poor attitude

POOR ATTITUDE
No, not the newest troll. But I'll get to that soon. I think you might like this article. http://americanenergycrisis.blogspot.com/2009/09/big-lie.html
It somewhat ties into today's article, although the first loyal minion in yesterdays comments section gave me the idea. The above article is the lie of higher education, but it somewhat underscores the illusion of making a high income. Relating to absolutely nothing other than as a chronicle to my wasteland of a life, wife number four has moved back. I must say she has a much improved attitude. If she leaves again, I'm a dumbass. If she stays, great. If nothing else I now have 24 hour security at the Bison Compound. Of course, either way means that the Little Brain has won again. Insufferable prick. And last but not least before today's article, there will be a guest article this Saturday.
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When was a young lad I had a relatively poor attitude about money. Now I have the proper attitude about being poor. Going through the military, I never saved a dime. And that was with zero living expenses. When I got out I cashed in vacation time for walking around money until I got a civilian job. But absolutely no savings from fifteen grand net. I drank most of that. Getting married, I let the wife take my paycheck and pay the bills. Getting remarried, I still lived the lower middle class lifestyle. Mortgage on the mobile, car payment, bought insurance, spent all the extra on guns ( for me ), jewelry ( for her ) and eating out or BBQing every night. I wasn't unhappy, but I was definitely just spinning my wheels. Here I was, making twenty five grand. The wife brought in another five, her job being part time. It was still too far away to Y2K to be prepping seriously. I was buying mostly guns, little ammo, just a boy toy hobby. And, just to take a quick detour to share my newest theory with you. Why men are just bigger boys. This actually serves a species survival purpose, our never growing up. Observe a group of boys. Once they get done beating the crap out of each other, they inevitably turn their attention to a sacrificial insect or animal. Torture of said animal is conducted with great pleasure and interest. Boys have no problems ( unless brainwashed by PC moms or schools ) being cruel and killing things. Perfect training for growing up and killing a rival tribe for their resources. By staying young at heart, we can easily revert to savagery. Grown up toys are just a symptom. You're welcome, I've just given you the needed excuse for the wife for you to buy the bass boat.
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Anyway, even though I was paying child support and medical insurance, I was still bringing home at least $1200 a month. Big time for me, and especially considering the low cost of everything in the mid nineties ( when, not coincidentally, oil was ten to twenty bucks a barrel ). Yet I never saved any money. It was all spent on the typical suburban lifestyle ( granted, it was a mobile home, but stick homes in rural Oklahoma were for the upper crust ). When I fled that relationship for my sanity, I had a paid for truck and just a few hundred bucks in my pocket. Shortly thereafter, once again on a new wife, Satan's Chosen Disciple And Inheritor Of The Throne took me back to court for more money. Rather than a percentage of income, with her wages factored in, she changed the payments to a fixed amount based on my older, higher wages when she had been a student. And of course, entirely by coincidence, she then got her first high paying flying job. Anyway, the painful point was that my take home pay dropped like Jimmy Hoffa's corpse in a lake. Suddenly, I had to learn how to live on a lot less income. It wasn't like I was that greedy, taking home around $800. But it suddenly dropped to $500. That was when I tried for Food Stamps and was denied because of a high gross, and had to sleep on the living room floor while I rented out the rooms for grocery money.
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The lesson here is that if you don't plan ahead for a drop in income, you revert to less desirable emergency actions. If you plan ahead to be poor, you actually end up living nicer on less. My stress dropped with my income, and because I learned how to be poor I have a higher standard of living. I have no debt to worry about. I save money almost every month. I can go to town and treat myself every week ( usually consisting of a trip to the used book . Why? Because I have substantially lowered my wants and needs. When I unexpectedly got the casino job six years ago, I stayed at my lower cost of living. I stayed in a travel trailer. I kept shopping at Wal-Mart and the dented can/close-out store. I pinched every penny and almost never ate out or treated myself to luxuries. I thought about every potential expense ( a lot of expenses go away or are improvised on if you give it enough time instead of throwing money at it immediately ). I usually had an extra grand a month from tips and I invested it all in preps. Granted, a lot was wasted, such as buying too many lots of land or trying to invest in money losing publishing ( I make money now on the old Bison weekly newsletter, at the time it lost money ). But it was an investment instead of mindless consumption.
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The difference between the two identical incomes was my attitude. Before, I pissed it all away. The next time around, I lived far below my income and invested the extra. Now, partially because of those investments, I can live on even less income. My job is zero stress. My commute, while a pain in the butt, keeps me in great shape. My low level living style gets me ready for grid down. As it saves me money. It isn't about income, it is about spending. Age old wisdom, but buried under a consumer culture. Being poor by circumstance is bad. Being poor by design and with planning makes for a nice lifestyle. Did I mention that today's www.dirtcheapdirt.blogspot.com posts have a bunch of $500 land lots? $500, and you never pay rent again. Less than one months mortgage payment. If you have a poor attitude.
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I know you are asking yourself, how did the comment about keeping me poor relate to today's article? Because I planned for this, I like being poor. Strange as that sounds. Once you get used to it, it is rather empowering.
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