Great post. While I'm not sure that using Obama as the example is the best way to illustrate your point, I do *agree* with your point.
The average American is really, really spoiled. I have many regular customers who're telling me they've just had their hours cut back (or worse, been laid off), but they're still out there bar-hopping. Not the greatest use of one's diminishing funds (though my income appreciates their irresponsibility). My co-workers routinely tell me about how behind they are on rent and/or utilities (I work at a bar), but they tell me this as they show me new outfits.
I think the two biggest problems are:
1) Lack of ability to prioritise and budget
2) Credit cards
My boyfriend and I have a no credit card policy, we live well below our means (as full-time college students, our combined income is just under 20k/yr) and always have money saved for rainy days. This is really helpful, because during slower money months, I'm NOT worried about how my electric bill is getting paid. I'm not out there spending money, so if my income isn't high enough to cover things (hasn't happened yet, but it's come close recently), I've still got savings to fall back on. Because we don't have credit cards, going out and buying random stuff we don't need is not an option. If we want a big purchase, we have to plan and save for it. We also can't snowball our bills onto credit cards, which makes it even more difficult for the people who do this to get back on top of things, let alone ahead.
Definitely a difference. I've been poor, and actually it's easier because I had more time on my hands. Life was much more relaxing. Not that I want to go back to being poor, I just wish I could figure out how to get back some time.
I really agree with the stay healthy one - I am usually able to withstand catching anything going around by taking extra vitamin C and echinachea and other vitamins. But every so often I succumb to the latest thing going around, seems about once every 2-3 years. It happens so seldom that I forget to hit the natural antibiotics hard which I think would help to lessen the duration of the illness if I would remember! All very good tips in one place. Bookmarking at delicious for future reference. Thanks.
Clarification: You say those teachers were "living on" a dollar a day, but that number really only pertained to food, right? Utilities, etc, were not factored in? (The challenge still sounds unimaginably difficult, but I just wanted to make it clear that the dollar a day challenge applied only to food.)
I moved from the suburbs of Ohio (the only "city" near a lot of farm country) to LA-area. The things I've been exposed to out here are nothing like had I stayed in Ohio. The other day I mentioned to my boyfriend that when my current car died, I was thinking about getting a BMW. He stared at me in amazement and said, "you'd never had said that if you still lived in Ohio."
Before I moved to Cali, I never owned designer jeans, considered a designer purse, or really cared about appearances at all. Still no designer purse, but I do have the jeans. It's hard to maintain my midwestern values when I've become used to this kind of life. Moving back to Ohio will be a shock.
It takes a bit of rebellion to be content with what you have. Your bucking a constant stream of marketing telling you otherwise right down to who you are and your worth. Many people don't realize how involved marketing is even down to being in the news. Your also bucking the other people who are still fully invested in these marketing ideas of worth and constant dissatisfaction trying to apply that standard to you. It takes a concentrated effort to do and you have to see the marketing for what it is.
Good article. I find that it's easier to not want or expect fancy/expensive stuff because I don't watch TV and read consumer style magazines. Avoiding all those advertisements really helps unclutter my mind. I don't care about brands and styles any more. We live below our means, which are below average, and don't feel deprived. We are still 'spoiled' compared to those in developing countries.
Jan's comment says it well. If we're contented, then we don't feel the need to keep consuming more. Advertisers try to make us discontented with the status quo, so that we will buy what they tell us.
Being content with what you have is the key to not being broke or poor. Those are just descriptive terms. Contentment is Not something our money driven society espouses. Dissatisfaction seems the norm. Stop looking and listening to all the voices that say what you should want, need or have and be content. It is surely a better way.
The reason that bills end up with "pork" is because our state governments use the their power as leverage. Congressman John Doe from state A won't sign the bill unless they include money for a theme park in his home state etc. The point of the bailout in october was to take quick action, and unfortunately that meant allowing the pork.
I'm more angry that our state governments do this on a regular basis, since it essentially amounts to taxing us for things we don't even get the chance to vote on.
Thanks for your post. A dollar a day, something to consider.
Contentment goes a long way towards "recalibration" (good word choice in an earlier comment). Expectations and impatience kill clear thinking. That goes for individuals and governments. It is hard going "back". But then you realize the stuff you thought was so vital, really isn't worth the extra expense. Diminishing returns. A steak eaten out isn't twenty times better than a great burger with cooked onions made at home. Or lentil curry, or well made rice and beans.
I am emailing the billionaires to ask for advice. If I were eighteen years old I would love to hear all the advice they have to offer. But I am not eighteen I am a senior citizen trying to survive on eleven hundred and fifty dollars a month.I am not able to pay all my bills and every month I have to withdrawnal money from my savings account.
The reason I am not sleeping at night is because my
savings are almost depleted and I have no where to turn. My husband is disabled from a accident it had that cracked his back and his foot. So he is not able to work.
I am very ill with a illness called Fibromyalgia it is a disease that attacks all my muscles, tendons, and nerves though out my whole body. I am in pain 24/7. Also it seems with the sress of not being able to pay my bills and bill collectors calling all day and night my system is so weak I am in bed more so now a days.
I am on line every day and night trying to find some way of making a living doing whatever online and so far I have found nothing. I have even gone as far as going to some sites and begging for help. I am desperate because I had to cancel my health insurance and our 1993 van keeps breaking down and we do not have the money for the repairs. My daughter has help us with many of the repairs but she can no longer help us because she has her own family.
Should I get a flair up of my illness I will not be able to go to any hospital or doctor for help. If I do not find any help soon I am going to lose my home of twenty eight years. I just cannot believe that at age 63 I will be hopeless. I need a God send.
The first day of the liquidation (1/17) I went to a Circuit City store in Durham, NC at about 7pm. The entire store was 10% off and no higher. Liquidators do not allow you to try and bargain down the price, and it's out of the hands of the store employees. There were about 15 people, A.K.A.-poorly informed consumers, in line that seemed to think they were getting a great deal. 10%?!!? That is nothing! Especially since all sales from 1/17 onward are considered final, no if's/and's/but's. And, somehow I have a distinct feeling that the less-than-thrilling (i.e.- dissapointing) Black Friday deals were better.
Of course, if you do buy the warranty, which is pretty much never worth the investment, it will be covered by a third party company. My question would be though, will this 3rd part company still be around towards the end of that 3-year warranty? Considering big corporations seem to be dropping like flies all around us.
We are also left to wonder, how long does Best Buy have? They are said to have a higher amount of liquidity than Circuit City, but how much will be enough? Will the big box electronics stores face inevitable extinction? Or will the threat of a Best Buy monopoly loom? After all, Circuit City was the #2 store, behind only the #1 Best Buy.
As a final note, it is an incredibly sad time for the store's employees. Since, the first day of liquidations, most of the employees at the corporate office are to consider their termination and are therefore relieved of their duties immediately. Sure, a few employees will still be able to work while the liquidation is going on, but there is the inevitable end to such a sale with no re-stocking. The good thing? Since they are required to give the employees their 60-day notice of their termination, Circuit City has stated that the employees will continue to receive their pay and benefits until the end of 60-day period, whether or not they have been dismissed from work.
Mahalo (thank you) once again for a thought provoking post. We live simply so others can simply live. I think of that saying everytime we volunteer and/or donate money and goods. We have never bought into that "moving on up" philosophy, so we've never had to move on down. It's worked for us for over thirty years.
I had a friend crack his windshield by putting warm water on it, and where I live its is crazy to think that someone could just jump in their car/suv and take off without warming it up. Ice heavy on the windows and snow everywhere else, what do they do stick their heads out the window to see, even if you manage to scrape it off you still have windows that you cant see through. And why would you voluntarily put children or yourself in a car that is 29 below 0 when with a little planning and thought you can remove the ice, check that all defrosters are working, and warm the inside of the car? Last week when the sub degree temperatures hit where I live several people at my job had to call tow trucks because their cars would either not start or run, while others just left them broken in the parking lot. Wonder why?
It's ironic that a person who is for giving 700 billion dollars no questions asked to the banking industry, is lecturing ME on living beyond my means. The government is great for taking money from the taxpayers for their retirement years then spending it profligerately on anything they feel like(even though that money was meant to go for a particular purpose) and then hollering about how we all have to tighten our belts.
Luxuries? You must mean stuff like health care or affordable housing in your locality, or schooling? Nowadays thats what I hear people worrying about affording, not premium paid channels on TV.
The fact that Obama said that "we've been living beyond our means" is pretty incontrovertible, but also clear is the fact that he has not even the slightest motivation to actually stop living beyond 'our' means. How dare he chastise the consumer for spending on frivolities when he plans of burning billions if not trillions of our money on government pork.
He is right when he says it is going to get worse before it gets better, but he has not even an inkling of rational thought on why.
Great post. While I'm not sure that using Obama as the example is the best way to illustrate your point, I do *agree* with your point.
The average American is really, really spoiled. I have many regular customers who're telling me they've just had their hours cut back (or worse, been laid off), but they're still out there bar-hopping. Not the greatest use of one's diminishing funds (though my income appreciates their irresponsibility). My co-workers routinely tell me about how behind they are on rent and/or utilities (I work at a bar), but they tell me this as they show me new outfits.
I think the two biggest problems are:
1) Lack of ability to prioritise and budget
2) Credit cards
My boyfriend and I have a no credit card policy, we live well below our means (as full-time college students, our combined income is just under 20k/yr) and always have money saved for rainy days. This is really helpful, because during slower money months, I'm NOT worried about how my electric bill is getting paid. I'm not out there spending money, so if my income isn't high enough to cover things (hasn't happened yet, but it's come close recently), I've still got savings to fall back on. Because we don't have credit cards, going out and buying random stuff we don't need is not an option. If we want a big purchase, we have to plan and save for it. We also can't snowball our bills onto credit cards, which makes it even more difficult for the people who do this to get back on top of things, let alone ahead.
Definitely a difference. I've been poor, and actually it's easier because I had more time on my hands. Life was much more relaxing. Not that I want to go back to being poor, I just wish I could figure out how to get back some time.
I really agree with the stay healthy one - I am usually able to withstand catching anything going around by taking extra vitamin C and echinachea and other vitamins. But every so often I succumb to the latest thing going around, seems about once every 2-3 years. It happens so seldom that I forget to hit the natural antibiotics hard which I think would help to lessen the duration of the illness if I would remember! All very good tips in one place. Bookmarking at delicious for future reference. Thanks.
Clarification: You say those teachers were "living on" a dollar a day, but that number really only pertained to food, right? Utilities, etc, were not factored in? (The challenge still sounds unimaginably difficult, but I just wanted to make it clear that the dollar a day challenge applied only to food.)
"malt-liquor, a trip to faded land that costs less than $2"
Thanks for the tip.
> ... blogging about the impossible feet...
They sound rather inconvenient...
8-)
I moved from the suburbs of Ohio (the only "city" near a lot of farm country) to LA-area. The things I've been exposed to out here are nothing like had I stayed in Ohio. The other day I mentioned to my boyfriend that when my current car died, I was thinking about getting a BMW. He stared at me in amazement and said, "you'd never had said that if you still lived in Ohio."
Before I moved to Cali, I never owned designer jeans, considered a designer purse, or really cared about appearances at all. Still no designer purse, but I do have the jeans. It's hard to maintain my midwestern values when I've become used to this kind of life. Moving back to Ohio will be a shock.
feet?
It takes a bit of rebellion to be content with what you have. Your bucking a constant stream of marketing telling you otherwise right down to who you are and your worth. Many people don't realize how involved marketing is even down to being in the news. Your also bucking the other people who are still fully invested in these marketing ideas of worth and constant dissatisfaction trying to apply that standard to you. It takes a concentrated effort to do and you have to see the marketing for what it is.
Good article. I find that it's easier to not want or expect fancy/expensive stuff because I don't watch TV and read consumer style magazines. Avoiding all those advertisements really helps unclutter my mind. I don't care about brands and styles any more. We live below our means, which are below average, and don't feel deprived. We are still 'spoiled' compared to those in developing countries.
Jan's comment says it well. If we're contented, then we don't feel the need to keep consuming more. Advertisers try to make us discontented with the status quo, so that we will buy what they tell us.
Being content with what you have is the key to not being broke or poor. Those are just descriptive terms. Contentment is Not something our money driven society espouses. Dissatisfaction seems the norm. Stop looking and listening to all the voices that say what you should want, need or have and be content. It is surely a better way.
The reason that bills end up with "pork" is because our state governments use the their power as leverage. Congressman John Doe from state A won't sign the bill unless they include money for a theme park in his home state etc. The point of the bailout in october was to take quick action, and unfortunately that meant allowing the pork.
I'm more angry that our state governments do this on a regular basis, since it essentially amounts to taxing us for things we don't even get the chance to vote on.
Thanks for your post. A dollar a day, something to consider.
Contentment goes a long way towards "recalibration" (good word choice in an earlier comment). Expectations and impatience kill clear thinking. That goes for individuals and governments. It is hard going "back". But then you realize the stuff you thought was so vital, really isn't worth the extra expense. Diminishing returns. A steak eaten out isn't twenty times better than a great burger with cooked onions made at home. Or lentil curry, or well made rice and beans.
This is a great list! Thanks for covering so many angles of managing risk.
are you suggesting driving around with ice covering your windshields? Did you even read the topic?
I'll do this right away. Dream big, I love that especially considering that most people never dream big enough.
AJ Kumar
I like to think of myself as broke AND poor: I don't have money today and I don't expect to have money tomorrow.
I am emailing the billionaires to ask for advice. If I were eighteen years old I would love to hear all the advice they have to offer. But I am not eighteen I am a senior citizen trying to survive on eleven hundred and fifty dollars a month.I am not able to pay all my bills and every month I have to withdrawnal money from my savings account.
The reason I am not sleeping at night is because my
savings are almost depleted and I have no where to turn. My husband is disabled from a accident it had that cracked his back and his foot. So he is not able to work.
I am very ill with a illness called Fibromyalgia it is a disease that attacks all my muscles, tendons, and nerves though out my whole body. I am in pain 24/7. Also it seems with the sress of not being able to pay my bills and bill collectors calling all day and night my system is so weak I am in bed more so now a days.
I am on line every day and night trying to find some way of making a living doing whatever online and so far I have found nothing. I have even gone as far as going to some sites and begging for help. I am desperate because I had to cancel my health insurance and our 1993 van keeps breaking down and we do not have the money for the repairs. My daughter has help us with many of the repairs but she can no longer help us because she has her own family.
Should I get a flair up of my illness I will not be able to go to any hospital or doctor for help. If I do not find any help soon I am going to lose my home of twenty eight years. I just cannot believe that at age 63 I will be hopeless. I need a God send.
The first day of the liquidation (1/17) I went to a Circuit City store in Durham, NC at about 7pm. The entire store was 10% off and no higher. Liquidators do not allow you to try and bargain down the price, and it's out of the hands of the store employees. There were about 15 people, A.K.A.-poorly informed consumers, in line that seemed to think they were getting a great deal. 10%?!!? That is nothing! Especially since all sales from 1/17 onward are considered final, no if's/and's/but's. And, somehow I have a distinct feeling that the less-than-thrilling (i.e.- dissapointing) Black Friday deals were better.
Of course, if you do buy the warranty, which is pretty much never worth the investment, it will be covered by a third party company. My question would be though, will this 3rd part company still be around towards the end of that 3-year warranty? Considering big corporations seem to be dropping like flies all around us.
We are also left to wonder, how long does Best Buy have? They are said to have a higher amount of liquidity than Circuit City, but how much will be enough? Will the big box electronics stores face inevitable extinction? Or will the threat of a Best Buy monopoly loom? After all, Circuit City was the #2 store, behind only the #1 Best Buy.
As a final note, it is an incredibly sad time for the store's employees. Since, the first day of liquidations, most of the employees at the corporate office are to consider their termination and are therefore relieved of their duties immediately. Sure, a few employees will still be able to work while the liquidation is going on, but there is the inevitable end to such a sale with no re-stocking. The good thing? Since they are required to give the employees their 60-day notice of their termination, Circuit City has stated that the employees will continue to receive their pay and benefits until the end of 60-day period, whether or not they have been dismissed from work.
"I went from ashy to classy"....one of my favorite quotes from Notorious B.I.G.lol.
Mahalo (thank you) once again for a thought provoking post. We live simply so others can simply live. I think of that saying everytime we volunteer and/or donate money and goods. We have never bought into that "moving on up" philosophy, so we've never had to move on down. It's worked for us for over thirty years.
I had a friend crack his windshield by putting warm water on it, and where I live its is crazy to think that someone could just jump in their car/suv and take off without warming it up. Ice heavy on the windows and snow everywhere else, what do they do stick their heads out the window to see, even if you manage to scrape it off you still have windows that you cant see through. And why would you voluntarily put children or yourself in a car that is 29 below 0 when with a little planning and thought you can remove the ice, check that all defrosters are working, and warm the inside of the car? Last week when the sub degree temperatures hit where I live several people at my job had to call tow trucks because their cars would either not start or run, while others just left them broken in the parking lot. Wonder why?
It's ironic that a person who is for giving 700 billion dollars no questions asked to the banking industry, is lecturing ME on living beyond my means. The government is great for taking money from the taxpayers for their retirement years then spending it profligerately on anything they feel like(even though that money was meant to go for a particular purpose) and then hollering about how we all have to tighten our belts.
Luxuries? You must mean stuff like health care or affordable housing in your locality, or schooling? Nowadays thats what I hear people worrying about affording, not premium paid channels on TV.
"A few online reviews of the book have bashed the book as socialism but it didn’t come across that way to me at all"
A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet, and government influence over industry, any industry - including education, is still socialism.
The fact that Obama said that "we've been living beyond our means" is pretty incontrovertible, but also clear is the fact that he has not even the slightest motivation to actually stop living beyond 'our' means. How dare he chastise the consumer for spending on frivolities when he plans of burning billions if not trillions of our money on government pork.
He is right when he says it is going to get worse before it gets better, but he has not even an inkling of rational thought on why.