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May 7, 2010

I Have Enough (Carole)

Is is possible to feel like you have ENOUGH??  One of David's cousins used to be the CFO for an uber-wealthy Saudi prince.  I believe he saw and heard things the rest of us mere-mortals can't even imagine.  A few years ago, we had dinner at this cousin's house and he mentioned that even on this mega level of income, people do not feel like they have enough.  The prince who has $50 billion is always on the look-out for things to buy that SHOW that he has $10 billion more than the prince who has "only" $40 billion.  What exactly would you buy that would clearly make that point??  I have no idea.

On the other extreme, I  know a gracious woman from Georgia who has chosen to be content.  She is in her early 70's and always looks very put-together.  I commented on one of her outfits one day while walking through an airport with her and she said that she had decided that even though she had always loved buying clothes, she had come to the realization that she had ENOUGH clothes.  She determined she was not going to buy any new clothes for the next few years. Instead, she was going to enjoy what she already owned and re-discover items she'd completely forgotten about.  Here she was a couple of years into this plan, and looking very, very lovely indeed. 

I've thought of my friend often over the past couple of years and wondered if I have areas of my life where I have ENOUGH.  Can I cross those kinds of purchases off my list for a few years??  Maybe forever?  What about you?  Do you finally have enough shoes, sweaters, blouses, scarves, earrings, skirts, jeans, dishes, cars, houses, boats, tools, TVs, CDs, purses, sunglasses, pillows, fabric, whatever??

4 comments:

Karen said...

Yes. The only problem is that things don't last forever. They wear out, and then I have to find new ones, and it isn't always easy to find something I like. I am considering remaking things---same pattern, different fabric---but haven't gone that route yet. So I think there are some things you can't totally cross off even if you want to.

Megan said...

As I prepare to move again (we're a military family- it happens a lot), I am in the process of looking at all of our STUFF and realizing how we really do not need most of it. We will be living the next 6-9 months with only 600lbs of our own possesions, while the rest sits in storage waiting to go to our next duty station (England). I wonder if I will even want it when we get there. There is something so freeing about not being weighted down by STUFF. We donated two carloads of items yesterday...ahhhh.

Packrat said...

Interesting way to look at things. Yes, I have enough, more than enough. There are things around the house that need to be replaced because they are worn out, but that is different than adding to.

Packrat said...

PS: A pet peeve is how fast things become obsolete.

For example, my daughter is perfectly happy with her simple cell phone, but now some of her professors are pushing the students to have to own the really expensive "do everything" phones.

I still have records, but then CD and DVD's came out which I also have. I've barely figured out how to use my MP3 player. Now, my husband says that all these are soon to be obsolete.

We have enough, but do we stop trying to keep up with technology?