Not Much New Happening!

There has not been a whole lot to report on my end, sometimes one thing about being  frugal is that things can get downright pretty mundane!

We have simplified dinners to where each family member shops for their own food. They each get $50 to buy 2 weeks worth of  food at a time. They buy it,  they prepare it.... this goes on Monday through Friday which is a reason I have  not been posting any new  recipes lately....... I have  not been cooking! Saturday and Sunday I provide them with free meals either by cooking something simple or sometimes on a bad health day I cheat and order pizza or something like  that.

We did take the family out to the theatre not too long ago to watch World War Z, this is the second time this year we were able to enjoy this pleasure after not being in a theatre in  around 7 years so has been really nice.

We were also able to stop in at a cider mill with our daughter not too long ago after a chemo session. That was a new oh so wonderful activity for us! I bought some rhubarb jelly and yummy apple bread from their bakery!

Pretty much our days are filled with just hanging out at the house, going  to chemo, going to get blood work for chemo done and our bi-weekly grocery shopping. This is due to right  now ALL our extra money that comes in has been being used up in all the gas it takes  to get me  to my treatments.

Gas for our truck most months are equaling or coming very close to what our monthly RENT is! YIKES that  is a lot of gas BUT still pretty much staying on budget. It is making saving for our next propane fill up a little scary but I know it will work out. I don't have to start really worrying too much about that just yet so am hoping I can save my butt off in July for what we will need.

On another note it can be hard to think of what to write when each day is pretty much the same! We are living by the budget that is posted here  and using all extra income that comes in for Gas for the Truck. Even though I had envelopes I wanted  to fund, at the moment is not happening due to how much these hospital trips are costing us. BUT that  means I am still making all my needed trips and working in getting HEALTHY again! So  it is all good baby!

We just had my 45 birthday where last year the theme was 44 and still poor so this year was 45 Staying Alive!

Me and hubby have our 14 anniversary coming up this month!

And that is about all the news at my home!

Any plans for July? Share in the comments!

Hoping This House is Still for Sale in 2 months!

 

 

I have been looking pretty hard just to see things that are available when I came across this little beauty!  While this is nowhere near as large as the house I posted about the other day it is way more to our style and liking!

 

The yard is not all that big but well, you can't have everything at least it is pretty and a wooded setting, kind of hidden away on the very edge of a decent sized town.

 

Me and hubby fell in love with this place and it was listed in Novemeber so I am really hoping it is still there in 2 months at tax refund time.

 

I am not sharing the link because I do not want someone to snatch it up because you wanna know the price?

 

 

$4,900

 

Yup that is correct!

 

It is 1300 sq feet and the fireplace in it will help big time for heating it!

 

Now, just to keep everyone away from it for 2 months!........

 

Even if it needs some work ( from looks of photos, it certainly does) it would be worth it if the structure is sound!

 

What do you think, could you see my family in a place like this? :)

Does Time Keep You Poor?

Time, that funny little than that always seems to run far faster than you could ever run, always slightly out of reach, racing to a finish line you never seem to be able to catch up to.Time, that very thing you hear your whole life from financial bloggers to make your friend, to get time on your side, to get your money working hard for you rather than you working hard for your money. With time you can see the miracle of compounding interest, growing savings accounts, building businesses growing all at some far futuristic destination. Time, that useful little tool where anyone will tell you should not be wasted, it should be taken advantage of in your spare time in order to generate more income.

For the Poor this almost seems like some fictional story, some fantasy, some unrealistic concept that is always just out of reach. Time is not typically a friend to those in poverty, the poor working class, that we are always told needs to be used more efficiently. Why?

The main reason is that time really is not a friend to the poor working class because everything tends to consume so much MORE  time than the average persons time. It works against us, leaving us exhausted at the end of the day. Everything we tend to do winds up being time consuming, laborious work that can drain you right to your very wary bones.

When an average middle income or above person has a job, they get in their car and drive to work taking 15 minutes of their time. Many times when a poor person has a job, the car is not all that reliable and when it brakes down they have to bike to work taking an hour of their time. If they are not fortunate enough to have a bike, they are reduced to walking taking 2 hours of their time.

Everything takes longer, requiring large chunks of precious time and often requiring far more physical exertion than it really should. If you need clean clothes and can not afford a washer or a trip to the laundry mat, then one is reduced to spend a back breaking hour or two washing it all out in a bathtub, hand ringing it out, then hanging it up to dry to later take down and fold, all human powered.

If one wants to grow their own food and has no way to work the ground, then one must use a shovel to turn the soil taking three times or more the time it would to simply till the soil with a good tractor or rototiller. If one does not have the means to get a good hose, or sprinkler system, then it is a time consuming task of hand watering each and every plant and row.

Then there are the miles of biking or walking to collect enough returnable cans to try to get enough money for milk or bread or whatever for the next couple of days or other means to try to earn a couple bucks for the needs of a household.

Sometimes if there is no other means for bathing this means heating huge canning kettles of water to carry to the bath tub for bathing or washing clothes. As a child I even remember our well pipe going out once where for awhile we had to lug 5 gallon buckets of water 2 at a time back and forth all day from the neighbors barn (which was not all that close and an uphill return!) to keep enough water in the house for toilet flushing, drinking water, and enough for bathing , dish washing and laundry for a family of 5. This was TIME consuming and energy draining.

I could give many more examples but I am sure you get the point. The truth is, it can be hard to break out of this because so much time is required in order to simply survive.  Not only are huge chunks of time required but the whole ENERGY drain on your body, and mind can be tremendous, leaving you with none of either one at the end of the day in order to use for income generating ideas.

It can be a catch 22 where you know you would be better using time to make money and getting money working for you but so much time is given to working the job to pay the bills and all the time consuming projects of making do that it simply is not available by the end of the day when one falls exhausted into bed for a 4 to 6 hour coma, just to start a new day all over.

This for many, is a day in the life of the working poor.......

Family of 6 on a Grand a Month

Okay so I did sit down and try to figure out a new budget, perhaps not pretty and what I might consider a survival mode budget but here it goes.


Rent                $475
Car payment  $180  (temporarily-we only have 4 payments left and never again a car payment!)
Car Insur       $110   ( Why is Michigan so expensive when other states it is only $35????)
Gas for Car      $80    
phone              $50
electric            $25
Food               $80



And that is the budget we are looking at which will start in July, looks scary even on paper as to whether or not it is doable or if I am being overly optimistic again but it will have to do.

Now our car is really a truck, an old bronco with 200,000 miles on him and gets about 12 miles to the gallon soooooooo I highly doubt $80 for gas will last a month when we pay around $200 right now in gas for him a month. The food? yeah it is low but I will have to count on the garden........which the farmers behind us just put in all brand new irrigation systems and we were told to watch out for their irrigation systems running our wells dry...............hmmmmmm.

But I figure if i can stick to this ghastly budget for a few months....we will be rewarded in the end and again make it through a tight time. If things don't turn out to be so tight? Well then perhaps we can get started on that emergency cushion after all.

Another One Bites the Dust

It always seems we have a plateau that we can never cross, oh we have ups and downs as with any typical cycle like anyone else. The problem is the Ups have this plateau, a brick wall that every time we hit, something comes along to knock us down a few rungs on the ladder. SIGH life story happening here.

Things have been smoothing out, if you have followed this blog from the beginning, you would know how rough last summer was for us. Yet we found our true grit, persevered and made it through somehow, and never missed a meal....a blessing and miracle in itself for what we had to work with.

This year we have been doing so much better, and enjoying life once again....not merely in survival mode. Even with overspending in May, June has been seeing us get all caught up and things taken care of. We have increased income by $3,000 a year which has been in large the credit for us being able to enjoy simply luxuries such as ordering a pizza once in a while, or even going out to eat occasionally, putting my daughter into art workshops, getting fishing gear and licenses, camping, and even the things we needed to put a garden in and some chickens. I know right? $3,000 added to annual income makes a huge difference when your income is at a bottom tier for earnings!

Life has been good.

And then my son's father came this morning to pick him up for Fathers Day weekend and.........


notified me that he is being permanently laid off as his plant shuts down so yeah no child support will be coming.

And there goes the $3,000 annual increase to our income shoving us back to the bottom starting line again. SIGH yup life story! Every time we start breathing and start to make a little progress in getting ahead.......every time something comes along to knock my big ego out of the sky.

Now on a positive note, yes I know, everything happens for a reason, and in everything, good and bad lies hidden opportunities. And we do have the garden to fall back on thank my stars, already an improvement from last year!

So this weekend will have me pouring over finances, making adjustments, looking for opportunities and problems solving to come up with some realistic solutions. Realistic is not always my strong suit, I am an idealist by nature , an over achiever in many ways and tend to be overly optimistic in establishing budgets or setting goals......um yeah just look at my 2012 goals to get my point... a tad overly optimistic! LOL

Off to the drawing board and thinking shit out..................

Poor to Rich

Stress can be a drain on your mental energy, physical health and keep you locked into negative thoughts and thinking as well. When we constantly worry about having "enough" it tends to really distort our reality and can really blur illusion with reality. This all comes from our own personal perception and how we view the life we lead. When we learn to let go, when we learn to shift our conscious thoughts, when we learn to come to terms with our "actual needs" versus wants and luxury, we can leave behind the feelings of deprivation and change our views over to an abundant universe. While this shift is not always easy, one actually I use to struggle with long ago and now is my hubby's battle he must face, it is possible and the world becomes a better and easier one to live with.

Hubby is  at a place of contradictions right now that he battles, on one side of seeing how joyful we are and how really this world provides truly anything we could ever want or need. On the other side, he faces the feelings of jealousy and envy with those who live in big houses and drive fast sports cars and have all the shiny's and gadgets in between. On one side in a few years he wants to give up everything to travel the United States on Horseback, followed by giving up money and "living off the land" so to speak, giving up the doll drum of work, home, work, home. On the other side he states he is not living the life he wants, if it was up to him he would have the money to go to the casino once a week.

I pointed out these statements as highly contradicting, polar opposites, an internal battle he is facing. I also pointed out that years ago when we did make that kind of money , enough is never enough for him......give him a tiny line and he starts to real it out as far as it will go. The once a week casino trip becomes two, becomes three and so on. The whole time he becomes less and less happy as there is never enough money to fuel his desires, he wants to travel, he wants a motorcycle, blah blah blah. Then it must be further pointed out that if he did not spend ALL his extra money at the casino......he would then have enough to buy that house he wanted, or go to Hawaii, or, or, or.........He KNOWS all this but still the reality is hard to accept as truth. This comes from being raised as a high consumer and that shiny things purchase your "status." He is aware of this as well and is a cycle he truly wants to break, some habits are really hard to break though are they not?

We really have few basic NEEDS.. shelter, food, clothing, love and some kind of companionship. Well okay AIR and WATER too but you get the idea! Everything else really could be considered a luxury, not a must have or need, rather wants that fulfill desires.

Shelter and clothing only need to be simple too and shelter us from the natural elements....it does not have to be spacious, large, imported Italian tiles, or posh by any standards........a lean to could be said is a suitable shelter! This is why small spaces that we rent does not bother me, they are more than suitable! Clothing is the same, it does not have to be expensive or designer brand.....it has to be functional!

A poor person therefore tends to think  "I am deprived, I am lacking" meaning they feel jealousy over not having large flat high definition televisions, or go out to eat at posh expensive restaurants. They feel as if they never go anywhere or get to do anything fun.

A rich person however tends to think , "All our needs are met and more. We are blessed" Good homemade food in the belly, love in the house, shelter over their heads. Family board games on a Friday night, fishing at the local park on Saturday, root beer floats at home from cheap ice cream on Sunday.

A poor person tends to think," I am tired of juggling bills, life sucks!"

A rich person however thinks " It will all work out, what can I do to get these paid?"

A poor person may think " we never get to do anything or go anywhere ever "

A rich person thinks " Wow it's been awhile I really appreciate eating out today or visiting......(where ever) "

A poor person may think " It is embarrassing being poor, I an too embarrassed to have anyone over"

A rich person may however " We welcome any friend anytime, we always have plenty of floor space and will serve you what we have on hand graciously"

A poor person thinks " we never have enough! I can never buy what I want and we never have enough stuff!"

A rich person however thinks" We always have "enough" We lack for nothing and have no need to continue buying "stuff"

You get the idea I am sure, while I am not making fun of those who truly have need, I am stressing the point that for many, the feelings of being poor is more in their perspective of their situation.

If you have shelter, clothing, food.........the rest is a bonus, a luxury and in that case the poverty is truly only in the way you view it, but is not a reality. This is a line of thought that with a little effort, can be changed.

So I ask you, are you poor or rich? You decide............As for myself and my family we are extremely blessed and lead a rich life full of abundance and wonderful things :)

Dumpster Diving Drama

Well what an incredibly interesting day it turned out to be! First I have a whole LOT on my plate right now, I really need to clone several Me's to get it all done!Seriously!

So I start my morning with routine stuff, checking emails, researching , feeding chickens, fertilizing garden with compost tea, you know just typical all in a day's work stuff for an over achieving woman trying to better her families lot in life and change her stripes.

Hubby wants to go fishing, I say great, go and have fun I will be here doing my thang! This I say knowing my To  Do list is a mile long......( when I wrote a list of everything I need to spread my time over on a weekly basis it came to 73 items! And no there is no prioritizing really, they are all high priorities.) Perhaps a few can be delegated, not sure yet.........looking in to it, will get back to you.

But then he sits in his truck, he tinkers, he pouts, he is not leaving the driveway. He opens the door and comes up to me finishing my garden chores and with puppy dog eyes talks me into going after promising it will only take about an hour. I say fine I will dumpster dive around town while you fish  as we did not have money for worms and no time to dig them. I am an old fashioned country girl, I hate lures, never in my life caught anything with lures and ONLY fish with the old worm and hook. So I thought dumpster diving sounded fun.

So he drops me off at Kmart and again reassures me he will only be about an hour and I say fine, by that time I should have worked my way all the way up to Wallets. No problems love ya babe, see ya in an hour. Uh-Huh.......oh and if ya find a lot of scrap metal let me know! Uh Huh........hair prickling on my arms letting me know not to trust this man. Something did not feel right.

This was about 10:30 am, beautiful mild sunny day, my book bags in tow I head out for my fun of treasure hunting. I have about a 2 mile strip to walk behind several stores and right away I find a 15 to 20 pound good sized piece of metal. Too big for the book bag, I slide it in but can't zip it so I have to carry it in front of me instead of putting the straps on on back. Old injuries make this murder on my back and neck but no sweat, it really did not feel that heavy............at FIRST.

I go the whole 2 miles looking in all the dumpsters and did not find much of anything but about $1.50  in returnable cans which of course I collected. I also collected a power strip with the cord still on it...yeah insulated copper for the scrap yard! Now the large piece of metal WAS starting to get heavy and the sun was getting hotter.

I decide to walk the whole Walmart parking lot, because well you just never know what you may find! Well no luck their either but did notice they are selling nice sized dwarf plum and apple trees.......gonna get me some of those babies!

I sit, I wait, I forget it and start heading to the park on the river where I know hubby would be fishing........3 or 4 miles away.

On the way I see the bank clock say it is 12:30pm.....hmmmm no food yet today no wonder I am shaking........darn I REALLY should of brought that bottle of water from home! Another 2 miles to go too! Wow this metal really really gets heavy! Of course by now I am so cussing hubby out in my head of what a complete Ass he turned out to be today! ( even though I know how time stops when you are fishing.)

By now my neck has a crook in it, by back is killing me, my armpits sweating to beat the band......wow brilliant forgot to put deodorant on! The heat is really getting to me , I waited way to long to eat and am so shaky think I am just gonna die.Hmmmmmmmmmm I am at the bridge now with the Dam wow that water is rushing fast! Could I jump and just end it? (seriously my body was screaming in pain by now.....20 years ago I could of done this all day long.....even walked 30 miles one day when I was 16 but not now. This is one injured old dog here and I do have limits of what I can force my body to do now a days!

From the Dam I can smell fish, AND see our parked truck.......refueling my anger.

I walk up to him........well really kind of wobbled at this point as heat exhaustion was really setting in as it must of been reaching 1:30pm by now. He takes a look at my full bags and looks at me all innocent like and says...............

You go shopping baby?

I glare at him in disbelief......(didn't we talk about my dumpster diving? even joked about finding heavy metal? Also discussed how to come up with gas money as we have NO MONEY! What kind of stupid question is this?)

I glare harder and simply, quietly look him dead in the eyes and told him.."YOU are an ASS!" And throw my heavy bag down with an over emphasised thud so he knew how heavy it was...( anyone that knows us know we NEVER call each others names......well except hon and babe, or mama and papa...he actually knows I am perturbed with him when I use his first name as I never call him by his first name.)

Innocently he says "What?"

Oh how I can glare! "Your hour was up 2 hours ago!"

Well he looked then and eyed the metal and back up to me........OH  baby I am SO sorry! Uh huh

"You knew I had a lot to do today and I am now exhausted!"

Well he felt so bad he has been going all gun ho since we been home getting everything done I asked last week for him to get done! hahahaha

How was your incredible day of Drama?

It Does Not Matter Where You Are At...........

It Only Matters Where You Are Going.........

I have received several emails stating how much they appreciate my open honesty here on this blog. One of the reasons I started this blog as through our struggles at such a low income, it was not only us. Since 2008 I have read and heard so many others struggles, many being people who thought they would never see the day where such hardships took over their lives. Anxiety, tears, frustration, fear, not knowing what their future held for them, depression. This all came with the territory of economic collapse.

I started this blog with the intent of full  disclosure and honesty because I thought it may help others as this kind of struggle is not a stranger to me. Being honest to a very vulnerable level and knowing I may open myself up to a lot of criticisms of those who can not relate or fathom this kind of life did not concern me.

I felt the only way to help others was be disclosing our income levels, the sources of those incomes, how we spend it, credit scores, mistakes, splurges that perhaps should not of been splurged...... all of it....it could only help if open and honest about every aspect of our financials and style of living was out in the open for all to see.

Regardless of the economy, I wanted to show that no matter where you are at in this very moment is not what matters. The essence of this blog is where you are going that matters and if you have a goal to work towards there are no limits to where you can go.

I was told on a comment in another blog that my view that everyone has the same opportunities here in America was a ridiculous statement, that not everyone plays on the same playing field. That those who are raised in poor, high crime areas are not given the same opportunities as those raised in rich households that go to private schools and better educational opportunities.

They missed the point and I do not feel my view here is ridiculous, I refuse to let someone else tell me that because we are poor we do not have the opportunities to climb the ladder to one day be financially free or reach a level of success we strive for every breathing moment we are awake ( an in my case in my dreams as well as my mind is always working it out.....)

Perhaps as children not all have the same opportunities but that was not my point. I believe every ADULT American has the same opportunities in this freedom loving land of opportunity as every other ADULT American. We are where we are from the choices we make and we are all free to make choices, grow and learn. Opportunities come every day whether we recognise them or not, whether we act upon them or blow them off.......that is our freedom of choice. We all have the same opportunities to IMPROVE our circumstances and become successful, reach our dreams, set and accomplish our goals. Failure is NOT an option, something many immigrants coming over with nothing more than a dollar in their pocket are well aware of.

Our past does not define us today, nor does it tell us who we will be tomorrow, who we will be tomorrow is up to us. Our past is simply a reminder, a tool to learn from to grow from, to make better choices from. Once we realize we are free to make the choices that define our life..........we can go anywhere anyone else can and it is where we plan to go that is the essence of what really matters.

If someone may not have had an opportunity to get a good education.........libraries are free and within lies a free education to become a life long learner. As long as we continue to learn.....we continue to grow and our choices become more abundant. Our choices become wiser, once you realize learning can be free and that it is not necessarily only confined to 4 brick walls with a high cost.

I am well aware I have been called an Idealist, but I don't feel my views of opportunities for all is an idealist view. Rather I think it is a practical view that only a few may understand. Some may not know how to make different choices, they may of become so lost in the realities of their neighborhoods , they are not aware of anything but how life is in their general surroundings. Perhaps drugs have taken over their life and clouded their ability to make choices. Perhaps some just have blinders on to opportunity because change is hard for humans. It is easier to stay with what you know than to change and face the unknown.

Some may even ask, if I truly believe everyone has the same opportunities as we live in an abundant universe........then why are we so poor, why have we not succeeded yet. The answer? OUR CHOICES!

We have made many choices over the years that have led us to where we are today, not all of them good choices. Some choices were made to sacrifice monetary gain in lieu of building strong family bonds and keeping family value at the front. Homeschooling versus working, low paying wages rather than heart attacks..........

We are where we are from the choices we have made in our life journey. But where we are today is not what matters. We have a solid plan for where we are going and it is where we are going that matters. You can do it too!



I personally choose hope for I refuse to think where I am at today is where I will be at 30 or 40 years from now. THAT IS NOT AN OPTION!

WHERE WE ARE GOING IS WHAT MATTERS

where we are going is full of opportunities and the chances to make decisions to improve the quality of our life, our income levels, and experiences along this wonderful life we have been given.

You can do it too and I will continue to blog with complete and open honesty as if it can help even one more family then this blog has been worth everything I have put into it and will continue to put into it for a long time to come as you follow us from a poverty level of income to a successful where we are going!

You Know Your Poor When

1.) The pheasant you hit with a car becomes that nights dinner.

2.)You have to choose between heat or food.

3.) You have a car but bike to work because you can not afford the gas to  drive.

4.) Your car is never more than a $1,000 car.

5.) People assume you are stupid and seem surprised to find out you are not even close to stupid.

6.) You can figure out a meal based off of flour, rice, green beans and some spices.

7.) You have Oreo Poker nights as fun entertainment

8.) You consider coupons a waste of money.

9.) You go to the feed store for carrots, oats and wheat

10.) Your kids get excited when you tell them you are going to Goodwill

11.) You are wealthy by your mothers standards.

12.) You have no clue what a Non re loadable card means and the fact it can only be used once PERIOD

13.) You know just how long you can rotate bills before getting a shut off notice

14.) You can not afford SPAM and have to go GENERIC

15.) You act like you just won the lotto if you find a $5 bill on the road

16.) You actually contemplate setting a trap in your yard just to have meat that month.

17,) The only thing you purchase worth anything is a large tent just so you have shelter if you become homeless.

18.) You go without to ensure your kids eat.

19.) You are grateful just to have a job no matter how crap the pay is or the job itself is.

20.) Your stove IS the heat source.

21.) The highlight of every ones week is a trip to the grocery store.

22.) You wear sweat pants under your jeans when you lose weight because you can not afford a belt or a new pair of jeans.

23.) You save stuffing from your old couch so your daughter can sew her own stuffed animals.

24.) You downsize to the trunk of your car because you can not afford a trailer or moving truck and get to your new place with less than a $100 in your pocket.

25.) You learn healing herbs and home remedies because it is free medical care.

26.) The library is a free education.

27.) You watch Survivor and know you could WIN that show!

28.) You open your wine with a screw and pair of pliers, it is cheaper than buying a wine opener!

29.) You think you really should of married a dentist for free dental care as it is the only way you could ever get your teeth fixed.

30.) You watch the neighbors as your source of television.

Got any you can add to this?

Why the Poor Stay Poor

I must admit, there are times I read articles about the difference of mindset between the wealthy and poor or on why the poor in America stay poor with great amusement. I read these articles and the whole time I wonder if the people that gathered the information or wrote the article were ever actually poor themselves. Something tells me it is highly unlikely that they were ever poor or bothered to ever actually get to know a variety of families in the low-income levels of living. Frankly I would have to disagree with most of what these articles or statics say.

Health Care

If you look at the Alabama Cooperative Extension  they will discuss health care and the fact that 20% of Americans turn down Employer offered insurance, many siting it is too much of a cost. The article goes on to say if only they could get them to sign up for it how it would reduce the non-insured in America. Well personally I was in this situation myself at one time, I was offered AFLAC for a little over a $100 a month for a family coverage at the time. At the time I was a single mother working 16 hour days for about $1100 a month with a $700 mortgage a month and with a winter electric bill that equaled and sometimes surpassed my mortgage! (Yeah my stupid house had ELECTRIC heat in a winter state with a son who hiked up the heat when I went to work, the more I worked to pay the bill, the more he hiked up the heat!)

While people look at $100 and say it is not that much, well it is a whole LOT of money when you just do not make that kind of money. I was always in foreclosure at the time, my cars were always broken down, my house was the MONEY PIT of all houses where over $10,000 in repairs happened the year I got a divorce. Also looking at the plan they offered , never covered anything that actually went wrong health wise with my family! So yeah, I turned it down!

My husband was also offered BLUE CROSS for a small fee of $550 a month ummmmmmm yeah like that is gonna happen at exactly one whole pay check out of two! Don't think so! How exactly do they think they are going to get low income working families to sign up for ridiculously high cost insurance plans when offered? Sorry to burst their bubble but it is not gonna happen unless they offer a good plan at low cost.

They will also go into the fact that many poor refuse many of the free government programs such as food stamps and such. Refusing a system that is designed to help keep one poor keeps you poor?


It Takes Money To Make Money

I have heard the poor stay poor because they do not have the resources financially to seize the opportunities that would lift them out of poverty.

Seriously? Seriously? No really, Seriously?

Every American in this country has the same opportunities as everyone else, it is indeed an abundant universe. Why is it an immigrant can come over here with only a dollar in their pocket and end up running a successful business or become wealthy? Yet an American once starting the downhill spiral, spirals downward out of control? An immigrant sees opportunity in EVERY situation and are willing to act on them and work hard, failure is NOT an option for them.

While money CAN open more doors to the beholder of wealth,  it is certainly not lack of money that keeps the poor America in poverty. Perhaps lack of know how but knowledge can be acquired and learned if one is motivated enough to do so.Making money has never been easier or faster than right now in history not to mention all the opportunities that do not take much money at all to start a venture.

Gone are the days where it takes 30 or 40 years to see the fruitation of an idea manifest itself into wealthy enterprises. Things go at super hyper speed now that we are in a super information highway age, and what took Henry Ford 30 or more years to accomplish can happen in the matter of days in a garage today.

It is not lack on money that keeps one poor, it is the lack of willingness to gain new fresh knowledge combined perhaps with the letting opportunities slip on by when one can not see an opportunity for what it is when it is presented to them.

Fear if Success- It is easy to understand, what we know yet fear rises when new waters are to be tested. I would say that many who have lived a long time in poverty KNOW poverty. They know how to live, how to cut corners, how to struggle! When success becomes evident, anxiety of unknown territory rises, panic sets in and self sabotage comes into play. How we feel about money and wealth may have a great impact in this area as well. If we have been been raised with the "money is the root of evil, the rich are greedy, the rich are mean and evil, they take from the poor blah blah blah, the fear of ourselves becoming wealthy scares the living stuffing out of us!

Some literally can not picture a life of a decent house, nice furniture, paying bills on time, plenty of food, decent clothing, reliable cars.......it is too foreign of a thought if it has NEVER been experienced. The common reaction is to pull the rug out from under that unknown scenario when it is on the horizon and seems so close. A victory perhaps one does not really think they deserve or simply would not know how to live like that.

Poor Health/Poor Choices- Sometimes a lack of good health would defiantly keep one in the loop of poverty, I do know a few where their health would never allow them to forge ahead and this sadly can keep one poor. You have to have OKAY health at least to keep moving forward and to have energy to put effort into achieving goals. Without health you remain in a pickle jar and this can not always be helped.

On the other hand, some start out on the wrong foot making all the wrong choices. Miss money management, not knowing how to do anything frugal. Living above ones means, getting pregnant or married too young, drugs, alcohol, get rich quick scams, whatever.

Bad choices are bad choices and until a correct course is established nothing will change. This is really an area where if one is not willing to change, they will remain where they are in the out of control spiral going downhill the whole way.

It is easier to start out making the right choices, then to go back and try to correct 30 years of mistakes. Bad choices and decisions can defiantly keep one in poverty.

Poor People focus on Problems not Solutions:

Really? Have you ever sat around a table with a bunch of poor friends? First of all many poor people for a variety of reasons, DO NOT FEEL POOR! Shhhhhhhhhhhhh I let the secret out of the BAG, we have learned to enjoy and see the beauty in the simple things life has to offer. We smell the roses and have deep gratitude for the things we have in our daily lives. Many outsiders that would see certain things in our lives as a problem, we don't have a problem with! For example, many outsiders had a problem me and hubby went without furniture for 3 or 4 years, we used bedrolls instead of beds and such and we lived very comfortably in this manner yet many thought this crazy, bizarre and a great lack. You ever see a Japanese house? How we lived would of been perfectly acceptable there but not in AMERICA. Hmmm interesting how this bothered so many others when it NEVER bothered us at all! Gave us more floor space!

On the other side, sitting around a table with poor friends, while yes they may worry about meeting the heat bill, or if they will have enough food for the month, the ideas and hilarious scenarios that fly around the table are HUGE. They have big ideas, GREAT ideas, Innovative ideas all of which could be possible solutions. However this is the main problem here is that these ideas are just TALKING THE TALK and remain dreams as many times they simply do not know how to WALK THE WALK. This points back to the original statement of LACK OF KNOWLEDGE. They do not take the steps of goal planning or gaining the knowledge they need in order to turn an idea into a reality. Ideas without action keeps one poor.Lacking the knowledge of how to get the idea moved into a reality, keeps one poor. Knowledge is something few seem to want to seek out which in today's age has never been easier to do!

While there are many other ideas of why the poor stay poor or the difference between the wealthy and poor mindsets, these are just a few of MY personal observations and opinions. You may or may not agree with them but at least these opinions are coming from someone who is not a stranger to poverty. I may cover some more of the differences in future articles as there seem to be many!

Hope ya all have a great day, MAKE IT AMAZING!

Staying Positive When Poor

Awhile back I wrote a post about Staying Positive and thought I would do another post about Staying Positive When Poor. ( To be frank, it is because that is what came up in the keyword search for this blog so I thought I could go a bit more in detail on the subject!)


So how do you stay positive when you are poor?


1.) Focus on what you have, not what you lack- Modern Poverty is a  whole new game with 70 percent are living with video games, air conditioning, computers, DVD players and 700 square foot of living space PER PERSON. Compare that to undeveloped countries that live on less than a dollar a day and I think that alone has us counting our blessings here in America!  Our basic needs are food, shelter and clothes on our back and if we are meeting those needs than that is where our focus of blessings should be counted.

2.) Get Busy! Clean and organize house, draw, read books you can learn something from, start a hobby, start a business, create plans of action, go for daily walks or runs, exercise, you get the point! GET BUSY-GET ACTIVE

3.) Focus on Solutions, not problems- It is easy to get bogged down when we focus on the problems at hand , turn this around by focusing on solutions and coming up with plans of actions that will improve your circumstances

4.) Strengthen Relationships- Work on building strong, close relationships for their is strength in numbers, do not let your situation deteriorate your relationships, this is your team and a team needs to work together!

5.) Watch Comedies or put Feel good music on- The more you laugh or feel good the better so watch tons of comedies and laugh til you hurt or put on that feel good music, a smile on your face and a dance in your step!

6.) Try to always see the humorous side of situations- While this is not always easy, a person can usually find something to joke about almost any situation, learning to laugh at your circumstances can go a long ways in staying positive.

7.) Does not matter where you ARE- It only matters where you are going so have a plan of where you are going!

8.) Be Adaptable- Be ready to adapt to any situation, knowing life does not give you anything you yourself are not capable of handling. Adaptability goes a long ways in surviving circumstances. When we resist change, that is where struggle comes into play.

9.) Marvel at the Beauty of each Day- Take a moment each day to step outside or look around at your surroundings and marvel at the beauty of it. Each day is a miracle. Accept it for what it is.

10.) Obstacle or Opportunity?- Many times opportunities come in the disguise of obstacles, try to see the opportunities that surround us each and every day!

Welcome to Poor to Rich a Day at a Time!

Extreme poverty is defined by someone who is living on 50% less than the income guideline for the poverty line. According to the Federal Poverty Guidelines http://www.usac.org/_res/documents/li/pdf/Income_Requirements.pdf   for a family of 4 100% poverty line would be an income of $22,350 a year. For a family of 5 it would be $26,170 a year and for 1 person $10,890 a year. Anyone living on half of those amounts would be considered extreme poverty and was  among the fastest growing income group in America for 2009.

Absolute Poverty means that one is not able to take care of any of one's basic needs.

My intent is for  this blog to inspire those of the various levels of poverty to live better on less, while working towards building wealth as with determination and perseverance, combined with a little creativity and willingness for hard work, it can be done regardless of how small one's income. You can do it, and do not let anyone tell you, you can't! Others that have higher levels of income such as middle class, may benefit from the tips in this blog as well that may for a variety of reasons not where they want to be financially. However fair warning, some of the ideas herein may be considered extreme!

It is my hope that my tips, ideas and suggestions here get you on your path to riches and motivates you to a better and brighter future on your path to riches and financial independance.
Happy blogging and happy reading! I look forward to getting to know my readers and share my journey with you all along the way!

Carrie