. Like many other aspects of my life I can look at myself pre Janet and myself from the time I realised she was the one.

My old self would have gone absolutely mad with an unlimited budget for 24 hours! In the old days I would just have bought everything I wanted to in a record shop and then pay for a taxi to help me ferry the armfuls of records back home. I would have gone to the pub with my friends and paid for drinks all night. That isn’t as indulgent as it sounds because as friends we would buy drinks for anyone who was out of work, a student or earning very little. I was one of those in all three categories in my teens and twenties so I would have loved to return the compliment as a way of saying thank you to those who had my back. Finally we would go to our local kebab shop and I would buy takeaway for everyone.

Nowadays things would be very different. If I had an unlimited budget for 24 hours, I would get the bulk of it invested but leave some over to book top seats or boxes for women’s football, concerts, plays and holidays. You see, I now understand the power of money properly having been on such a small budget for so long in our married lives. That power is not in the tangible things it can purchase but in the experiences it can allow us to have. I would want to spend my money on Janet and the children by giving them the experiences that only a lot of money can provide. We were able to enjoy life within limits and to provide the maximum for the children and the bulk of our small disposable income went on clubs for the children and days out. It was that which meant that the children weren’t aware of how poor we were relative to many others.

The idea of unlimited money for even a day can make you live in the moment but it can do something more if you are able to think ahead and build up a whole range of experiences to enjoy once that day is over.