Pennies, Nickels, and Dimes, Oh My!

I'm thinking of vacations again and couldn't afford even a weekend getaway so I will tell you how I managed to take my family on a weekend trip using one simple saving strategy. My eldest daughter was about to have a birthday and instead of presents she wanted to have a beach trip. It was all she talked about. I had to make it happen.

I made a bit more money then but it still wasn't much. We were still leading pretty much a hand to mouth existence. Was I going to get my credit card and rent an expensive room, and eat out every day, and pay for it for years? Nope, not me. I called around and did some research and places were very high and we had a dog who had to come with. (The dog story will come eventually in another post.) We had to save a lot in about six months for this to happen and we would definitely have to economize.

I already had a change jar but we decided to really kick it into high gear and start saving a lot more. We got into the habit of not using exact change ever. All change was placed in a pocket or change purse which was emptied into the jar every night. If we found a penny we picked it up. It may be too much of a bother for some but they really do add up eventually. When the jar was full instead of taking them to a coin machine which charges almost ten percent of your money (a real rip-off) we rolled them ourselves and took them to the bank.

We didn't collect enough for a fabulous beach hotel and all the trimmings but we did manage a few small presents, a dog friendly camping spot right on the beach, food for the whole weekend, gas for the vehicle, and we managed not to short any household bills to make this happen. We had our three kids and our dog and my daughters two friends with us. It may not have been perfect. We had three tents instead of two hotel rooms, and we had to grill ribs and chicken and eat salad instead of having fast food burgers.

I think we did pretty well taking a weekend trip using money gathered solely from our spare change. Its a great way to save and anyone can do it. Some people just have to get past their dislike of pennies. This is some "change" we can all agree to embrace.

39% Dead

I'm too exhausted for a long post. It was very busy at work today and I worked on my day off again and I just agreed to cover for someone on my other day off. To top it off I could not sleep last night so I arrived at work in fine shape. The following is one of the dreams that woke me:

I went to dinner with my husband and son. Once seated they started playing cards. I felt ill and then fell to the floor and passed out. They continued playing cards. I came to in a hospital. I dragged myself out of the bed and started walking the halls looking for my family. There were escalators and at the foot of them two old men in motorized wheelchairs with thick tires were racing and burning rubber. A nurse started chasing me and yelled, "You need to get back in there and see the doctor! You were in bad shape when they brought you in. You're 39% dead!"

Reality Bites

A year or so ago there was a news story about those poor Brits and their awful health care system. Perhaps this was a story started just to make us as a nation feel better about how we have it. Didn't work for me. The whole thing angered me. The premise was they had medical coverage and sure that was great but the poor dears had no dental coverage so many who couldn't afford it or had to wait too long resorted to pulling their own teeth.

What do we have in America? I've heard of one dentist who accepted payments and he was an elderly gentleman in North Carolina. Who knows if his practice is still run the same way. What do we do in America where many have the choice between rent and groceries or health care. Well, hello! We do the same thing. Haven't these health reporters or raging anti-health care people ever gassed up at a 7-11, bought milk at Walmart, or grabbed a bag of diapers at a CVS. Have they ever really looked at their waitress or cashier and noticed the blackened rotting teeth, or the limp. The media paints a pretty picture but seldom show all sides.

Hey, anti-health care people, take a look around you. Open your eyes and see. Watch the sixty five year old clothing store merchandiser limp across the parking lot and hobble to her car. She does that because she needs everything she makes for rent and food and she can't afford that new knee the doctor said she needed six years ago. Look at me handing you your purchases and smiling. I don't have disgusting teeth because I'm too lazy to get up and go to the dentist. I just don't have the few thousand dollars it would take for the dental surgery. I'm not choosing to go on luxury cruises instead. I live simply and pay rent, buy groceries, and pay the simple bills required to live. I just don't have enough left over for splurges like health care for myself.

When the molar starts hurting if you tear off the offending bit that hurts the pain will stop almost immediately and you never have to miss work. I know it's disgusting but it's another day in the life of the working poor. Someone had to tell the ugly truth.

High Hopes

I had my first day off in a while today. Since my husband was scheduled for the night shift I decided he was taking me out this morning. We had breakfast out and then I bought work clothes. I know a splurge, but I had coupons and a gift certificate. I had the rest of the day planned with a trip to the post office, a much needed nap, and a long time spent updating this blog. As soon as our car pulled into the driveway my son ran out and handed me the phone. They needed me at work. I haven't had a day off in a while and I am really tired and my legs are aching. I said yes and threw on a uniform and was back out the door ten minutes later. I have to take advantage of these hours now, while they last. We live in an area where we rely heavily on the snowbirds for our economy. Summer hours will be horrible, sometimes dropping as low as fifteen to twenty per week for some people. Those that work the hardest now have a little $ to save for the leaner months and get more hours during the summer as well.

If you have emailed me or commented here, I want you to know how very much I appreciate hearing from you. I am so grateful for your comments. I will be getting back on track soon with my email and more frequent blogs.

Here I Go Again

I wrote a silly post with an even sillier title about a vacation and then I disappeared. I'm certainly not keeping up with this blog on a daily basis as I envisioned when I started. I have every intention of daily posts and wonderful ideas. Life gets in the way.

I'd love to tell you I've been away on a fabulous vacation but that certainly isn't the truth. The truth is I've been working extra hours and when a spare moment presents itself I've been very busy decluttering my home. While nowhere near a hoarder, I still have a great amount of stuff that's taking up way too much space in my home and in my life. I hope to have it cleared up soon. What doesn't sell in a yard sale will be donated to charity. We moved from a four bedroom home to a three and now to a two but have carried most of the stuff with us. Why? I couldn't tell you.

It's dreadful that I do this but when I'm planning future changes such as a move I live in a state of limbo. I daydream about where I will live or work. I save all the money I can and plan no short trips in the meantime. I just want to move on with my life and get to the next spot so bad. It isn't happening fast enough. The most frustrating aspect of my wait is there is no sign of a recovering economy in my area. Everything is at a standstill.

I manage to make ends meet, but barely. I feel as if I've worked so hard this past year. I've given it my all, gone in almost every time I was called, have always been courteous professional and fast. I've done it all yet when my W2 came back I realized I only earned $11,000 for an entire year of my life and energy. I made three times that when I worked retail management, which required the same amount of energy and only a few more hours, although there is no overtime here.

Wow. This discovery made me blue and then made me realize I need to do this move as swiftly as possible. So I will be squeezing the budget as tightly as possible. Savings must build up quickly because I don't want to live in limbo anymore. I want to enjoy my life.

Lesbian Road Adventures

My husband and I both worked extra hours last week. The slightly bigger paychecks enabled me to pay all but two of the January bills. With the breathing room and the positive energy I have a bit of time for reflection today. I am dreaming of a real vacation. I have never been out of this country and long to one day have the extra money to see the world. At this time I would settle for a week in a ratty motel in a state I've never been to before.

Don't get me wrong we have traveled before, however they are usually brief dual purpose trips that put us into debt. We have taken a brief vacation to find housing before an out of state move. We have gone on weekend camping trips that we counted as vacations. We have traveled to see relatives with failing health. That's it. We have never taken a real vacation just for pleasure and without an extra agenda such as job or housing searches. I have joked with my husband that moving is the poor mans vacation. And let me tell you, I am ALWAYS up for a move.

I have a friend who is in a similar boat financially as myself. Years ago we were working for the same company and living two counties away. We were always busy and got together infrequently. She called one day and said that she was planning to visit her mother in Wisconsin and asked if I would like to come along. She said she would be driving and we would stay at her mothers house so all I had to take care of was food. I thought about it (for two seconds) and replied "Woohoo! girls road trip it will be like Thelma and Louise, well, without driving off a cliff, or killing anybody, or getting busy with Brad Pitt."

Later that week she called and asked whether I was Thelma or Louise. I told her she could have Brad Pitt and I'd do the killin' hey, what can I say other than she asked after a bad day at work.

We filled a cooler with deli meat, drinks and yogurt. A bag in the backseat bubbled over with a plethora of snacks as we each did our separate shopping. We were ready to go, so before we said goodbye to our husbands she grabbed a gift box from her room. She worked for a video store so she used one of the old advertisements for the pictures and comments and quotes from movie reviewers to decorate the box with a Thelma and Louise theme. Inside was my very own "Louise" shirt. She had gone to the flea market and had Thelma spray painted on one shirt and Louise on another for herself. She said the foreign man who had painted them kept asking which one was her name. "You Thelma? You Louise?"

We had a blast on the way up, stopping for gas and snack breaks along the way, having long conversations, and playing all kinds of music. It was nice to get away from the struggle of everyday existence for a brief period. We stopped at state lines taking pictures there and at any odd sites along our route. Wisconsin itself was a whole other world to me. Every three miles there was another whole entire store devoted to nothing but cheese. Luckily, I'm quite fond of cheese.

My friend told me I would be amazed once I was out of the South and heard some people speaking because they didn't have accents in Wisconsin. I managed to make it into the parking lot before bursting into hysterical laughter after speaking with a sales clerk in a store. "Ya ye betcha," I said,"There were no accents there."

One morning on the way up we stopped for breakfast at a truck stop diner where we realized people were giving us strange looks. Some stared as if shocked by looking at a strange insect. Some men outright leered at us. It finally occurred to me why we were getting the extra attention.

"Thelma."

"Yes Louise."

"Um, I believe people think we're lesbians because of our matching t-shirts."

We had a big laugh, enjoyed the rest of the trip, and filled the cooler with cheese, before making our way home. Hope everyone out there is finding joy and laughter in their lives. If you were intrigued by the title and are now disappointed by reading through my story ha ha ha you dirty pervert. ;)

Employment Arrives

The wait is over! My son went to fill out the paperwork for his new job today. The only hardship now is the job is in the next town so we will have four workers with four different schedules doing the one car shuffle. It will work out though. In a pinch he can figure out the fledgling bus schedule.

I never thought I would see buses in rural areas and small towns. I've read it was lobbyists for the care manufacturers who killed public transportation. This was their way to force the last holdouts to purchase automobiles and turn us willingly or not into the oil chugging car crazed nation we became. Perhaps the recession is helping us to evolve past that mentality. I dislike living in a country ruled by corporations. We need more common sense and more compassion as a nation.

Since I'm planning a move in the near future I don't want to purchase another vehicle. My husband grumbles about wanting another one each time he is inconvenienced and I have to remind him of the insurance and upkeep savings. I hope to keep us away from further debt so we can save as much as possible. The savings are building very slowly because bills keep popping up. I'm dreading the upcoming electric bill. The last one was quite nice at $89.00. Now after almost two weeks of record cold and actual snow (a small amount of snow, but it was enough to freak out people in Florida)that bill is going to be scary.

When we finally do get to an area with a lower cost of living and more job opportunities we will be prepared to do better financially. After making do with close to nothing for so long I will be able to do a lot more with a better paycheck. I can't wait!