According to the financial news we are all fucked. Times are tough all over but I’ve had a lifetime of being poor so I’m used to it. I suggest that everyone try what my family used to do when it came to finances:
We’d get together at the beginning of the month and my mother would lay out the family budget. Since the budget was always just a little less than we needed to get by we would all talk about ways we’d save money. Since I was ten or eleven years old my suggestions generally revolved around cutbacks that other people could make; the beer wasn’t buying itself and did my brother and sister NEED toothpaste and school lunches? I doubted it, just like my family doubted I needed a daily arcade games at the deli and chocolate milk habit. At the end of the family meeting we’d all agree to certain cutbacks but within three days there was beer in the fridge, we were all brushing our teeth and I was playing Robotron down at the deli. This is probably why we stayed poor.
On second thought, don’t do what my family did. Good luck everyone, sorry I can’t be of much help.
11 Comments
September 30, 2008 at 2:26 am
It’s getting tough — I have no ice, and I must cream.
September 30, 2008 at 2:56 am
I grew up really poor as well. And it’s weird because in financial times like these I don’t panic, and I don’t freak out like my friends do. The fear of “omg how will I surivive!” doesn’t race through mind like others that I know. I just sigh a lot and get depressed because I know I have to go back to “that life”. I know how to survive on nothing. It’s just so depressing that I have to do so. In a way I’m glad that I was raised with these survival skills. But I don’t get the satisfaction that others do of having “beat the odds”. It’s just like I never escaped it.
September 30, 2008 at 3:05 am
Phew, I thought you were going to say no more wine. I’ll give up fancy toilet paper before I give up wine.
September 30, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Why? What’s going on? What’s happening?
LOL. Just kidding. :P
Yeah, it’s a major bummer, and it’s gonna be felt all over the world, unfortunately, what with the EU and Asian markets opening to abysmal numbers right after the bailout plan was scrapped. *sigh*
Guess I’ll have to give up on toilet paper altogether. The bidet I use as a magazine rack will finally be put to good use.
(was that too much information? lol)
September 30, 2008 at 3:28 pm
It’s the effort that counts!
September 30, 2008 at 3:45 pm
I’m with the Slack, fancy toilet paper goes before my hobo wine and vodka habit. Sorry liver.
Cutting meat out of my diet made my grocery bill go down. And not working is surprisingly cheaper than working. I don’t drive and waste gas and I don’t go out to eat.
Hey I feel a blog coming on… thanks Will.
September 30, 2008 at 3:56 pm
I’m sure John McCain has some property we can set up a tent city on…if only he could remember where it was…
September 30, 2008 at 4:07 pm
I’m just….still poor. Not any more poor than I was a year ago. It’s one of the very few advantages of having no assets and not much to lose.
September 30, 2008 at 4:22 pm
@Miss Grace: We are right there with you. It’s a good time to be a fauxbo.
September 30, 2008 at 4:59 pm
My husband and I have discussed this at length. We tried to decide which dog we would eat first should the situation get dire enough.
Crazy Dog is a little wiry, and probably wouldn’t provide enough food for two adults for very long. Roxy, however, has some meat on her and is likely the better choice.
September 30, 2008 at 5:42 pm
[...] vodka and squirt (what? I don’t have a job, no need for me to be sober today!) and clicked on BetheBoy’s financial advice column for today. Not only did I understand completely how it feels to be in financial dire straights, but I also [...]