It’s considered rude to talk about money. How much we make, how much we spend, how much we we think we might earn in the future.
It’s uncouth to mention it. Rude.
But the older we get (and the happier we are that we are finally earning an amount we can actually be proud of), the harder it seems for it not to become obvious somehow.
Phil and I love to travel. Anyone who pays even an iota of attention to our itinerary in a given year would have to know that even with the best of deals (and I do get those), it can’t be cheap to go to Argentina and London and Scotland in one year. With plans for Australia for the next.
So, it’s very frustrating when people pass judgment on us for a) how much we must be earning to be able to afford travelling internationally, and b) how we should really be spending our money on more practical things (like a bigger mortgage or the unspoken – children).
Other than a higher mortgage (which we will have by the end of 2008, as we plan to move this year), we simply don’t need to be more practical than we already are. And the truth is, we don’t have to be.
Why is it considered acceptable to bring children into an already over-populated world and spend your money on them, but somehow considered unacceptable to choose to spend the money you earn on yourself?
We chose NOT to have children. By making such a choice, we do have more expendable income than most. And I don’t think it’s something we should have to hide or be ashamed of.
We’re not rich. I work in government contracting. My husband works at the local utility. Nobody is going to get rich at either of our jobs. But we are well-compensated.
But instead of being allowed ot be proud of it, we have to keep it subtle. Make excuses about how we can afford to travel.
Otherwise, we woud be bragging.
And that would be so uncouth.
Tags: choice
