photo by tourist on earth
Guest Post by Jennifer Duenes from Life From the Roof
I distinctly remember a moment when I was working as a teacher in a poor region of Uzbekistan. I had received an email from a friend asking me if there was
anything I needed.
I sat there for a minute, racking my brains. Surely I needed something.
My wardrobe consisted of a mere few skirts,
tops, and dresses. I only had a shelf of books to my name. My living
room was sparsely decorated in Central Asian style: a low-lying coffee
table with floor cushions scattered around, a small television in the
corner of the room, and a buffet-style cabinet that housed extra goods.I truly couldn’t think of anything I needed.
Today, I constantly going around with a mental list in my mind that
is ever-growing. Hmmm… I think to myself, with all of those great
picture printing deals I am getting, it would sure be nice to get some
quality frames to put them up in.
The duvet cover I have is extremely
soft and in great condition, but I am bored with it, and feel like it’s
been "ages" since I had a new one. In my mind I think of how much more
efficient I would be at life in general and especially blogging if I
had a nice over-stuffed Manhattan leather chair to sit in.
And then there are the sales. "50% off! No, 75% off!" they
decree. "Hurry in, before this deal is gone forever and you are
sitting in your pitifully undecorated, unorganized home one day wishing
you had taken advantage of this deal!"
A sense of anxiety begins to
pervade my heart as I hear of the deals springing up right and left. A
sense of impatience fills my spirit as my trusty little digital camera
is gasping its last breaths after 6 years of usage, and I have to
recharge it more often than normal.
A sense of embarrassment settles on
me subtly as I have worked for wealthier families as a nanny, and drive
my Honda 92 Accord with its bumper cracked and patched up with duct
tape and park it behind their brand-new Sienna with rear-view camera
and DVD player options.
Sometimes people ask me if life was harder in Uzbekistan. In some
ways, it was. Having to heat a bucket of water on the meager gas flame
on your stove to take a bucket bath in an ice-cold bathroom wasn’t
fun. Nor was it when you constantly felt that, as one of the few
Americans living there, people were always asking you for favors, and
you never knew who really just wanted to be your friend.
But in other ways, it was so much easier because of the simplicity
of life there. There wasn’t a Sunday paper that came laden with ads
urging you to get to their stores as soon as possible. There were
people with the "latest" fashions walking around, but because many of
our friends were poor and had very little, it felt like a slap in their
faces to always be buying something new.
It was an inconvenience to
not have things like Starbucks or fast-food places, but after a while,
you settled into a slower pace of life where you drank your tea and
Nescafe pseudo-coffee at home and in contentment with other friends
bearing the same hardships you did.
The "rest of the world" that we often refer to who doesn’t live in
the excesses we do was a reality for me for five years. They were
friends, second families, and I am forever grateful to an experience that simultaneously purged from me my need for the newest thing,
and enriched me with what could truly nourish: camaraderie, mutual
suffering, and sacrificial love.
mother to one-year old Elijah. She lives in the San Francisco Bay
Area, and despite living on one income with the high costs of living
associated with that area, she enjoys finding creative ways to save
money and thrive. She attributes part of her ability to save and
appreciate the important things in life to her experiences as a teacher
in a poor region of Uzbekistan for five years before getting married. For more on her insights from life in Uzbekistan and tips on making the
most of your resources in high-cost urban areas, check out her blog at www.lifefromtheroof.wordpress.
Hi Jennifer,
Thank you for sharing! I really enjoyed reading about your experiences. Sometimes I feel a bit less than because I own less stuff and it’s not as nice as what most people I know have. ( I work around a lot of people with very high salaries)
However, and that’s a big however. I would much rather have my life and live simply than being in debt up to my eyeballs. Or, even just having to worry about and take care of so much stuff even if it could be bought with cash.
Thanks for the encouragement!
Trixie
http://farmhomelife.blogspot.com/
Excellent post! I have struggled with being content with my very small kitchen (I cook for 7). I recently learned that one of my heroes (a lady in my church that cooks for everyone sick, grieving, lonely or having a baby) cooks out of a very small kitchen (although she is married to a Dr.) proving its not what you have, but what you do with what you have. It was an adjustment in perspective for me. I love Hebrews 13: 5 because it reminds me how I can be content with what I have.
Loved this post! Even living in a tiny one-bedroom apartment and being fairly good at getting rid of something old when I buy something new, I find myself accumulating more stuff than I truly have room for. It’s SO easy to get caught up in wishing for “things” that really don’t matter.
Some times it takes a major life change to realize what is important in our lives and what is just material belongings; whether it be a baby, a loss of a family member or a trip. Great post!
Oh darn!! I was really hoping for Mr. Linky Giveaways today!! Is it coming, Crystal? I know you’re so busy!!
I have a giveaway posted specifically for Money Saving Mom Readers!!
MSM Giveaway at http://oikology101.blogspot.com/2008/10/very-quick-giveaway.html
Please pop over and enter if you are looking for formula savings!
I love memories like these that snap us into a new perspective. Our culture shoves marketing down our throat and makes us feel unsatisfied. After I took a mission trip to the Dominican Republic, I came back and cleaned out my house and haven’t gone back since. Less options and less clutter allows us to breathe.
I just wrote an article on my blog about how to recession proof your wardrobe. Your readers may enjoy it too.
Love your blog!
I can really relate to this post, in kind of a roundabout way (no pun intended)…I lived in England for a year for my job. I lived for 14 months in room 1235 of a Marriott in the west end of London. You are thinking, “that’s no hardship!”, I know, but let me tell you! Living out of a suitcase for that long makes you realize just how little you can get by with. I had 3 pairs of jeans, a few t-shirts and some sweatshirts. My job was as a project manager on a job site and I never needed to dress up.
Unlike some of my co-workers who utilized room service and the dry-cleaning facilities daily, I sought out a laundromat and some of the small independent take-out places near where I worked.
I learned to love the Chinese, Pakistani, and even the British (greasy!) take-out food (and lost weight while I was there – it’s not all bad for you!) and the ladies at “my” laundromat even bought me a present on my birthday! I made a great many friends of the locals while there and I really loved the experience. I tried to get my boss to let me room at a bed-and-breakfast but they refused – instead, we all had to be at the $225/night Marriott. I did rack up a lot of Marriott points, though – I had free hotel rooms for about 3 years after I returned home, and 2 large screen tv’s that I gave to family members.
When I look back now, I realize that was one of the happiest years of my life. I kept in contact daily with my family by using a mic over the internet (this was before all the VOIP became popular) and I was happy with the work I was doing and the simplicity of the rest of my life.
I decided very recently to purge my life of all that I don’t truly need. There are things that I moved into my house 5 years ago, when I bought it right after leaving England, that I haven’t touched and boxes I haven’t even opened since moving them! Obviously I can live without that “stuff”! It’s an ongoing thing that will probably take me a year to do but every day I make sure I pick a corner of the house and I sort thru everything and fill bags for donation, for trash, etc. I feel like my life is changing so much for the better now!