Comments on: Looking for a Bright Light in a Dark Economy

By: Foximus - Frugal Living Tips

Foximus - Frugal Living Tips — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:00:45 +0000

I like this article. I think a lot of the time things are made worse than they need to be by the media who over dramatizes everything.

There is always a positive side to every situation and the people who focus on that will have a much easier time even when things aren’t ideal.

By: Link Love - Home and Money Edition « Saving Money Ideas

Link Love - Home and Money Edition « Saving Money Ideas — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 02:42:26 +0000

[...] Being Frugal: Upside of Economic Crisis [...]

By: allhisblessings6

allhisblessings6 — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 02:23:10 +0000

I’m a sahm to 6 children and my husband has been unemployed for over a year now. Unfortunately it is so easy to get discouraged and depressed in today’s economy, but encouraging/uplifting articles such as this one does help to brighten things up. Thank you for this inspiration.

By: Munchies

Munchies — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 20:55:22 +0000

A good supply of basic unprocessed foods and seeds, enough poultry in the barn to carry me for three years, off grid power, water and heat, enough real money to pay my existing bills for about a decade…. AND three pieces of real estate, NO DEBT, NO LOANS, NO MORTGAGES! Me worried? naw.

Okay, life is a no ostrich zone, with head in the sand, hoping that things get better. We are only part way through this mess!

How about some preparation for plan B and/or plan C before everyone closes their eyes?

I follow http://www.market-ticker.org for unbiased news on all the economic issues before SFTF! Translation something hitting the fan.

By: DDFD at DivorcedDadFrugalDad.com

DDFD at DivorcedDadFrugalDad.com — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 06:05:12 +0000

Lynnae, you are right on with this post. Life is too short to look and listen to the negatives . . .

My wife and I appreciate what we have and look for quality in our lives– we look at and appreciate:

Food
Do we eat healthy, nutritious food at a reasonable price?
Do we enjoy a variety of foods?
Do we make memorable dining experiences the kids will remember when they are older?

Clothing
Do we have clean, fresh clothes that fit properly and don’t break the bank?
Are the clothes appropriate for work and play?

Shelter
Do we have a safe, warm/cool, reliable home?
Is it comfortable and nicely furnished with crossing over into excess and clutter?

Transportation
Do we have functioning, reliable vehicles that get decent mileage?
Are they appropriate to our needs (moving six people and excessive daily business travel)?

Education
Do our kids get a good education?
Do the kids learn outside of school with us?
Do we adults continue to learn and grow?

Our Relationships
With the kids?
With each other?

The glass is always half full . . . if you see it that way.

DDFD at DivorcedDadFrugalDad.com’s last blog post..Affluenza: What is It and Have You Been Inoculated?

By: Abigail

Abigail — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:23:01 +0000

Glad to see you’re keeping perspective. It can be hard to do when everything is doom and gloom.

My husband and I have been living on a combination of his unemployment benefits and my disability/part-time contract work. It’s kept things interesting. And they may get more so if he doesn’t get a benefit extension. (It’s still up in the air.)

On top of all that, our health conditions are acting up and he’s been diagnosed with a severe form of depression.

So, taking the advice of my therapist, I am focusing on just getting by and being kind to myself (and to my husband). As a Type A personality, it can be hard to remember. But when one of us starts bemoaning something that just seems beyond our capabilities, my current response is, “Well, then don’t do it now.” Dishes can wait a few hours, or another day or two. Non-perishable groceries in the car can definitely sit there for a couple hours while we rest up.

It’s a revolutionary idea, that we don’t have to do everything NOW NOW NOW. It’s also helping us better get into the mindset of waiting, because we’re dealing with so much bureaucracy and uncertainty.

Yes, our place could be a little cleaner. Our chore list could be a bit shorter. But we’re doing remarkably well at staying sane. And not taking our stress out on each other. (Though admittedly he’s better at this than I am. I’m working on it.) In the end, staying together, staying sane and trying to stay relatively happy are the end goals. Compared to that, what’s a sinkful of dirty dishes?

Abigail’s last blog post..Through the looking glass: A look at perceived frugality

By: marci357

marci357 — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 21:35:14 +0000

Gratitude not resentment. And look for the positive.
The other thing to remember is that Time changes all… in as little as 24 hours, things will look different – not necessarily better, but different. Focus on the CAN DO, not the Can’t.

By: SuperMom

SuperMom — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 19:33:42 +0000

I couldn't agree more. And I agree also with Kate above. They've been saying lately that this is worse than other recessions back however many years and I firmly believe that one of the reasons why it may be worse is back then we didn't have 24 hour news stations. You had the morning news, the evening news and the late news, usually half hour local and half hour national. They had to fill those minutes with the top news stories of the day... there wasn't time to analyze and re-analyze. There weren't hour long shows replayed throughout the day, with panels of "experts" rehashing details of every swing of the stock market. I am limiting my TV watching and my on-line news reading because if I took to heart all the dire predictions, which by the way, no two "experts" seem to agree on... I too would be tempted to hide out in some hole until things get better. SuperMom’s last blog post..SuperMom Tip of the Day – Using Coupons to Build Your Food Stockpile

By: Frugal Dad

Frugal Dad — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:57:41 +0000

I love the tone of this post. There is always a silver lining in there somewhere, no matter how dark things get.
Sometimes being laid off can actually be a good thing in that it forces good people out of bad jobs so they can find better jobs that they were equipped for. It doesn’t always turn out that way, but going in to a layoff with that attitude certainly helps.

By: jill

jill — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:21:43 +0000

We are also a one-income family, and a homeschooling one. My husband has been unemployed twice: three years ago for eight months, and currently since early December (Merry Christmas!!) Of course there was depression and anxiety for the first weeks. Of course I had thoughts of homeschool suicide (sending my kids to school, so that I could take a day job – anything). But I won’t do it, because I’m very stubborn – I hate admitting defeat – and because I truly believe that staying home is the best thing I can do for my children. Unemployment checks keep us afloat, and although we aren’t able to continue paying down our debt the way we want to, we aren’t going under. The last time we were “income challenged”, my husband rediscovered his woodworking skills, which unintentionally prepared him for this next bout of joblessness. In fact, he suddenly had time to finish many projects that had been causing him to feel neglectful of our home. The neighbors took note of his handyman skills, and this year when the layoff came, he had customers lining up. He now has a little business making custom wood storm windows for homes in our historic neighborhood. I noticed, too, that he had far less resentment of me – no more of those incendiary, hurtful “what do you do all day?” cracks, when he was very literally right in the middle of it. That right there was worth it for me! He remarked last night during an impromptu pot-luck dinner (yes, we still entertain! Shameless, I know) that “the stress of being unemployed is nothing” compared to the stress of his former job. And that wasn’t the cheap wine talking; the first time he lost his job, he shed years of pent-up frustration and regained the easy humor I fell in love with. In fact, after eight months of relaxed joblessness, without even looking for a job, he was offered a dream position at a family-friendly company just ten minutes from home. No more dreaded commute! Better pay! Generous benefits! And my brand new, ulcer-free husband became a breadwinner again, just like that. Now I don’t think we can expect those kinds of magical results this time (the stars just kind of aligned for that one) but I do know that we were better prepared for this layoff, and experienced far less anxiety. This time, we knew to grab the museum passes from the library and use our days together to do things the employed dads can’t do, before somebody offers him another pesky dream job!