Yes, I think I know what makes me happy, and a lot of it is learning, and most of all connecting things I have learned. Also I love NOT spending money, so a lot of my quandary and reason to be here is that you have to spend a lot of money when you have a family, so that is my conflict. I know a lot of my problems with money were an inability or unwillingness to keep the expense lid on. No one wants to be the bad guy, especially on a consistent decades long basis. But at least it is good that I enjoy frugality. Without that going for me I’d be completely broke.

I have gone through challenging economic times the last two years as a lot of people have. Living a simpler debt free lifestyle is part of my happiness and I look forward to living in a tropical place for retirement which I think will make me very happy!

I find that people who don’t understand us will often say, “Well, you can stay home with your kids, but you can’t eat out a lot, go on vacation freely, put more money away for retirement and you can’t have all the latest and greatest gadgets.” Yes, they are observant and these are all true statements. But the thing is I don’t give a flip about ANY of that because I have plenty of time to focus on that which is most important to me – family. I also love my job and could not imagine living life doing work that I didn’t love. (Of course, many others are just jealous of what we have and blind to what we don’t have – of course).

I think my spouse and I felt a little more uncertain in our choices when were were younger (being different from everyone else raises constant questions from others), but my spouse had a huge medical scare last year and we did a lot of soul searching and life evaluation during that time. I think we both now find it easier than ever to tune out the noise – we know we live life the fullest we can for ourselves and it doesn’t matter if others agree or have different values.

Our values focus around enjoying the activities that we do (work, etc.), spending time with our loved ones, and spending lots of time with our kids. Making our home a haven is another one. Obviously, our values change with time. Before kids, life was very different, and as they age, we will have to fill in that void with something else. I’d say knowing what makes us happy takes constant re-evaluation through the years.