Several years ago we purchased an old Ford Ranger from a man that was selling his old truck after purchasing a new one. It was well used with a significant dent in the tailgate where a tree had fallen on it and it had other scuffs and dents (the tailgate still opens and closes shut).
We paid the man two thousand dollars for the truck and the best investment we ever made. We needed a truck with a good motor for moving items and it did not matter to us what it looked like.
Yesterday we left our house in Dothan to drive up to the lake to remove an old sofa hide-a-bed from Madge's house. Charles mother Madge passed away as so did others all close together. We have done very little to her house because I had some health issues, Charles was still working with some health issues of his own. We both had become depressed and anything extra was such an effort. We have been doing repairs to Madges house that take quite a bit of time to do and making trips back and forth as we can to bring boxes home to sort, clean and donate.
We were thankful again for our old truck as we traveled back up to the house. We left early morning and as we crossed through town we passed by many places of business and as we passed by the fast food places there were cars lined up around the drive throughs with people waiting for their breakfast items. I looked down at the small basket between my feet in the floorboard that held the food I packed for our day. I thought about my youth when there were no fast food places as we have today.
I felt hungry thinking about the breakfast food that people were buying because we had only eaten a small meal before we left the house because we wanted to get up there and back trying to avoid the heavy traffic hours.
It was very foggy and we could barely see the houses around the lake, this is an area there are no fast food places and more like it was in the past. I thought about the money that Charles and I have saved since we learned to feel hungry again.
Before we changed our life and turned it back around to head back to a life more like it was long ago we did stop at the fast food places and quite often. We were like the many people that did this and if we were out and we felt hungry we would drive in and get what we wanted. That was until we found ourselves in debt because that same unrestrained habit also included buying what we wanted without waiting to save the money for it.
We had to stop the bad habit and that included learning to feel hungry and waiting for homemade food to cook which meant learning to plan meals as I did long ago and how my mother and grandmother would do.
Fast food can also include our grocery stores filled with ready to eat items which adds quite a bit cost to the grocery bill.
I had a deep thought what if it was not there today? Wouldn't it be easier if we had never experienced the instant now that we have today?
The cotton is not as tall this year.
I remember the feel of being hungry and the smells of home cooking from when I was still in school. I wanted my children to experience this too and so my adult children will tell you that they have few memories of eating out or hardly ever experiencing fast food growing up.
Charles and our problem came later on in life when it was just the two of us and we were both working jobs outside the home. It started with Charles and I meeting for lunch at a diner and then we would often eat out in the evenings or pick up something on our way home from work. Many people were doing the same as all of the eating places were full. This was when we felt too comfortable with spending until we weren't anymore.
When we arrived at the lake house we had a plan for our task that we have been most dreading. The old heavy couch that we could barely budge. We had tried sliding it and we had pushed frontwards and backwards with little movement. For many months we have wondered how we were going to get this old monster out of the house.
Charles parents bought this cottage in the 1960s and the sofa has sat in the same spot since then. It was made with heavy iron, wood, heavy stuffing and upholstery cloth. I have been told many stories about how they got the sofa up the hill into the cottage. It was a memorable event.
This trip up we now had the right tools and the truck. Our plan was to use screwdrivers, pliers, blade cutters and a sledge hammer and we would take this old hide-a-bed apart piece by piece so we could carry it down the hill and to the truck and to the dump!
Which we did, and when we got home we did nothing else but go to bed with a happy feeling we conquered this battle.
My daughter found a lovely small pitcher and basin while thrifting and brought it to me when she came up for the visit. I am using it for morning wash up as a face bowl. It is very handy and feels a bit DejaVu or somehow like it is supposed to be.
Charles snapped a picture of Bernadette at the door and Elizabeth behind her after I walked out to the front yard without them. Charles is enjoying his retirement, our main issue is there is so much to do that we do not know where to start.
This brings me to another topic.
After we got home from destroying the sofa, I had a thought about this problem of not knowing where to start with so many things to do. And that is....
We are going to choose priority over want. This large heavy sofa was a source of delaying our floor repairs at the lake. We had to find a way to get this thing out and so we did and we feel so much better getting past this road block.
We are now making a list of priority items instead of want to do items. The facial boards at the front of our house are becoming stained and we need to wash this area before it gets worse and more difficult to clean. Our front porch is in need of painting. To do the painting we need to wood putty any holes or cracks. This is not just cosmetic, it can cause rotting of the wood. Last week we paid a man to replace a long board at the top of the house and getting that done has motivated us to do things that we can do now.
All of the silly little things (as some people would think) I do to save money is actually very needed so to have the money to pay for repairs that we cannot do ourselves. The letting ourselves feel hungry is part of that savings and the prioritizing the needed instead of want is also part of that savings. This is the only way we can stay out of debt.
Both of us being retired is very similar to my memories of starting out my adult life. We did not have credit cards to use then and we had to learn to make it to the end of the month no matter what. I think about how difficult that was so many years ago compared to all of the extra expenses of today and I am very concerned how the young adults as well as all in between can make it today without going into major debt.
I am happy that I have memories of living before the things we have today. I know that it still can be done and it is up to us to decide what to do without. This is why I do this blog so others can learn to live without debt. It takes work to not spend and the more we learn about how our ancestors lived the more empowered we can be.
This past week in the forum we had a discussion brought up about Debby B's Memory Jar. It is a wonderful idea of saving special memory items in a special jar that she has. I am going to use that idea as well as others and the photo above is Some cosmetic items that belonged to Madge. They were made long ago and speak of the era and how well even simple items were made. I have been saving these since she passed away just for a memory. I will now add these to my memory jar along with Charles Grandfathers spectacles and his wallet. Thank you Debby B for sharing about your jar.
In the forum we can talk about the little things or the big things that you do to help to save money. Or the projects you have learned to do yourself as did Stephanie in our forum (a few posts back) that learned to put in a new car battery and but first had to get to the store to be able to purchase the battery.
I did not say what I put in the food basket to take to the lake. I do not know if any of you remember my story of my elderly neighbor that told me how her mother would cook salmon patties before they took a road trip. I remember those road trips so well long ago when there was no place to get food so what we packed in our food basket is what we ate. I did not pack salmon patties yesterday to go up to the lake cottage but I did pack something sustainable to get us through the day. I also pack our pets food and water and something for us to eat each time we go.
What would you pack in your food basket for a road trip?
What would you pack for your day away from home while at work?
What about an emergency day away from home? Would you have something in the pantry that you could pack quickly should you need to leave quickly and have something to eat while you are away?
Without this kind of thinking we would have to spend money that otherwise be needed for repairs, bills or monthly groceries.
I am looking forward to seeing you in the forum. The forum is free, you can sign up to comment and the sign up is just to control spam and if you do not want to sign up you can still click on the forum to read without commenting. You will find the forum in the menu bar at the top of the main page.
Grandma Donna
