Due to some rather unpleasant medical bills this last couple of years and the economic downturn, I've had less disposable income than I've become accustomed to. Given the uncertainties I've talked about and the way in which we've lost the security that used to be part of the *good job* and all the rest, I've been thinking that there needs to be a balance in my weblog between rampant techno lust and economic sanity. Here's a few starters on this topic:
- I was known as the spendthrift by my father even as a child (among 4 children)
- I mentioned recently that my practicality quotient is near zero
- I'm an N (Intuitive) on the scale between S (Sensing) and N in the Myer's Briggs scale. Don't bother me with the details. I like the big picture.
- We in the U.S. are big spenders. We've consumed the world's natural resources this last hundred years like nobody's business.
- We've wasted so much - look at the full landfills around us
- We buy new clothes all the time
- We each individually drive cars
- If we can afford it, or, in many cases even if we can't, we buy big fancy houses and cars - the latest is SUVs
- But lots of us in my *boomer* generation and younger feel consumption guilt. We hate to throw things out because it reminds us how little we actually used it if at all. We recycle but know that not a whole lot gets done with all that recycling in a lot of cases.
- We either have money and spend it profligately or we don't have money to keep up with lifestyles we see on TV and in the movies, so we spend like heck the money we DO have. Lots of cheap stuff is very popular in some circles. And, of course, there's always the fancy shoes in the ghettos.
- I'm speaking for the Ronin among us and probably mostly the Tech Ronin who read this figuring the techier types read more blogs than the less technically inclined do. As independent contractors and micropreneurs surfing the waves without a safety belt, we might want to consider finding ways to live well without spending enormous sums of money all the time. We might want to break out of the hypnosis of the latest and fastest and smallest and coolest new gadget - even. I know its heresy, but I'm just thinking out loud here.
- I think I'm going to add a stream or category about small is beautiful or something because I see it as a great solution for those of us who may still be trying to adjust to the loss of the dot.con boom and the death of the good job. We might need to explore how to downsize in a smart, quality, personally satisfying and healthy way. This from Ms. Spend Thrift par excellence! We'll see how long my enthusiasm lasts but there's really lots to talk about. I will probably not go into the old standards very often - like bargain hunting tips or where to get the best deals. I'll be being my big-picture self and be looking at overall concepts.