What are You Most Thankful for?

"What are you most thankful for over the last year in your life?" asked one of my favorite bloggers, Trent at The Simple Dollar.

Right now I'm thankful that I woke up in time to go to Mass on Thanksgiving, as I was hoping to do...and I'm thankful that I will hopefully be able to get the headache I woke up with under control in time to go. I'm thankful - considering waking up with a bad headache - that we don't have 20 or so people coming here for Thanksgiving dinner as many people do (not that I wouldn't enjoy the people if we had them coming). But I'm also thankful that we still have five of us living here to enjoy dinner together...and that the one who works today gets off at 4 p.m.

I'm thankful for holidays past, with all eight of us, and I'm thankful that we are in touch with our other three, and that we can be so proud of all of our children.

I'm grateful for a loving husband, who works hard and long at his job, and then comes home and helps here too. And I'm grateful for a part-time job that I like...working with people I enjoy.

Recently, I've been thinking how grateful I am that for so many years I was able to stay home with my children, and also that for nearly three decades I was able to do the teaching and writing that I love.

For a new and wonderful homeschool group for our youngest son and me, and an evening teen group for him, I am truly thankful...and for the new friends we have met. I'm also thankful that I'm getting the opportunity to help a friend who is teaching a writing class in that homeschool co-op.

Here in my middle age, I am thankful that someone posted a picture entitled "Thanksgiving around the Ping-Pong Table" and that it took me way back to my young childhood. Sometimes I tend to remember the less-than-happy memories of my young life, so it was good to remember the happy times with the immediate and extended family all gathered around one big table.

I am thankful that through the adversities of life that have come our way in the past years, God has taught me so much more about trusting in Him.

Telephone Solicitations

I just stumbled upon this enlightening post about telemarketers...taken from a telemarketer who shared anonymously to protect his or her job.

Personally, I've never had a problem telling telephone solicitors that I'm not interested...but I know some do, and here is everything you need to know.

I especially liked the points at the end that these are real people with families and bills; they are making minimum wage doing this job; and they probably took the job out of desperation.

Counter-Frugal...or Not

Recently, I posted a comment on my Facebook page that I'd decided using a disposable camera is counter-frugal. (And no, I can't find that word in the dictionary.)

Why? When my digital camera began to malfunction, I began buying disposables for family gatherings: Christmases and graduations. One day my son needed a picture for his homeschool co-op, so off I went to buy another camera (complete with developing costs)...and on top of the expense, my pictures of him didn't turn out very well. That's when it dawned on me that in the past few years I had spent the price of an inexpensive digital camera on buying disposable cameras and paying for developing the pictures...and that I had the money - at the moment - to buy an inexpensive disposable camera.

You could apply that same principle to my car. I drive a 1993 minivan with 193,000 miles...and we spend close to an average of $300 a month in repairs to keep it on the road. That's not to keep it perfect! (My windows won't even open at this writing.) People often tell me I could be making a car payment with that money. Talk about counter-frugal!

So what's the difference? And what's the similarity? When I bought the first disposable camera, there were more urgent uses for the money it would cost to buy a digital camera. More honestly expressed, there was no way I was going to spend a hundred dollars on a camera at that time. Later, that changed, and a few weeks ago I got my digital camera.

My car, on the other hand, gets me from Point A to Point B (when it's not stopping off at the shop), without the commitment of an auto loan, with low insurance payments, and without having to combine monthly payments with warranty or maintenance costs. A $300 car payment is never really just $300; there is always more. There's no way I'm going to buy a car at this moment in time. When the time comes that we are ready to replace my car, hopefully we will know it, like I knew it was time to buy a camera.

One more example where we can be counter-frugal...or not, depending on finances at any given time...is in renting an apartment vs. buying a house. People say, "If you rent, you are throwing money down the drain." Well, first of all, if it's a home (the place where you live and love), it is never wasted money. Secondly, while owning your own home has wonderful benefits, renting can be simpler in some ways, too. When the plumbing acts up, we call maintenance. When the dryer acts up, we call maintenance. When the lawn needs mowing, we don't even need to call anyone. With my husband sometimes working as many as 60 hours a week, and with me working 20 hours and homeschooling, it's nice to not even worry about the yard.

Are there ways that you are frugal that might seem at first to be counter-frugal? Are there old ways you are clinging to that you might be able to change and actually save money? When is it time to scale down - and when is it more frugal to spend a little more and save in the long run? Key to these decisions, I think, is to question the so-called "principles" that we've heard about finances and frugality...and then to question, not once but periodically, whether what we did last year is good for this year.

What do you think?

Online Course for the Job Search

Most of us know someone who is looking for a job...not an easy task any time, but especially during an economy where there are so many lay-offs. Yet there are jobs still out there. People quit their jobs for various reasons (a move to a less expensive city, spouse being relocated, etc.), and many of those jobs really do need to be filled.

Career Search Skills: Beacon of Light in a Dark Economy is a reasonably priced, three session online course to help your friend or relative (or yourself) land that job.

Click here for more information about this course.