Taking control of my life…
By Daniel at 9 November, 2009, 8:55 am
I was unemployed for six months after a layoff. I made soup from throwaway/expired food from friends’ and family member’s fridges. I ate the same meal every day for weeks on end. I spent nothing on nothing. I carried my coffee with me and “borrowed” the grinds from those old frozen bags left in freezers far too long. I told everyone I knew, DON’T THROW ANYTHING OUT, NOT EVEN BONES, I’LL TAKE IT! I spent nothing on food. I did odd jobs in exchange for excess garden vegetables, and ate meals around whatever was available. In the winter I wore blankets around the house that were fashioned into coats, like an eskimo. I left the heat off most of the time and just had an oil heater heat one room, and I surrounded that room with blankets I got for free to keep the heat in. I glued my shoes, darned my socks. My computer died so I learned how to fix it and rewired the damaged circuit boards with a $6 part from Radio Shack. My fuse box inside my toyota engine caught fire, so I rewired it with stuff I had laying around the house. I only drove when I absolutely HAD to drive.
I have now been employed for a month, and I just paid off all the credit card debt I incurred while unemployed. I had savings, but I spent a lot of that on tuition to reeducate away from the advertising field (still in school).
Believe me, there are places where people can cut. Just think of what you need to stay alive, and then only spend on that. It can be done. Honestly, once I got used to it, I didn’t mind one bit. I thought, “this is how humanity lived for thousands of years.”
Now that I have a job, I decided to continue to live the way I lived and still spend next to nothing on food. Most people buy 50% more than they eat. I got two roommates so I’d have income to pay the mortgage. They are nice people and I’m lucky to be personable enough that people would want to live with me.
Unfortunately, constricted spending will not bode well for businesses that depend upon consumer spending. I’ve felt based on my readings that many corporations will topple next year. The bailouts were designed to save the elite. Given the exposure to derivatives, all banks are insolvent if one calculates in the snowball effect due to the ones with excess exposure to derivatives. Unemployment will continue to rise, spending will constrict, credit will constrict, the dollar or market will collapse… depending upon what the Fed chooses to save.
Many corporations will go bust. This is a good thing. We need to return to our small business roots in this country.
- theredsea
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