When the smoke clears after all of this, I sure hope one of the lessons will be - preparedness.
A little back story here, at one time in our married life, Al lost his job and I was pregnant with Justine, on doctor's orders for bed rest. We were down and out, for real. This experience, early on in our marriage, as tough as it was, created a lifestyle of preparedness. From times of naught to times of plenty, for over almost 32 years, we live prepared.
Now, preparedness requires sacrifice. If you don't have 3 month's expenses squirreled away in savings somewhere, I don't think you need to eat out all the time. Harsh, but real. Eating out, going out, new clothes, new car, whatever it is that is draining your earnings...stop. A little sacrifice for preparedness will save you from finding yourself behind in bills, empty shelves and no toilet paper.
Take this time, to make lists of what it is you found you couldn't live without. Also, take this time to make a list of things you could live without. I'm sure the later is greater than the first. Use that information, once back on your feet, to create a list, life and habit of preparedness.
Take this time to research "how to....(fill in the blank)" find ways that you can save by doing for yourself. Al has saved us tens of thousands of dollars by looking up on youtube "how to fix the brakes on, suspension to...whatever" and I have "how to make your own..." everyone of these lessons, builds upon each other to create your life of preparedness.
Now, I would be remiss not to mention that your spritual life should be one of preparedness as well. Without my faith in Him and His will in our life.....'I'd a quit' a long time ago!
Blessings from Ringle, Wisconsin.
what a great post, REALLY, i so enjoyed this. there are so many people in my life, people that i love and adore, who do not have one penny in savings. they almost always eat out, go on vacations every 3 months...date nights, new clothes, constantly updating their homes, putting in swimming pools, the list is endless.
ReplyDeleteboth of my boys are so cheap, both have pretty large savings accounts and i love their lifestyle. i have not given them one penny since they moved out, i am so proud of them!!
we also went through a very difficult finical time when we were much younger, i will never forget it. we never asked anyone for help and we came through it. our life is so different now, but i reflect on that time often and never take anything for granted!!!
Strange times indeed. I do miss not going to Church a podcast is not quite the same. So many good points. Stay safe.
ReplyDeleteSo glad we were prepared. Great post. Janice
ReplyDeleteI do agree. I think we have taken a lot of things for granted. We don't eat out a lot, or go to bars or clubs so I don't miss that. We do have a pretty good stock of food goods on hand just because in the past we were food poor some of the time so I did learn to buy when on sale (and we live in Michigan and the winters are yuck). I am going to save some more. I hear of what people are going to spend their 'extra' 1200 on - ours will be going in the savings account.
ReplyDeleteThe things I miss most are the cheaper things - being able to go out exploring, the walks to new places husband and I take, the camping trips we had planned (fingers crossed but not hopeful) and not seeing daughter, son and Mum.
I think this would be a good time to reevaluate what jobs are important. So much school is geared towards going on to further education and not so much life skills - basic fixes, from scratch cooking, reusing something to make something else, sewing.
I agree with Debbie - great post...and yes, so many today have their priorities all mixed up. I know people who took multiple (and as in more than 3....I'll just leave it at that) foreign vacations in less than a year's time, but then say they can't "afford" other more necessary things. Hard to bite one's tongue at certain times LOL. And I, like Debbie am also very proud of my son....He isn't "cheap" but frugal...I do think growing up with nothing does shape one's values considerably. And, yes...be prepared as no one know the hour of His coming.... ~Robin~
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