Daily Lobo opinion editor
opinion@dailylobo.com
Instead of spending Christmas with me and my sister, my mother is flying back home to Michigan. Sure, she wants to see her ailing parents, but her main reason for going back is to escape the crowds of people fleeing the cities when the world ends.
She’s been planning this for at least a year, and dwelling on it even longer. While she’s gone, I have her home, her car and money for food. She advised me to withdraw all funds, except what I need to pay off bills and such, because we can’t count on technology when the time comes. Should the s*** hit the fan, she told me to take her car and my cats to Michigan.
“It’s farmland, so, you know, that’s the best place to be,” she told me.
When Y2K was coming up, my mom went through the same motions.
Fortunately, nothing happened then, and I expect this year to be uneventful as well. On the other hand, her urging me to care for my basic survival wasn’t entirely irrelevant.
I am one of the UNM employees without work during winter break, and panic has set in. When I panic about money, I spend it frivolously. Humans are complicated; the war against consumerism is largely a war against myself.
There has been progress, especially since I was slapped with $800 of debt to the IRS in the spring. I’ve been working four jobs and times are still tough. This kind of situation has its ups and downs — my weight and stress go up and my bank balance goes down.
Truly though, it’s taught me the difference between what I need and what I want, which you think I would have learned growing up as impoverished as I am now. But I’ve always wanted nice things, and who can blame me? However, going into debt for these things sort of sucks the fun out of having them. The more you think about how short-lived the pleasure is, the less tantalizing these purchases become.
This is one way I’ve managed my money madness: I know I’ll feel better if I don’t give in. It’s important not to think about it too much, as is the case with any craving — just move on to something more satisfying. Craft projects are a good start, and can double as a source of income if I so desire. I’m starting to wonder why I’ve spent so much time spending money rather than making it.
Another way of controlling spending urges is to consider how many hours I’ve worked to earn the money I’m about to spend. It seems insignificant when you consider a single cup of coffee (30 minutes of work for a few hours of energy? Easy.) But add it up and your “petty” coffee addiction is suddenly a bigger problem than you thought. Even if you’re just buying a modestly priced bag of coffee from the store every week, you spend $300 a year. If you’re the frou-frou quad-modification coffee drinker … those are fat stacks of dough you’re drinking.
I cringe to think of how much I’ve spent eating out, if that’s the cost of just my coffee habit. Had I saved all my money from working through high school, I could’ve bought a car. Now, I would be selling it to have money for gift shopping. At least I’m not like the lady I heard on the radio the other day: She pulled out a $2,500 loan to buy gifts and said she felt relieved knowing her kids could wake up to Kindles and PlayStations. We are a pathetic people sometimes, and I’m usually no exception. However, I can swallow my pride and resort to homemade gifts. I know my family will love me, even if they don’t love what I make.
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I love adding up my income and subtracting my bills to see what I can spend. I did so the other day, and having then circled the end sum — my surplus for the month — I immediately thought of what I could spend it on. And I was struck down by Wise Alex, who towered over Weak Alex and boomed, “Aha! This is the root of your problem, little one.” When I have excess, my instinct isn’t to toss it in savings. I’m always thinking I need to acquire more and more, but I don’t need all these things.
So now that I have just enough for ramen and vitamin and mineral supplements, I have no choice but to get back to basics. With the money my mom left me for food, I will go to Costco with a borrowed membership and buy supplies for burritos and pasties (these are savory turnovers found mostly in upper Michigan and England, not tasseled nipple covers). I’ll have a stockpile of satisfying meals all ready to go. I must get rid of every excuse to eat out.
I’ve already canceled Netflix, and have Internet only because Cricket told me the only way I can cancel it is if I call a number. I called, and it took me to voicemail, which was full and couldn’t take any more messages. I simply can’t afford the energy to deal with these people.
A common complaint is that there’s nothing to do unless you spend money. I’m going to be paranoid and say we’ve been fed this lie by advertisers who tell us we need things to entertain ourselves. If you have that much of a problem just being in the company of others and talking, laughing, playing games, hiking or otherwise not spending money, perhaps you should figure out why. People used to live like this. Life doesn’t have to be all “Little House on the Prairie” for you to save money, but it’s not a bad era to draw inspiration from. Life was simple and satisfying, not an endless affair with desire and guilt.
Back then, objects had longer lives than the modern products sold today. For instance, my boyfriend has been to Walmart seven times in three months, each time replacing a faulty bicycle. The chain broke, the bars bent out of shape, the tire frame bent. Back in the day, things were made to last, and if something went wrong, people knew how to fix them. The way modern Americans deal with an issue is to throw it away and get something new, though trends toward DIY and more frugal methods of living are reassuring.
When our current system collapses — and it’s only a matter of time — most of us won’t know how to use what’s available to support our survival. One day, I’d like to be living off the grid, completely self-sustained. Right now, only few people can live that way, though not because most people are incapable, but because they don’t have the knowledge or skillset.
They say you can only ever count on yourself. The people whose lives revolve around technology are going to be in bad shape when that system fails. We can’t control what happens to us, so it is in our best interest to be prepared for the worst. The end of the world may not come when the Mayans predicted, but the only certainty in life is death, and no part of nature is exempt.
Rather than spending money this winter break, I’m going to embark on a journey to develop the skills I need to survive on my own.
Even if the world doesn’t end, how satisfying would it be to look at your home and everything in it and say, “I built this. All of it.” To be the true master of your domain is a satisfaction I’ve never felt when spending money.
If you have frugal lifestyle or DIY tips of your own, please share.
