I was listening to NPR in the car with my husband the other day and there was an interview with a gentleman who has a new book out (I am totally forgetting the name of book and author, so if any of this sounds familiar, please someone let me know because I’d really like to read the book!). The book was, of course, about the “financial crisis” but also about how what we buy is being logged and recorded by various stores so that they can send us better more exclusive deals. Basically he was saying that every time I use my super saver card at Shaw’s, they have a record of what I buy.
The reason I was so interested was because he called me a barnacle. Yes, I’m a barnacle. Apparently, those of us who don’t get sucked into the special deals and then buy the other expensive stuff so that we will feel a part of the grocery store family, are barnacles. A drag on the store’s marketing machine perhaps?
I’m a barnacle because I have no store loyalty. I will shop where ever there is cheaper stuff. Including Wal-Mart – so let the horrible emails begin. I will shop at Wal-Mart simply because I believe I shouldn’t have to pay twice as much for canned soup just to show off my brand loyalty.
In essence, I am looking out for number one – which in this case is numbers one through eight – and I will shop where ever I can get the best deals without sacrificing nutrition and health.
So, I guess Shaw’s won’t be sending me a lot of coupons for fancy schmancy stuff – but that’s OK because I won’t buy it anyway!
This got me to thinking about the larger financial crisis. Everyday, my husband lets me know how much the Dow crashed during the day. He tells me about all the potentially scary scenarios out there. I think he finds it entertaining – in a watching a car crash on the Interstate kind of way.
But, as of yet, I’m waiting for the financial crisis to affect little old me. Except for higher gas prices – which I think is a good thing – and higher prices on some food items, the financial crisis has not affected me very much. Is it because I’m used to being relatively poor? And I mean that only in a “compared to the rest of middle class America” kind of way. I don’t believe we are poor at all. We don’t have a lot of money – or any investments (which, I guess, is a good thing) – but we have plenty of food, space to grow more food, a roof over our heads (which I don’t take for granted), wood in the shed for the winter and our health and wits!
I didn’t experience the boom of the early 90’s and I haven’t really, yet, experienced the crashes. Money is always tight for us, but we’ve chosen a life that doesn’t give us a lot of spare cash and we are very used to making do with very little.
We drive used cars; we heat with wood; we shop little; we buy clothes at thrift stores; and the list goes on. It makes me wonder if we are better equipped to deal with the “crisis,” because we never really had it all that good?
Of course, I would be very bummed if our clients were unable to pay us, but I think we could get by. We have other avenues of income – even if they aren’t currently our main sources.
Am I saying that the financial crisis won’t affect me? Certainly not, but as of yet, things are still pretty even-keeled here. I just intend to keep on going like we have – being frugal, trying to save, making do and doing without.
How is the financial crisis affecting you?
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