Posted by
novelator on Wednesday, March 18, 2009 6:13:40 AM
The woman who wrote "Nickel and Dimed," referred to in
John Stossel's column--Making It has a lot to learn about simple survival.
In 2003, My daughter, who was only four at the time, and I left Dalhart, Texas in a twenty-year-old station wagon filled with our belongings and drove to Great Falls, Montana to start a new life. When we arrived in town, we knew no one. No local references, nothing. Granted, we had a small stash of cash to see us through for a month or so. By 5:30 that evening, we were in a tiny rented house, we had a bed, and one small child's table. Our belongings were mainly necessities--bare-bones kitchen essentials, clothing, some bedding, my computer (as I'm a writer) and toys, lots of toys. Even tied my daughter's bike to the top of the car. We had a thirteen-inch television. That's all we had.
Now, here it is, nearly six years later, and we're living in the country in a small, but sturdy two-bedroom house on 3/4 of an acre that I bought through Rural Development with no money down. My payments are actually one-hundred dollars less than my rent was before. We have a different car, a wonderful old Taurus, because that first winter we spent here, the transmission on ye olde station wagon that carried us out of Texas gave up the ghost during the first 20-below cold snap. We took the bus for a long time, I'd guess close to a year, until we managed to get another car.
I worked as a customer service rep in a call center for the first three years we were here in Great Falls. Even to this day, we shop Goodwill and clearance sales, and we're making it. In fact, I have an interview coming up with WalMart for a part-time position just to pad the earnings from my novels and what I make as a substitute teacher.
Attitude is everything in America. Those who want to survive, will. Perhaps I should write a book about nickels and dimes and what great things can be accomplished when you put a little research into where best to spend them.