> Okay, it's good to have things and fine to want things we don't need. But I think it is obvious, when so many people go into so much debt (and I'm not talking about people who have to buy groceries with credit cards, either), that something is wrong with the mindset a lot of people have.

It wasn't easy, but a few decades ago, we decided that if we couldn't afford it, we didn't buy it. If you go into debt, you have to pay interest, and if you don't get out quickly, you pay interest on interest. We don't buy a new car very often, but when we do, we pay cash. It cuts the cost by thousands. OK, we are driving an eight-year-old car with 155,000 miles on it. But when we get a new one, it won't belong to the bank.

Groceries were not a big problem back in our poverty days. We grew a garden and WMM's parents had a farm and raised livestock. We still had to buy meat, but we cut out the middleman.

Going into debt to buy presents seems foolish to me. People know when you can't afford lavish gifts and they understand.

I remember wanting a boat so bad I could taste it. Finally, after many years, I scraped up $125 and bought a boat. I used oars for a year and a half before I got a 3hp outboard for $162. I thought I was boating in style.

Being poor for a while is a good education. It also makes you appreciate things when you finally get them.

I wish I could have taken cruises and collected antique motor scooters when I was 30 or 40, but it didn't happen. We traveled some back then, but we camped everywhere we went. And now we're having a blast. I think we earned it.
How"Got wound up, didn't I?"ard