...without somebody nothing ain't worth a dime. Classic country anyone? Well, this song kinda struck a chord with what has been on my mind since last night. Travis and I took the kids to the haunted house and then out for ice cream. Since the girls had their boyfriends around, everyone wanted to linger so the big guy and I decided to peruse Gander Mountain and Best Buy. We are not shoppers and last night we remembered why. With our limited, now reduced to one income household, we don't have two nickels to rub together after we pay the bills, and to be quite honest that paying the bills part is skating on thin ice at this point as well. We pipe dreamed about getting the kids each a laptop, looked at the Nikon D80 that I've been drooling over and price checked the PS3 that Kullen is chomping at the bit over and wondered how other people do it. Not that we don't understand that our income is much more limited that that of many of our peers, but still with such prices we wondered how people afforded to have so much - 2 or 3 game systems, laptops for every member of the family, surround sound, satellite radio, cable television. (Believe me, we are by no stretch of the imagination deprived.) Suddenly I had a revelation. Most of those people that have all these "things" are buying them on credit. The toys they play with aren't even owned outright. Frustratingly, we also realized that this culture of credit has driven up the prices to the point that cash paying customers such as ourselves are paying way more than we would have otherwise.
A very similar thing is happening not only in our nation, but in the world economy and I realize, it's all going down the crapper.
How's that for your daily ray of Susie Sunshine?!?
Seriously, without credit card debt, owning both of our vehicles outright and only our mortgage, utilities and medical expenses after insurance I realize that no matter how bad our 'credit' rating is, we are far better off than a lot of people. We'll likely at least die debt free. How many Americans can say that?
Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts
26 October 2008
18 July 2008
What's Up or Down
Last night we went to see The Dark Knight at midnight. The movie was good - but it was 2:42 minutes long. Wow. Even though we got there an hour ahead of showtime, the theater was packed - so we had to sit in the second row, staring straight up for almost 3 hours. Everybody had a neck ache by the end. So while it was good, we are going to go see it again at the dollar theater sometime this coming week. We didn't get home until 3:45! Needless to say we all slept in and have had a fairly lazy day. I think that is a necessary thing once in a while. I brushed my hair and teeth and put on clothes, worked a couple of hours, threw my bedsheets in the wash, but have felt little motivation to do much else. I even had Travis pick up pizza on his way home from work.
In other news, on the subject of alternative housing, I have been reading about cob houses. I know- the very first question is, what on earth is cob? Well it is literally a building material made of earth. It is a mixture of dirt, sand and water. Houses were commonly made of this material in England since the 1500s and are still superior structures today.
There is a lot to learn about this type of construction. Overall I like it because it is a lot more homey and cozy than a dome house. I bought a book today on Amazon called The Hand Sculpted House. Secondhand it wasn't too bad. I can't wait to get it and read and learn more. One other thing that is pretty feasible about it would be that we would also be able to put it partially underground. Travis really wants an underground house - feeling that economically it would be a tremendous benefit. I would have to have the main living area of the house accessible to sunlight and air, so we would make a compromise on this.
Part of me thinks that I am pipe dreaming here, and that we don't have what it takes to really take on something like this. The other part of me knows that paying off a mortgage for 28 more years at our ages in the ever increasing economy is not going to be do-able, and we need to come up with a more economic, sustainable, environmentally friendly way of living. It has made me consider things that I never would have thought of before, and get an excited flutter in my heart in the anticipation of it all.
Another tremendous thing we are considering would be the ability to put a small cottage next to us on the same property for Kendra to live in, now that she is older. This would give her privacy and independence and still have her close enough to us so our family can stay close and share our lives, at least until she leaves for Italy.
If anybody knows anything of these alternative types of housing, please share what you have learned. I'll be sharing more here as I learn. For now, I leave you with this video:
In other news, on the subject of alternative housing, I have been reading about cob houses. I know- the very first question is, what on earth is cob? Well it is literally a building material made of earth. It is a mixture of dirt, sand and water. Houses were commonly made of this material in England since the 1500s and are still superior structures today.
There is a lot to learn about this type of construction. Overall I like it because it is a lot more homey and cozy than a dome house. I bought a book today on Amazon called The Hand Sculpted House. Secondhand it wasn't too bad. I can't wait to get it and read and learn more. One other thing that is pretty feasible about it would be that we would also be able to put it partially underground. Travis really wants an underground house - feeling that economically it would be a tremendous benefit. I would have to have the main living area of the house accessible to sunlight and air, so we would make a compromise on this. Part of me thinks that I am pipe dreaming here, and that we don't have what it takes to really take on something like this. The other part of me knows that paying off a mortgage for 28 more years at our ages in the ever increasing economy is not going to be do-able, and we need to come up with a more economic, sustainable, environmentally friendly way of living. It has made me consider things that I never would have thought of before, and get an excited flutter in my heart in the anticipation of it all.
Another tremendous thing we are considering would be the ability to put a small cottage next to us on the same property for Kendra to live in, now that she is older. This would give her privacy and independence and still have her close enough to us so our family can stay close and share our lives, at least until she leaves for Italy.
If anybody knows anything of these alternative types of housing, please share what you have learned. I'll be sharing more here as I learn. For now, I leave you with this video:
25 April 2008
Food for Thought
My husband and I were talking today about the rising cost of living. It just seems to be getting more and more difficult to make ends meet. I was keenly aware of that fact today as I filled up my car for $63, and had to trade it later with Travis because I wanted him to drive it so he could try and determine why it is shaking. That left me with his truck which was on empty when we made the swap - so I filled it up, to the tune of $75. It is just overwhelming.
It is getting more and more expensive to buy groceries every week, causing me to have to be more and more creative with what I'm feeding my family which takes more time. Travis said he heard that economist are predicting a large jump on the price of food, oh goodie! The worst thing is that our income is unchanging. It seems the only thing that is static while everything else is fluctuating.
Then I got an email from my friend pointing me to this link. I have actually seen the book it references before called What the World Eats / Hungry Planet because it is by one of my favorite photojournalists, Peter Menzel who did two life-changing books called Material World and Women of the Material World. It helps me remember how blessed I am even when it seems difficult. It reminds me that people the world over are so joyful with so much less - and that maybe it is because they have so much less. I am going to choose to be thankful for this day, this bread, this moment, this smile, this conversation, this warm breeze. God is all over every one of these things. He may be doing the most wonderful thing in the midst of all that seems so discouraging. Sometimes I just need a good bonk on the head!
Thank you Father!
It is getting more and more expensive to buy groceries every week, causing me to have to be more and more creative with what I'm feeding my family which takes more time. Travis said he heard that economist are predicting a large jump on the price of food, oh goodie! The worst thing is that our income is unchanging. It seems the only thing that is static while everything else is fluctuating.
Then I got an email from my friend pointing me to this link. I have actually seen the book it references before called What the World Eats / Hungry Planet because it is by one of my favorite photojournalists, Peter Menzel who did two life-changing books called Material World and Women of the Material World. It helps me remember how blessed I am even when it seems difficult. It reminds me that people the world over are so joyful with so much less - and that maybe it is because they have so much less. I am going to choose to be thankful for this day, this bread, this moment, this smile, this conversation, this warm breeze. God is all over every one of these things. He may be doing the most wonderful thing in the midst of all that seems so discouraging. Sometimes I just need a good bonk on the head!
Thank you Father!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)