I keep asking myself, "Has the world gone crazy?" What are people talking about when they say "these hard economic times?" I am so confused because I hear so many people say these are such hard economic times but, at the same time, what I see happening with my own eyes and hearing with my ears is a totally different story.
Let me give you some examples what I mean. Are these examples of hard economic times?
- Last year we spent more at Christmas and all year shopping than the year before.
- Americans spend 500 million dollars a year to have their teeth whitened — not cleaned, just whitened to look nice.
- A single mom on welfare spends $350 on a cell phone– not on the calls, just the cell phone.
- On a home shopping show they were selling American Girl dolls for $135. The woman selling it said "Kit is our most popular doll."
The other woman said "That is probably because Kit represents the Depression Era and girls nowadays relate so well to that because they have to sacrifice and give up so many things in these hard economic times." They sold out of the doll. This meant several thousand of these poor little girls who have had to give up so much received a $135 doll for Christmas. What was it they had to sacrifice? Maybe it was the $25 outfits that went with the doll. (I have never paid $25 for an outfit for myself let alone for a doll!!)
- A woman just lost one of her part time jobs. She was sobbing and crying because her family was going to have to sell their house, which they could no longer afford. For the past several years they have been making very good money but they have been spending it on everything including $150,000 for decorating their home, several trips a year for the whole family to travel across the country and to Canada for sports events their sons wanted to play in, buying a couple of new cars every year, eating out frequently and the so on.
Even after she lost her job they still took another cross country trip to go to a game. After coming totally unglued about the thought of having to sell the house she was asked if they might be able to save the house if they would cut back on their spending a little. Her reply was, "No way. I hate to scrimp and save and do without. I won’t live like that." As my son in law loves to say "Allllrighty then…"
- My brother just met a man who restores hot rods for a living. When asked if things are getting harder for him the man laughed and said "No, I’m doing better than I ever have and I need to hire someone to help me." My brother is now working for that man. He is getting paid to sand people’s car engines so they will look pretty and smooth. People have so much money they can pay bunches to have their engines sanded? Go figure. For those of you who restore cars, don’t yell at me! My dad has restored Model A and Model T cars for years, so I know all about car restoring.
- Here’s my favorite: A sales person selling a $1500 piece of jewelry said, "We know things are so rough in these hard economic times so we have put this on 5 easy payments for you." They sold out of it. Do you know how contradictory that is? If things are so hard, what in the world are people doing buying $1500 pieces of jewelry, even on 5 easy payments?!?!
I don’t have anything against people buying jewelry, dolls, cell phones or restoring hot rods. What I do have a problem with is people moaning and groaning about how hard these times are and then taking off to go shopping or play a game of golf.
We get upset and angry about the government, big companies and their crazy spending but we need to stop pointing fingers and look at our own lives. Are they doing anything differently than the average American?
We may not have the opportunity to be foolish with millions or billions of dollars like them, but that doesn’t matter. The point is that many of us are being just as foolish with what we have as they are. We are up to our eyeballs in debt just like they are and most of the time it’s because we didn’t think or care about how we were spending it. Then we want someone else to bail us out.
Yesterday, I heard a pastor, Bob Coy, talk about this same type of thing. He had some good points to make. He showed a web site called Global Rich List, where you can type in an income and it will tell you how rich you are compared to the rest of the world.
Here are some interesting stats from that site:
If you make $35,000 a year, you are in the top 4.62% richest people.
Here are some others:
$50,000 – Top 0.98%
$75,000 – Top 0.82%
$100,000 – Top 0.66%
It makes you stop and think. Are things really that bad? Two million children died last year because of lack of clean water and I sit here complaining because the price of gas is so high that I might not be able to take a vacation this year?
Yes, unemployment is up but look at it this way: over 92% of the people in the US have jobs. Many of those who don’t have jobs aren’t even looking for work. I know a lot of people who are 20 or 30 something and living at home and not bothering to find a job.
We need to change the way we look at things and stop parroting what everyone else says about "these hard economic times."
I’m not so naive as to miss the fact that financially things are getting out of control and will eventually bottom out, but that doesn’t mean things are so hard yet that people should be carrying on the way they are. Instead of moaning, we need to fix things, starting in our own lives.
The pastor I mentioned earlier said if we have a friend who is deep in debt who says "let’s go to the mall", as a good friend, you need to say no. Suggest that your friend come over to your place for coffee and a visit, helping her and yourself not to spend more. Start looking at what you are doing and how you can fix it.
We need to face the facts. A big part of our "hard economic times" is summed up in this wonderfully appropriate saying:
We buy things we really don’t need
with money we really don’t have
to impress people we really don’t know.
Memorize that saying and the next time you go to buy anything stop and think, "Do I really need that?" Do you need to buy your kids the most expensive shoes? Do you need to get the most expensive car or would a two or three thousand dollar car get you by? What about those manicures and pedicures? How much do you spend on all the kids activities or on throwing that big football party and having the whole gang over?
I knew a man who lost his job and his wife worked at a very low paying job. He said he didn’t care if he didn’t have a job. He was still going to play golf every weekend (and he did). They are in a big financial mess now, but not because of "these hard economic times".
When considering buying something, ask yourself, "Do I really need it?" Do you have the money to buy it? If you have to borrow money for it, you don’t have the money to buy it. It’s that simple. If you need it, work hard and save and then get it.
Many of us think that waiting to buy until you actually have the money is impossible, but once we stop buying everything on credit, we free up all that money we were using to pay credit card bills, interest and fees. That money is then available to buy things we need or want.
Why do you buy the things you do? Do you do it to impress others? This is pride. I don’t have room to go into detail in this article, but God hates pride as much or more as drugs, alcohol abuse or sexual immorality and so many of us suffer from pride. If you don’t think you have a pride problem, consider whether or not you might say one of these these statements: "I would never allow my family to wear clothes from a garage sale." or "There is no way I will do without …….(fill in the blank)".
The Bible cautions us to watch the words we say. Don’t just spout empty meaningless words like "in these hard economic times" just because the world is using them and don’t use words like that as an excuse to justify why you don’t have your life and finances together.
Actions do speak louder than words. Are your actions matching your words?
-Jill
photo by: sushi?ina
I’ve lived on SSI disability for 10 years now. Before that, I was never high income, and have always lived within my means. I don’t own the latest, newest, top-of-the-line anything. I live below the poverty line and am able to survive by being frugal.
I taught my son to be responsible and to spend money wisely as well. I wish I could make a bigger point out of teaching your kids this. If I had not done so, my grandchild would be in the hands of social services instead of in my son’s custody.
I can’t justify eating out because I get more than enough food stamps.
I have a car. It’s 19 years old, and I paid $50 for it. My son can do most repairs and provide used parts. Car insurance is around $70 a month, and I pay for that by not having cable TV. I am entitled to transportation to doctor appointments and a bus pass, which would cost the state more money, but I will keep a car as long as I can by using my check for insurance, repairs and gas.
My heat and electricity are included in my rent, but I try hard to conserve both heat and energy just the same.
Yes, I have a cell phone. It’s a relative’s discarded tracfone for emergencies. The cell is ancient, costs me less than $100 per yr. to keep activated, and only makes calls and texts (which I never use). No pictures, no extras.
My medical bills are covered, but I don’t abuse the system. I rely on my primary care doctor to diagnose problems, but if she thinks it’s my arthritis, or my spine causing the problem, I won’t take things any further. I am alergic to pain meds and what good would an X-ray or another MRI do, if there’s no way to treat me? That’s a waste of money. I do get my teeth cleaned regularly. Along with dental floss, it’s a necessity so I don’t lose any more teeth.
Oh, and I do have my old computer, bought before I had a car, which I‘ve learned how to upgrade and repair. I pay $19.99 for cable internet service. Dial-up would not allow me to pay bills online.
In the past 2 years, my check has gone down, and my food stamps have gone up.
Two of my siblings who’s incomes exceed $50,000 a year are always in debt due to always having more, newer, or the best. One of them is recently widowed, is willing and able to fix her finances, and has begun doing so. The other is not, even though their inccome has been dropping for over a year.
I also have 2 siblings who are homeless. One for major medical reasons. Last I heard, she was living in the woods in another state. The other is homeless by her own bad choices and is living with her children.
I don’t know any better examples to show that it’s not how much money you have, it’s how you use that money.
I am a 40 year single mother of 2. I lost my job in October 2009 by no choice of my own. My company closed it’s doors and I have been looking ever since trying to get a job. I even applied at McDonalds but here noone is hiring. It’s crazy. It’s not that I don’t want to work, I do and in fact need to be working and hate relying on my Unemployment.
I do know quite a few people that are jobless but most of the people that I know that are unemployed are actively looking for work. So I wouldn’t say most people don’t want to not be working.
We don’t take vacations as I can’t afford them and I look for free things to do here locally.
I shop and thrift stores, use freecycle and craigslist.
In the past I have made some bad financal mistakes and was on my way to working on those things and then I lost my job. I am suppose to be getting childsupport but my ex is out of work as well and his UE has ended.
I do get foodstamps. $100 a month for the 3 of us and I use coupons and cook from scratch and make that money go as far as it can go.
I am trying to teach my kids that they don’t need all of the newest hottest things.
I liked your story, Dee. It’s a good witness for frugality.
Dee, you are a person of true integrity and I take my hat off to you! If more people over the last 30 years had maintained a responsible attitude we would not as a country be in such a mess.
Right now things are really upside down as some communities have very little problems with unemployment and others are really ravaged. I agree that as a society we have a long way to go in understanding what frugality really means and how to make it a normal and acceptable way of life. Too many people just do not understand why living a frugal lifestyle has so many benefits. I guess they can’t see the “big picture” or too far down the road.
Jill, I have only ever used the line “”I would never allow my family to wear clothes from a garage sale.” I used it because my BIL had just said that I was pregnant with my 2nd son and Don was just starting back to work after a long lay off. He said Well I suppose we can find some of our boys clothes that will do for you.”
I had passed on all my eldest’s things to them for 4 years including cradle crib diapers, clothes hand knitted blankets and bedding for the cradle and crib and also a change table.
He made me so mad making it sound like my children could do with 2nd rate clothes even though I knew they were top quality since my family had given much of them as gifts.
I told him “my children did not need hand me downs and to give them to someone in need, I always do.”
That was 30 years ago and it still urks me that he made me angry and I said something that had hurt his wife.
My children did get some hand me downs but never from that man.
I don’t shop at garage sales because I don’t enjoy doing it. The few times I went with friends just seemed to be so others could make comments on what cheap stuff each sale had out.
I grew up on hand me downs and loved it because my cousins would visit the first of spring and the beginning of fall and we would get a new wardrobe since they were 1 a year older than me and 1 2 years older so my sister and I got new clothes. Nice for my mother and since we had the same colouring nothing clashed.
My 89-year-old gentleman friend relates how his wife used to come home all excited about a sale at the retail store where she worked as an auditor. She would say, “I went shopping today and saved 20% on these outfits.”
Since he knew her closet was well stocked, his good-natured reply was, “You could have saved 100% if you hadn’t bought them!”
Priorities…that’s the name of the game. I only read the Sunday paper ads if I know I’ll have money to go shopping the following week. If I don’t, then I don’t tempt myself by reading the ads. (My newspaper is shared with several others after I’m finished with it.)
I keep a constant grocery list, to which I add anything I’m close to running out of, or need for an upcoming meal. I go on scheduled shopping trips (usually to the dollar store) every Saturday with a friend, so my list is ready.
I gave up my car because I could no longer afford the gas, insurance, and license expenses. I am 72, have a friend who takes me to doctor’s appointments and such, and a daughter and granddaughters who pick me up to go to church or their house once a week.
Again, it’s priorities! I feel rich, and live only on Social Security income in a senior low-rent independent apartment building where there are no utilities charged. “Rich” like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Thanks for all the good tips and articles.
Joyce in Illinois
I have 4 children under the age of nine, one with autism and another with a learning disability. I work per diem as an RN and we basically live on my husband’s modest income. We live well beneath our means. We rarely go out to eat except on a special occasion, we spend about $80.00 per week on groceries for a family of 6 and that is without coupons. I rarely buy clothes at thrift stores and yard sales because I can get better deals with end-of-season sales and clearance racks. We have two cars that are both 14 years old. Our motto is, if you can’t afford it, don’t buy it.
Thank You! In the US we are so blessed. I think we take it for granted. I know that I do. There are those who are struggling right now, but generally speaking even our poorest citizens are better of than most of the world.
I get lots of good ideas from reading letters on this site. One thing I always wonder about…..as jo stated in her letter of October 13 she feeds a family of 6 on $80.00 a week. How do you do that? In what part of the country do you live? I live in NJ which is ridiculously expensive for housing, taxes, insurance, etc. I will be heading to PA in 2 1/2 years when my son graduates. We have decided it is a priority that he finish in his current school. But then after that we have to leave. Also I lost health insurance due to a cut back in hours. Today I had to go to eye dr. for eye problem that eye dr. said I could experience due to my nearsightedness. That cost $195. I’m not eleigible for any state sponsored health ins. plans and private ones are prohibitive. Any suggestions?
alisa .. just saw ur post .. maybe you can make payments for the procedure ? ..
some friends of ours do not have ins and well whenever they have procedure’s done, they make payments ..
same thing with us too .. we do not qualify for the county/state health ins bc of all the new cutbacks and qualifications (you have to make alot less than we make in order to qualify and we do not make alot of income) ..
sooo, what is one to do? well hubby gets medicare and i am starting to take supplements for my ailments .. that is all i can afford .. i cant afford to go to the dr and i cant afford the meds (my meds are not listed for the walmart $4 prescription meds) ..
we do what we can ..
not complaing here just sharing …
same thing with our rent.. too too high but at the moment we cant afford to leave .. when our lease is up we will be moving .. i told hubby i would go into one of those manufactured mobile homes (they are secure into the ground and some of them are on cement foundations) (not the ones on wheels) … and just pay lot rent (some areas this comes with water and basic cable) … he wants a regular house with room to garden .. and i told him well with one of those homes we can fence it off and have a small garden still .. its just the 2 of us (and 3 if our son comes with us, which he can bc he is part time caregiver of his dad) ..
dee, i think its awesome that even tho you have little income you do the best you can with what you have to work with …
thanks for sharing everyone ..
and thanks tawra and jill for this wonderful website where we can all share our thoughts, idea’s and lives with each other
Alisa, I live in PA and am from NJ. My parents still live there and I think that the one thing that costs more here is food. Our ground beef is almost $3/lb! Our food prices are going through the roof but my mother’s prices have not risen as much. I am sure that it is a supply and demand issue. I live in a pretty rural area and well, she lives in central jersey. Depending on where you are planning to relocate in PA, you might not save on food. If you compare the rest though, I am sure you will make it up though
I love your comments!!! We need to stop complaining about everything. GOD is blessing this country with more than enough, every single day from day one. Even christians get into the habit of complaining, we need to start saying thanks to God, every day of our lives. HE does not have any obligation to blessed us, He can take His blessing somewhere else!!!!
Great post! We all need to be reminded of the blessings we have. We have become used to expecting, and in some cases, demanding more. When the Hebrews were wandering in the desert, God provided their food daily through the manna. We can have a pantry, fridge and freezer full, and stand there thinking I don’t see anything I want. I have a friend who has been going through a difficult financial time for about 4 years now. If I give her a coupon for brand x cheese, she tells me her family will only eat brand y, and it is always the most expensive brand on the market. I would think that if you’re hungry, brand x would taste pretty good.
Why were people able to feed their families through the depression when they had so little? Because dinner was a pot of turnip greens, a pan of cornbread, and maybe some fried potatoes. My husband insists on meat every night. We can afford it, but if things change, like a job loss and having to live on unemployment compensation, meat will go. Sometimes I wish we were still living like when we were first married, no cell phones, no home phone, very little, but we were so happy!
[...] do you think about this? I read a post on Living on a Dime’s blog and the author says that it is mostly because of people’s lifestyle. I have to agree. [...]
This was so awesome! My family and I have been cutting back and and living within our means. We don’t make near as much as other people do, but we are happy knowing we can make it month to month without racking up a credit card (got rid of that at the beginning of this year) I wish more people would see how ridiculous their spending is and that it is not much different then what the government is doing.
Hey Rose and Dawn, thanks for your thoughts and comments. I will ask any dr. I go to in the future about payments and I’ve also heard sometimes if you pay in cash they’ll give you a discount. I’ hearing some of the same things about PA. My brother lives there and he said food was a bit more than in Jersey for certain things. He has kids in Jersey so when he comes to visit he does some shopping before he goes home. I love this site for ideas that people have and I also agree with a lot of people here who say its about priorities. Have a wonderful New year everyone!
This is such a great article. I have to share something with all of you that might disappoint you in me. I am a Christian, but have no patience at all for outright selfishness and stupidity. Case in point a woman I work with was bragging about her new $300+ top of the line cell phone. Not a week later some people at work were taking up a collection because she couldn’t afford to pay her utility bill. I didn’t give anything at all to help her out as she knew she had her bills coming up but just had to have the newest and greatest. Tawra and Jill if this offends you, forgive me as I love you guys and your site, but this sort of thing makes me very angry. We all want new stuff on occasion, and it’s okay to splurge, but not at the expense of the necessities. Sorry this was so long ya’ll, but wanted to get it off of my chest. You always post great articles and always look forward to reading my emails from you. Thanks for everything. S
Stacey you didn’t offend us at all. You just repeated what we say all the time and boy do we offend many people. We don’t mean too but sometimes the truth gets people’s dander up really bad. We too get so frustrated with this type of attitude. God loves us very much but in the same way we get frustrated with our children doing foolish things I know He does too because of all the verses in the Bible on foolishness and that really is what that is but because everyone wants to be so politically correct and tolerant they don’t want to be honest like you and call it what it really is.
I would go on but this is not a subject you want me to get started on. : ) : )
I have a question about finances for the future.
I know systems are different in Canada and the States so this is along those lines.
My husband and I are 56 and we are saving towards our retirement. He has a decent pension coming from the company and the mines will close in the next couple years so he will get a large payment based on the years he has worked there. We have an RRSP and just started a tax free savings account for him we put money in for whatever we want and don’t pay taxes when we take it out. This year it will go to topping up our RRSP so we get a bigger tax break.
We save all our charitable donation receipts to also get the tax break.
When I read the letters here with so many people struggling day to day do you have any retirement savings. If you don’t what will the government do to help you out. We have the Canada Pension Plan where part of every pay cheque goes there so everyone who has worked gets something of a pension.
Does the States do this I am totally clueless.
But I would find it awfully hard to struggle all my working days just to retire and still have to struggle in my old age.
Don has almost always made a good wage and when the boys were little we were struggling some months.
Medical is all paid for by the government and his plan at work prescriptions are all covered eye glasses every 2 years optometrists every year. Ambulance private rooms all covered.
So right now we are fine but when the mines close it will be a slightly different story especially as our health is getting old as we do.
Just curious maybe nosey.
We have a similar type plan too Grandma. You pay into Medicare/Social Security while you are working then you get a small pension and part of your medical paid but it doesn’t cover everything. Years ago most people got a retirement pension from the place they worked at too so between the government check, their pension and what they saved they could do fine. Now though fewer and fewer companies are giving retirement and they are concerned that there won’t be funds in a few years to cover future pensions for the elderly.
That is partly why Tawra and I holler so much to people to get your debt paid, house paid and to try to start saving because many people are reaching retirement age now with big house payments, debt and no savings. They are just starting to realize too what it is like to live off only a very small amount of what they use to bring in and after being healthy for years are now getting sick and are have lots of medical bills added to their already big debt and house payment.
It is really getting serious. It is like watching a large head of people heading over a cliff and you are hollering with all your might for them to stop but they can’t hear you and there is nothing more you can do to stop them or help them.
We are lucky our house is paid for which is why we bought it in the first place. paid it off in 2 years and have lived rent free for 11 now. taxes water hydro fuel and upkeep is all we spend.
But like you the government is saying there will not be enough in the Canada pension to pay for this generation to benefit from the plan.
The younger generation is worried because all of us baby boomers are living longer so more money is needed. What they seem to forget is that it is us baby boomers who have been paying into it all these years.
Companies going bankrupt and then saying they didn’t pay into the pension fund the employees were supposed to get and now don’t. I know one couple who lost $600. a month from their expected pension which makes for many short money months and there are over 200 people in this town alone like that.
I was worried about us when I heard that but Don says we have a different set up with the mines than most companies. But still prices keep going up and money only goes so far.
We didn’t worry too much about it when the boys were at home but now that retirement is getting closer we are saving as much as we can but it doesn’t build up fast enough to put the worry too far away.
That is why I like this site. Small changes do make a big difference in the long run.