We live in a world where we are constantly comparing ourselves to others. Popular culture has us comparing our lives to Hollywood stars and those that are ultra wealthy. What is portrayed is not a life that has plenty of spaciousness, community and connection… but instead a world that is fast paced, busy, and full of material possessions. 
I am always asking myself in my own personal life, how much is too much? Believe me, I like to shop as much as the next person, but when spending too much money depletes my savings account, or causes me to have to work more to maintain a certain lifestyle, then is it really worth it?
I remember when I buying my first home. This was in my early 20s, and the most I could afford was a place for $100,000, so I looked at condos. I could have purchased a pretty new and posh condo in an ok neighborhood, this was in the early 2000s. But instead of buying the new, updated condo, I instead bought a modest home in the DU neighborhood for $225,000 and got 2 roommates to help me pay my mortgage. I couldn’t have roommates in my 1 bedroom condo. I didn’t love the house. It wasn’t updated or fancy, but it fit the bill and I knew it was a good long term investment. I stayed in that house for over 10 years, and I became best friends with my roommates. Believe me, there were definitely times I wanted to move out to something newer and bigger, but I kept reminding myself that I had “enough” with my home in DU. It didn’t make sense because even though I could afford something nicer, I would have had to sell that home to put towards another home. Instead, I waited until I had saved 20% down for another home. Now, I am in a slightly larger, newer and more comfortable home, and my first home is now a rental property.
Now that we are in our current home, I definitely get house envy when we go to other bigger, updated and more expensive homes (yep, that sneaky feeling of envy still creeps in). But then I ask myself, “how much is enough?” For me what we are currently in is perfect for our family, I could even go back to our old DU house if we financially fell on hard times.
Having this kind of freedom is priceless. Living a life of enough, and being happy with where you are and what you have is powerful. It gives you an authentic relationship with money, and helps you fiend off the consumer culture that drives us to buy things that we don’t need. It allows you to spend money more consciously, because money is energy. If feels great to spend money on things that feed your soul, good food, traveling, massages, fitness, education etc. rather than things that take away from you.
Here’s to everyone having enough.
