Last Friday (9/4/09) the Associated Press headline read, “Recovery difficult as jobless rate hits 9.7 pct”. When you realize that people working part-time because they can’t find a full time job or people who have stopped trying to look for work aren’t even included in those figures, it’s clear that many of us are having a hard time stretching what there is of our finances. Even if you have been lucky enough to keep your job, chances of getting a raise this year are pretty slim. We all need to pay attention to where our money is going.
I think that is what shakes me the most about the bank bailouts and supposed health care reform. They all carry a hefty price tag and sooner or later, someone is going to have to account for it. If our paychecks are hardly covering expenses now, what makes us think we can budget for it later? Don’t worry, that is as far as I am going to comment on that stuff. We could fill the blog up with such rants and it wouldn’t help anyone. We need to figure out how to survive in today’s economy. If you haven’t ever had to count your pennies, that can be a real challenge.
A Word to the Wise
Many people go shopping to make themselves feel better. I personally know a woman who claims to have hit bottom financially and yet brings home new clothes every week. If you identify, you need to realize that what seems like comfort is really digging your financial hole deeper and creating more stress. If you can begin to enjoy finding a good deal or even something for nothing, shopping can still give you a boost but in a positive way.
My Experience
I’m taking another look at couponing. Until now, it hasn’t made much sense for me to spend time clipping coupons. Store brands near me are really good and often cheaper than the other brands with coupons. In addition to that, most of the coupons I saw were for stuff my family doesn’t use. I figured the companies were just trying to advertise new products we didn’t need so why bother. That all changed last week.
It turns out that my neighborhad a yard sale and cleared almost $1,000 on that stuff that we never use. She has learned how to clip a coupon, shop during double coupon days, be careful what she buys and often leave the store paying tax only for her purchases. Yeah, I’ve heard about people like her but never been able to duplicate it. She is promising to teach me her tricks and in turn, I’ll share them with my readers. It’s time we shopped smarter and made our dollars stretch.
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Tags: budget, coupons, shopping, stretching money
