How do you resist keeping up with the Jones's?

[SnoopyCool]

Originally Posted by Gailete

I have never had the urge to keep up with the Jones'. Even as a kid in school I didn't want the latest stuff. I remember at one point in Jr. High that there was a certain dress that was in style--at least 30 girls in the school had the same identical dress! The last thing I wanted was to be wearing that dress, even though at that point most of my clothes were homemade or hand me downs.

Speaking of school - we didn't have very much $ growing up and designer duds were out of the question. I remember in the 5th grade getting bleach on a pair of my jeans, so I bleached the entire pair in spots and wore them to school. The next day a few other girls came to school having done the same to theirs.

While I'd love to be wealthy, being not-so-wealthy can invoke a sense of creativity. There have been a number of times that I've been able to repurpose things that if I'd had the $$ to buy new I'd never recycled that object.

[ScrimpAndSave]

I really think I just need to STOP watching HGTV.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I watch it for repairs to my darn home. I also like to watch what you get for the money.

But seriously that's not the problem. Those shows are fantasy. The problem is when someone says I got a DP from my parents. Then the little green envy comes out and I wish I had gotten help. Geez even $60k or $100k would be amazing. We would be so set. We could get newer cars, bigger investment savings, etc.

Then I smack myself and say I have way more than the poor bastard sitting next to me probably. So I had better stop being so selfish. People only see their circumstances.

By the way my reality check is when I volunteer at the women's shelter and food bank. The food bank not so much, but the women's shelter, I am thankful for all I have when I get home after helping out for the day. I just take in donations on a Saturday/Sunday afternoon. It make me les selfish.

My mom made me do it as a kid to make sure I understood how good I had it. And by no means were we rich. If anything we were basically upper class poor, striving to be lower middle class.

[Snave]

Just a week or so ago there was an article somewhere on the net. It might have been money.com or somplace like that and it was talking about the Joneses. The article was discussing that those that are the real "Jonese" and do have money try to keep up with the "Trumps" of the world. I believe it was talking about those that have what many of us would condsider significant wealth (multiple millions of dollars) and how they feel the pressure to buy bigger and better and keep upwith those that have more money than them.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by Snave

Just a week or so ago there was an article somewhere on the net. It might have been money.com or somplace like that and it was talking about the Joneses. The article was discussing that those that are the real "Jonese" and do have money try to keep up with the "Trumps" of the world. I believe it was talking about those that have what many of us would condsider significant wealth (multiple millions of dollars) and how they feel the pressure to buy bigger and better and keep upwith those that have more money than them.

There was a great show on MSNBC recently about the wealthy and it discussed this point. With the exception of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet and that guy from the Mexican telecom company, no matter how rich you are, there are others who are even richer. When you think you have all the money you could ever need, you soon realize that there are lots of things you simply can't even consider buying or doing with "only" $50 or $100 million to your name. It was very interesting to hear from people who hit it big only to realize that the stuff we all see on TV and movies was still way out of their reach. One woman who made a fortune through her company spoke with other wealthy folks for advice and found that much of the advice the even more wealthy gave her simply didn't apply to her level of wealth.