Political Morsels and Other Droppings

I think many of us have heard the news stories about how unemployment is on the rise and the economy continues to head south. Last week, President Obama criticized the multi-million dollar bonuses that execs on Wall Street received while bailouts are being handed out and thousands are losing their jobs.

I have found myself in discussions with friends, family, and coworkers over the past few months about how many people are use to getting whatever they want thanks to credit cards and the like. For the most part, we Americans live way beyond our means. I’ve mentioned this before, a couple months ago, but I live without credit cards. My biggest debt is my house and if I have to make a payment by check, I have it issued by my financial institution. If I have the money to buy something, then I do. If I don’t, then I refrain from making the purchase. I don’t fill the void of time by going shopping. In fact, it’s been a couple months since I was last seen in a mall shopping for anything.

When times have been tough, I’ve learned to do without. I am a huge cheese person. I have been known to drop eight or nine bucks on some decent Emmentaler. (Swiss Cheese.) I also only buy organic free-range chicken and try to buy organic free-range beef whenever possible. Organic meat and poultry does cost a bit more than the regular, factory farmed meats. However, I feel better knowing that what ends up on my dinner plate was treated humanely, was not pumped full of drugs, and died in a humane manner. When it has not been in the budget to purchase the organic meat and poultry, I have either limited my quantity or done without and purchased more fruits and vegetables instead.  When I first got out of the Navy and entered the regular working world, I didn’t have much money. I lived on a diet of frozen burritos and ramen noodles for a couple months just to afford a decent bed.

In my first apartment, I functioned without a microwave. That was a year of very planned out cooking. Granted, I always had a microwave to work with while growing up. However, during that year, I did without. Friends who would come over to my ghetto-fabulous apartment (because it was) were amazed to see that I could cook decent meals with just the stove and an oven. I had to remind them that before the 1980’s, our world lived without microwaves being a mainstream kitchen appliance. Granted, I didn’t grow up in the 1970’s, but still. I also did not have a television for the first few months that I lived in that apartment. It didn’t really bother me too much.

My mother instilled in me at a very young age that if I wanted something, I had to earn it. It probably helped that I grew up in a family where, in the early years, we did without quite a bit. We only ate out once a week, which was a treat. My dad would take my sister and I to the movies every once in a while. However, the movies we went to were at the dollar theater. I can tell you that to this day I can still remember watching “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” with a lot of black spots on the screen because it was so worn down before the film was sent to the dollar theater. I was able to get the full picture of that movie when I watched it again as an adult. (I also caught on to more of the humor as well.)
My clothes came from either Kmart, or were made by my grandmother. I still shudder at many of my childhood pictures. Then again, I also had a horrible short haircut and terrible glasses… but that’s beside the point. Today, I do buy my clothes from stores that are found in a mall. I have a deep love for Banana Republic, J. Crew, Lucky Brand, and Anne Taylor. However, what I buy lasts me for quite some time. Therefore, my outings to these stores are very much infrequent. However, if my budget was much smaller, I wouldn’t have an issue with Target. Besides, I’ve seen the clothing there… most of it looks pretty decent.

Many of my high school classmates received cars from their parents on their 16th birthdays. I remember even hearing one rich bitch complain because her daddy didn’t buy the car she wanted in the right color. Daddy made sure to correct his mistake by the following week.
I, on the other hand, didn’t get my first car until I had already been in the Navy for a year. I ended up buying my first car from my dad. (I also had to take out a loan to do so.) Granted, the transmission went out on it right away. However, thanks to the Lemon Law, he did fix it. Otherwise, I probably would have waited a bit longer to buy a vehicle. I also learned that I would not own another Mazda. I eventually traded it in when I got tired of giving myself whiplash every time I put the damn thing in reverse. (it was an automatic)
I have had my current car for five years and have only two car payments left. This would be the point that some people would trade their cars in for something newer and flashy. Although I have a deep love of cars, I’m going to hold onto my buggy and enjoy the lack of car payments for a while. As long as it gets me to where I need to go, I’m happy. Besides, I need not impress anyone with my mode of transportation. 

While I do know how to cut back, and am aware that I could cut back quite a bit more if I wanted, there are many people who have no idea what it’s like to do without. There are many people with a sense of entitlement who are struggling right now. It can be seen with the foreclosures on houses that people purchased a few years ago using ARM loans in order to have bigger and better. Now they can’t afford it. I’ve heard stories of people looking into bankruptcy because they cannot pay the minimum on their credit cards. It does disturb me quite a bit because I’ve been pretty darn responsible, played by the rules, and no one is absolving me of my continued responsibilities.

So, when I read an article today about how Americans are saving more and spending less, I was happy. I guess it has been sort of visible, with the many businesses that are closing their doors because the consumers aren’t out spending money as freely. We haven’t seen as troubled of an economy as we have now for decades. Many have to learn how to spend less and I believe it’s a skill that we should all have. I am fortunate for being in the line of work that I am, because it is, for the most part, recession-proof. However, I am also aware that things happen. Anyway, I really liked the article, which is what got me to write about all of this in the first place. So, please check it out by clicking here. Also, if you have tips for saving money that you’d like to share, please do so. I know I’m always open to new ideas that I can incorporate.

Filed under: Droppings Tagged: | cutting back, troubled economy