Living in poverty rant

Why in the world do people on limited incomes not see how they waste money? When my family was dirt poor, we knew it, and we knew what we could not buy. Our poverty was our fault, due to my stepfather’s compulsive gambling. My mother did what she could to keep us going, including lying and bouncing checks.

And they spent money stupidly, but not with insane abandon like I read with other people.  My brother once spent $50 on sunglasses when his family was going without food. An acquaintance keeps renewing her disposable contact lenses while on subsistence-level income. She justifies it by wearing them more than she should before throwing them away. SHe talks in terms of $400 being a lot of money every month, yet spends $175 on eye exam and renewal. Why doesn’t she see that she could send that expense to ZERO by using glasses?

These things upseet me because I know that I would also make stupid decisions were I still in the same position, but I use the evergy from the anger to give me practice in making my choices. These rants are generally followed by an improvement in my behavior.

Although, the rant gives me a good opening for examining not my “prepare for poverty” behavior, but my current life. How much money would I have available for other things if I lived more conservatively? Since the baby steps are working so well for ND, why not money? Granted, we don’t have any money issues at all, but I suspect I’m not spending my money on things that give me lasting happiness. What could I change?

The first step is to get data, observe my spending habits, and start making changes. It might be too much to write down all my expenditures, so DH suggests just focus on a small positive change. That could be similarly effective to my South Beach veggie addition.

So what did I spend yesterday, and where might things have been better?

Breakfast: I probably am almost ready to eat about half of what I eat now, just to match real satisfaction

Lunch: spent less than average, but had an ice cream cone. Nope, that was necessary and appropriately sized. No waste there.

Movie: tickets were discounted, the popcorn was fantastic, and bottled water is not cheaper than soft drink. No waste, and plenty of enjoyment.

Dinner: ate by coincidence a very small doener, and it was a bargain. Again, a shared drink. The enjoyment was definitely worth the 8 Eur investment.

So that’s the guideline: was there much waste? and did I enjoy what I bought?

Some other ideas:

• make a list of desired DVDs and buy off it, limiting impulse buys
• sell off crap!
• Don’t use what I don’t want and get rid of it
• buy carefully and well on certain things
• maintain things I want to keep