When the going gets tough....the tough buy one ply

Are you broke? Well join the club, I'm broke too or so I thought until I talked to someone broker than me. My best friend from high school. I visited her apartment and we sat in the dark. I was wondering why she didn't turn on the lights but then realized that she couldn't afford to. I noticed a few other signs of financial despair...one ply toilet tissue and generic soda. But my friend is getting by and dosen't seem to be as depressed or anxious as I would be if I couldn't afford charmin. Then I thought about other people I know who can afford a nice lifestyle but choose not to. They are frugal (cheap). One friend I know regularly orders extra bread at restaraunts and takes it home, he cheaps out on the tip too...reminding me that you don't tip on tax. Another friend brings his wife to company dinner meetings (she dosen't work there) so they both get a free dinner. I have been annoyed at cheapness for years but now I think they are smarter than me or at least have more money. If you can't beat em, join em. So I am learning several ways to survive the recession and become more frugal...these are a few things I will do to try to save money.
1. Eat ramen soup....it costs a quarter
2. Cut my own hair....I already do that
3. Stop giving my kids money...if they complain I'll make them feel guilty somehow
4. Start saving rubber bands until I have a big ball of them....I won't really do that but grandma did it and she lived through the depression.
5. Re-gift this Christmas.....I could send my relatives' fruit cake to the neighbors instead of baking cookies, they will never know...I hope.

Comments

Andy Egizi, Program Coordinator said…
When I started my job at UIS in 1999, was driving a rusted out old Oldsmobile with a muffle in the trunk (I stopped to pick it up off the road when if fell off.) At the time, I had been unemployed or underemployed for 10 months. My wife was the executive director of a non-profit with practically no money in the bank so they were struggling to make payroll each month (after cutting staff to her and a secretary.) She was working one night a week at a bowling alley bar and I remember her coming home with a bunch of quarters and a few crumpled up dollar bills she'd gotten in tips and we'd count them and get excited by what frivlous thing we could do with 10 or 15 bucks. This is a good memory for me, not only because it proves what a good wife I have for keeping us going, but because we were still happy when we were poor. It's amazing how much fun you can have with a handful of quarters when you didn't have them the day before.
October 23, 2008 at 9:11 AM
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