One on the things that really makes you realize our Standard of living is over inflated. My DH had a Foriegn student as a room mate in college. ALL his belonging fit in 1 large suitcase and his only electronic defice was a simple battery opperated alarm clock. Blew us away that someone made do with so little and was fine with it.

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Kimberly Proud Mommy to Bethany Rose April 2006

I think that as consumers, we are exposed to a lot more marketing than were previous generations. Television, radio, billboards, magazines, and the internet, just to name a few. And, when I was growing up, there was no mall.We are inundated, and our children are most vulnerable.

We mute all TV commercials, and in fact, I prefer that we watch on-Demand shows or Netflix movies to avoid them altogether. (Tivo is on my wish list ; ). I turn off the radio during the commercial breaks. Ninety percent of my shopping is not done at the mall. I avoid it whenever possible, and I take my kids with me there only about twice a year.

If we don't see it, we don't want it/obsess over it.

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Attaining financial freedom is like eating an elephant . . . it takes one bite at a time.

We live in an area where most people live to impress, it seems. We are definitely in the minority by living a frugal life. It seems everyone just has to have the best, most, biggest, etc. We know a few families who are in real trouble right now because of that.

I think its true we have many more bills now than they did in the past but somethings that were seen as luxuries are really necessary -- for instance I could not work at home if I didn't have a high speed internet. (Of course I also get to telecomute three days a week so I save the cost of gas.)

I think about how many activities my kids are involved in now that I pay for that I am not sure my parents even thought about paying for when I was young. We had less structured physical activities and more school run intramural sports to participate in.

I am definately working on getting down to more simple choices, but it is still expensive just for basics.

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Grace

Wife to Stoney

Mommy of Sarah (8.5), Hannah (7), and John(5)

This plus the easy availability of loans is a bad idea!

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Saving for one of these fancy vacuum cleaners!