Ayup - there are definitely times when I give thanks for being raised by a single mom working her way up out of The Projects having given me a strong sense of what I really don't need. When I got the calling to become a teacher, I was pretty amazed to have found a skillset that could actually provide a steady middle-class income, and after taking some time to learn the somewhat different rules of living with a steady income, I mostly used the increased security to try to help floundering friends get a leg up...but many of them had never really learned how to be poor properly, and so never stabilized long enough to make any upward progress. A lot of people with a lot more money than you and I commit suicide rather than adapt to hard times; to me, strength is needing less than other people do.
Some tips I might add to your list: (1) be open to the possibility of declaring bankruptcy - rich people do it all the time, they use it as a trick of the game, and they use it to weasel out of much bigger debts than working class people do. (2) Keep a list of Underutilized Resources, things you have in your life that you're really not putting to use; this not only facilitates thinking of creative alternatives to expensive stuff, it reduces stress and depression. (3) Avoid debt, especially high interest debt like credit cards - this is practically a no-brainer mathematically, because a lot of us wind up spending a lot of money still paying for things we "bought" years ago, couldn't afford then, can't afford now. (4) Try to avoid self-delusion and "should" games - the world is exactly the way the world is, and while trying to make it better is noble, living as if it were better already is stupid and expensive. Oh, and (5) try to stay healthy - sickness can be very expensive, and your body is always your biggest financial asset.
Of course, just as there are some conflicts between your "never volunteer" principle and your "be nice to everyone/barter with friends" guideline, these are all strategies for when we have a choice, and sometimes we have to choose between what's economically wise and other values. Nearly all of my financial troubles since I got my first teaching contract have been because I chose to help someone I cared about (or often just a stranger), and while many of them have taken advantage of me and then vanished, I consider that no cause for regrets. When you have more than enough, you have enough to share...and "enough" is usually much less than we tend to think it is.
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timeasmymeasure
maybe we should launch a poverty wiki?
Date: 2008-08-17 12:14 pm (UTC)Some tips I might add to your list: (1) be open to the possibility of declaring bankruptcy - rich people do it all the time, they use it as a trick of the game, and they use it to weasel out of much bigger debts than working class people do. (2) Keep a list of Underutilized Resources, things you have in your life that you're really not putting to use; this not only facilitates thinking of creative alternatives to expensive stuff, it reduces stress and depression. (3) Avoid debt, especially high interest debt like credit cards - this is practically a no-brainer mathematically, because a lot of us wind up spending a lot of money still paying for things we "bought" years ago, couldn't afford then, can't afford now. (4) Try to avoid self-delusion and "should" games - the world is exactly the way the world is, and while trying to make it better is noble, living as if it were better already is stupid and expensive. Oh, and (5) try to stay healthy - sickness can be very expensive, and your body is always your biggest financial asset.
Of course, just as there are some conflicts between your "never volunteer" principle and your "be nice to everyone/barter with friends" guideline, these are all strategies for when we have a choice, and sometimes we have to choose between what's economically wise and other values. Nearly all of my financial troubles since I got my first teaching contract have been because I chose to help someone I cared about (or often just a stranger), and while many of them have taken advantage of me and then vanished, I consider that no cause for regrets. When you have more than enough, you have enough to share...and "enough" is usually much less than we tend to think it is.