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.

Small Moments in a Frugal Life

I worked the morning shift a few days ago and after I came home I decided to tidy up the kitchen. I did the dishes, cleaned the cabinets and counter tops, emptied a bookcase I was planning on giving to my son, and swept and mopped the floor. Each task accomplished led to another item to clean. I usually run the coffee pot with vinegar to get it clean. I also use baking soda and vinegar to unclog the sink in the bathroom. Sometimes it takes a few tries to get it cleaned out. This time I decided to re-use the hot vinegar from the coffee pot to clean the drain. I tossed a handful of baking soda in the sink and chased it with the hot vinegar and it worked in seconds.

As evening drew on it became chilly in the house, so I put on warm fuzzy socks and a sweater. I wanted something to eat but didn't feel like preparing anything time consuming so I decided some warm oatmeal would work. I don't buy the more expensive packets you add boiling water to. I like the old fashioned oatmeal you cook on the stove, but it isn't any more difficult to prepare. I have what I call the secret formula to oatmeal, but I'll share it with you. I place one cup of oatmeal and one half cup of milk and two cups of water in a pot. I stir it, put the lid on it, and then place it one the stove on medium heat. I leave it there for about fifteen to twenty minutes and then stir and serve. It is creamy enough so you don't have to add milk. You can add blueberries and cream, or brown sugar and cinnamon, or a swirl of maple syrup. This makes two servings to share or one large portion for a ravenous fiend.

So there you have it. I did my own cleaning, although it would be really cool to have servants. I cleaned with low cost, and green products. I discovered an even niftier way to avoid a plumbers fee, and I kept from turning the heat on by bundling up just a bit. I also avoided the sneaky cash stealing act of ordering dinner out by making a satisfying meal at home instead. It takes just a small bit of effort to find a frugal way to accomplish the tasks in life. If you take the time to be careful with money, you'll be happy at the end of the week or month when you are paying more towards your debt, or adding a bigger amount into savings.

Debt, A Hard Bargain

Debt used to be a way of life for me. I started with a student loan, added a department store card, mixed in a gas card, and then a few regular credit cards. I guess I just figured it was what people did. We needed stuff, we had jobs, and the bills were paid as they came in. The bills were paid as they came in but we also allowed many of the cards to carry a balance which tended to grow.

We had kids and we were poor, so we had earned income tax credit which gave us back a nice income tax check. This income tax check became our emergency fund. Cars were forced to limp along until February or March when the extra money would be available briefly for repairs. We tried to save some of it sometimes but those pesky bills kept showing up in the mailbox.

The bills kept coming but we had an addiction to stuff. We liked kid stuff, and kitchen stuff, and pretty stuff. Sometimes, working retail, we found fantastic deals on deeply marked down, previously quite expensive stuff. If we didn't have enough cash we would put some of these great bargains on credit, thereby cancelling out the "bargainness" of the product.

My stuff was super important but I didn't notice the value of my husbands stuff. My husband didn't understand just how clever I was to buy all of the stuff I found on clearance. We filled our house with bargains, not to the point of hoarding but to the point of realizing finally that we had too many of everything and a nice vacation and a savings account would have been a better use of our money. We were caught up in lower class consumerism, keeping up with the Smith's.

We've reversed our thinking. It took a while, we had a long lesson to learn. I was raised by Depression babies but they never discussed money, or why they lived as they did. They never explained why they only went to the dollar theater, or wore old clothes, or rarely went out to eat. They never said why they bought toilet paper in bulk, on a super sale, or why they kept their old car running. I was young and didn't know any better. I just thought they were cheap and sometimes stingy. They never really shared their quiet lessons.

I was told stories of my mothers youth. I knew about her owning two dresses, one to wash and one to wear. I heard about the one room schoolhouse and only having shoes in winter. How quaint. They never really shared their current stories. They sat smiling while we joked about a nuclear holocaust where wounded people would beat at our door for our toilet paper hoard. They never once said, "This is why we do what we do..." I wonder if they would have spoken if the lessons would have been learned earlier in life or if some lessons just have to be learned the hard way.

New Year Meanderings

I'm not the type to make new years resolutions. You won't find a list of my goals typed up in order with dates beside each for when I want them accomplished. I like to keep things simple, and I certainly don't want to disappoint myself when I fail to meet all those lofty goals.

This is the first new years eve I've ever had off. I only got the night off because there was a problem in the schedule for someone else and they needed me to swap for another day. It was nice to have off because I accomplished a lot around the house, although it would have been nice if my husband was off too. There's an old saying that what you do on new years is a reflection of what the next year will be like. If so, I will have a squeaky clean and clutter free home in no time.

Next year at some point, I want new jobs and new surroundings. Quite simple, it's all I need for now. I've already been working to reduce the debt, and save. We have a start, and as long as we keep earning as much as we can, we will meet out goals without going into further debt.

Happy New Year everyone! Whether you're a resolution maker or a resolution hater, I hope you have a wonderful time in 2011.

They Have Us Where They Want Us

TOO YOUNG AND POOR TO RETIRE

We are now in an era where jobs are hard to come by including "pink collar" or "Joe jobs." Workers are holding onto their jobs in fast food, retail, restaurants, and the few remaining factories. Many of us are holding onto whatever jobs we have for dear life. We realize new jobs are hard to come by, especially for older workers.

It seems younger workers are favored by many corporations at this time. They can pay them less, and some may not ask as often for pay raises or more hours. Some will put up with unfair working conditions longer than an older person who may speak out against certain practices.

There are some terrific younger workers out there who deserve jobs. All I am referring to are the older workers who are still quick, hardworking, experienced and well...mature, who are being overlooked when companies hire.

THE SCHOOL YARD BULLY ALL GROWN UP

In some jobs a bully makes the workplace very unpleasant. Under normal circumstances the bully is dealt with by management, written up, counseled, and eventually let go. When the bully becomes friends with the manager (also another bully) things become very stressful.

The bully I know of is a very strong former construction worker with a prison record. He lost employment with the building trade when the economy tanked and had to try restaurant work. He walks about with his chest puffed out and his arms flexed pushing others out of his way to prove he's alpha male.

His manager sometimes joins in the bullying. The two of them cornered a younger and smaller male worker in the walk in cooler and acting serious said they were going to "have fun with him" and they proceeded to unzip. Then they had a good laugh and joked about the young man's white face and shocked expression.

That walk in cooler is for more than storing food. On another occasion that same manager went into the cooler and dropped his pants so he could take a photo of his naked backside which he then showed to several of his employees both male and female.

The bully likes to corner other male workers against a wall, punching an arm or getting someone in a headlock. I know it is assault but there are so few jobs here they are afraid to rock the boat. One former employee is already on unemployment and hasn't found work yet.

FORCED OUT

The bully hated a former co-worker, the oldest one there. After a year of searching the man found another job so he could escape. He is now earning less money but isn't constantly harassed. It got to a point where the bully would chant, "Send him home, send him home, send him home." until the manager listened and sent him home early. So what if he only worked two hours and so what if they got busy and needed him later, at least the bully was happy and somewhat quieter. Now my husband is the oldest...

One of our money saving techniques is sharing a car. I went to the back door, a few day ago to see if my husband was ready to leave. He was walking between the oven and a work table when the bully stepped into his path. He pushed close to him and whispered something to him and then looked back at me and laughed. My husband didn't want to repeat what he said but I insisted. He said, "Do you want me to violate you in front of your wife?"

There are things going on at my place of work that shouldn't but it is nothing like this place. It's a nightmare.

You used to be able to leave one job, fill out three job applications, and have your choice between two new jobs four days later. Now it will take four months to a year of constant search to find a part time minimum wage job. It's discouraging and we the poor feel beaten down, tired, and defeated.

FEMALE WORKERS NEED NOT APPLY

A friend works in a department store. They dropped her hours and moved her to a different department. She used to make thirty hours a week and now she makes three. This is how they force people to quit so they can't collect unemployment. This same company has a rule that jobs must be posted for a week before they fill a position. A male was moved up to fill a management position that was never posted. Several female workers had been asking to move up. Many of then had been there for years and the man had been there two months. One manager told several workers point blank that they had wanted a man for the job. My friend has a lawyer.

I've told my husband to document things, put notes on a calendar or something. He may need it one day. I wish I could afford a hidden camera. At the end of the day he just doesn't want to dwell on it. It's already affecting his health, mine as well, and I don't even work there. We are just holding on for now. Go in, collect your pay, come home and attempt to de-stress.

We will have changes. Even if the economy doesn't improve here, we will go elsewhere. Somewhere, they must be getting ready for an explosion of jobs. I could get back into retail management, and my husband could find another pizzeria or restaurant he would enjoy working in. I don't care if we are shoveling poop off the sidewalk for a living as long as we are happy and there are more job choices out there. I want travel, and fun, and peace. There is so much to see yet we always seem to feel trapped by poverty. Not for long, we will climb our way out. World, here we come.

Happy Holidays

This will be a shortened version of the post that should have been published on Thanksgiving. Life, once again, got in the way. I only have a few minutes before heading to work and many of you will be too busy to read anyway.

I've shortened it down to two links that I would like to call attention to.

April reminds us many are still facing the Great Recession

I know all too much about running late as I had to add this one after work.

Happy Holidays from the working poor.