I'm amazed by the way some people think. Because it's so far out of "my box."
In a post at Loving Learning at Home (found through this week's Carnival of Homeschooling), Julieanne mentions something that happened when she was younger:
"I remember as a child, having guests come to visit. They were younger than me, and they were absolutely HORRIFIED that our family was going to go inside of the local, low-budget store and do some shopping. In fact, our dear guests stayed out in the car because they refused to be seen inside of this national chain store, even though their home was in another state!"My mind just goes "huh?" at that. Why does it matter where you shop? I just don't get that. My kids wouldn't either--they LOVE getting to spend less of their money on something and therefore having more left over for something else. The Apprentice, in particular, earns most of her own spending money and even pays for a lot of her own clothes--which is a good thing, because our Apprentice is a fashionable young lady, likes clothes, and enjoys shopping. Someday you should ask her what she paid for those pretty shoes she wore to the spring dance--but I'll give you a hint, it's less than some girls probably paid for a hair ornament for the same dance.
While I appreciate the thoughts expressed in the post, I have a hard time identifying with the idea that you could even have a struggle with most of the issues she raises. House-brand groceries? Using coupons? What's wrong with that, if you can find coupons for basic grocery items instead of just sugar splops?
Driving an older car? We drove '80's cars, cheap to buy and easy to maintain, until emissions testing here drove all the good older cars off the road.
"Alternatives to lengthy, expensive family vacations?" Um--I think the last "lengthy" one was our honeymoon. We've had a few overnighters since then, but no cruises or resorts, no, we haven't even been to Disney World. Does someone have a problem with that? How do you explain "powdered milk" to someone who has a problem just walking into a discount store?
But instead of getting impatient...I guess I just need to learn more tolerance.
4 comments:
Yep. Astonishing, isn't it?
One of the first things I did after the kids and I moved out here with Blair was ask him where the thrift shop was. The Salvation Army thrift shop staff now know us by face and names LOL ...I've had people blink at me when they asked where we got something and I told them it came from there - this is the sort of town where there are indeed a lot of people who would *never* even set foot in there.
We lived in Hawaii for a couple years. When we hear about people going to visit, we love to tell them about all our favorite spots, including the Goodwill where we got well over 2/3 of our aloha shirts. Some folks eagerly ask for directions. Others can barely conceal that they think I'm putting one over on them.
Mama Squirrel, I appreciate you linking to my post about living frugally, in a "box." I agree with you completely. Living frugally is so commonplace to me that I don't think anything about living the way that we do. However, I am surrounded by people I know who would be so astonished to even begin to start thinking "in a box" or thinking about giving up some things in order to save money for a rainy day, pay off debt, etc. It is so sad. And...I live in a very low-income county! I know it is a million times worse in large cities and some areas of the U.S. where if you don't "look good", you are nobody. Well, true friends aren't going to care how you "look". Your website looks interesting; I'll have to give it a looksee sometime in the near future!
Julieanne
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/iLoveHomeschooling
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