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She's proud of this, says it's the ultimate in frugal living.
Meanwhile, she's burning through what's left of her money.
Opinions?
Here's what really sticks out to me about your friend. She claims to be engaged in the ultimate in frugal living, but she's burning through her excess cash to support this "frugal" lifestyle. Your friend appears to be a bit off track, there. The question is whether she knows it or not.
Meanwhile, she's burning through what's left of her money. So she cut the food budget down to $150/month. Some of the cheap food she's eating isn't that healthy, IMO.
Opinions?
Cant really figure out how one person couldn't eat fairly healthy for less then $150 a month, especially with a garden.
It does sound like a compulsive disorder, many people see one set thing as a cure all that will make them happy. As they do it they realize they do feel better (at the start small improvements can get the biggest return), and do it more and more till it takes over their lives...it's no longer about the item improving their lives, they now live to do that one thing. People are getting a lot of push for frugality being the cure all for things now, but I've seen it for pretty much everything under the sun.
I know the NY Times did something on it. Where some people end up costing themselves many times more then what it would have, to try and be frugal, instead of getting it done right the first time (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/us...ders.html?_r=1)
My husband and I live very frugally, by choice. It is all about your mindset. If you feel that you are being deprived of something then you will not be happy. One of the biggest kicks that I get is finding something that someone else has thrown away and making use of it! It's a fun challenge.
If you are disabled then you need to file for SSI or some other type of disability benefit. Also, if you have not already, you need to check with your state and county government offices to see what assistance is available to you. I'm certain that you are below the federal level to receive some types of help through local agencies.
Although I do make more than $7.50 a hour, my husband and we live well on about $18k which is still pretty low by most standards. We spend a lot of money on good quality food (grass fed, all natural meat and organic produce). But we do not waste our money on television, going to movies, and we do not have children which is a huge, huge money sucker. Obviously, if you have children you are stuck with them LOL, but there are many ways to cut back on expenses so that you can enjoy the money that you make and not feel deprived.
20yrsinBranson
I have applied for SSDI and just went to my hearing with my attorney but have to wait 2 to 6 more weeks for an answer. That disability will help a lot but will keep most of back pay in savings. Since we know how to live with not spending much.
We don't have kids either but do have 4 cats that are like kids and help keep me sane. They cost us very little. We do have cable and computer but don't go out but maybe once a month to eat at buffet cheap.
The main problem is our car is about shot, our dryer quit,(we hang our clothes now) shoes worn out and clothes have holes in them among other things we can't afford. Wife buys all her clothes at Goodwill but nothing there in my size, so I go without.
My brothers make six figures plus and are very giving and helpful to people less fortunate than them in there church but won't help us out at all which I don't understand. I have always paid back in full plus extra in past but now its my problem.
Anyway we manage, it just gets old and hard to look into the future when it is already bleak.
That's less than $5 a day. Even if you eat mostly rice, it's hard to get three healthy meals on that kind of money, IMO.
I don't think the garden could produce that much food--it's a campsite, after all, which means it's whatever she can grow in a few planters.
1. Three glass of milk cost something like .50, two slices of bread, .10. When you break every thing you buy in bulk down to a cost per serving, less then $5 a day is not unreasonable. Its not like shes going to the drive thru 3 times a day.
2. A tremendous amount of food can be grown in planters. There are actually breeds of almost every type of fruit and vegetable you can think of that are specifically built to grow in planters.
Maybe I'm forgetting some aspect of the original post but I didnt think that she was doing this for the reasons you're mentioning, ie the release of chemical respondants to her behavior and feelings of elation for a "frugal, low carbon footprint". I love the way you think, though. I would guess its possible she didnt something a bit wild and is enjoying it much more than she thought she would as its the polar opposite of her previous life. On that note, she may be pulling a manic phase and no one knows or understands it.
Quotes from the article could roughly parallel or be intercut with the original post in this thread. Does this sound vaguely familiar?
"she could design, build, and live in her own tiny green house -- it's portable and currently parked on the property of "a benevolent New Haven citizen," she says..." "That same benevolent citizen lets her use a bathroom in the main house..."
""I wanted to see how green I could be, how lightly I could tread on the earth," she says...." "Local vendors and building professionals donated materials, and friends, family, and dozens of strangers helped out at building parties Turnbull organized by hanging up flyers. Others offered help after reading about her project in stories that appeared in The Daily News..."
"..."People can feel paralyzed by all of their stuff -- myself included, before this project," she says. "It's fun and gratifying to design around not what you think you should have, but what you need.""
Hence my comments that these types of actions are supported by the current culture and supporting the ego needs of some people.
1. Three glass of milk cost something like .50, two slices of bread, .10. When you break every thing you buy in bulk down to a cost per serving, less then $5 a day is not unreasonable. Its not like shes going to the drive thru 3 times a day.
She's doing it, so I guess it's possible, but living on milk and two slices of bread just doesn't sound like a happy life to me. I mean, think about it. Is that really all you'd want to eat, day in and day out, for years?
Bulk foods can help reduce your budget... but when you live in a camp ground and only have a motorcycle, you can't buy most foods in bulk. There's no way to transport it, no way to store it. You end up getting the over priced small sizes at the campground store.
As for the planters, they're great for occasional vegetables, but not as a main source of food. You can get herbs from them, and probably a decent number of tomatoes if you have a sunny spot in your campsite. But you can't live on tomatoes day in and day out, and a planter is not going to pop out a head of lettuce every day like a chicken pops out an egg. I do a lot of gardening, and at most I get enough to make salad fixings maybe 3-4 times a year.
Man, I shouldn't have thought about this so much. Now I really do feel sad for her. I hope she was exaggerating when she wrote that.
As long as she violates no laws and supports herself it's her choice rewally how she lives. Its certainly better than the 60's hippies movement that relyed on other people and created a mess everywhere that others paid for.
As long as she violates no laws and supports herself it's her choice rewally how she lives.
You're absolutely right about that. It's none of my business, really.
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