I'm 80 years old. I own one 1991 Fender Precision bass guitar, 5,000 books, two pairs of jeans, one very sharp kitchen knife, a Vitamix, one shotgun and three wonderful kids. And that's all I need.
You have me beat on the DVDs but i may have you beat in the books. Dont know for sure since ive not counted them. But my husband swears i never met a book i didn't like.
I found a great discussion somewhereonthewebthinga titled, "You Might be a Book Lover If"...
One of the submissions I remember is, if you've ever started to go through your books to look for possible culls and at midnight realize you must have started reading one.
Most of the books are my husband's. I just read his stuff. He keeps a spreadsheet of all of them that's how we know how many there are. He also puts the dollar value - he says if there's ever a fire or flood and he loses the books, he wants the dollar value to give to the insurance company. :D
When my father died and I went to clean out his apartment he had: three pairs of jeans, six shirts, assorted socks and boxers, two pairs of shoes. A table, two chairs, a radio, and a futon. That’s it. He never owned a “boob tube”. He was the epitome of minimalism and yet he lived a great life. Always laughing and smiling. Dad always said to never let your things own you and he certainly lived that advice. Happily I learned a lot from him and so even. Now, when folks are whining about affordability, my husband and I have no worries because we’ve always lived below our means. Lesson learned from Daddy. Also, living 200 miles from the nearest big city definitely helps curtail those impulse purchases. You realize you can actually live without all that crap.
Can we rewind fifty years and mention to my younger self that I could live without all this crap? Now I've hoarded up all these treasures and it pushes me into owning a large home just to hold all the crap.
You won’t know you can live without it all until you sell it and get out from under it. It was really scary at first and then it became freeing. I got excited about what else I could unload.
Ten years ago we sold our 3000sf house in the burbs and bought a small ranch in remote NE Arizona. 44 acres. We had to sell 90% of what we owned because we now live in a 1000sf, single-wide. Our friends thought we were crazy. We run all year on solar (no electric bill), have a private well (no water/sewer bill) with beautiful, clean water, and have built several out-buildings. Storage building, workshop, fitness cabin and quilting shed. We raise most of our own food. There’s really no reason to venture into town, which is 35 miles away, except to pick up feed for the animals. Life on “Lazy Dog Ranch” is exactly what we needed.
The quilting shed is essential! (or at least my wife would have said so)
Two years ago I bought a house in a small town in the middle of nowhere (South Dakota) and finally sold my house in the burbs a few months ago. I "upsized" while at the same time cutting the "value" of my home in half.
I tried to live like that and I went to Asia. After two years I had to come back for my 'stuff'. I'm less happy now. I wish I could be more like your father and I'd still be happy in Asia.
I use my big ole serrated bread knife to cut watermelon! I also own a non-electric onion chopper - got tired of the electric ones made with plastic breaking off tiny pieces that prevented it from working.
I have a LIST of subscriptions I need to cancel. A. List. And I get so busy I forget and continue paying for things I neither use nor need :/. And yeah…my kid complains she’s always broke and can’t lose weight …meanwhile she’s a DoorDash queen and won’t give up alcohol 🤦♀️. Giving up those two things alone would solve both problems. I suppose this is what happens when we stop teaching home economics in schools…argh!
Well done, Jenna! Laughed until the end. But I blame all of the above, and the media and education system most of all.
Did they stop teaching home economics in schools???? 🤦♂️
{laugh} My kid and her husband have very good jobs (my daughter makes more than I do now) and yet they are working on getting out of debt. Certainly they aren't broke, far better off than most people but still "struggling" financially (while paying someone else to clean their home).
Subscriptions are evil... I'm an advocate of having as few as possible (I'm currently on a break from Netflix).
My son is a junior in a Catholic high school (we're in PA). All students are required to take a one-semester "home education & personal finance" class Freshman year. They learned basic cooking skills, budgeting, and a few other things that escape my memory now. I just looked and starting next year, all high schools in PA are required to offer the personal finance option (apparently this class wasn't mandatory but his school requires it). So yes, there ARE still home ec classes, even if they're a much more scaled down version.
And PA has just required that schools go back to teaching cursive after 20 years of NOT teaching it. Our granddaughter who was never taught cursive will now have to learn because she is a grade school teacher. HA! None of our grandkids can even write their names. Not being able to write is a form of illiteracy in my opinion.
Thankfully my son learned cursive because we lived in NH when he was in elementary school. He sucks at it but he CAN sign his name. I don't think his high school enforces it. I'll have to ask him when he gets home. His handwriting in general is just awful. In my day, we would have been reprimanded for writing the way he does.
I love beautiful handwriting; it's rare these days. I'm glad your son can write; I'm embarrassed to say that our grandkids have to make an "X" on legal documents.
When I was in school (yes, way back when), I felt like the "Home Ec" classes were very minimal and weak. Now having been an adult, I feel like they really should spend a lot more time on such subjects! As much as I enjoyed Greek Mythology, it won't do you as much practical good as learning to cook or budget does!
I thought that cursive was again being taught in public schools in Minnefornia. Maybe it's just my 2 that attend a Spanish immersion school. I understand that cursive is coming back because so many historical documents are in cursive and they need to be able to read them.
@Heather- I'm a Sbux wh...lover but I DO NOT like the way they brew their coffee. I have a Keurig and use their pods at home. I DO like their espresso handcrafted drinks because they honestly have the best espresso around.
There needs to be a "none of the above" in the poll. It's the fault of the people falling for all of this
FOMO mentality. We have ONE streaming service -- if we can't watch something on that, then we don't really need to watch it (and it's NOT Netflix). We don't eat out much (maybe once a month?). Yes, I do make my bread from scratch. It's not hard and it's significantly better for us. I cook from scratch for the same reasons. No one HAS to have all the streaming, the $8 coffee, the weekly manicures, the latest iPhone - but they CHOOSE to have it and yes, that has repercussions. It WILL stretch your budget. I have zero sympathy for people who complain about the cost of living while creating videos on their $1000 phones, drinking an expensive coffee, while eating in an outdoor cafe. Sorry, not sorry.
Actually my grandparents "starter home" had an icebox with weekly ice deliveries and a single telephone where you spoke to an operator to make a call (which only the parents were permitted to do.) My grandmother did laundry in an open washing machine with agitator and hand wringer, and hung the clothes on the line to dry, even in the winter. And she raised seven kids and they never ate out. We are spoiled rotten.
My mother hung our clothes out to dry for YEARS. I'm sure if she still had access to one (she now lives in an apartment building), she would still do it. I can still smell that distinct "hung out to dry" smell that was always on our clothes. No dryer sheet can reinvent that smell.
@John- same, especially in the summer when the Ac is running up our NY electric bill. Oh, the smell of freshly air-dried laundry..........I hope Heaven smells like that.
@John- we had the AC put in last year. We're in NY and have baseboard hot water heat. Unfortunately, the summers here are very hot and the humidity is so high you can cut it with a knife. When we were younger we could tolerate it. Not anymore.
This brings up another interesting point. Fear culture. My mom also raised 7 kids, we only ate out once in a blue moon ($.50 tacos at old Taco Bell on road trips! but even then 90% of our food was packed in a cooler in our van), and my mom also line dried all our laundry most of the year, if it wouldn’t freeze on the line.
But a few years ago when I got a rotary line dryer, I recommended it to my mom for space saving efficiency and she said she doesn’t hang her laundry outside ever any more. She’s concerned about ticks carrying Lyme and Alpha-gal getting on her laundry 😳
I was a bit floored.
I mean, those things concern me too but I am guessing hanging laundry in an open yard isn’t the highest risk factor…
But there it was.
Now we worry about bugs that will make us deathly allergic to meat so we only dry out laundry inside 🤷♀️
(I’d dry mine outside again but my rotary line dryer broke and when I went back to buy a new one it was over double the price! I couldn’t afford that along with my lavender cinnamon dusted lattes so 🤷♀️😂)
There is simple unavoidable truth folks. It not how much you make. It’s how much you spend of what you make that matters. I spent 40+ years loaning money to people from every aspect of lending. The folks who personally figured out the Dave Ramsey method of personal finances are very few in number but they are the ultimate winners. We all have control over who we write checks too. 2+2 is always equal to 4 even for the Supreme Court justices Jackson. If you have 4 coming in and you have 10 going out your going downhill yes JP Morgan Chase will gladly loan you the difference on a credit card at 18% + interest where they already sucked 2-3% from the merchant which covered the cost of their borrowing the funds from some pension fund to give it to you Stop being stupid take control and you too can live a life like no one else.
Was buying cat food the other day. It was $48 even and I gave her a hundred. I almost helped her count it back to me, it was so easy, zero coins involved, but I figured why bother. Kids these days think you’re picking on them if you tell them anything.
I was driving across Oklahoma one time and paid for gas with cash (a rarity) and with a $100 bill (an extreme rarity, both for me and apparently the attendant). He counted the change back to me "...seventy ...eighty ...ninety ... a MILLION!" Made my day.
[I remember now, it was during the Democrats' First artificial gas shortage, under Cabbage Jimmy, when gas stations were only accepting their own credit cards, or cash, whence the C-note.]
Around where I live, you get 2 amounts to pay, one for cash which is less than the amount that you will pay for credit. Actually, my favorite place to eat out, where I can get 1/4 boasted white chicken, fries, coleslaw and dinner roll for Around $11, does not take credit cards. They have an ATM for those that are unprepared.
It’s extortion when I’m told to bring a box of diapers so I can possibly win a prize that I feel certain I don’t want or need. Which is in addition to bringing a gift that’s on the registry. Which is difficult to find one that doesn’t cost $200. Then I’m asked to address my own thank you note which 6 months later I still haven’t received.
The last baby shower I attended, over 80 people were in attendance (men were included).
I’d love to know where they stored all those boxes of diapers and the hundreds of onesies that will never be worn. Oh, and all the books we had to bring instead of a card (which is ok if they will actually read to their child). BTW - I included the book Vax/Unvax in with my gifts. Baby daddy laughed when the mommy to be held it up for everyone to see.
I’d feel better if they just put a bucket in the center of the room (that they had to rent) and we were just asked to fill it with as much money as possible.
I recently declined a shower invite, but sent a gift since it was my BIL’s step daughter and I had been at her wedding. I included Turtles All the Way Down in that gift. I’m sure you will find it shocking that there was no mention of it in the thank you note (which to my delight came a month after the shower). She’s a PA so I feel certain the book will never even be opened.
It’s probably in the recycle bin already. You know, the thing we put out for the trash man that we never had as kids cuz we didn’t get crap from amazon every other day.
And from Meddling Kid comes the solution to the current angst over affordability:
"Screw convention - if it feels a bit much, just say no."
Presented with "address your own thank-you envelope," I'd gather up my present and announce I was clearly in the wrong place and exit. If the giftee was offended, I would not be at all surprised. However, if the giftee otoh contacted me to apologize for offending me, that WOULD be a nice surprise, and I would hot-foot my gift right on over with some mumbled regrets over making a scene.
"Then I’m asked to address my own thank you note which 6 months later I still haven’t received."
This particular aspect makes me crazy. Fortunately, I don't get invited to many showers. A suggestion? Don't address the envelope, and if no thank you card arrives, cross off that group in terms of gift-giving. I've actually done that in response to missing wedding gift thank you cards.
And can we talk about "the kids" who think "phoning, on their cells" is "just as good" as taking time to write out (spell out) a note of gratitude?
I think I prefer NO thanks to CHEAP thanks because for the former, if you're a good person who wants to find one, the usps gives AMPLE excuse for "missing" mail, thanks to routine Losses in Space.
The whole men at showers things is new to me too. It's so bizarre. Both of my nieces recently had babies and yes, daddy was there (as were husbands of guests). My husband refused to go - he said showers are for women. :D I was fine with that - my daughter and I went and left our husbands home. We had a nice little weekend away (it was an 8 hour drive). But the diapers, books, etc. requests on top of gifts was just completely over the top for me. I told my daughter that when her time comes, she is NOT to plan her own shower and do NOT ask for extra stuff. She refused to even have a bridal shower - she hates the whole concept of having a party strictly for the sole purpose of getting gifts. She finds it incredibly uncomfortable and I'm really ok with that.
I’m on team Patty F’s husband. Not going to any baby showers, period. And not ever encouraging my wife to go to one 8 hours away, or more than 2 hours away for that matter. That’s what fedex is for.
Well it was my niece. For anyone else I wouldn't have gone. And I don't get to see family that often (because they're 8 hours away!) so we made it a weekend. This was my niece's second pregnancy but first one to make it full term so we were very excited for her.
Maybe those people having a party to receive gifts have that as their love language. My love language is acts of service and as an act of service I will skip your silly party.
For me, the best part is when you dropped your drawers and showed us your naughty kitchen bits. 🤣
Seriously though, my son has friends who are all broke. All they do is order doordash and go to restaurants. They buy anything they want with no regard for the future and then complain that the future is unaffordable because of their credit card debt.
My son has no debt. He has the Dave Ramsey “6 months of expenses” savings in the bank. He has a job and is planning for community college to do a degree that shouldn’t be affected by AI.
This is mostly a behavioral problem for younger folks. For older folks who didn’t grow up with a Starbucks on every corner and an iPhone surgically connected to their thumbs, who do their own cooking and cleaning, especially on fixed income, it can be a bit more real.
Our grandpa owned his house. No loan. He paid very little in property and income taxes and no health insurance. Gas and gas tax were very low.
Our efficiency has greatly increased. Things that used to take days to accomplish can now be done in minutes. We deserve to enjoy some of that efficiency. What we don't deserve is the leaches that have attached themselves to our money without anything in return.
We have health insurance that takes thousands of dollars a month for not being sick. If you are sick big time, they won't cover it.
We have property taxes that force us to pay yearly for something we bought with taxed money. over 60% of that money goes to schools which don't educate, they indoctrinate.
We have bankers that are taking close to 7% for home loans to over 30% for credit card loans.
We have a federal government that taxes us on our income and uses many times what they take from us to create a debt in our name. This is not for our benefit, but for killing other people who have done nothing against us. They use the funds to make our lives more difficult and less free (spying on us and censoring us).
We have gone from rebelling from Britain for a 1% tax to paying at least half of our income to the government. Even more when you count choices like credit card debt. We have a lot of things, true, but most people don't own those things, they got a loan for them and are buying those things with the money they don't have but will promise to pay for many times that in the future.
I set a price out limit, for example: Pizza-Once pizza with one toping broke $20 it became a luxury. Instead of Friday night pizza and wings it has become quarterly pizza and wings. Local burrito place went from $5 burrito in 2012 to $16 burrito today guess what? The burrito has become pizza. When a burger and beer became a $50 dinner for two that also became a luxury. Simple boundaries and choices and I've NEVER paid more than $2.00 for a cup of black coffee!! NEVER! I still do not go to establishments that wouldnt let me in during covid because was un-jabbed!! This formula works with anything!
If you order just a soft drink at a sit-down restaurant now, it’s $5, so I just order water and am waiting for them to start charging for that. I don’t drink alcohol, so can’t imagine what that must cost!
alcohol is the biggest scam right now. Average glass of house wine $11-$15; Bourbon (Makers Mark-$10 to $20 for a single), The bargain is a beer that you might get for $3-$6 for a pint. I've taken the same approach unless I really want a beer...LOL I push the envelope and ask for a lemon in the water...LOL LOL
I wanted to be snarky and answer Starbucks or Trump. I’m actually mad at Apple right now, so maybe I should’ve blamed them? Couldn’t decide so went with combo. Instead of “I’m British” maybe “idk, I’m spoiled”.
In my drawer, I have an avocado cover for when you only eat half an avocado and need to save the other half. Hahah. Right.
We are sooo immediate gratification culture. We cannot take any upfront pain for long term gains. If it’s not 2 day OR Less shipping I’m not ordering it! Does anyone remember, Pres. Trump did say his plan would hurt at the checkout before the golden age arrived. Reserving judgement while waiting it out.
I will always go to the store to get something BEFORE I look online for it. I save shipping (I can be in a shopping plaza with every big box store I need in less than 10 minutes). I just placed an order for a pair of jeans because Kohls didn't have any in my size in the store. Annoying. But normally I would just buy stuff in store rather than online.
I’ve basically given up on stores. I go for a purpose and they rarely have what I want. I have prime, so I’ve already paid shipping. Amazon is too crazy convenient and they have everything you can dream of! I’ll go, “I wish there was a widget for that what’sit” and sure enough someone’s invented it!
Now shopping as an experience; Sure I still do that. Then I buy what I find. Totally different animal.
I can't do clothes online. I need to try stuff on. Last summer I bought 2 pairs of shorts. Same brand, 2 different sizes. I tried them both on IN the store and one was tighter than the other so I had to go up a size (one was denim, one was khaki). Had I ordered online, I would have ended up having to return one of them. I do order online for stuff I can't find in stores, but I rarely order clothes that way (unless it's a situation like what I just experienced and the store is out of my size - then I don't have much of a choice!).
What do I stockpile needlessly? Books! Books, books, books and more books!
Excellent essay! Yes, many Americans are their own doom, but at the same time we can not deny the devaluation of the dollar! We love our toys, but we love how we could easily afford our toys in the past.
Our library system does a yearly yard sale. They have 10's of thousands of books for sale at $1, $2, and $3 each. It usually runs Thursday to Saturday and the inventory changes all the time since they can't possibly put all the books out at once. So my husband and I go several times over the sale, with our shopping bags, and stock up. We've gotten some great books there! My daughter lives about 2 counties over from us and her library system does the same thing. This year we're going to go to hers and she's going to come to ours. :)
Second hand stores! They have tons of bookshelves. Are they good quality? Not usually. But they serve their purpose. We line them up in our basement so who cares what they look like??
Ugh, I started collecting Bauer pottery in my 20s and it became the thing everybody gifted me. Now I have so much of it that it’s on every shelf in every room. I’ve tried to sell it on eBay, but nobody wants it for any price because the shipping is so expensive.
They say there's a difference between what we want and what we need.
I can tell you, attest to and give testimony of: there's a difference between what we want, what we need, and what we REALLY need.
My whole life has been that lesson.
And I'm ok with that.
Mind ya, sometimes it would be nice to splurge just because ya can.
Perhaps one day, I will get to feel how that feels.
Until such time, that one "sharp knife" does ALL the jobs and "uber eats" to me, is left overs I can just heat up.
One thing I majorly blame for the "I can't afford to live" groupies of assumed victimhood, is all of the unnecessary expenditures in the "I MUST keep up with the Jones's" attitudes.
Master control over that mindset and one soon realizes simplicity really is freeing. Plus, there's less to dust, clean, find spots for, and 'save' for.
And Jenna, I 100% concur on the pets.
They are a gate way to frivolous innocence, true loyalty, undying love and cuddly companionship - no matter their size.
Back in the day, I had a 16 hand high horse that followed me everywhere, (along with about 20 red rock (black) chickens, a doggo and some cats), who took my hat off to shake it in play mode, and sidled up to me for love.
Imagine a 5'4" hatless gal getting hugged by a small clydesdale sized "pet."😂😂
Today I have 2 17 year old cats, a Siamese who someone dropped off in a box on the front lawn cuz she was pregnant, and her baby, whom I endearingly call The Terrorist, cuz daaaaamn he's busy!!
Anyhoo, once folks discover that what they REALLY need is ALL they need, life becomes more about life rather than stuff.
I think it is a generational thing. I am a grandmother and we NEVER do DoorDash or UberEats but my kids will.
I remember in the olden days (1960s) as a kid we did not have air conditioning in our 3 bedroom, one bath house (5 people used that one bathroom😵💫). Finally when we did get a window air conditioning unit it was in the kitchen and we would all try to sleep in or near the kitchen. The hardships we endured😅.
I'm 80 years old. I own one 1991 Fender Precision bass guitar, 5,000 books, two pairs of jeans, one very sharp kitchen knife, a Vitamix, one shotgun and three wonderful kids. And that's all I need.
If you were 20 years younger, I’d propose 🤗.
I am young at heart, and everything still works! ;-)
Best way to live! Young at heart and fully functional!
{wink} {wink} I don't have the shotgun but I've got a PPK. {grin} 😇
You know I love you, too💗
I have too many to list. LOL
Stay safe from the thought police... don't list them!
You are correct. But most are in the bottom of a lake a boating accident. 😂
Well, at least the lake is well armed. {grin}
Same
.38 S&W here. Never jams. Always goes bang ... lol
{grin} Well, I figured it's best not to reveal the entire arsenal online or the thought police might get bad ideas!
Same
...and AI just made another little note in the John-Wright casefile.
scrub... scrub... scrub.... 'tis important to confuse AI with as much misinformation as possible. {grin}
I suppose now I should go out and buy a shotgun. 😇
No, John, it's enough that you not keep the one you never owned.
I'll bet AI is actually better than humans at sorting out and understanding triple and quadruple negatives.
You know I love you💗
Awww....shux... I love you too! Come visit me... www.GordonPhillips.me
Oh, fun website... will have to do a bit of reading and poking around.
@Nard- HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
3,000 books here. And about 300 dvd's. We're good.
You have me beat on the DVDs but i may have you beat in the books. Dont know for sure since ive not counted them. But my husband swears i never met a book i didn't like.
I found a great discussion somewhereonthewebthinga titled, "You Might be a Book Lover If"...
One of the submissions I remember is, if you've ever started to go through your books to look for possible culls and at midnight realize you must have started reading one.
Most of the books are my husband's. I just read his stuff. He keeps a spreadsheet of all of them that's how we know how many there are. He also puts the dollar value - he says if there's ever a fire or flood and he loses the books, he wants the dollar value to give to the insurance company. :D
That'd not s bad idea. Books are expensive. My garden books alone could bankrupt me if I had to replace them.
When my father died and I went to clean out his apartment he had: three pairs of jeans, six shirts, assorted socks and boxers, two pairs of shoes. A table, two chairs, a radio, and a futon. That’s it. He never owned a “boob tube”. He was the epitome of minimalism and yet he lived a great life. Always laughing and smiling. Dad always said to never let your things own you and he certainly lived that advice. Happily I learned a lot from him and so even. Now, when folks are whining about affordability, my husband and I have no worries because we’ve always lived below our means. Lesson learned from Daddy. Also, living 200 miles from the nearest big city definitely helps curtail those impulse purchases. You realize you can actually live without all that crap.
Can we rewind fifty years and mention to my younger self that I could live without all this crap? Now I've hoarded up all these treasures and it pushes me into owning a large home just to hold all the crap.
You won’t know you can live without it all until you sell it and get out from under it. It was really scary at first and then it became freeing. I got excited about what else I could unload.
Ten years ago we sold our 3000sf house in the burbs and bought a small ranch in remote NE Arizona. 44 acres. We had to sell 90% of what we owned because we now live in a 1000sf, single-wide. Our friends thought we were crazy. We run all year on solar (no electric bill), have a private well (no water/sewer bill) with beautiful, clean water, and have built several out-buildings. Storage building, workshop, fitness cabin and quilting shed. We raise most of our own food. There’s really no reason to venture into town, which is 35 miles away, except to pick up feed for the animals. Life on “Lazy Dog Ranch” is exactly what we needed.
The quilting shed is essential! (or at least my wife would have said so)
Two years ago I bought a house in a small town in the middle of nowhere (South Dakota) and finally sold my house in the burbs a few months ago. I "upsized" while at the same time cutting the "value" of my home in half.
I tried to live like that and I went to Asia. After two years I had to come back for my 'stuff'. I'm less happy now. I wish I could be more like your father and I'd still be happy in Asia.
I'd like to hear more about the 3 kids you own. I have two I'd like to sell.
I had my first child at age 53 (they wouldn't let me reproduce until then ;-)
Kids are now 20, 24 and 26 and I'm 80.
We all live together and they take turns raising me!
Dang kids... they think they are so smart. I'd like to see them make it to our age!
EXACTLY! That would make us, let me see... how old then, John?
You remember that big rainstorm? And a big boat? Some guy named Noah that kept insisting on "only two"?
Or am I "dating" myself.
Oh, I'd always heard about the narcissist who dated himself.
Oooo... what's the market like for used kids? Perhaps that's how I'll fund my retirement?
What did the Three Stooges say? A buck three-eighty?
Love this.
I am proposing to you!🥰🫡
I accept! When's the date? You *are* female, right? Gosh, I'll need a tux...
No tux required!
Only 5,000 books?
Yeah, I sold some on eBay...lol
😲 Blastphemy! Selling books! They anchor the house so it won't blow away in a tornado!
Yeah, I keep the biggest dictionaries and (gasp) encyclopedias in the basement as ballast!
Make sure your house is watertight too! "Climate Change" will raise the sea levels and turn the house into a boat!
Yeah, I hear that Barry Obongo and Big Mike sleep in scuba suits now that Martha's Vineyard is underwater!
I use my watermelon knife to cut pineapple. I’m just a rebel like that. 😎
Bad ass as always. 🙌🤬🍑😘
You had me at pineapple. 😍
I use my big ole serrated bread knife to cut watermelon! I also own a non-electric onion chopper - got tired of the electric ones made with plastic breaking off tiny pieces that prevented it from working.
I have a LIST of subscriptions I need to cancel. A. List. And I get so busy I forget and continue paying for things I neither use nor need :/. And yeah…my kid complains she’s always broke and can’t lose weight …meanwhile she’s a DoorDash queen and won’t give up alcohol 🤦♀️. Giving up those two things alone would solve both problems. I suppose this is what happens when we stop teaching home economics in schools…argh!
Well done, Jenna! Laughed until the end. But I blame all of the above, and the media and education system most of all.
Did they stop teaching home economics in schools???? 🤦♂️
{laugh} My kid and her husband have very good jobs (my daughter makes more than I do now) and yet they are working on getting out of debt. Certainly they aren't broke, far better off than most people but still "struggling" financially (while paying someone else to clean their home).
Subscriptions are evil... I'm an advocate of having as few as possible (I'm currently on a break from Netflix).
My son is a junior in a Catholic high school (we're in PA). All students are required to take a one-semester "home education & personal finance" class Freshman year. They learned basic cooking skills, budgeting, and a few other things that escape my memory now. I just looked and starting next year, all high schools in PA are required to offer the personal finance option (apparently this class wasn't mandatory but his school requires it). So yes, there ARE still home ec classes, even if they're a much more scaled down version.
And PA has just required that schools go back to teaching cursive after 20 years of NOT teaching it. Our granddaughter who was never taught cursive will now have to learn because she is a grade school teacher. HA! None of our grandkids can even write their names. Not being able to write is a form of illiteracy in my opinion.
Thankfully my son learned cursive because we lived in NH when he was in elementary school. He sucks at it but he CAN sign his name. I don't think his high school enforces it. I'll have to ask him when he gets home. His handwriting in general is just awful. In my day, we would have been reprimanded for writing the way he does.
I love beautiful handwriting; it's rare these days. I'm glad your son can write; I'm embarrassed to say that our grandkids have to make an "X" on legal documents.
When I was in school (yes, way back when), I felt like the "Home Ec" classes were very minimal and weak. Now having been an adult, I feel like they really should spend a lot more time on such subjects! As much as I enjoyed Greek Mythology, it won't do you as much practical good as learning to cook or budget does!
Thank goodness! Not in Colorado…
CURRENT COMPANY EXCEPTED OF COURSE. (John didn't mean it categorically, Jenna; he was speaking--how do you say it--for bombast's sake.)
I don’t know about the rest of the country, but they don’t teach it in Colorado. At least not in the public schools that I know of.
😢😢 That's really sad! I should check with my daughter to see if they will teach it to my grand daughters (in Minnesota).
I thought that cursive was again being taught in public schools in Minnefornia. Maybe it's just my 2 that attend a Spanish immersion school. I understand that cursive is coming back because so many historical documents are in cursive and they need to be able to read them.
Retired, everything paid off, house, cars.
I've never been to Starbucks.
Never used Doordash or Skip.
If we order in, I pick it up.
Oh, and I know how to cook.
I don't even know what Skip is. :D
"Skip the Dishes".
Maybe it's only in Canada??
Oooh maybe. I've never heard of that. But then again, I don't use things like Doordash so I wouldn't know their competitors either.
I've never heard of Skip either!
Shipt?
Same except I went to Starbucks once at an airport. Eww tastes like they burned it.
@Heather- I'm a Sbux wh...lover but I DO NOT like the way they brew their coffee. I have a Keurig and use their pods at home. I DO like their espresso handcrafted drinks because they honestly have the best espresso around.
If you live in BC Canada, do you really own the paid-off house though?
No, small town cottage country Ontario.
BC?
Gorgeous, been a dozen times.
I understand your lament though...
I truly don't know how you guys got to this point, what do I know?
YAY! Same in our house.
No Doordash, Skip or Starbucks where I live and I am so very okay with that.
Amen!!
Right there with you.
There needs to be a "none of the above" in the poll. It's the fault of the people falling for all of this
FOMO mentality. We have ONE streaming service -- if we can't watch something on that, then we don't really need to watch it (and it's NOT Netflix). We don't eat out much (maybe once a month?). Yes, I do make my bread from scratch. It's not hard and it's significantly better for us. I cook from scratch for the same reasons. No one HAS to have all the streaming, the $8 coffee, the weekly manicures, the latest iPhone - but they CHOOSE to have it and yes, that has repercussions. It WILL stretch your budget. I have zero sympathy for people who complain about the cost of living while creating videos on their $1000 phones, drinking an expensive coffee, while eating in an outdoor cafe. Sorry, not sorry.
Indeed. I agree. Stop blaming…it’s a skill to manage money and live accordingly.
I'm with you. Thankfully my kids (26, 24, and 22) live even tighter than we do.
But I was SHOCKED to learn people have manicures nearly weekly!
I just had my 2nd one ever...for the wedding of my 2nd child to get married.
Even then, I had to go with french tips...otherwise I'd be continually thinking "I could just do this myself!"
Actually my grandparents "starter home" had an icebox with weekly ice deliveries and a single telephone where you spoke to an operator to make a call (which only the parents were permitted to do.) My grandmother did laundry in an open washing machine with agitator and hand wringer, and hung the clothes on the line to dry, even in the winter. And she raised seven kids and they never ate out. We are spoiled rotten.
My mother hung our clothes out to dry for YEARS. I'm sure if she still had access to one (she now lives in an apartment building), she would still do it. I can still smell that distinct "hung out to dry" smell that was always on our clothes. No dryer sheet can reinvent that smell.
I still hang dry my clothes! No point wasting electricity to beat up and wear out my clothes!
@John- same, especially in the summer when the Ac is running up our NY electric bill. Oh, the smell of freshly air-dried laundry..........I hope Heaven smells like that.
Ceiling fans are wonderful. (cheaper than AC)
@John- we had the AC put in last year. We're in NY and have baseboard hot water heat. Unfortunately, the summers here are very hot and the humidity is so high you can cut it with a knife. When we were younger we could tolerate it. Not anymore.
Humidity is the real reason for AC! I use AC to dry out my house!
Yep. It’s called pollen. 👍🏻
Maybe the lack of pollen in our newly washed and clothesline dried clothing is why people have so many allergies anymore?
I'd rather have "pollen" than "artificial fragrances"!
I actually experienced all of that and I am 67 and it was in my home growing up. 6 kids and that is right we almost never ate out.
This brings up another interesting point. Fear culture. My mom also raised 7 kids, we only ate out once in a blue moon ($.50 tacos at old Taco Bell on road trips! but even then 90% of our food was packed in a cooler in our van), and my mom also line dried all our laundry most of the year, if it wouldn’t freeze on the line.
But a few years ago when I got a rotary line dryer, I recommended it to my mom for space saving efficiency and she said she doesn’t hang her laundry outside ever any more. She’s concerned about ticks carrying Lyme and Alpha-gal getting on her laundry 😳
I was a bit floored.
I mean, those things concern me too but I am guessing hanging laundry in an open yard isn’t the highest risk factor…
But there it was.
Now we worry about bugs that will make us deathly allergic to meat so we only dry out laundry inside 🤷♀️
(I’d dry mine outside again but my rotary line dryer broke and when I went back to buy a new one it was over double the price! I couldn’t afford that along with my lavender cinnamon dusted lattes so 🤷♀️😂)
There is simple unavoidable truth folks. It not how much you make. It’s how much you spend of what you make that matters. I spent 40+ years loaning money to people from every aspect of lending. The folks who personally figured out the Dave Ramsey method of personal finances are very few in number but they are the ultimate winners. We all have control over who we write checks too. 2+2 is always equal to 4 even for the Supreme Court justices Jackson. If you have 4 coming in and you have 10 going out your going downhill yes JP Morgan Chase will gladly loan you the difference on a credit card at 18% + interest where they already sucked 2-3% from the merchant which covered the cost of their borrowing the funds from some pension fund to give it to you Stop being stupid take control and you too can live a life like no one else.
That’s another expense, the merchant passes the 2-3% along to the consumer. They would be stupid not to. Let’s go back to cash.
Of course YOU will be the only one able to calculate if you get the correct change...
Was buying cat food the other day. It was $48 even and I gave her a hundred. I almost helped her count it back to me, it was so easy, zero coins involved, but I figured why bother. Kids these days think you’re picking on them if you tell them anything.
I was driving across Oklahoma one time and paid for gas with cash (a rarity) and with a $100 bill (an extreme rarity, both for me and apparently the attendant). He counted the change back to me "...seventy ...eighty ...ninety ... a MILLION!" Made my day.
[I remember now, it was during the Democrats' First artificial gas shortage, under Cabbage Jimmy, when gas stations were only accepting their own credit cards, or cash, whence the C-note.]
🤣
Around where I live, you get 2 amounts to pay, one for cash which is less than the amount that you will pay for credit. Actually, my favorite place to eat out, where I can get 1/4 boasted white chicken, fries, coleslaw and dinner roll for Around $11, does not take credit cards. They have an ATM for those that are unprepared.
Absolutely!
18% interest???? Try 25 - 30%!
Well I have to admit I actually don’t follow credit card rates closely. In the 45 years I have had one I have yet to pay any interest on one.
Can I talk about the scam of baby showers?
It’s extortion when I’m told to bring a box of diapers so I can possibly win a prize that I feel certain I don’t want or need. Which is in addition to bringing a gift that’s on the registry. Which is difficult to find one that doesn’t cost $200. Then I’m asked to address my own thank you note which 6 months later I still haven’t received.
The last baby shower I attended, over 80 people were in attendance (men were included).
I’d love to know where they stored all those boxes of diapers and the hundreds of onesies that will never be worn. Oh, and all the books we had to bring instead of a card (which is ok if they will actually read to their child). BTW - I included the book Vax/Unvax in with my gifts. Baby daddy laughed when the mommy to be held it up for everyone to see.
I’d feel better if they just put a bucket in the center of the room (that they had to rent) and we were just asked to fill it with as much money as possible.
1. Don’t go to a baby shower unless it’s a very close family or friend.
2. Don’t go to any baby shower that’s in a rental hall - homes only.
3. If the cheapest gift on the registry is too much, bring whatever you like because you had one and found it useful for your kids.
4. Screw convention - if it feels a bit much, just say no.
I usually get a nice sized basket and fill it with books. That's my gift. I rarely buy what's on a registry.
Lovely, Patti. 🥰
Meddling Kid - great list.
At my age, it’s so much easier to just say no.
I recently declined a shower invite, but sent a gift since it was my BIL’s step daughter and I had been at her wedding. I included Turtles All the Way Down in that gift. I’m sure you will find it shocking that there was no mention of it in the thank you note (which to my delight came a month after the shower). She’s a PA so I feel certain the book will never even be opened.
Brother IN LAW, STEP daughter, is a bridge too far for me. I probably wouldn’t have even gone to the wedding.
It was hubs’s brother so I went to keep the peace.
Otherwise, yeah, no.
Sometimes, Laura, people open books in their 40s and go "Dohhh!"
It’s probably in the recycle bin already. You know, the thing we put out for the trash man that we never had as kids cuz we didn’t get crap from amazon every other day.
And from Meddling Kid comes the solution to the current angst over affordability:
"Screw convention - if it feels a bit much, just say no."
Presented with "address your own thank-you envelope," I'd gather up my present and announce I was clearly in the wrong place and exit. If the giftee was offended, I would not be at all surprised. However, if the giftee otoh contacted me to apologize for offending me, that WOULD be a nice surprise, and I would hot-foot my gift right on over with some mumbled regrets over making a scene.
Your PR Manager check is in the mail. 👍🏻😘
"Then I’m asked to address my own thank you note which 6 months later I still haven’t received."
This particular aspect makes me crazy. Fortunately, I don't get invited to many showers. A suggestion? Don't address the envelope, and if no thank you card arrives, cross off that group in terms of gift-giving. I've actually done that in response to missing wedding gift thank you cards.
And can we talk about "the kids" who think "phoning, on their cells" is "just as good" as taking time to write out (spell out) a note of gratitude?
I think I prefer NO thanks to CHEAP thanks because for the former, if you're a good person who wants to find one, the usps gives AMPLE excuse for "missing" mail, thanks to routine Losses in Space.
Yep. “Phoning it in” would also be grounds for placement on my NFG (no further gifts) list.
Great advice Tim to which I have already committed to.
The whole men at showers things is new to me too. It's so bizarre. Both of my nieces recently had babies and yes, daddy was there (as were husbands of guests). My husband refused to go - he said showers are for women. :D I was fine with that - my daughter and I went and left our husbands home. We had a nice little weekend away (it was an 8 hour drive). But the diapers, books, etc. requests on top of gifts was just completely over the top for me. I told my daughter that when her time comes, she is NOT to plan her own shower and do NOT ask for extra stuff. She refused to even have a bridal shower - she hates the whole concept of having a party strictly for the sole purpose of getting gifts. She finds it incredibly uncomfortable and I'm really ok with that.
I’m on team Patty F’s husband. Not going to any baby showers, period. And not ever encouraging my wife to go to one 8 hours away, or more than 2 hours away for that matter. That’s what fedex is for.
Well it was my niece. For anyone else I wouldn't have gone. And I don't get to see family that often (because they're 8 hours away!) so we made it a weekend. This was my niece's second pregnancy but first one to make it full term so we were very excited for her.
Patti - God bless your daughter!
Maybe those people having a party to receive gifts have that as their love language. My love language is acts of service and as an act of service I will skip your silly party.
For me, the best part is when you dropped your drawers and showed us your naughty kitchen bits. 🤣
Seriously though, my son has friends who are all broke. All they do is order doordash and go to restaurants. They buy anything they want with no regard for the future and then complain that the future is unaffordable because of their credit card debt.
My son has no debt. He has the Dave Ramsey “6 months of expenses” savings in the bank. He has a job and is planning for community college to do a degree that shouldn’t be affected by AI.
This is mostly a behavioral problem for younger folks. For older folks who didn’t grow up with a Starbucks on every corner and an iPhone surgically connected to their thumbs, who do their own cooking and cleaning, especially on fixed income, it can be a bit more real.
;)
Our grandpa owned his house. No loan. He paid very little in property and income taxes and no health insurance. Gas and gas tax were very low.
Our efficiency has greatly increased. Things that used to take days to accomplish can now be done in minutes. We deserve to enjoy some of that efficiency. What we don't deserve is the leaches that have attached themselves to our money without anything in return.
We have health insurance that takes thousands of dollars a month for not being sick. If you are sick big time, they won't cover it.
We have property taxes that force us to pay yearly for something we bought with taxed money. over 60% of that money goes to schools which don't educate, they indoctrinate.
We have bankers that are taking close to 7% for home loans to over 30% for credit card loans.
We have a federal government that taxes us on our income and uses many times what they take from us to create a debt in our name. This is not for our benefit, but for killing other people who have done nothing against us. They use the funds to make our lives more difficult and less free (spying on us and censoring us).
We have gone from rebelling from Britain for a 1% tax to paying at least half of our income to the government. Even more when you count choices like credit card debt. We have a lot of things, true, but most people don't own those things, they got a loan for them and are buying those things with the money they don't have but will promise to pay for many times that in the future.
"We have bankers that are taking close to 7% for home loans to over 30% for credit card loans."
For money that they loaned into existence. Neat trick.
Amen brother.
Double Amen (inflation)!
And printing money so that everything becomes more expensive over time.
“Lifestyle Inflation” nailed it.
I set a price out limit, for example: Pizza-Once pizza with one toping broke $20 it became a luxury. Instead of Friday night pizza and wings it has become quarterly pizza and wings. Local burrito place went from $5 burrito in 2012 to $16 burrito today guess what? The burrito has become pizza. When a burger and beer became a $50 dinner for two that also became a luxury. Simple boundaries and choices and I've NEVER paid more than $2.00 for a cup of black coffee!! NEVER! I still do not go to establishments that wouldnt let me in during covid because was un-jabbed!! This formula works with anything!
If you order just a soft drink at a sit-down restaurant now, it’s $5, so I just order water and am waiting for them to start charging for that. I don’t drink alcohol, so can’t imagine what that must cost!
alcohol is the biggest scam right now. Average glass of house wine $11-$15; Bourbon (Makers Mark-$10 to $20 for a single), The bargain is a beer that you might get for $3-$6 for a pint. I've taken the same approach unless I really want a beer...LOL I push the envelope and ask for a lemon in the water...LOL LOL
I wanted to be snarky and answer Starbucks or Trump. I’m actually mad at Apple right now, so maybe I should’ve blamed them? Couldn’t decide so went with combo. Instead of “I’m British” maybe “idk, I’m spoiled”.
In my drawer, I have an avocado cover for when you only eat half an avocado and need to save the other half. Hahah. Right.
We are sooo immediate gratification culture. We cannot take any upfront pain for long term gains. If it’s not 2 day OR Less shipping I’m not ordering it! Does anyone remember, Pres. Trump did say his plan would hurt at the checkout before the golden age arrived. Reserving judgement while waiting it out.
Oooooh, "IDK I'm spoiled" would have been perfect. ;)
Add to the quiz/blame choices… credit cards and Amazon.
I have an avocado cover as well!😂😂
I will always go to the store to get something BEFORE I look online for it. I save shipping (I can be in a shopping plaza with every big box store I need in less than 10 minutes). I just placed an order for a pair of jeans because Kohls didn't have any in my size in the store. Annoying. But normally I would just buy stuff in store rather than online.
I’ve basically given up on stores. I go for a purpose and they rarely have what I want. I have prime, so I’ve already paid shipping. Amazon is too crazy convenient and they have everything you can dream of! I’ll go, “I wish there was a widget for that what’sit” and sure enough someone’s invented it!
Now shopping as an experience; Sure I still do that. Then I buy what I find. Totally different animal.
I won't waste money on Amazon Prime (most of the time). I'm patient, they eventually get orders delivered for free.
{smile} I also enjoy "shopping as an experience". It's nice to get out, walk around, see the world, but I don't buy much.
I can't do clothes online. I need to try stuff on. Last summer I bought 2 pairs of shorts. Same brand, 2 different sizes. I tried them both on IN the store and one was tighter than the other so I had to go up a size (one was denim, one was khaki). Had I ordered online, I would have ended up having to return one of them. I do order online for stuff I can't find in stores, but I rarely order clothes that way (unless it's a situation like what I just experienced and the store is out of my size - then I don't have much of a choice!).
Oooooh, I need an avocado cover! Amazon here I come, er type. 😉
🤣 seriously. Just eat the whole avocado! It’s good for you. 😂
True, but so filling! 😂 I never feel guilty eating guac, except for those damn chips!
What do I stockpile needlessly? Books! Books, books, books and more books!
Excellent essay! Yes, many Americans are their own doom, but at the same time we can not deny the devaluation of the dollar! We love our toys, but we love how we could easily afford our toys in the past.
Our library system does a yearly yard sale. They have 10's of thousands of books for sale at $1, $2, and $3 each. It usually runs Thursday to Saturday and the inventory changes all the time since they can't possibly put all the books out at once. So my husband and I go several times over the sale, with our shopping bags, and stock up. We've gotten some great books there! My daughter lives about 2 counties over from us and her library system does the same thing. This year we're going to go to hers and she's going to come to ours. :)
I love buying books! That’s an indulgence I have. And I have a collection of Roseville pottery that I started collecting when I was 22, 50 years ago!
I'll never give up buying books. But I think I might need to take up carpentry to learn to build more bookshelves. {grin}
Second hand stores! They have tons of bookshelves. Are they good quality? Not usually. But they serve their purpose. We line them up in our basement so who cares what they look like??
I've taken to storing some of my books sealed in plastic bins to keep them safe.
A book that costs a dollar typically weighs more than a dollar.
Dollars are worthless... they get spent rapidly. Books get treasured for years.
I guess I'd be a little happier to have seen "Books get REDD for years." but treasuring truly does lead to reading, my experience says.
Reading? Umm... I've heard the kids are flunking that these days. Isn't that why they invented "audio books"?
Ugh, I started collecting Bauer pottery in my 20s and it became the thing everybody gifted me. Now I have so much of it that it’s on every shelf in every room. I’ve tried to sell it on eBay, but nobody wants it for any price because the shipping is so expensive.
It's also worth noting that labor's share of GDP somehow doesn't include much of the gains from 1970 or so onward.
If you don't have (good) investments then you are falling behind. Simply "working for an income" will not keep pace!
They say there's a difference between what we want and what we need.
I can tell you, attest to and give testimony of: there's a difference between what we want, what we need, and what we REALLY need.
My whole life has been that lesson.
And I'm ok with that.
Mind ya, sometimes it would be nice to splurge just because ya can.
Perhaps one day, I will get to feel how that feels.
Until such time, that one "sharp knife" does ALL the jobs and "uber eats" to me, is left overs I can just heat up.
One thing I majorly blame for the "I can't afford to live" groupies of assumed victimhood, is all of the unnecessary expenditures in the "I MUST keep up with the Jones's" attitudes.
Master control over that mindset and one soon realizes simplicity really is freeing. Plus, there's less to dust, clean, find spots for, and 'save' for.
And Jenna, I 100% concur on the pets.
They are a gate way to frivolous innocence, true loyalty, undying love and cuddly companionship - no matter their size.
Back in the day, I had a 16 hand high horse that followed me everywhere, (along with about 20 red rock (black) chickens, a doggo and some cats), who took my hat off to shake it in play mode, and sidled up to me for love.
Imagine a 5'4" hatless gal getting hugged by a small clydesdale sized "pet."😂😂
Today I have 2 17 year old cats, a Siamese who someone dropped off in a box on the front lawn cuz she was pregnant, and her baby, whom I endearingly call The Terrorist, cuz daaaaamn he's busy!!
Anyhoo, once folks discover that what they REALLY need is ALL they need, life becomes more about life rather than stuff.
*Tips hat
Much Love
I think it is a generational thing. I am a grandmother and we NEVER do DoorDash or UberEats but my kids will.
I remember in the olden days (1960s) as a kid we did not have air conditioning in our 3 bedroom, one bath house (5 people used that one bathroom😵💫). Finally when we did get a window air conditioning unit it was in the kitchen and we would all try to sleep in or near the kitchen. The hardships we endured😅.