It was unthinkable unless you were me...

It was unthinkable in 1990's that this country would be in such a financial mess unless you were me. I'll be honest, I saw it coming and like Henny Penny I walked around talking about it all the time. People thought I was losing my mind. They were all doing so well, how could that possibly be? Simple, I was the working poor back then. I would have literally had more money on welfare, but my mid western work ethic prevented it. I was making 28k working two jobs as a nurse (LPN in nursing homes--socialized medicine at it's finest). I asked who was buying the astronomical amount of houses going up? I asked how people had so much expendable income while a respectable percentage of us were scraping by. The answers came last year in the form of paper tigers and money for nothin'. I saw it coming like a tidal wave. When you are on the bottom you have a clear view to the top. I am not scared. I survived tumors, heartbreak and miscarriages. I had to sell off my home to pay off medical bills. My four kids and I lived 2 1/2 years with no health insurance. Nuclear holocaust could come and go and it will be me and the cockroaches! My daughter who is a junior in college is grateful we were poor. She called and said, "Thank God we never had much. These other people don't know how to act, now." I'll get through this because I have been living it all along. Being poorer isn't bad, being stupid and just following along is so much worse.
I will be giving real tips about how to survive on less and like it in later blogs. It can be done. It can be fun.