Living From CheckTOcheck-PrepTIPS?

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First I'd like to say, I feel fortunate, knowing that a lakefront cabin surrounded by deep forest, can be our sancuary and is within 2000 miles, in the event of technological breakdown. It will be like experiencing Walden Pond in the Midwest . The cabin was built by my grandparents just before I was born in 1966 and has remained in the family, on the outskirts of Eagle River, Wisconsin. The water is pure and drinkable. The fish are plentiful. There are hundreds of lakes in the county with neighboring cabins within walking, or biking range. I've grown up at the cabin every summer since I was a a kid, which have carved a wealth of memories.

With that said, I consider Y2k extremely important. It's certainly not easy convicing anyone, including mom of the Y2k seriousness, nor my colleagues who sort of shrug it off, since we're all kind of struggling. My next goal is to send my uncles Y2k information to test their Y2k awareness, and intentions to prepare. They have cabins on the lake as well.

Now to get to the point, I live from check to check. I have no money. I've ordered my birth records, and my employment history from the IRS. I have no investments to worry about, except for my screenplays. For me, Y2k is a paradigm shift. I simply cannot abandon my dreams. I've been a struggling writer/filmmaker for seven years, since college, and now Y2k is on the horizon. I'm on the verge of directing my first film within six months as a realistic time. In a way I feel better, knowing the cabin is there for sanctuary, and therefore psychologically, more comfortable climbing the mountain, churning upwards, preparing the film? Is this wrong? Should I simply give up. I wouldn't be doing myself justice. Sorry to tire all of you readers, I had to get this out, with my primary question for anyone. Has anyone preparation tips for those of us living from paycheck to paycheck? Thanks for listening!

-M.C. Davey

-- M.C. Davee (Apus1son@aol.com), September 25, 1998

Answers

M.C.

Do whatever you can. Maybe there's something you can give up in order to prepare. $10 per week would get you $240 worth of supplies in 6 months. (Hey, do you believe I did that calculation in my head?)

I wish you luck if you head out to your cabin on the lake. Having lived in Wisconsin all my life, I don't see Eagle River as a very secluded spot - more of a vacation getaway. Still, if you live in a big city, it might be safer than where you are. I've done some ice fishing and camping there, and it's beautiful in the summer, but could get nasty in winter. Have you been there in Jan. or Feb.? The snow is up to your armpits! (I don't know if that's good, or bad.) BTW, if you are travelling 2000 mi. to get there, maybe the transportation costs could be better applied to preparing closer to home. I hope I don't sound too negative, just trying to give you food for thought. Good luck.

-- Mike (gartner@execpc.com), September 25, 1998.


Mike, yes, I would believe you did that calculation in your head. :-) At $10 a week, in 6 months you would have $260 in supplies. 52 weeks in a year, divided by 2....sorry, I told you I was a teacher. :-)

M.C., if you are going to bug out 2000 miles, and you don't have much money, how would you transport the supplies?

-- Gayla Dunbar (privacy@please.com), September 25, 1998.


Check out "the Mormon Basic Four" storage plan basically Wheat, Honey, Powdered Milk and Salt, then add dried beans, rice, tuna, Spam, etc vitamins, spices. You can do this minimum for very little money. email me for more info if you need it.

-- Y2Dave (daveforbes@earthlink.net), September 25, 1998.

Gayla:

It sure "pays" to have friends! :-)

-- Mike (gartner@execpc.com), September 25, 1998.


By the way, no - DON'T give up on your dreams. Whatever the world looks like post-all this, we will need writers and people who can document our lives. As to the rest - preparing on no/low budget, there have been great posts on here but yes, please DO consider how you're gonna transport that stuff. You nay not even be able to geth there if TSHTF quickly in an unexpected way so please put some thought into being safe and warm where you are. Start by thinking what yu would do if a major ice storm/blizzard cut everything off right where you are.

-- Melissa (financed@forbin.com), September 25, 1998.


MC

"We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers. They see things in the soft haze of a spring day or in the red fire of a long winter's evening. Some of us let these great dreams die, but others nourish and protect them; nurse them through bad days till they bring them to the sunshine and light which comes always to those who sincerely hope that their dreams will come true."

Woodrow Wilson

PS, During the last Great Depression, one of the few growth industries was film making.

-- Uncle Deedah (oncebitten@twiceshy.com), September 25, 1998.


If you are struggling now you will be struggling later if Y2K turns out to be a disaster. How will you survive? Sometimes we have to put things on the back burner to take care of more immediate problems. You can always go back to film making when things turn around. I would find a part time job and use that money to buy supplies. Hit flea markets and garage sales and food outlet stores. You can make a little bit of money go a long way. It's all time and money management that will prepare you for survival. Besides, if the power goes off who will watch your film?

-- Bardou (bardou@baloney.com), September 25, 1998.

I recommend the following book for anyone living paycheck to paycheck or worse. It helped me in "normal" times, and has lots of good tips even if you're not in debt. Amazon.com carries it.

How to Get Out of Debt, Stay Out of Debt and Live Prosperously by Jerrold Mundis

-- Buddy Y. (buddy@bellatlantic.net), September 25, 1998.


Another goody is

How to Get What You Want in Life with the Money You Already Have, by Carol Keeffe. ISBN 0-316-48518-7

-- Uncle Deedah (oncebitten@twiceshy.com), September 25, 1998.


get another couple that feels the way you do that has some cash and share your cabin with their food and supplies...your going to need friends if this thing gets real bad.....jim

-- j.bern (bernj@aol.com), September 25, 1998.


Another good book is "Your Money or Your Life," by Joe Dominguez & Vicky Robin.

Also check out Frugal Corner and Yahoo's Voluntary Simplicity links.

-- Larry Kollar (lekollar@nyx.net), September 25, 1998.


MC- Have you checked your spending habits? If you're at all like the artsy types that I know (I'm one of `em), then you think nothing of plunking down a couple and a half for some fussy-ass MochaFrappaWizzoTiazzaLatteCinno at the local hangout.If you need coffee, make it at home and thermos it. If you buy it, buy black, and in your own cup. Do you fast food it? There's a few more dollars spent for each meal that could be going towards dry grains and legumes. What about vehicular habits? What do you drive? Is it fuel efficient? Very few people REALLY need a SFV. (Sports Futility Vehicle) A station wagon or small pickup truck will work just as well and haul just as much. But that's all commonsensical. Look to the small stuff. That's probably where all of the leaks are. Two Fussy Ass coffee drinks, a fast-food or cafe lunch and other miscellaneous things can make a $20 bill evaporate in less than a day. Can you save any money on living arrangements? The list goes on

-- Damian Solorzano (oggy1@webtv.net), September 25, 1998.

It is hard when you have limited funds. I just try to buy two of *something* when I go to the store. If I buy corn or carrots, or tuna or whatever, I buy at least one extra and it goes on the shelf. Since I am a notoriously disorganized shopper, I must visit a grocery at least every other day. My stash is growing more quickly than I expected.

-- margie mason (mar3mike@aol.com), September 25, 1998.

Great point,Damien! As a single mother, I had to look honestly at where there were holes in my budget. I never bought fancy clothes, and the obvious things that deplete money, but I was HORRIFIED to discover that my daily trips to 7-11 for slurpees for me and my son were running me almost $90 a month!! So, I bought a snow ball machine for $11 and we had fun making and eating them. Another eye-opener was, that after your rent/mortgage, FOOD is your biggest expenditure, so that is the best place to start "trimming the fat" ooh-that was bad!

-- madeline (runner@bcpl.net), September 26, 1998.

Madeline: Speaking of buying clothes, I buy all mine at thrift stores. I get name brand items (Liz Claiborne, LL Bean, etc), really cheap! This is a big money saver especially if you have children. I buy my winter clothes in the summer and my summer clothes in the winter. On discount days, you can get a brand new sweat shirt for $1.25, and beautiful sweaters for $2.50. Jeans for $4.00! Some items still have price tags on them!

-- Bardou (bardou@baloney.com), September 27, 1998.


Thanks,Bardou! For more tips, enter "frugal living" on your favorite search engine.

-- madeline (runner@bcpl.net), September 27, 1998.

For the best info on ssttrreeeeeeetttcccccchhhing a dollar, see an expert. Find a senior living on a fixed income, they know every trick there is, and are usually more than happy to have someone to talk to.

-- Uncle Deedah (oncebitten@twiceshy.com), September 27, 1998.

Write your next screen play on the documentary side on Y2K -- make money now!!! Earn it doing what your best at.

If you want to make real money, and avoid turning off all the Hollywood types, make three or four of them screenplays = one from a survialist view in the "urban jungle" after TSHTF, one from an "Amish" view in deep rural somewheres (what y2k problem?), and from a troubled computer program helpless against the giant unfeeling buracreacry of a utilitiy (pull alll the liberal heartstrings on this one: malke the hero has to fight all the right villians, and one from the scheming evil right-wing "villains" talking about death, doom, and disaster (while making money from the "ppor and frightened")

You can either write what they want to believe, or write what you believe, or write what you feel. But write something, then SELL it.

-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), September 28, 1998.


I'm an expert in stretching a dollar. I canned a hundred pintsof pears that cost me nothing. A hundred pints of applesauce that also cost nothing. My 60 jars of plum jam and 40 jars of plums cost nothing for the fruit.My dried prunes cost only the electriciey to dry them. I can get chestnuts, english walnuts, cherries, apples, pears, plums, blackberries and any number of other fruits and vegetables FREE simply by cruising down CITY streets during harvest time and asking the city lot owners, "are those 'apples, ie.' going to go to waste? Most time they BEG me to take them so they dont have to pick them up to mow. I got canning jars at goodwill for 5 cents each when they had a truckload of them to get rid of. I explained to a small grocrey owner that he was losing money keeping so much canning stuff on the shelf after canning season was over and made him an offer on several cases of lids we both knew he would not sell for almost a year. We both profited handsomely. I buy chicken breasts when they are 99cents a pound and strip the skin off and can them 2 or 3 to a quart jar. Round steak too is so simple just cut off the fat, jam into pint jar raw with no liquid or cooking and put cap on it and pressure can for 90 minutes. What is so hard? Look for opportunities and you will find them.

-- Ann Fisher (zyax55b@prodigy.com), October 11, 1998.

MC are you sure you want to go to Eagle River in the middle of winter? I have relatives up there and have visited as late as March. Man ITS COLD. Forty below is just not my cuppa tea. If you do this, make sure you have a really big wood pile, and have the chimney cleaned.

Practical Paul

-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), October 18, 1998.


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