Things That Make Me Feel Rich
#TTMMFR
I grew up in a rather large family with a rather limited income. Not what I would call impoverished — I never missed a meal to my recollection — but money was usually tight, and there was rarely “extra” anything even though we always got by. But one year we purchased a family membership to the Baltimore Zoo (now the Maryland Zoo), and I distinctly remember as we walked through the gate my mom tucked the membership card back into her purse with a little gleeful smile
“I feel rich!” she said, laughing. “We don’t have to see the whole zoo in a single visit. We can just look at what we want to and leave without worrying about getting our money’s worth!”
Truth be told, with two adults and six kids, we were definitely getting our money’s worth; the family membership was less than the ticket price of two visits for the eight of us, and the zoo was only ten minutes away from our house. But I have no doubt that feeling of freedom was palpable to my cash-strapped parents, who didn’t have a lot of affordable options for family weekend outings.
These days, my financial situation isn’t so dire. My household is only three-strong, and my wife and I are both well into our professional careers. We’re far from wealthy, but from time to time I notice certain things that give me that same momentary feeling of (probably illusory) financial freedom that my mother must have felt that summer day at the zoo.
I came up with an acronym to capture that feeling: #TTMMFR. “Things That Make Me Feel Rich.” For those brief moments where not having to fret about something gives me a little peace of mind — a bit of slack, if you will.
So, I present here to you three examples of #TTMMFR, not as a financial flex, but as an expression of appreciation for little things that can feel like big things, sometimes.
Enough phone chargers.We have five in our house. One on each side of the bed, one at my desk, one at my wife’s desk, and one by the table in our living/dining room. And not just any chargers…all of them are USB-C fast chargers! Not having to gather up a charger to plug in somewhere else when your phone battery is low and you’re moving around the house (inevitably misplacing the charger in the process) makes me feel like I have truly ascended to a privileged luxury known only to the rarefied lifestyles of the 1%.
Extra sponges. Seriously. Although I try to remember to squeeze out the sponge at the end of the day so it can dry out overnight on the edge of the kitchen sink, there are those nights where there are too many things going on, and too much to prepare for the next day. The poor little sponge sits sopping wet in the bottom of an unwashed mug for an evening, or even (heaven forbid!) a full day. The smell of a fermenting sponge taints everything it touches, and it’s always a bit of a drag pouring yourself a glass of fine New Zealand vino straight from the box and catching a faint whiff of old sponge just before it hits the palate. These days, though, with all that disposable income at my disposal, I don’t need to rehabilitate my sponges once they start to turn rancid, I can simply chuck them into the trash can and grab a fresh and odorless rectangle of scrubby goodness from under the sink with the natural ease of a gentleman to the manor born.
Buying the good butter. I’ve been baking bread recreationally for more than a decade now, and though I wouldn’t call myself a master baker, I’ve gotten decent at producing consistently edible results with quick-breads, yeast breads, and naturally leavened sourdoughs (see my post on sourdough baking tips here). For some reason, the really good butter always seemed like an unattainable luxury to me. But the fact of the matter is that a half-pound of decent Irish butter costs about $4, and it probably only sets me back 10–15 cents to put a single pat of it on a warm slice of sourdough bread that took 16+ hours to make. Why did it take me so long to figure this out?
Don’t get me wrong, I still buy the mediocre butter for general cooking needs — I’m not THAT fabulously wealthy yet — but sometimes…sometimes I even use the good butter to fry an egg in when I’m feeling a little *extra*, if you know what I mean.
What about you? What are the little things that let you know you’ve finally arrived?
