Hi Hermit5, You may just have something there! Writing my "memoirs" of the really hard times has made me appreciate what I went through and the sacrifices I made. I was blessed to have kids with strong senses of humor who've only recently understood that we were poor. God love 'em, they were such troopers! I might just have to do a little experimenting with some of these olf jeans, (my husband throws worn stuff out faster than you can say "lightning" and I'm always yelling, "I coulda used that for someting!") I'm still loathe to pay full retail and it's just ocurred to me that as I write this, I'm sitting at my desk on a garage sale chair that I repainted and reupholstered with the Burberry lining of my son's old, torn raincoat. It matches and friends are always amazed that the chair didn't come from some upscale store just this way!
Don't get me wrong. I'm on this board because I've made my share of mistakes and had the proverbial run of life's bad luck.
Hope, Things easily gotten are little appreciated. You've paid the price and I vote you most likely to succeed. Karyn will not.
Well, I don't know if Karyn is or isn't most likely to succeed, but she did appear on NBC's Today Show this morning and she's been offered a book deal and a made-for-TV-movie proposal. Ack! Doc
I find her site entertaining. I have been going there instead of Ebay the last few days. I admit I gave her a buck but hell, that is better than what I would have spent over there I notice that she did not update her site since the 14th, maybe she is living it up on the Today Shows dime.
Oh my God, Hope, I can soooo relate with you! We've kept a collection of Burger King napkins on hand for those times when we couldn't afford toilet paper. I have sold plasma to buy groceries and rented my body out to science (medication studies) in order to pay the rent. I've worked two and three jobs at a time. I've used the Sunday comics from the neighbor's newspaper as Christmas wrap and made Christmas garland from Cheerios, popcorn, and raisins (all of which I got entirely free using coupons). I still gather up all of my friends', neighbors', and family's coupons from every Sunday's paper so I don't have to subscribe myself in order to get them. My kids and I once spent an entire week "dumpster diving" and pulled off a lucrative yard sale with the loot. When I didn't have a car, I walked a mile every day in Arizona heat to catch a bus, and we all walked to church every Sunday. I've rented out my bedroom to a roommate while I slept on the living room floor (had no sofa - only a couple of used chairs). I have kept and melted down all of our leftover slivers of soap into a "new" bar. Many times I threw two cans of kidney beans and two cans of stewed tomatoes into a pot and called it "chili". Now I have my own business at home (for the last eight years) and I am not rich (nowhere near your $90K), but it pays the bills and my children come home from school every day to a real mom and not a babysitter. And yes, I used to have to sweep the carpet with a broom, too.
Ain't it the truth! Now I own 2 vacuums and have a housekeeper; am Exec VP of my husband's construction corporation; and run my own business in real estate in 2 different states as well and travel internationally. We've come a long way, Baby!
I still rescue the slivers of soap my hubbies tosses in the waste basket and stick them together to put in the upstairs bathrooms. The shirts, slacks, jeans, shorts, even underwear that he calls worn (NOT, he's from a priviledged background and doesn't know any better), I rescue from the trash and either cut into strips to stuff new cushions and throw pillows with that I make, or make footstools with, the underwear becomes, cleaning rags. Anything good enough, I donate to one of the charities that picks up in our neighborhood once a month--and collect a tax deductible receipt. So far this year, I've managed to take a whopping $850 off our taxes with his "garbage") A $2,000 leather couch I bought in my single days (paid way too much at Haverty's; what a rip! It was probably only worth about $800. Don't shop there!!!). Now the back is faded from the sun and I used to toss an Indian blanket over the back to hide that. A couple of weeks ago, I stripped the leather off and cut it into squares to upholster the seats of my tall breakfast bar stools. Now the mix of the faded and dark areas actually look rustic and cool! The rest I'm going to cut into skinny, short strips and try to find a book on how to make one of those shag leather rugs I've seen. (Any suggestions???) Then I laboriously reupholstered the couch with fabric I bought cheap at an industrial warehouse, and some books I ordered from Amazon called "Bringing it Home England" and "Learn to Upholster". It's not done yet, but we're all pretty impressed so far. Cost? $37+ tax for the clothe and another $50 or so for the tools. Gives me hours of entertainment (some cussing, included), helps me unwind from the "day jobs", which I also love and I like the look much better than the $2,000 store bought one!
For what it's worth, the house beggar removed all text from her site at helpusbuyahouse.com . . . Doc
