Last year I relocated for a job, and it took me over a year to sell my old house. It was a year of struggle: No dinners out, no movies, no gourmet foods in the fridge, no long drives, no visits to faraway family, car-pooling every day, no cable television, no Starbucks in the morning, ever. It was hard, and it strained my family more than ever before. But we tightened our belts and kept at it. We paid that mortgage payment every month, paid for the upkeep, and finally, after 13 months, sold the house for barely more than we paid for it eleven years before.
But you know what? Now we can be proud. We met our obligations. We proved that we could do what seemed fiscally impossible on paper. We realized how little you really "need," as opposed to merely want.
And I became a better capitalist. There are thousands of people, in good economic times and bad, who are in this situation because they are sacrificing for their futures. They put all they have into a small business, and they work hard and do without for years, paying others while going into debt themselves, in order to make it work.
And you know what? They deserve the big financial rewards, if they ever come. They deserve to keep every penny. And my wife and I deserve our high credit rating and the lower interest rate on our next mortgage, because we fulfilled our obligations and kept our word. Not to impress anyone, but for our own peace of mind.
So, not to sound holier-than-thou, but I'm not going on the dole until I lose the use of my limbs, because it really feels much better to suck it up and take care of business.