“WE DON’T HAVE ENOUGH MONEY!!” xKelly (IM2)

“WE DON’T HAVE ENOUGH MONEY!!” I overheard the tired frazzled mum yelling at her boy as he threw himself on the floor in a tantrum next to the shopping centre ride.

Coming from a family of 6, I heard these words a lot growing up. It seemed we never had enough money for anything and without realising it, the subliminal message of what my parents were teaching me started to become ingrained in my mind.

Money will get you things.
Money will make you happy.
Money is the answer to all your problems.

We always seem to need more money.

I’m a do-er. See a problem, fix it! And so while young, my head told me I wanted more money – and I started working as soon as I was able to. My parents couldn’t afford to buy me everything I wanted, so I will get the money myself.

As soon as I could, I started looking for work after school – and was hired by Kristy’s mum who runs Harleys Educational on English Street in Cairns. “Just give that girl a job!” I still remember her saying when I visited the store for the umpteenth time asking for work. (Thanks Jenny!)

I worked before school, after school, skipped sports carnivals to work, worked on weekends, school holidays – anytime I had free and the shop was open – I wanted to be there! I had my eyes on the money!

I think my parents were happy that I was so eager to work instead of doing what most teenagers were doing instead. They were proud of the daughter who knew you don’t get something for nothing. I thank my parents so much for that life lesson.

The people I worked with became my second family (it’s where I first met Kristy) as we all spent so much of life together. I had a lot of fun and was so fortunate to be working in a place where they not only employed you, but cared enough about you to mould you for the future. Some kids are not so lucky.

They also taught me so many life lessons there I will always be grateful for.

But it wasn’t until I quit full time work to have my first child that I realised how seriously out of whack my priorities in life were. It was good to get out of the “work to eat to play to sleep to work” routine and suddenly this new little person in my world exploded what was my never ending mission to get more money.

Suddenly the greater asset became time.
This became even more concrete when my father had serious health issues and we were close to losing him. If the cancer took him, would I have regrets about not spending enough time with him?

Isn’t that what we always want while we weep for lost ones? More time?

Money is a tough one, because we do need it. But sometimes we need to stop and ask the question

How much is enough? When will we be content?
I recently shared a message with the kids at our youth group about living more simply. Instead of looking at what you don’t have – take a good look at what you do. I think the message was indeed for me also. I still can’t read a junk mail catalogue without wanting something else (which is why my letter box says ‘No Junk Mail’ now!)

So difficult in the flow of life where everything is screaming at us to get more. Media is full of it.

So what do I really want to say when I tell my children ‘no’ to that toy or shop ride?

Now that my older two understand finances more, we have been taking the time to think about the message our ‘no’ is sending them.

We are not poor. We eat every day and have a roof over our heads – which is a lot more than most of the majority of the world do. Why are we as humans always searching for more??

I often tell our kids we can afford it – but instead we want to be wise with the money we have been given and spend it on things that last. Or share to help other people in more need then us. This makes us happier too – and 2 for the price of 1 is a great bargain in anyone’s books!

Anyway, just my mind ramblings. Thanks for taking the time to read – I do appreciate it – and hope you feel content with where you are in this massive scale.

How do you stop yourself when you’ve had enough? How do you feel content?

xKelly