Words of Wisdom x 4Sidetracked Sisters

I am not one to take advice, but throughout my life, I have actually been given some good pieces of wisdom and I actually took them.

One of the most memorable pieces of advice I was given was from my Dad. I was a teenager and having trouble with my boyfriend, now husband. We were on the phone and I anticipated him cheating on me. You could say I was pleading with him not to do this. My dad was on the other line. We actually had phones where you could listen on another extension to someone else’s conversation. Well, after this conversation my dad called me to him and advised me that I should never beg anyone to not do something to me. You see, he said I was a very special, wonderful person and he didn’t ever want me to put myself in that negative situation again. Good advice.

Another piece of advice I received was when I got married both my husband and I worked. My mom said we should only budget to live on one income and put the other wages in savings. Well, I did just that and I really feel it gave us a really good foundation. This required a lot of discipline for us, as it was very tempting to live high on two incomes. But, it did enable us to purchase our first home six months after we married and pay for the same by the time I was 35. This was not as easily done when our children entered college, but it definitely helped me in knowing how to budget.

Another piece of advice I received from my parents was never to charge on a credit card unless you can pay the balance off by the end of the next billing cycle or the end of the month. This is a good one to follow since credit cards offer such a free feeling for spending. You always feel you have more money than you really have. It can offer security in case of emergencies, but can often be used for frivolous things that are not really needed, and you anticipate you will be able to pay for, but often cannot in a timely fashion. We can often get ourselves into a financial bind by abusing our credit cards.

Another piece of advice I have received was never do something that you wouldn’t want your parents, or family, to know about. This has been used on several occasions, and I feel it should be used more often than not.

It’s surprising to me in reflecting on this writing how important the advice my parents gave me really does work. Who knew????