Living Richly.

I have been thinking about ways to save money lately, as I am wont to do from time to time, and was led to think about my life as a college student. Looking back on my life, I have to say that my years at BYU were some of the greatest years of my life thus far. And I have to admit, it wasn't because we had a lot of money and could do whatever we pleased. It was probably the exact opposite that made that time in my life filled with such sweet memories.

Here's a little window on my life at that time: We both were full time students and had jobs and together we had $600 a month to live on, $450 of which went to rent on our one bedroom apartment. The remaining $150 went mostly to groceries, utilities, and gas for our car. To say we were living on next to nothing was pretty accurate. I remember one time we bought a twelve pack of root beer on sale from Macey's and felt pretty high on the hog. We didn't make too many trips to Sandy and Bountiful to see my relatives because we worried about having enough money for gas. I bought my clothes at Shopko. Whenever I would look at my empty wallet, I would tell Chad, "we're poor." And he would remind me, no, poor was what the people on his mission in Venezuela were, who only had one pot to cook in and didn't have shoes and indoor plumbing. And then my life was in perspective. And we were happy. We were living richly because we were making a life for ourselves through working hard and working together.

So, now fast forward six years, and I'm trying to think how I can again live richly and be happy with what I have. I'll admit, self control is a little bit harder now, because we have more disposable income, and I don't think I have too many extravangances, but I think sometimes I get caught up in our culture, one that glorifies consumerism and the need to always acumulate more. I've always been fond of President Hinckley's saying, "eat it up, wear it out, make it do or do without." I try to do that.