The Waiting Time

I'm still spending time decluttering and baby proofing the house when I'm not at work. Three bookcases are finally complete and I'm left with three more to go. I must tackle those seldom used kitchen cabinets next. Those cups on the top shelf that I haven't touched in three years, do I really need them? I don't think so. This really isn't the most fascinating stuff to write about, so I haven't.

As I've stated before, no matter the state of your finances, you must find joy in your life. We took the grandbaby to the library and to the beach to walk the small pier. While he watched the sun set at the waters edge we watched the happiness on his face. When we arrived back at home we watched the grandbaby get really stuck in to an ice cream cone. Small pleasures for frugal folks tackling their debt.

I plan not to shop in April. Our pantry is stocked and we need no household goods. Besides milk, bread, sandwich meat, produce, and juice we won't need a thing. It's a good place to be because I hate shopping. We plan to take the grandbaby to the zoo and the dog for a checkup and updated shots. Other than that we don't need a thing, so all extra money will go to savings.

I'm still planning a Florida escape (from not to) and it may just be possible before the major heat settles. I dread the summers here.

Frugal Gone Bad, The Dark Side of Saving Money

You may have watched a day time talk show about a cheap family that saved their aluminum foil or washed out sandwich baggies or shared one tub of water in order to save a few pennies on their budget. I remember cringing when I heard a story about a dad who stood outside the bathroom door and asked his kids if they were going #one or #two so he could hand them the toilet paper. They just couldn't be trusted with that fabulous toilet paper. They were allowed two squares for #one and eight squares for #two.

Some people allow their frugality to run amok. They start saving and it becomes an addiction or a competition for them, and then they turn into that toilet paper guy or worse. I heard of one man who would hang a strand of dental floss across a towel rack so he could reuse it several times.

Occasionally frugal folks put their own health at risk to save money. I remember a news article in which a nurse said she thought a bird was an excellent pet for a senior citizen. She had witnessed some of the elderly die from the cold because they were not willing to put the heat on. She said they would not be worried for themselves but they would keep a home at a safe temperature for their bird.

I'm frugal myself but not that far gone into it, I enjoy life too much. I may not have turned on the more expensive overhead heating, but I do use a space heater on cold nights. I can't live without air conditioning in the summer. I do eat out occasionally as well. Sometimes I even purchase fast food because I am just too tired or rushed to cook.

My father was an extremist at times and his point was completely lost on his children. He actually went as far as searching our trash to make sure we didn't throw anything out that still held value. My favorite story involved a simple lunch time meal. I came in the door to find my father making a sandwich. He had two slices of bread which he was covering with sliced ham. Then he grabbed a bottle of barbecue sauce and started pouring it on his sandwich.

"Ewe Dad," I gasped, "Why are you putting barbecue sauce on your ham sandwich?"

"I have to have something to cover up the taste of this rotting meat." he replied.

High Finances for the Lower Incomed

I used to earn triple the income I have now. Everything was financed and I worked to pay the bills. Clothes were on credit, gifts were on credit, a vehicle and a house were financed. I thought the job was there to stay and as long as I could make at least the minimum payments I would be okay. The only thing I never put on credit was groceries. At least I knew that was a bad thing to do. Added to the debt was disorganization. Bills would be brought into the house and placed in a different spot each day and sometimes be paid late because of this.

Simple organization and refusal to fall into debt are all that is needed to pull a family out of a bad situation like this. Some people are quite happy to put everything into a computer program and make charts and graphs. Some have special apps on their cell phones to remind them when payments are due. Others track their net worth every day. I don't carry a cell phone (one less bill, plus more freedom from distractions) and I like to keep things very simple.

I have one three ring binder to keep me organized. If I complicate things too much, I know I won't keep up with it. Find what works for you and do it. When mail comes into the house it goes on the kitchen table. It took a while to drill this in but it works now. Junk mail is shredded and recycled immediately. Bills are recorded on the calendar in the binder and placed in the pocket in the binder. I don't bother to buy a calendar anymore. Why pay between $10.00 and $20.00 when I can print one for free from the web? I place it in the binder and use it daily. I haven't paid a late fee since I started this system.

Track your debt. At the bottom of the calendar on the right had side I keep a list of all the bills that come due monthly. This way if I don't get one in the mail I will remember it is due and call to find out what happened. It is also nice to see these reduce in number as I pay them off. In January 2010 I had fourteen bills and in December 2010 I had six , only one of these was a credit card. The other five were regularly occurring expenses like rent and electricity.

At the bottom of the left hand side of the calendar I keep a running total of the amount of my debt. During the past year I have watched in shrink several thousand dollars. It helps to keep you motivated to remain frugal and get rid of debt when you watch it shrink. This year I'm pretty sure I will get rid of debt completely and I can't wait!

I know that it makes sense and there are people out there who can automate their finances and have automatic withdrawals for savings and bill paying. I am on an extremely low income so this does not make sense for me. Sometimes I have $500.00 in my checking account and sometimes I have $5.00. This is how people end up with overdraft fees. If I look at my checkbook and send out the bills myself I can avoid these problems.

Don't forget your savings. Having some money in savings protects you from having to resort to credit card use for unknown emergencies. When your car breaks down and you have enough to cover the mechanics fees it keeps that money from being added to your debt. Debt repayment is important but so is boosting your savings little by little. I always place what I need for bills and keep cash for gas and groceries. I shop carefully through the week and any cash left over when the next paycheck arrives goes into savings.

If I've bored you to death by now, please forgive me. I just want to let the unorganized, or the debt laden, or the poor, or newly poor know that there is a way out. You aren't stuck here forever, and you can live a satisfying life on less money. It may take more work, and a fresh look at consumerism, and thinking about what is really important to you. A little work and a fresh perspective can pull you out of the grasp of the debt monster.

Blame it on Bach, A Scatterered Mind and Life at the Bottom

I'm reading "The Salmon of Doubt" by Douglas Adams in little snippets on breaks and in the car when I am waiting on someone. I've saved this read until now because it is the last Douglas Adams I will be able to read. He died way too young. In this book are all of his brief writings, introductions to other books, magazine articles and such. One of these is his ode to Bach's Fifth Brandenburg Concerto and that is the tune that has been running through my head for several days. What does this have to do with my blog? Well nothing really, but it does describe the scattered state of my mind. Every time I start to have a thought, here comes Bach.

Paula at Monroe on a Budget had an article this morning that's been on my mind all day.
see story here
The article is about how stores are gearing their sales to coincide with the food stamp shoppers who seem to shop all at once when their benefits are placed on their cards. Some of the shoppers wait around in Walmart until midnight so they can make a purchase the very moment they get their money.

I work in a grocery store and I do notice people seem to come in all at once. I had one customer today who shopped with her two young daughters. She handed me the empty containers to scan first because they ate a bowl of fruit and drank a soda. One girl handed me a yogurt and asked me to hand it right back because she wanted it now, and her sister handed me half a block of cheese with teeth marks in it so I could scan it and hand it back. I laughed because I see children all the time acting like they are starving because they are in the store. My own kids did it and I bet yours did too. This afternoon this story was on my mind and I wondered if maybe they had gone a day or two without before their benefits kicked in.

I personally know what it it like. I received food stamps decades ago when they were paper. I never shopped all at once and went without at the end of the month because I have always cooked from scratch and had a pantry most of the time. I was on them because I had to at the time. I wasn't forever but it felt dreadful. It was very little and it had to be stretched very carefully.

You used to have to stand in a long line to pick up food stamps. There were no snazzy cards back in the dark ages. One time the line stretched out the door and along the side of the building facing the highway. There was an older man in front of me and in front of him was a woman leaning on her crutches with bandaged arms, wearing a neck brace, with a cast from foot to upper thigh. Someone leaned out of their small brown pickup truck and yelled "Get a Job!" The older man and several others murmured "I wish I had a Job." I'll never forget the look on the woman's face as she twisted painfully on her crutches to look at the vehicle.

Being poor may suck but being even poorer sucks worse. It's not so bad being a member of the working poor. I've been worse off in the past. Don't know if I can bring myself to write about the dark times, but I will say things can always improve and it won't always be like this. The hard times may pass but we must remember what they were like so we can remind ourselves to save and keep a frugal mindset so we can prosper in the future.

The Little Things

I make a low wage now, and I am frugal in order to survive. This situation however, does not rule my entire life. I don't mope around through my entire day worrying over my lack of money. Although I do often have struggles I also find time to enjoy books, nature, my family, and the dog who owns me. I realize I'm in another transition period right now and improvements are around the corner.

You can't get so bogged down in day to day struggles that you forget to have fun. While working towards finding a way to rise above your current situation you have to pause and find joy.

On Being Frugal

Frugality for me is born out of necessity. Being frugal allows me to survive on a low wage. The job market is so tight in my area due to the economy that a typical Sunday paper will have two jobs advertised. Sometimes it seems as if it will pick up and there are four or six advertised. Mostly the ads are for nurses, waitstaff, or telemarketers.

I work at a grocery store which is a good place to work right now, considering that everyone still eats. When I work the service counter I cash a lot of unemployment checks.

I try to pay cash and save up for most things I need. Sometimes when I need a large ticket item I finance. I like to take advantage of six months same as cash offers when they are available. I just take the total cost of the item and divide it by the number of months I have before interest accrues and mark that amount in my calendar so I remember to pay it on time. You have to be organized and keep up with the payments to make this work. Credit cards are charging up to 30% now. Remember when 18% seemed high?

Food shopping is a precise, well planned affair. I keep my freezer and pantry stocked with items I bought on sale, most often at buy one get one free, and I usually use coupons for the sale items as well. I read the weekly sales flyer's for all the grocery stores in my area, match coupons with sales, and make my shopping list accordingly. I buy the produce I need at a local produce stand unless the grocery store sale prices are better. I usually save 60 to 70% off the regular price.

It can be done, you just have to plan your purchases and stock up what you can when you find a good sale. I once bought a pack of ten pens, six bottles of shampoo, four bottles of dish detergent, two hairsprays,and four jars of peanuts for $1.35.