When I was younger my parents struggled with money.
- We never went on crazy family vacations or had luxurious cars, but we did alright.
It wasn’t unit I was older that I realized that my parents had money problems. I guess they didn’t want us kids to know that we were struggling, so they did a good job of always having new school clothes for us and a big dinner on the table at night. I was one of six so I am sure it was hard to raise that many kids. Now that we have all moved out and have our own families my parents aren’t struggling for money anymore. I always try to tell them they should go on a vacation or do something special for themselves, but they never want to spend money on something they feel they don’t need. For example, my dad has been driving the same car for about fifteen years now. The windows won’t roll down and the air conditioner doesn’t turn on, but he is convinced that he can drive it another couple thousand miles. Well last week his car broke down for good, so I went car shopping with him. They have brand new cars with air conditioning that will turn before you even start the engine. The heater works so well and it doesn’t have a burning smell like his old car. He thought all of these heating and cooling advances in cars were pointless, but in the end I told him he would end up really like them. Two weeks later he called me and told me I was right about the heating and cooling in his new car.