Don't be ashamed that you can't afford it
Posted
Jan 31 2008, 09:56 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Does shame sometimes compel us to spend money that we don't have? It's time to get beyond that type of thinking, writes paidtwice at I've Paid For This Twice Already. In a gem of a post, paidtwice explains that she came to that realization after her dentist said her wisdom teeth have to come out -- this just after paidtwice spent the family emergency fund and other reserves on a car engine replacement.
So she's practicing what she'll say when she tells the dentist that the procedure will have to wait until she has saved money to pay for it.
"I get so hung up on appearances, and the idea that money would cause me to put this off makes me feel like I can't keep up the appearance that we're doing just fine," she writes. But, she says, "I'd rather live in full awareness of reality and be a little embarrassed than in a fantasy world I create with available credit."
The dentist thinks paidtwice is afraid to have the teeth removed because of the way she reacted when the dentist gave her the bad news. It was the bill that scared her, she said. "And although at the time I let him assume he was correct, I now intend to set him straight on that fact," paidtwice says. "I refuse to be ashamed about the fact that I don't intend to go into more debt to fund this."
