This morning I wasted three hours on the internet, looking for books to add to my reading list. I started out looking for old-fashioned cookbooks to help me with my Foodie Friday posts. I want recipes with very simple ingredients because our food budget is tight. Amazon's "people also bought this" feature led me to books on general housekeeping and family management. I added a few of these books to my list, but I came to the realization once again that the magical book I am looking for doesn't exist.
The issue is that our family life doesn't fit into any of the categories. Budget books are aimed at people who have gone wild with their spending, but we've cut out practically every luxury and some items people would consider necessities. Books for stay-at-home moms target mothers of infants and toddlers, so I'm assuming they think moms of tweens and teens have it all figured out. Gardening books are written for people who actually have money to invest in their gardens as a hobby, not for people like me who are trying to garden on the cheap.
Maybe I don't need a book. Maybe I need somebody to kick me in the butt and make me more enthusiastic about my day-to-day life. Perhaps if I look at life from a different angle, the future won't seem so bleak.
2 comments:
One of the many things that drives me insane about the coverage of this economic crunch is the fact that so many issues have been problems for regular people have existed for months, if not verging on years. The collapse of the market and investment banks has not affected my friends at all (for the most part)- it's people who are on budgets that don't have many corners to cut to begin with. When there is no fat to trim, what is left?
I don't know if they figure that people who are thrifty don't have money to spend on books...:P I feel insulted by the money saving ideas that I see on the news because they are so common sense (for the most part) or not even really money saving.
I know we've talked about this before, but it's almost getting to the point where everything is cheaper already-made than made yourself. With food being so expensive, trying to make a healthy meal with whole foods is cost-prohibitive. Ugh.
Sorry to go off. To make a long comment short, I completely agree.
Don't apologize; I'm too chicken to go off on a rant, so someone should! I agree with you on the economic crunch. None of the people in my social circle had money in investments, so that hasn't touched us. The unemployment rate is where we've been the hardest hit and that has been going on for quite a while. When I see the budget tips on TV now, I think to myself that the bigwigs are finally joining the rest of us :-).
I guess what I am looking for is some way to use my time (which I have plenty of since I'm unemployed) to improve the quality of our life with a minimal cash outlay. So far the only thing I've found is gardening. It isn't saving me grocery money because if I wouldn't buy tomatoes and basil if I didn't grow them. However, having tomatoes and basil to put on the cheese sandwiches makes me feel like we aren't so broke.
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