Becoming The Jones

There's a lot of talk about not keeping up with the Jones, but what happens when you become the Jones?

C and I were out with friends. We were talking casually and we discussed going on a weekend trip together. C and I were encouraging our friends to take the trip with us. For us it would have been minimal cost since I travel a lot for work, hence I get perks like free flights. It was a very casual conversation and it probably wouldn't have gone anywhere due to lack of initiative to plan. Anyway, then our friends told us that they're not planning on taking any trips this year since they're in debt from their recent wedding. I quickly said that I understood and that it was great that they were working on getting out of debt.

Moments later, I realized that we were the Jones, encouraging them to spend more money than they could comfortably afford! I'm really proud of the fact that they said no. I wasn't aware of their financial situation and I would never want to encourage someone to do something that goes against their life goals.