Quote:
Originally Posted by disneysteve
Now you have to define precious.  |
I supsected someone might bring this up, "Mr. Miriam-Webster"
But don't you think that if people would simply make adjustments to their lifestyle when called for, except for in the most catastrophic and extraordinary circumstances, they could maintain a sustainable lifestyle and never have to feel like they were making "sacrifices"?
I'll use your example of vacations, because you are a very financially-savy and smart guy ... If you experienced a drop in income or spike in expenses, wouldn't you have a "kitchen table talk" with your wife and daughter and discuss options, and decide that maybe you would skip the summer vacation, or stay closer to home (take day trips in to neighboring towns to cut out hotel cost), or make the trip to Disney and once every 1-1/2 year thing instead of every year ... In other words, start scaling back gradually, instead of trying to maintain the usual routine and then waiting until things had spun out of control and you had to cut out vacations completely? And if you were able to keep doing the things you valued, just perhaps less frequently or on a smaller scale, would you really view it as a "sacrifice" or just simply "doing what you had to do"?
Perhaps I just have a more stoic outlook on things than most, but I don't see doing what needs to be done under the circumstances as sacrifice.