Simplicity

People just can't help but make their lives more complicated.  With even an ounce of forethought, so many people could spare themselves the chronically present complications that they so fervently bitch about on their facebook and, I'm assuming, twitter accounts.  If I had a twitter account, I'm pretty convinced I would see lots of the same stuff I see elsewhere.  Sure I'm not the busiest person in the world, and maybe have more time than most to get things done that need being done...but that doesn't make my point any less valid.  There are endless examples of unneeded complications, but I'll just use an all too common one:
   There's your average joe/jane, chugging along at their medium to not-all-that-awesomely paying job, driving their old reliable Corolla.  No harm in that, I'm impressed with anyone that has any job.  But he/she's not exactly putting away stacks of money every two weeks, but rather making just slightly more than he/she is spending.  What would seem to be the logical thing to do at this point:

A) Keep your financial outflow at a minimum, while looking for a better job/moving up in current one

B) Be content with the job you have for awhile, and enjoy life with a little surplus.

C) Go buy a new $42,199 Supercab pickup truck, and put yourself pretty much in the red every month for years to come.

It's a no brainer right?  Of course you have to go with C!  Two of your buddies and at least one coworker have new pickups, and they have to look way down to talk to you in your little gas saver.  There obviously no way an ego can possibly handle that situation, right?  Ladies, you can substitute a different vehicle, or "accessories"...or hell, maybe a truck is your thing.  Gotta keep up with the fuckin' Joneses. Or perhaps you just can't wait to fulfill that material dream you've been having for years. So now you're eventually going to be out 42 grand right?  Um, did you pay for that puppy with cash?  Then wrong, Ryback!  I don't feel like crunching all the numbers, but by the time you get done paying off all the interest, it will cost you a hell of a lot more than that price tag you were looking at.  Let's say it was up to 50 G's after interest (it's probably more, but let's make it easy)...let's also say you net $15 an hour at your ok job.  If you dedicated every cent of your paycheck to that vehicle, how many hours would you have to spend slaving away to pay it off?  3,333 hours. working 40 hrs a week, that's over a YEAR and a HALF of your life you just signed up to slave away for that thing.  Only, that's not even close to how long it's going to take, because we didn't yet factor in all the other shit that paycheck has to cover as well.  Food, gas, insurances, rent, online shopping sprees, cheetos, etc.  Yeah yeah yeah, you're already going to be paying for that other stuff anyway, I know.  But how about the extra pressure that comes along with doubling your monthly bills for 5 years?  Sound fun?  About as fun as someone taking a hammer to your bare toes on concrete.
    Well now that we've made the correct vehicular decision, you're ready to make a few more genius moves.  Obviously you need a dog to take take care of, because who doesn't need something that requires 365 days a year attention.  And you definitely need to get/get your girlfriend pregnant.  And since you did that, the logical thing to to would be to spend 15-20k that you don't have on a wedding in order to appease the religious/traditional parents or in-laws.  And you'd just be embarrassed if you didn't buy a decent looking house now that you're married.
Hope you didn't have any dreams that you planned on working towards!
Hey look, if that scene is your dream, and you planned financially for it before executing, that's great and I'm highly impressed.  But you are certainly going to be the minority in this day and age.
     Ok I guess I kinda get it.  Life can be tough, stressful, and seem like you're drowning in a never ending quagmire of deadlines, clocking in, and demands on your time.  Who wouldn't be tempted to get that awesome shiny thing that is advertised every night while you're watching tv?  I understand the allure.  What I don't understand is why the bigger picture doesn't crumble that image more often, and in more people.  Is the future that undesirable to look at?  Is the big picture that easy to turn your back on?  I caught some breaks in life, and had the opportunity to not be as busy as most people, that's true...but at every turn, I also had the opportunity to fuck it up, and get sucked into the endless mire.  Keeping an eye on the future kept me from the trap for the most part.   On the other hand, I drive a shitty little gas saver and not an awesome jacked up pickup truck.  Every philosophy has tradeoffs I suppose.