Monday, June 9, 2008

It's not just America!

Photos of protesters around the world

We're ALL feeling the pinch...if you can call it a pinch. More like a wallet choke. Gas prices are unbelieveable & now food. What can be considered 2 main necessities in America. We use gas to drive our cars to work to make money to buy food. Sure we can try public transportation but do you know how long it takes to commute on the bus? It could be hours. Or in the case of my dh line of work, he must drive his own car to various locations, so using public transportation is not an option.

The reason this is such a major problem is that incomes are not rising in comparison to this inflation.

As Americans, in the 'land of plenty', what I don't get is why we are complaining. We CAN change what we do to accomodate this current situation. We can stop driving around so much, how bout ONLY to work & church? or walk to church? I know we certainly live close enough to most everything, I have no excuse.

I think the real problem is that we DON'T WANT to change our habits, our consumerism or materialism. We're mad because our budgets are tighter & we can't do everything we WANT to do. Maybe we NEED this financial crisis to BREAK some of these bad habits. Maybe we need to be brought down.

If you can now ONLY afford to go to work AND buy food. So what? Is that so bad?
How bout if we spent family time relating to each other instead of in front of the tv ? That would lower our energy bill. What if we spent time riding our bikes to the park instead of buying movie tickets?

Is it so bad if you can ONLY afford to drive to work & buy food?
How affected are you really?
Is it so bad if you aren't buying a new shirt once a month? Do we really need new shoes?

I'm serious. I'm not joking.

In other countries, I can only suspect, that they actually do live more of a need based life & therefore, if food prices go up, that means they are eating LESS FOOD. I believe in America, when food prices go up...we are forced to be less materialistic. Forced to prioritize! Do we need to throw giant birthday parties for our children every year? Do we need to spend so much on birthday gifts anyway, for others? And if so, there are cheaper ways to accomplish ANYthing! ;-)

Can we show more of our love instead of trying to buy it?

This crisis means we need to reevaluate what we held as important. Stop whining! Start clipping coupons! Stop paying for over priced movie tickets! Stop going to the mall...for what? Stop going to drive-thru & start teaching our children how to cook thier own food.

Better yet, how bout teaching them to GROW thier own food!
Introduce yourself to your neighbors who have fruit trees. There is way more fruit on that tree than is able to feed one family---it's just wasting away. And share what you have.

I know prices are noticeably going up on food...but hey, there are ways around that. Last 5 times I've gone grocery shopping....I've found BREAD for .35 CENTS a loaf, on clearance. An entire RACK full! I bought out nearly the entire rack, stuffed my freezer & then gave some away to a friend in need. I also noticed the package of 60 count eggs was $2 less than usual.

What are you buying?
Go for the edges of the store, that's where all the fresh produce & least processed food are.
Stay home & out of other stores. You won't even notice.
Examine WHY you feel you are missing out....what exactly are you feeling the pinch over? Are you using shopping/spending as a means to fulfill some empty part of you? Are you really going w/o needs being met?

Stay home. Drive less, walk more. Or ride a bike, use roller blades ect.
Hey if we all started to actually LIVE this way, we'd never have to 'work-out' again! lol

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thank you for visiting our tiny bit of space...I LOVE it when you leave comments. Thank you SO much.