Appreciating what you have....

I have decided that to appreciate what you have it is not that you should do without something for awhile, but do with less.
Like right now the house (which is actually bigger than the one we had before) feels gigantic because it is so much bigger than the RV.
It feels like we have tons of stuff because we were used to doing it with less (which probably means we have way too much stuff).
Any TV feels really big because we have been watching a little 13" TV (our other TV broke and it seemed silly to buy one and then have to move it so we decided to just buy one after we moved).

I'm also realizing how fortunate everyone is who owns their own house (or at least is in the process of "buying" their own house through mortgage payments). I had forgotten how expensive it is to set-up a new house. Everyone wants a set-up fee or has some initial charge...in our previous town all the utilities were run by one company, but here the gas is separate from the electricity, which is separate from the water and garbage (which are at least the same company), and then you get into optional services like the phone, TV, Internet, and all those other "comfort" services. Fortunately our credit rating is good, but a lot of those places do a credit check to decide how much to charge you...so that if you have struggled financially they expect you to pay more upfront. No wonder home ownership is so difficult for so many people.