This is one of those days where I feel kind of yucky but I have to spend a few hours convincing myself that I feel fine and go to work anyway. There are no full time jobs available. Part time employees get no sick days. The trick is to multiply your hours by your wage and imagine you are picking up next weeks check and it is short by that amount. Will you be able to make your bills? Do you really need those groceries?
This is why the gas station attendant keeps sneezing, and the Walmart cashier looks like she's going to pass out. All part time employees must plan illnesses to coincide with their scheduled days off or they are out of luck. Oh well, I would rather be ill at work and feel better on my day off.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Off to the Races
Days off are almost always spent on errands. Make a long list and run here and there checking items off as you go. That's how it always ends up for me. I love being productive and having several accomplishments for the day, just not every day! It's definitely time to free up a day in the schedule for a beach or a state park trip, some small leisure to break the monotony. I've moaned enough, I'm off to the laundromat and the bank and the grocery store....
I'll leave you with one of my favorite work stories. I waited on a young woman in a grocery store. She paid for her eggs, milk, and cheese with a WIC voucher. She could have also received cereal and dried beans. I asked her if she wanted me to get them for her and she said, "Nah, that's alright. It's no big deal." She then bought a small amount of groceries which she paid for with food stamps. Then she bought cigarettes and diapers and she paid cash. I went to hand her thirty eight cents in change and she said, "You give those thirty eight cents to someone who needs them."
It was all I could do not to laugh. That night when I dropped my thirty eight cents in the change jar and told my family we were rolling with laughter.
I'll leave you with one of my favorite work stories. I waited on a young woman in a grocery store. She paid for her eggs, milk, and cheese with a WIC voucher. She could have also received cereal and dried beans. I asked her if she wanted me to get them for her and she said, "Nah, that's alright. It's no big deal." She then bought a small amount of groceries which she paid for with food stamps. Then she bought cigarettes and diapers and she paid cash. I went to hand her thirty eight cents in change and she said, "You give those thirty eight cents to someone who needs them."
It was all I could do not to laugh. That night when I dropped my thirty eight cents in the change jar and told my family we were rolling with laughter.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
A Lost Love Rediscovered
For a few months I was working mostly opposite shifts from my husband. When I came home from work sometimes I was alone and sometimes my daughter was home too. I would offer to cook and give several suggestions. She would reply with "I already ate." or "I don't like that." I stopped cooking dinner for several months.
Since my son came home he noticed I am cooking a new dish every night and have tried several new recipes. I told him I guess I rediscovered my love of cooking now that I have someone to share it with. I love working in my kitchen.
The past few weeks we had fajitas, fried plantain with brown sugar and brandy, a new pork and cabbage recipe, spaghetti and meatballs, guacamole salad, the best batch of French toast I have ever made with whipped cream and blueberries, and my very first pineapple upside down cake. About the pineapple cake, I have always detested it. I have never tried this cake and liked it but I found a recipe and just sliced a fresh pineapple and wanted to try it. It actually turned out very well and I like it now. I guess I never liked it before because my mother made one at some point.
My mother was a horrible cook. She turned scrambled eggs to rubber. She thought all meat must be blackened so it wouldn't kill you. She would make one dish for a dinner. If she made salad, or a soup, or even baked beans that was it. She would put whatever one dish she cooked into a bowl and that was dinner. Even prepackaged food was a challenge for her. Following directions was a foreign concept. She never measured the water for rice but tossed it in a large pot of water until it was like a thin soup. She ripped into packages like a barbarian so your cereal went stale and your chips had to be picked up off the floor and any surrounding furniture. Looking back I guess we had to learn to cook at an early age for survival.
My point tonight is cooking is a skill that really helps when you are on a tight budget. Prepackaged foods are so expensive. Some people, like myself, love to read cookbooks and try new dishes. Others just want to stick to a basic menu plan and are okay with the same meals each week. And then there are some who have a hard time breaking free of their fast food habit. Lastly there are a few that should be banned from the kitchen for the sake of the children.
Since my son came home he noticed I am cooking a new dish every night and have tried several new recipes. I told him I guess I rediscovered my love of cooking now that I have someone to share it with. I love working in my kitchen.
The past few weeks we had fajitas, fried plantain with brown sugar and brandy, a new pork and cabbage recipe, spaghetti and meatballs, guacamole salad, the best batch of French toast I have ever made with whipped cream and blueberries, and my very first pineapple upside down cake. About the pineapple cake, I have always detested it. I have never tried this cake and liked it but I found a recipe and just sliced a fresh pineapple and wanted to try it. It actually turned out very well and I like it now. I guess I never liked it before because my mother made one at some point.
My mother was a horrible cook. She turned scrambled eggs to rubber. She thought all meat must be blackened so it wouldn't kill you. She would make one dish for a dinner. If she made salad, or a soup, or even baked beans that was it. She would put whatever one dish she cooked into a bowl and that was dinner. Even prepackaged food was a challenge for her. Following directions was a foreign concept. She never measured the water for rice but tossed it in a large pot of water until it was like a thin soup. She ripped into packages like a barbarian so your cereal went stale and your chips had to be picked up off the floor and any surrounding furniture. Looking back I guess we had to learn to cook at an early age for survival.
My point tonight is cooking is a skill that really helps when you are on a tight budget. Prepackaged foods are so expensive. Some people, like myself, love to read cookbooks and try new dishes. Others just want to stick to a basic menu plan and are okay with the same meals each week. And then there are some who have a hard time breaking free of their fast food habit. Lastly there are a few that should be banned from the kitchen for the sake of the children.
Monday, February 8, 2010
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.
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.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
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!"
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!"
Thursday, February 4, 2010
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.
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.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
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.
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.
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