Daytripping September-October 2021 Issue

The
Daytripper
Off to KINCARDINE, MINTO, HARRISTON, CLIFFORD & LISTOWEL
SHOP
LOCAL
HIVE ‘N HOE
Country Store
Local, Natural Honey
Handcrafted Gifts
Homegrown Produce
Open Mon.-Sat. 10-5
519-396-3529
www.anderkin.ca
46 Queen en St.,
Ripley
519-395-2236
5-22
36
Honey Products
678 Kincardine Ave.
KINCARDINE
Incredible deals
on area rugs,
permanent
botanicals &
home & cottage
decor!
• Brunelli
bedding &
pillows
• Greeting
Cards
• Gourmet
Foods
•Area Rugs
• Made in
Ontario
products
• Eco-Friendly
Products
•Bamboo
Clothing
•Home Decor
Everything
you need
for Boho,
Lakeside
Living!
787 Queen St, Kincardine • 519-396-6861
www.harbourroseboutique.ca
Too Much Debt
By Elaine Ballantyne, Bright
Page 26
I used to
laugh at people
that hung their
laundry in frosty
weather. Now
I’m one of them.
Buying in
bulk? Now
I shop elbow
deep at the Bulk
Barn.
Running loads in the dishwasher?
Now my daughters and I work as a team
to clean the dishes.
I’ve become obsessed with cutting
corners in my quest to keep within
budget. It all began when I came across
a website based on frugal living. This
website is published by a woman whose
family paid off $20,000 worth of debt in
five years on only an average income of
$22,000.00! This penny-pinching diva
has inspired me. My new mantra is: “I
must! I must! I must get out of debt!”
The media reports that we are in a
global financial crisis. I am in a local
financial crisis. I need to get back to
living within my means. I need to be
able to better decipher between needs
and wants.
Recently I was talking to a “seasoned”
woman friend. We got talking about this
present global financial crisis. Then we
got talking about the past. My friend
said it perfectly when she stated: “If
you didn’t have the money, you simply
didn’t buy it.”
Back in the day, there was no such
thing as Mastercard or Visa. For
example, when my older friend got
Phobias… The fear of fear is called phobophobia
married, her father credited her and her
husband with 24 chickens and a heifer
that liked to kick. This friend’s lifelong
frugal living inspires me.
In the 1920s, before the government
had hooked up farmhouses with electrical
lines, my maternal grandmother grew
up with no hydro.
“We used lots of blankets and an old
wood stove,” I recall my grandmother
saying. My grandmother’s family was
so frugal that not only did they order
necessities from the Sears catalogue,
but they also used it for that essential
paper in the outhouse. Talk about thrift!
A couple of weeks ago I was in Sobey’s
planning my weekly menu. I was
bellyaching to Trudy the cashier that I
was tired of eating mac and cheese five
times a week. “I just don’t know about
this budgeting thing!” I lamented.
Trudy leaned over the conveyer belt
and spoke softly in my ear. “Just a
gentle reminder Elaine, that if you have
food in your refrigerator, clothes on your
back, a roof over your head and a place
to sleep, you are richer than 75 percent
of this world.”
Yeah, enough said.
I must continue on in my perseverance
while I slash my expenses and gain
control over my debit card. I dream
that my frugal living will help me arrive
at a place called financial bliss. I think
Gail Vaz-Oxlade, the past host of the TV
program, “Till Debt Do Us Part,” says
it the best: “Don’t spend more money
than you make. You can have anything
you want, anything, if you’re prepared
to work hard for it.”
Sept-Oct 2021