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Tips That Make You Feel Like a Genius
Secretly, I feel like a genius when I discover a secondary use for this or that — in case I run out of this, but have plenty of that! Like using a paper coffee filter to wash a glass top or mirror when I'm in a pinch for paper towels. Or using …Read more.
Supermarket Tricks That Makes Us Spend More
I've always thought of myself as pretty sharp when it comes to spotting supermarket trickery. I'm not even fazed by an end-cap display announcing, "Special." I know their ways. They hope we'll just assume that "special" means …Read more.
The Struggle to Actually Use up Gift Cards
My love-hate relationship with gift cards has intensified. What a pain, really. I'm one who just forgets to use them, and when I remember, I try to figure out how to use each one to the last cent. I was reminded of my situation recently when I …Read more.
Commingle Personal and Business Finances? Never!
Dear Mary: I am reading your book, "Debt-Proof Living," and have begun tracking my expenses. I have a home-based business. Should I include business expenses or just personal expenses in the tracking? — Lucy, Vermont
Dear Lucy: You …Read more.
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Reframe Your Thinking To Change Your AttitudeAre you facing a difficult or unpleasant situation in your life? You may not be able to change it, but you can change the way you think about it. That's because you have 100 percent control over your attitude -- the way you choose to respond to whatever life hands you.
Years ago, my husband and I decided not to replace my car once the lease was up. The plan was that because we work together, we would share his car until we could pay cash for a second car. We figured that would take six months or so. I won't say this new arrangement was enjoyable. Actually I hated it. I felt as if I'd lost my freedom. My wings were clipped; no more spontaneity for me. If I wasn't being "chaperoned" as a passenger in my husband's car, I was having to ask permission to borrow it. Let me just put it this way: I was not the most pleasant passenger. We'd been commuting together for about three months when I realized that it wasn't the situation that was intolerable. It was me. I was making myself miserable, not recognizing that the nicest guy in the world was willing to take me anywhere I wanted to go, anytime I wanted to get there. I was ungrateful and horribly self-centered. I needed an attitude change, and I needed it quickly. I decided I had to reframe my thinking because the situation wasn't going to change anytime soon.
Every day, I am driven back and forth to work, during which time I am free to chat, read, write, think, knit or nap. I never have to wash a car. I don't have to pump gas into it, insure it, register it or have it "smogged" (a California thing) -- all because my driver is also my maintenance man. Several times a year when I need to go in a different direction, I get a rental car, which allows me to try out some brand-new fancy cars and get my fix behind the wheel. See? A different way of looking at the same situation. I don't know what you are facing today, but I do know that it is within your power to choose how you will respond to that situation. You can choose to be miserable, or you can reframe your thinking. You can choose to see things in a way that will cause you to be grateful. By the way, we've become so comfortable with our one-car arrangement we find ourselves hoping it will never end. Eight years later you cannot imagine how many thousands of dollars we haven't spent to own and maintain a second car. Mary Hunt is the founder of www.DebtProofLiving.com and author of 17 books, including "Debt-Proof Living." You can e-mail her at mary@everydaycheapskate.com or write to Everyday Cheapskate, P.O. Box 2135, Paramount, CA 90723. To find out more about Mary Hunt and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
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