It has been a long and difficult time today. My friend H who had a breakdown at the end of last year rang and asked me to meet her in town. She told me she is going bankrupt. The only money she has was a check from a non-profit and she wanted me to help me work out what to do with it. It turned out she could afford $20 on groceries for the week, so I went shopping with her. First I had to stop her diving into several clothes shops on the way; then she said she "needed" incense, but I was able to persuade her she should get food first.
H is not only irrational, but has an eating disorder. It was like shopping with a difficult toddler. I was trying to steer her to the fresh produce and the bulk bins of beans and grains, and she kept heading for the brightly packaged convenience foods. Every time she saw something she liked she wanted to put it in the basket, so I would demonstrate how much we had already spent on the calculator, and we had to decide what she should take out. When I tried to point out the store brands were cheaper, she replied, "I have expensive tastes." I remembered what a beautiful person she was and that she is now unwell, or I would have lost patience.
In the end we got
2 cans of gourmet coffee
bread
a HUGE block of cheese
bananas
canned tomato soup
pumpkin seeds (for the same price as a whole pumpkin)
dried figs
frozen oven fries
I could not live on that, but she was very happy with it. When we got to the exit she announced she was tired and wanted to take a taxi home. I was tired too, so let her have her own way.
As she was pulling out her cell phone, she suddenly stopped, looked at me and said, "If I catch the bus instead I'll save money, won't I?" She caught the bus, and as she was leaving told me that she was going to put the $10 she'd saved aside in case she needed it later.
I can remember what it was like when I was trying to get started taking control of my finances. There seemed so much advice it was all overwhelming. I had to get started by taking baby steps, and I hope that is what H is now starting to do as well.
Exhausted
February 2nd, 2007 at 08:13 am
February 2nd, 2007 at 12:53 pm 1170420833
February 2nd, 2007 at 01:37 pm 1170423458
You are a good friend indeed
February 2nd, 2007 at 05:03 pm 1170435839
I do work parttime. If I had a fulltime job I couldn't take the time to try to be precise so I consider this kind of planning as part of my work.
I heartedly endorse My Budget Planner to be found on mybudgetplanner.com for $19.00 as the best resource I have ever had in keeping me inline and happy. Maybe it is similar to Pearbudget. But MBP is fantastic.
February 2nd, 2007 at 11:13 pm 1170458025
February 3rd, 2007 at 04:03 pm 1170518631
February 8th, 2007 at 12:22 am 1170894150
Tomato soup with fresh basil added
Grilled Cheese( veggie for me)
Orange slices
______________________
Spagetti
homemade garlic bread
salad
________________________
Soupbeans ( haystacks)
Corn chips
Tomato & onion chopped
Andrew eats ranch dressing & cheese with his haystack)
Apples
_______________________________________________
"Alphabet soup"- you use tomato soup and cook alphabet pasta and add it in.
peanut butter sandwich
fruit cobbler( homemade- real simple to make.)
___________________________________________________
burritos made from leftover soupbeans and avocado, tomatoes, cheese( veggie for me)
rice
orange slices