Priorities

I've been mulling something over in my mind for several months now. About a month ago I had a medical procedure* done that cost me several thousand dollars. When I called the hospital to schedule my pre-op appointment I was told that if I paid the bill in full I could get a 30% discount. I was astounded. That was over $500 dollars off of my bill. Why WOULDN'T anyone pay in full? I was mentioning this to a friend and she brought me back down to earth. "Tima, most people don't have over $1000 on hand to pay for something." Oh, yeah. I guess not. But if you have an emergency savings account then you would. And isn't that the first thing that Dave Ramsey (and others) talks about putting in place. And isn't medical things considered an emergency? I guess I've lived with Jon for so long that I now think like him.

But I guess what has been bothering me is watching my friends around me.

I'm friends with some very poor people and some wealthy people and of course, those in between. And it seems like almost every one of them live the same way. They all have to have a newer car. Those that are wealthier just have much nicer cars.

I was in a situation recently where I was surrounded by people that all make more money than we do. And yet for some reason Jon and I were one of only three who had paid the entire amount due in full to get the discount. Considering how much these people must make (based on job description) it astounded me that they were talking about monthly payments. Why wouldn't you pay in full to get the discount. Then for the rest of the year there isn't the worry about paying the bill. It's all paid and with a discount as well.

I realize that circumstances come up that will cause things to go differently than planned. What I'm talking about is the lack of planning and the denial that emergencies happen. The attitude that I'll always be "poor" so I'm going to do something fun with this money so my life will at least be fun. We'll worry about tomorrow when it comes.

Jon and I drive older model cars and live in an older home. We watch our dollars carefully and budget for everything. We make it a point to pay cash for everything. If the money isn't sitting in the bank than we don't need it right now. We will save for it. This includes cars and houses.
 So it is priorities? Is it better planning (on Jon's part)? Or have we been doubly blessed?