October 1, 2009

• Featured Grownups: Frugality during the Recession

  

  Featured Grownups is asking us for advice on GETTING THRIFTY.
  

  "How has the economic downturn affected you personally?  What changes have you made in your life to save money, pinch pennies, stretch your dollars?  What thrifty tips can you share (places to shop, coupons to use, places to eat, etc.)?"

  
  Disclaimer: I live in the state of California in the United States of America, a worldwide region known as "the breadbasket of the world." In some Asian, Latin American, and African countries, thousands of people go hungry every day. For them, the "great recession", as the current "economic crisis" is becoming known in the media, is something that's far distant from their daily lives, where poverty and malnutrition are the daily watchwords, and where dying from hunger is also a daily occurrence. This "great recession" is hurting a lot of people in the more affluent nations like the one in which I live, but pales in comparison to the actual state of "depression" occurring in the world at large. As we "pinch pennies' here in the states, and complain about our misfortune, and blame government, economic trends, and the stock market, we sometimes forget that there are places where the vast majority of people are strarving to death.

  I've always told people I've led a charmed life. This isn't exactly true of course, because I've had my share of bad luck and depression, have lost my parents and friends to the grim reaper, and have suffered ill health and broken bones. Throughout this life I've lived, and hopefully will keep on living for a while longer, I have tried to make light of the personal disasters which have befallen me, and I always search for the best things life has to offer.

  I make a good living wage. I have excellent healthcare benefits. I own my own home, and the payments are low. I always tend to find a way out of most emergencies, and I enjoy the fruits of my labors, eating well, and being entertained in the best possible way. I'm a single senior, and have never married. I don't have children, so I don't have the many expenses which are a result of raising them. Sure, I have to pay more for a "single" room in a hotel than a double rate, but at least I have been able to afford staying in hotel rooms when on vacation.

  I really don't consider that the "great recession" has made that much of a difference in my personal life. It has made a difference to the place in which I work, I surmise, because nobody in the company has gotten a raise this year, and we had to lay off two people and change one employee's status from full to part time. In a family owned company which now only has 18 people employed, I feel that part of my "charmed life" is having a job at all. I could lose it in a moment, because in the electrical industrial market, in which I work, our company thrives on orders, and lately, there haven't been as many as in the past. We have lost customers before, however. And we survived. A lot of what I see happening during this "great recession" I have seen happen before. There have been stock market crashes, followed by "adjustments", and there have been bubbles which get so big they finally burst, followed by more "adjustments." In the United States, the free market economy sometimes is stimulated, and sometimes is depressive. As my old economics professor used to say, with a flourish of his arms as he explained, roaming about the front of the classroom, "Up-swing......Down-swing."

  I admit that if I were raising a family, I'd be worse off than I am now. Who knows. I can only attest to my own situation as it stands. Although perhaps the "global recession" isnt' causing me to be more frugal in any way, I am finding that I have to be, because  I am surviving my own "personal recession".

  I got myself in trouble charging those hotel rooms I mentioned earlier to credit cards. I got myself into a $40,000.00 credit card debt in only a decade, one in which the market was a bull one, and the company for which I worked had lots of customers, lots of orders, owned two buildings, (one of which we had to sell) and employed over 40 people. 10 of them worked for me, as techincians building the control panels we sell. This "personal bubble" found me using (and abusing) credit, purchasing computers, big screen televisions, vacation stays, expensive meals, etc. etc. etc. I naively thought it would last forever, or at least longer than it did. When this bubble burst, and the credit cards began raising their rates, I found that I was living a lie in which the amount of money I spent each month was more than the amount of money I made. Most of my bills were for credit cards.

  Now I feel I'm a bit smarter than I was then, and while the "great recession" rages around me, at a time when I should be planning for retirement, I am living paycheck to paycheck, looking for more ways to "save money", or more succinctly, to just not spend any more than I have to.

  Here is what I've done in the past year to pinch my pennies.

  1. I stopped eating in restaurants. As a single senior, I felt I was always getting a good deal, and I never cooked nor ate at home. When I bought my mobile home earlier this year, I began to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I'm learning to cook, slowly but surely. Instead of taking over $100.00 a week out of my checking account to pay for meals, I'm taking only $60.00 or less out, and shopping at stores like Food 4 Less and Big Lots, which coincidentally are across the street from each other about four blocks from the mobile home park. I can now go a whole week without even reaching into my wallet.

  2. Because I don't drive around to restaurants, nor even go out much on weekends, I'm paying less for gas. (which is just over $3.00 a gallon in California) Granted, I don't get out as much as I used to, but until I can get myself in a "positive" economic situation, where I can save money enough to lower my debt, instead of just pay the interest on the loans, I will have to suffer this gladly. I'm getting better gas mileage too.

  3. I don't use electricity unless I have to. I wash large loads of clothes. I keep my refrigerator and freezer stocked. I use energy saver appliances. I'm watering the lawn only once a week. It's a bit brown, but I'm saving on utility bills. It's getting a bit cooler now, but thank the Lord I live in Southern California. I shouldn't even have to use the heat until December or January, and then I'll only use it when I absolutely have to.

  3. I love to watch movies. I pay a monthly fee for Netflix and DirecTV. I don't have any premium channels. I find that between the two services, there are plenty of entertainment choices, and my queues are always filled. I also cancelled some of my internet services, like a yearly fee to maintain a website I hardly update anymore. My main site is still online, and I negotiated a better deal, saving me $300.00 a year.

  4. Because I'm older, I'm not as fashion concsious as I once was. I buy most of my clothes via mail order, and buy shirts in bulk. I enjoy wearing western wear, so I shop at Sheplers, and purchase either "stripes" or "plaids". In this way, I save $5.00 per shirt, and only need to buy 10-12 shirts every two of three years. Underwear I usually get at KMart or Big Lots. Big Lots is a liquidator. The chain buys discontinued or overstock merchandise and sells it heavily discounted. I save lots of money there.

  5. I spend more time at home. I already have lots of movies on DVD and laserdisc. I have thousands of record albums and CDs. I have books I still haven't read. Why go out and spend money I don't have when I have so much I already bought?

  6. Thanks to the fact I live in a senior mobile home park, I can socialize with the people in the park. This summer, I met lots of new friends and neighbors, so there's always someone to talk to. My immediate neighbor is becoming a great friend to talk to. By socializing close to home, I don't need to drive anywhere, nor spend money in most instances.

  While I'm practicing as much frugality as I can, I know that everything comes and goes in cycles, and at some point in the future, I'll be much better off than I am now. My latest "five year plan" is that I'll be completely out of debt by that time.

  So I thank God and my lucky stars that I'm in good health, and have the smarts to be able to be thrifty. And that I don't live in that part of the world where people spend their lives just trying to get a bite to eat.

  Here's a fun (and thrifty, cause it's free) way to feed the world, and expand your vocabulary at the same time!
  

  • 9:41 pm
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