Sep 01 2008
I do hope you will all forgive me for taking a break today from posting about Frugal Living in order to talk about what I believe to be a more pressing issue - the devastation of Hurricane Gustav.
About two months ago I was blessed to have the opportunity to visit New Orleans. Because of a novel I am writing I asked to be escorted on a short tour of the Lower Ninth Ward but I was in no way prepared for what I would see there.
Aug 09 2008
PREEMPTIVE NOTE FROM MICHAEL: I may draw some criticism here, but I cannot for the life of me understand this story and I may end up preaching a little bit as a result, so bear with me.
I’m not the type to attack people when they are down - far from it - but this NPR story was one of the most poorly executed and poorly considered news pieces I’ve heard in years and if you will bear with me for a moment, I’d like to explain why.
Aug 08 2008
Some days it seems that I am fighting a never ending battle against the people around me who can’t seem to grasp the concept of frugal living.
Jul 29 2008
Before her death, my Granny used to tell me stories about growing up in the south. I can still remember her describing the first time she met the woman who would become her mother-in-law, “Big Mama”. Big Mama was in the kitchen (as she often was, it would seem) preparing a meal. Without a moment’s hesitation - and in mid-sentence - she stepped through the screened door and into the yard, grabbed an unsuspecting hen and snapped its neck.
After finishing the needful and hanging Henny Penny upside down from the clothes line to drain, she stepped back into the kitchen and picked up right where she left off without missing a beat. Continue Reading »
Jul 06 2008
It goes without saying that we don’t live in a frugal society.
We have high definition televisions and high speed internet connections. We have Abercrombe, 24-hour drive through windows, and we have cell phones that can do everything but wash the dishes.
Stress of your job got you down? When we turn on those televisions we have advertisers paying millions of dollars with the express purpose of wanting us to buy their overpriced, low quality product to make our lives easier. Or perhaps they are offering a self-help program or a pill to make it all better.
What I want to know is what was so bad about life when it was a little tougher?
What was so wrong with a kid sneezing without an overprotective mother immediately reaching for the antibacterial soap or hand sanitizer? What was so wrong with those same kids wearing clothes that their mothers spent hours making by hand instead of the disposable cookie cutter crap that was made for pennies in China before being fluffled and folded on the department store shelf?
I long for the day when people are judged by their actions and not their attire or the car they drive. I hope for the day when children can learn to appreciate - as I did when I was a child - the beauty and miracle of growing something from a seed instead of the flash-crash-boom of some video game their parents are still paying for months after the long-forgotten holiday on which it was given.
I pray for the day when $5.00 a gallon gas isn’t seen as the end of the world, just the end of an era.
I am lucky enough to not live hand-to-mouth anymore but I remember a time when ramen noodles and the change I found in the sofa gave me breakfast and enough gas to get to work. I may not have to eat on $30 a week anymore, but I have tremendous respect for the incredible people who are able to do so and share their stores on the Internet so that others in their position can learn from them.
I may live in a home with advanced technology that is so complicated it would take an MBA to make toast but I remember when I couldn’t even afford the ugly $1.00 toaster at the thrift store in Ocala, Florida. It was 1992 - yeah, I remember it that clearly. Two weeks later on my birthday I received a toaster because that is the only thing I asked for that year.
When I joined the military a few years later I gave that toaster to a woman who was looking longingly at it at a yard sale I had. Her hip was straddled by a toddler and there was a slightly older child tagging along, clutching her mother’s finger. When she picked it up and looked at the price sticker ($.50), she paused slightly before putting it back on the table.
I remembered that pause, and I remembered wanting toast.
I’ll resume the regularly-scheduled frugal living tips tomorrow but for today I really felt the need to just talk from the heart; I didn’t think my readers would mind.
If you will excuse me, I’m going to call tech support now. I want some toast.
May 30 2008
frugalliving.today.com
A report on CNN today revealed that consumer spending was the lowest in the first quarter of 2008 since the previous recession. Not a startling or surprising revelation, to be sure, and yet it does illustrate the problems of everyday people here in the United States. Regardless of how the current administration wishes to spin it, the average person is in a financial bind now more than ever.
The Social Security Administration has been quoted as saying that as many as 85 out of 100 Americans who reach the retirement age of 65 will do so with less than $250 in the bank. Our senior citizens who have survived the Great Depression are now faced with the very real prospect of being forced to ration the medications that keep them alive and healthy and even go without other necessities like food and even heat in the winter months just to be able to afford to live.
If that isn’t enough of a downer, check out this article that tells the story of a man who has been evicted after paying $30,000 for his rental home, because the home he is living in is being foreclosed on. The landlord, it seems, has not paid the mortgage since he moved in last August and though the renter has paid what was due regularly, he is soon to be homeless and without the security deposit of nearly $8,000 that he paid when he took possession of the property.
And to think, people ask me why I am obsessed with frugal living and teaching other people to live on less and be happy at the same time. The news is grim, folks, and it is up to each and every one of us to find joy in everyday life. Despite the people who are against what I stand for, I have found that joy. I live a reasonably comfortable and happy life even though the average price of gas is higher than ever and shows no signs of going down this year.
Why am I frugal? The real question you should ask yourself is why are you not.
May 26 2008
Just a quick note to my loyal readers that as of tomorrow the posts here will no longer be titled “Frugal Living Tip of the Day for…”. In an effort to make it easier for people to search and locate posts on various topics. Unfortunately I cannot edit old content, otherwise I would in order to get everything tagged) I will from now on be titling posts based on the actual content.
Novel idea, I know.
Thank you, drive through.
