Skip to main content

Money


Money, the taboo topic.  

We're taught, by our parents and the culture we live in, to not talk about money.  Don't talk about how much you make.  Don't talk about how much you spend.  Don't talk about the ins and outs of credit cards.  Don't talk about how much financing really costs. And if you're in a financial mess, don't talk about that either.

So we're each alone in dealing with our finances.  Oh sure, you an ask your folks.  And get the lecture.  Or you can pay for a consultation with a financial advisor, and their sales pitch (usually).  But where can you just sit and talk about the basics? What if you just want to know you're not the only one who is bearing the consequences of a bad choice?  What if you just want to share ideas and hear other people's thoughts on what is working and not working?

I propose that it starts here.  My sustainable living passion isn't just about the planet, environment, and being frugal because it's the current trend, but because money is tight.  I mean really tight.  We took our daughter out of preschool because it's so tight.

I'm not making pillowcases just to give myself a creative outlet, but because there are debts to pay and every little bit helps.  Same with baking bread.  And making a clothes pin holder out of a milk jug rather than buying a holder from the store. And homemade cocoa mix.  And cooking from scratch. And the list goes on....

We shop at the thrift stores because good quality clothing with a lot of life still in them are they're at a fraction of the price of the clothes at the regular retail stores.

We did pay to take Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University course, and it's good.  It's informative and the other folks who attend are friendly and supportive.  But it wasn't a necessary expense.  I think we could have gotten the same info by reading his Total Money Makeover book checked out from the library.  Oh well, live and learn, right?

All doom and gloom, right?  Not really.  We enjoy our family time at the park, hiking the trails.  Our family splurge is a membership at the local Y.  We go and play in the pool or gym.  The local parks dept and the library both offer wonderful programs we participate in.  And eventually, when our debts are paid off, we'll attend the off-broadway shows and symphony concerts.  It all happens one step at a time.

We're all facing the same or similar challenges everyday.  And we don't have to do it alone.  Just reach out.  You never know who you might help just by sharing your own story.  Cheers!  oxoxo

Labels:

Comments

  1. Unknown15 October, 2014

    Great post!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown15 October, 2014

    I think that finances is possibly the most pervasive of the social taboos about talking about our lives. But it's also far from the only one.Our society has moved into a phase of public bragging and private pain on almost every front. Finances, personal relationships, faith.. we're only supposed to speak about our triumphs never our failures or uncertainties. I think it not only leaves us all feeling isolated and scared, but leads to an unintentional hypocrisy where we paste a layer of overconfidence and a big smile over everything. That in turn makes everyone around us feel even more uncertain and like a failure.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ann15 October, 2014

      That is a great observation, Theresa; and I couldn't agree more. I know I am more honest now with my blog posts than I've been on facebook, and I am working to align the two. It is important to connect with people through honesty, not hype.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

So Much Stuff

We live in a world of SO MUCH stuff. It's overwhelming just how much stuff there is in our world, at least in the US part of the world. Yesterday, I had a couple of hours to kill, and because my husband and I have decided we would prefer to furnish our home with antiques, I decided to take a walk through the local antiques mall. The antiques mall is in an old building downtown that used to be a JCPenney, so if you're familiar with the JCPenney stores of the 1970s and before, you'll know what I mean when I say it's big, really big, as in 3 floors of stalls of antiques. And the antiques range as far as they can from crochet-edged hankies to pyrex bowls to cast iron hand pumps to hoosier cupboards. Truly, if you're looking for a specific item, and you're willing to spend the time, you'll find it in this store. So much stuff.  Most of it just sits there, collecting dust. Like wall-hanging thread holder which I first spotted the first time I w
7 comments
Read more

Homeschooling and Field Trips

After reading Homeschool Adventures: Learning through Field Trips by Melissa Calaap, I knew field trips were going to be a regular part of our homeschool journey. Hands-on learning, experiences, talking with people on site.. that is where deep learning happens. And honestly, field trips were the best days of my own public school experience. Hello Ft Wayne Children's Zoo, Amish Acres, and Cotton Bowl Parade. My local homeschool community regularly organized park days, the occasional trip to the museum, IMAX movie, and other one-off meet-ups, but there wasn't a regular set pattern of field trips on the caliber of what I was looking for. So I had a decision to make. Did I sit and wait for others to create the opportunities I was looking for or did I do it myself? Now, coming from the public school background I came from, my first inclination was to wait for others to come up with the idea and organize it. I mean that's how it worked at the schools, right? In fact, the school a
Post a Comment
Read more

I'm in the pillowcase business!

Part of being a stay at home mom and making sustainable living choices is keeping expenses down, but the other part is to increase the income, too.  And working from home allows me to develop multiple small income avenues rather than just going after the one big avenue of income. With that in mind, I've been brainstorming, trying to come up with a project for the cold winter months.  I've kicked around various crochet ideas, but was truly inspired when I came across the idea of making custom pillowcases. Here are some photos of the one I whipped up this morning specifically so I could take photos to promote this new business venture. Isn't that a lovely pillowcase?  I can't wait to share with you all the pillowcases I have planned! Come spring, I'll add chickens, well eggs, as another avenue.  And of course the garden will go in which will reduce our food spending in a big way. What small avenues of income are you working on?
6 comments
Read more