Starting Out Smart

Discipline – this is a hard act for a lot of us to accomplish.  I am now retired, having worked in a law office for fifty-six years.  There was a lot of discipline in that job and I now find myself being anything but disciplined at this stage of my life.

Now, when I was first married, I had the discipline act down pat.  I have to tell you I was driven and determined to do good and make our lives a little better without the worry of lack of security.

Let me explain:  I got married at the young age of 19.  Art was just 21.  We rented an apartment for six months before finding a newly built home in the northern part of Beaver Dam.  At this time of our lives, it was all about getting ahead, being comfortable, and establishing security.  Neither of us went on to college.  We got married and started on our plan to (make it).  We had been looking at older homes as that was what you did to start.  Well, Art and I had a friend whose father was a contractor.  Gary took Art to look at a new tri-level that was going to be for sale.  Art fell in love.  We could afford this as we had most of our down payment.  and it was a little out of our price range by about $3,000.00.  At that time, 1963, that was a lot of money.  The builder trusted us to come up with the remainder of the down payment in time and we purchased this new home.  I might add here that I feel that was a very smart move on our part.  You see, we didn’t have to put in new windows, sidewalk repairs, water problems.  What we were able to do was purchase items to enhance our home, not repair it.

Another thing that took a lot of discipline was we never purchased anything on a credit card, and if we didn’t have the money for an item we just didn’t buy it.  We were pregnant six months into our marriage and went to Madison to purchase a rug for the nursery which we figured would cost us $13.00.  We had this amount set aside for this purchase, but when Art got a traffic ticket of a whopping $13.00 we came home without our coveted nursery rug.  

Our home did not have carpet in the living room and it was not until we had cash in hand that we could afford this luxury.  The floor was plywood, not hardwood, and we covered a very small part with a 4’ x 6’ shag rug.  Then there was family room furniture, again paid for in cash.  The room was empty up to the point of being able to pay for any accessories.

Another thing that got us through this for our first several years was that I had a full-time job, and Art had a full-time and two part-time jobs which he did on weekends.   

To say we had discipline was an understatement, and I tell you it wasn’t easy.  Our social life was non-existent.  We did not go out to eat, no movies, or anything with friends.  Of course, with both of us working and Art working on weekends, this was not an option.  Vacations were spent in a tent (camping) as first we loved it, and second, it was a cheap, but fun, way to enjoy the family.

Luckily this did not go on forever, but we did do it for a couple of years.  In the long run, it enabled us to upgrade our home and move to a larger more family-oriented home.  Then in later years we actually could afford aim puroperty that I had dreamed about for a long time.

Sometimes having discipline does help enable you to accomplish long-term dreams, and that is what it has done for us. 

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