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I Have So Many Things On My Mind

Things that I want to share! So let’s just chat.

Money is a huge thing on my mind the past couple of years. I am sure it is on most of yours too. But lately it has really been on my mind. As I watch our money being depleted because of inflation, I am asking myself all of the time how do I save money doing this or that.

Being retired for 22+ years and knowing that we have lived a good middle income life, times these days are disheartening. In the past 3+ years, all of us have seen prices rising on groceries, gasoline, energy bills, clothing, health insurance, auto and homeowner’s insurances, water rates, garbage collection, etc. Just about everything has rapidly increased. The past few months things have really been on the rise.

Don’t let anyone tell you that inflation is decreasing. Because it is not and will not be anytime soon. The Feds have already said that they will be raising interest rates into 2024.

I believe that the stock market has been held up by the Treasury Bonds(and we all know what our government is worth) and many large companies and the huge profits they have earned during the past year or two. However, people are running out of money to spend so they are not buying as much as they were. People are losing their jobs as companies tighten their belts. Many small businesses which have always been the backbone of our country are now gone. Many more will follow.

Yet with all of this and so many people barely able to buy their food, our government continues to spend money like water. It’s time to turn off the tap! The amount of money that they have spent in just the past few months is ridiculous. They continue to spend our taxpaying money in Ukraine. The amount of money they have given them could help many Americans. What a novel idea to spend money on your own citizens.

The other thing that has bothered me of late is the junk that they are putting in our food and cleaning products. Does anyone really know what GMO means or what it is? I know what the initials stand for but not what they are actually putting in it to engineer it. Cleaning products are full of toxic chemicals.

There are two You Tubers who I have been following for years who are trying to help us with that. One is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zdj5KpgOeo&t=23s . He is starting a grass roots movement to switch our consumer spending back to family owned made in America non toxic products. You can find more information on his webpage: https://switchaway.com/index.php. The other one is: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=poplar+preparedness . He will be working on a website that will show you the American companies where you can buy safe food. That one is just in the beginning stages. He has a Zoom meeting planned soon to discuss that and he wants to hire some of those people who are subscribers to his channel to help work on this project. He will be paying them.

They both want us to buy safe American made products and switch our spending away from these large companies(you know who they are) to help small businesses in our country. I am very interested in this myself. But not enough to work on Poplar Preparedness’s project. I have enough work to do around here. But I will be watching all of this unfold.

The last thing that I want to discuss is food inflation. We all know that food prices are a result of supply and demand. All of the shortages that we have had the past few years is also raising the prices. I hear the media every day tell us how many illegal immigrants are entering our country ( 2000- 4000) most days. But right now there is a huge caravan of Venezuela men traveling to the border. Biden has agreed to let them come in. I have heard a number of 147,000. But then today I heard he is willing to take half a million and give them work visas. I never hear the media mention what that is doing to our food supply, non food supply, and our medicines. All of these trespassers have to eat, have personal care products, medicines, cleaning products, etc. Our government for the most part is paying for that for them. Yes, I know that some of them most likely have jobs. However, the majority do not. Bottom line: They are causing shortages and the prices to go up too. They are also clogging our ER’s. But no one talks about that.

There I have told you what has been on my mind. Now what has been on yours? Feel free to comment.

Also because money is leaving our pockets so rapidly, I will be starting up my weekly posts on What I Did To Save Money very soon.

14 replies on “I Have So Many Things On My Mind”

Hi Precious, thoughtful article. I agree about the inflation. Hubby and I were just talking earlier in the week about it. What I am seeing now at the grocery is some price stabilization, but it is at a higher price point. Like a dozen eggs used to be regular price 1.29 and now 1.59. It seems everything is like that now. I was at Dollar Tree this week to get a few cards, and the 2/$1 cards were really picked over and so I am wondering if they are phasing them out? They have also gone to all self checkout with one attendant.

So many things I could say about our government and how they spend our money and more. We do have several friends who came into our country legally under different programs. Some of them received govt benefits for 6 mos, some did not b/c they had in-demand skills. All have become productive members of our society, and I feel the limited govt benefits were something that paid off for our friends who got them. They have been an asset to our country. But these benefits should not be given out indiscriminately.

In our town, I haven’t yet seen some of the things like people losing their jobs and many businesses closing. This summer, our daughter’s company opened 3 new restaurants: 2 in our town and one in Las Vegas. Hubby’s company still has more work coming in, but you know he works in power; it is a good field with a shortage of workers. And we live in our state’s capital, so I think that has something to do with it too.

As far as the food supply, I know you know our son is a food scientist. He is more of a researcher and his field, metabolomics, has to do with how our bodies metabolize the nutrients in food. He said some of the research that has taken place in the agriculture field in general has been necessary to have enough food to feed the world: we would not have enough without it. I read a book about the history of food science awhile back and it was fascinating. Food science didn’t really exist before the Great Depression and started out in the county extension system with our country’s land grant universities. It was interesting to read about how the modern nutrition standards in this country came to be, and how they evolved through the years as there was more research. It was also interesting to read about how the food companies responded when so many women went to work in the 1970s and later, so that they could get dinner on the table. That said, I am not a huge user of convenience foods, and I know you aren’t either. And neither is our son.

I guess I have rambled on long enough. LOL! Off to take a nap before the girls come at 5-5:30 for a sleepover tonight.

Hi Chris,

Thanks. We are not really seeing much stabilization here at all. The prices are up every week. The only things that are affordable are sale items at the more expensive stores. I noticed that the last time I was at Dollar Tree also. But I can still get different cards at Walmart for $ .97- $ .98 each. I stocked on them recently.

Many immigrants are assets to this country. But most came in legally under the program that has been in place for years. I have no problem with that. Come in the right way and you are more than welcome. The immigration that is happening now is destroying the country. It is bringing in crime too. I lived in AZ for 10 years and there were illegals crossing the border every day but nothing like this. I have friends there and what they are dealing with now no one should have to put up with. My relatives are in Texas and the same thing is happening there.

Consider yourself lucky that you haven’t seen people losing their jobs because it is happening all over the country. I feel so bad for the people who have lost their jobs.

I like your rambling.

I’m as excited as a kid at Christmas!!!!! I love your “what I did today to save money” series and have asked for it to return a couple of times! woohoo. It helps me think about my daily impact on my finances and helps me stay accountable. Thank you.

Hi guys. I’ve been rich. And I’ve been poor. I know what it’s like to be homeless and sleep in your car. It doesn’t take much to go broke. A few bad decisions and voila: you’re destitute. Thankfully I learned very well from my mistakes. Can it happen again? Sure but it won’t be by my own hand next time around. And that’s what scares me the most. Our government has fucked us. Why? I have no idea. Never in my 70 years have I seen an administration so hell bent on destroying Americans and their way of life. Not even during the Viet Nam war. The only solution I can see is to own your own home, carry no debt and have sufficient cash, gold and silver locked away. My food stockpile is coming in handy. Best to keep your head low and out of trouble. Security is lifesaving now. Always look behind you. Always be aware of where you are. NY is a fucked up state right now but we have no where else to go. Sorry for the curse words.
One last thing. Make sure you’re packing. Biden will do anything now to take our weapons away. Then, we are really f**ked. We’ll have no defenses left.
Did we ever imagine we would be speaking like this?

Hi Cindi,

God Bless you Cindi. You have been through it all.

I have been through the Korean war, the Vietnam war, many recessions, and so much more. I’m a bit older than you. But I have to agree with you about this administration. I thought Carter was bad but he doesn’t hold a candle to Biden. I also 100% agree with your solution. At first I thought his policies were because of stupidity but now I realize that this is all a plan for the entire world. Everything that our leaders are doing here, leaders in other countries are doing also. Security is of utmost importance. You have to have eyes in the back of the your head when you are out and about. I see so many people walking and paying attention to their phones and I want to shake them. You always have to be aware of your surroundings.

No I never thought we would see anything like this. Thanks for sharing Cindi.

In my NEPA area, we are seeing lots of jobs still available. Not sure if that many people don’t want to work here or what’s going on. They are not low paying jobs either. My teens make a minimum of $13/hr for PT seasonal jobs. I saw jobs for $25/hr FT with benefits just in the past 2 weeks.

Inflation is horrible of course. Sales in stores are barely existent EXCEPT for Shoprite who continues to have good weekly specials. I guess you know where I shop. There, aldi and some walmart rounds out my grocery shopping. I’m afraid to add up what we spend on groceries. I have a challenge starting (1 week in) where we are eating what we have, minus fresh fruit, veggies dairy. Meal planning Sundays for the week. I have to get a handle on these food costs!

My second challenge is getting our financial life in order. We owe no money but I have been very lax about budgeting and finances in general. I must get back to how I managed them in the past. Especially as things get more expensive.

I am extremely lucky to be about 25 years in on frugal living, cooking from home, buy on the sales cycle and meal plan. We own our home, we pay off bills monthly, I shop annually for oil, electricity. We have always lived like this. I also live in what used to be a low cost area. Do those exist anymore? The home prices and rents even here say no, that doesn’t exist. I can’t imagine heading out today to be a young adult with the costs of today.

Hi jackeey49,

If I had a Shoprite, I would definiitely be there. I have shopped at a couple in eastern NY. They have great deals! You are lucky one is near you.

Good for you eating up what you have. We are doing pretty much the same. And filling in like you. But if I see a great deal on meat, I am there. This week they just have ground beef at $2.99 again. But I have enough now.

Good luck with your financial budgeting journey.

We could be twins. We do all that you do with the exception that we are stuck with our utility company.

I don’t think there are a lot of low cost homes these days. It is hard on the younger people. But we had very little money in the 1960’s and then we had the 1970’s Carter era where interest rates went up to the high teens and we all survived. In those times, we saved and saved to buy a new home. We didn’t do a lot of the things that the young people do today. But I have to admit that the policies of this President are a lot worse than Carter.

Thanks for sharing.

Sorry an additional comment.
I just read a very interesting article about how some seniors are doing ok financially but still overpaying for homes bigger than they need, yards they have to pay to have mowed, higher taxes for high taxed areas and so on. That seniors must consider cutting back on housing decisions as inflation gets worse. I’m trying to help my parents with this. They are not at the age they need to outsource all help (yet) but do call on the grandkids for help here and there. It was very interesting and made me think about more things in terms of older people and in planning as my husband and I get older too!

Hi again jackeey49,

Yes, a lot of seniors are having a tough time today. We downsized our huge home when we moved to AZ and purchased this home to be about the same size when we moved back to NY. We paid cash for this one and the one in AZ. We have a ranch so it is easy to manage. We only pay for outside landscaping and not as much as other years because Hubby is enjoying doing it for exercise. I am still able to do the inside work. One of the things that we planned for was to be able to pay for help as we age so we built that into our retirement plan.

It is all about planning when you get older. You have to think about all the what ifs! Your parents are very lucky to have you guiding them.

Hi Precious, me again. I thought the comments in this post were interesting. I am younger and don’t remember some of the same things you and others do since I was a kid/clueless teenager during some of what you were talking about. I did try to research what you were talking about when you said “plan for the entire world”. I found a few things, but thought it interesting that along with the news type articles, Google also brought up God’s plan for the entire world. I thought you would find that interesting also.

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