How to have a life and to enjoy life during the present financial crisis
This information is good at any time but especially good during a time of crisis. In this many pronged approach to life, we will look at the areas in our life which can be altered to make our lives better.
Financially
How to make more money
start a small service business
dog walking
yard work
cooking meals
upholstery
sewing, knitting
2. sell product from home
a. something you make like food, Christmas ornaments, baked goods,
b. sell something someone else makes – this become a little problematic, involving taxes, etc.
3. barter your services or products
legal ramifications
a. barter income should be reported on your IRS tax return
b. Sales tax should be collected and relayed to the proper authorities
4. take in another occupant to your home and charge rent
How to save money
1. easy and obvious
a. cut your cable to basic or completely out
b. put your thermostat down to 65
c. travel by bus whenever possible
2. creative and more interesting
hang your clothes out to air instead of dry cleaning
become a vegetarian for several days a week
eat meat sparingly instead of regularly
start enjoying whole grains
watch DVDs with friends (see social below)
3. far out
a. convert your house to energy efficient
b. sell your car
c. move to a smaller place
d. move in with relatives
e. consider not having a pet
Socially
How to have fun with on money at all
1. card games
2. have a dancing evening
3. instead of alcohol served punch
4. watch DVDs with friends
5. hiking
6. biking
7. fishing
8. camping
9. skating
How to have fun with children
1. go to the zoo
2. play card games
3. play ball games
4. go to the park
5. go hiking
6. go biking
7. go skating
How to have fun on no money at all
Emotionally
How to make life a wonderful experience on very little money
1. laughter is the best way
a. funny DVDs
b. funny CDs
c. the best of humor
written humor
spoken humor
live microphones in clubs
comedy clubs
comedy clubs at home
Community
1. giving to the community is what creates happiness
2. if you have material excess, share your food,
3. share your blankets, share your clothing
4. if you have time in excess, give time to others
a. read to the blind
b. drive the disabled some place
c. take somebody for a walk
d. go to the supermarket for a friend who can't get there
e. help a friend who is too nice to ask
f. filing for a friend
Spiritually
1. using the Law of attraction to gain lots of fun and happiness in your life
2. using Spirit, guides
3. take part in a religion of your choice
4. anything else that you call spiritual to make your life work
How to have your life work on no money at all
Joy and love are not about money
Joy watching the sun rise, spring flowers bloom, the Pacific Northwest in all its glory, stars in the night, soft air when it becomes spring time, kisses from babies, kisses from dogs, hugs from your friends, groups, there is so much love to be had
Love in it all its forms makes everything worthwhile. Love from babies, our children our family or friends and adult love, if we are lucky.
We are so blessed to live in freedom where we can speak what we think, live without fear of reprisal, and enjoy what nature has to offer us.
This material is just off the top of my head. It is not meant to be the final product. Far from that, it is meant to be the starting point. Would be interested to meet to discuss “How we can make Ourselves Happy”? Please call or write:
Claire Anderson, MS. E. D.
cla327@aol.com
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Crisis stirs community spirit
Originally published Sunday, February 8, 2009, The Seattle Times
Crisis stirs community spirit
Barack Obama's call to organize prompted about 40 household meetups in the Seattle area this weekend. And while people leading the meetings support Obama's agenda in D.C., many are looking for solutions closer to home.
You can find a list of local economic-recovery meetings at the Organizing for America Web site, my.barackobama.com/recoveryplan . Then type in your ZIP code. It was around the time the U.S. Senate decided to grant tax credits for buying $49,500 cars that Claire Anderson took the plunge.
She is blind, 68, and, as she likes to joke, "between husbands." Yet she took a deep breath last week and invited 15 total strangers to come to her Ballard apartment for a meeting, at 4 p.m. today.
The topic: The crashing economy. Specifically: What can we do?
"I think we're headed back to the days of the victory gardens," Claire said. "We have to figure out how to help ourselves. We can't be isolated. We can't sit around and wait for the government."
Hers is only one gathering, in one apartment. Still, it has the feel of a movement. Call it urban survivalist. Most of the ideas are not new, but the collapse of supposedly rock-solid institutions such as banks is taking it up a notch.
It's the do-it-yourself spirit. Only doing it together.
Claire's is one of about 40 household meetups in the Seattle area this weekend, prompted by Barack Obama's new "Organizing for America" project. Obama suggested the meetings last week, tapping his 13 million-deep e-mail network for the first time since becoming president.
He's trying to community organize the nation. He's got his own agenda: rallying support for his economic-stimulus bill.
But what struck me in talking to people leading these meetings is how little they are looking to Washington, D.C., for any help.
They support Obama, sure. But many feel the ways out of this crisis are local.
"If this was just about politics, or lobbying Congress, I wouldn't do it," said Rosetta Sanz, 60, a "grandma for change" who is holding a meeting in Puyallup. "To me, this is about what we can do for each other. Not what the government can do for us."
Jose Carino in North Seattle is using his meeting to try to form "volunteer groups for mutual aid." The idea is to help one another with routine tasks and services, such as child care. Only to do it off the usual grid.
In my one-hour talk with Claire Anderson, she mentioned barter networks. Local food cooperatives. Neighbor-to-neighbor financial loans. Clothing swaps. Even sewing circles to recycle clothes.
It's like the formation of credit unions back in the Depression, when banks had failed, so people made their own banking clubs.
Claire realizes most of her ideas for economic survival might have the perverse effect of pinching the economy.
"If you're ironing your clothes instead of going to the dry cleaner, you're hurting the dry cleaner," she said.
But there has to be a change in our easy-credit consumer culture, she said. Even if it's painful.
"I think we're in terrible trouble," she said. "I like how Obama throws it back on us. He says — what can you do? The point here is to get ready by going back to the one institution you know you can count on, which is community."
Despite all the hope about Obama, there is ample skepticism about the stimulus bill. Sanz called sending out tax-rebate checks "ridiculous." People seem to approve of the direct infrastructure and energy spending, because it builds something. Said Anderson: "A lot of it seems to be just doling out money."
Take the car-tax credit, added last week by the U.S. Senate. It would make interest payments on new-car loans tax deductible, for cars costing up to $49,500. The premise is to spur car sales.
Because the government doesn't have the money for this program, though, it would have to borrow it. So the government is borrowing more money in order to entice you to borrow more money. All to get us out of a crisis caused by ... too much borrowing!
Senators should go to some of these house meetings. They'd see that when people said they wanted change, they meant it.
Danny Westneat's column appears Wednesday and Sunday. Reach him at 206-464-2086 or dwestneat@seattletimes.com.
Copyright © 2009 The Seattle Times Company
Crisis stirs community spirit
Barack Obama's call to organize prompted about 40 household meetups in the Seattle area this weekend. And while people leading the meetings support Obama's agenda in D.C., many are looking for solutions closer to home.
You can find a list of local economic-recovery meetings at the Organizing for America Web site, my.barackobama.com/recoveryplan . Then type in your ZIP code. It was around the time the U.S. Senate decided to grant tax credits for buying $49,500 cars that Claire Anderson took the plunge.
She is blind, 68, and, as she likes to joke, "between husbands." Yet she took a deep breath last week and invited 15 total strangers to come to her Ballard apartment for a meeting, at 4 p.m. today.
The topic: The crashing economy. Specifically: What can we do?
"I think we're headed back to the days of the victory gardens," Claire said. "We have to figure out how to help ourselves. We can't be isolated. We can't sit around and wait for the government."
Hers is only one gathering, in one apartment. Still, it has the feel of a movement. Call it urban survivalist. Most of the ideas are not new, but the collapse of supposedly rock-solid institutions such as banks is taking it up a notch.
It's the do-it-yourself spirit. Only doing it together.
Claire's is one of about 40 household meetups in the Seattle area this weekend, prompted by Barack Obama's new "Organizing for America" project. Obama suggested the meetings last week, tapping his 13 million-deep e-mail network for the first time since becoming president.
He's trying to community organize the nation. He's got his own agenda: rallying support for his economic-stimulus bill.
But what struck me in talking to people leading these meetings is how little they are looking to Washington, D.C., for any help.
They support Obama, sure. But many feel the ways out of this crisis are local.
"If this was just about politics, or lobbying Congress, I wouldn't do it," said Rosetta Sanz, 60, a "grandma for change" who is holding a meeting in Puyallup. "To me, this is about what we can do for each other. Not what the government can do for us."
Jose Carino in North Seattle is using his meeting to try to form "volunteer groups for mutual aid." The idea is to help one another with routine tasks and services, such as child care. Only to do it off the usual grid.
In my one-hour talk with Claire Anderson, she mentioned barter networks. Local food cooperatives. Neighbor-to-neighbor financial loans. Clothing swaps. Even sewing circles to recycle clothes.
It's like the formation of credit unions back in the Depression, when banks had failed, so people made their own banking clubs.
Claire realizes most of her ideas for economic survival might have the perverse effect of pinching the economy.
"If you're ironing your clothes instead of going to the dry cleaner, you're hurting the dry cleaner," she said.
But there has to be a change in our easy-credit consumer culture, she said. Even if it's painful.
"I think we're in terrible trouble," she said. "I like how Obama throws it back on us. He says — what can you do? The point here is to get ready by going back to the one institution you know you can count on, which is community."
Despite all the hope about Obama, there is ample skepticism about the stimulus bill. Sanz called sending out tax-rebate checks "ridiculous." People seem to approve of the direct infrastructure and energy spending, because it builds something. Said Anderson: "A lot of it seems to be just doling out money."
Take the car-tax credit, added last week by the U.S. Senate. It would make interest payments on new-car loans tax deductible, for cars costing up to $49,500. The premise is to spur car sales.
Because the government doesn't have the money for this program, though, it would have to borrow it. So the government is borrowing more money in order to entice you to borrow more money. All to get us out of a crisis caused by ... too much borrowing!
Senators should go to some of these house meetings. They'd see that when people said they wanted change, they meant it.
Danny Westneat's column appears Wednesday and Sunday. Reach him at 206-464-2086 or dwestneat@seattletimes.com.
Copyright © 2009 The Seattle Times Company
Life in the Fast Lane
November 2008
Yes, I know it's been a long time since I wrote. I can explain everything. Are you sure you want to read my excuse? Well, I've been busy. If I gave the list it will sound like I am on a treadmill. It doesn't work out that way in real life. I've become quite the night owl. I have had insomnia all my life. I remember having trouble falling asleep when I was eight or nine years old. All my life it was such an issue because I had to get up to go to work and take care of my children. Now I don't have those issues. I go to bed around one or 2 a.m. I get up around eight, throw on some clothes over my pajamas, walk the dog, and in 20 minutes I am back in bed and sleep until 10 or 11. I just love it. Sometimes I listen to a book for two or three hours and am up at 4 or 5 a.m. I don't give it a thought. Although my neighbors may be wondering what’s going on in my apartment.
I have a new method of getting books and listening. It is called the Victor Stream Reader. I can download as many as 80 books on to this player which is as big as a deck of cards. The actual chip that I put in my computer and into the reader is as big as a quarter. Isn't that amazing? I can put it in my pocket and listen to books when I take walks or when I am in the gym or on the bus or just at home. When I am out I hook it up to earphones. At home I hook it up to a speaker system so I can walk around and cook and do laundry and listen to books. I still love that multitasking.
The books are downloaded from a site called the National Library Service. They have 170,000 books. Not a lot of books. So many books I want are not on their site. Also, members are allowed to download 30 books a month. Only I feel put-upon. I am chomping at the bit waiting for the time to be up so I can get some more books. This is how I felt as a child when I was allowed to check out only 6 books at a time from the library. I was so happy to become an adult with no amount restrictions. One time I ordered over 100 books when I was doing research. They were delivered to me in cartons from the library. Now with the Internet I suppose people don’t order books like that anymore. Too bad!
I just finished reading a book called “Crashing Through” which is the true story of a man by the name of Michael May, who is alive today and lives in San Francisco. Michael, after being blind for 44 years, had his vision restored through the use of stem cell surgery. Most of the book is about his trials of trying to adjust to a new life with vision. It is quite an amazing story and I was telling my family about it. My grandson Kalyan asked me if I would want to have my good eyesight back. As I thought about it I realized that it would be as much of an adjustment to good eyesight as has been the last three years adjusting to being blind. I have built a whole life around being partially sighted. I have been looking for a good term to describe my condition or situation. In the medical world it is called legally blind, 20/800. In the blind community it is called low vision. I have called it a half cup of vision but it is a full half cup. My life is so filled up with accommodations and adjustments, all of which are quite terrific, and if I had my vision restored, all of this would go away.
My wonderful and loyal companion DaVida, who is the joy of my life. Through a variety of services I am able to take care of my self and my home so well. These include Jennifer, a volunteer through Community Services for the Blind, who comes over once every two weeks and we spend a few funny hours solving computer issues. She is so smart and has become a good friend. In fact, we set up a blog together. It is listed at the bottom of this letter. If you sign up on the blog, you will receive an email whenever there is a new posting. She has helped me build a social network here.
A terrific nurse’s aide, Analia, through my home nursing care insurance program comes several times a week. She and I do personal care and go to the market and to doctor’s appointments and bank and other kinds of chores.
Then there are services such as free directory assistance on the telephone and free movies in movie theaters and first row seats in theaters. I certainly love the attention and being special. Wherever I go people stopped to talk to me about my dog and they tell me how beautiful she is. Then they tell me about their dogs and cats, they're dead dogs and cats, how much they love dogs and cats. So there are so many conversations everywhere. If I were just the regular sighted person I would not be getting all of this attention and help. It took me quite a while to adjust to all of the help as I used to be extremely independent as you well know. But now I am enjoying it and I feel as if I am in charge and do not feel like I have lost my independence. It has been an interesting balancing act of being dependant and independent. I feel that I have accomplished it. It was not easy. The first year was extremely difficult for me as I felt that I had lost my independence. Interestingly enough, I feel in control of my life now even with all the help I get because I can decide what each person who comes here does for me. It just feels like managing a business as I have done for many years. I am so grateful to them for being in my life and making my life work.
People say it takes two to three years to adjust to new life experiences. It has been just two years since I moved to Seattle. I do love it here including the weather. Although it is often gray and dreary outside, people here are always having fun. As soon as I walk into the library, or a restaurant, or my home or someone else's home, it is always warm and full of life. I actually find it easier to be outdoors here than I ever did in Miami, where it was always hot. It is so much easier to be outdoors in cool weather. The trick is to dress properly. I have an indoor/outdoor talking thermometer and I can always check what the weather is outside before I go out. Then I dress appropriately so I can be outdoors and walk it. It is a different adjustment than if I were driving around. Then you can keep a lightweight jacket and a heavyweight jacket in the car and switch during the day. I have to dress in layers so I can discard a layer during the day when it warms up. Everyone carries a canvas bag or a backpack for that purpose. It is a different group of people who travel by bus and walk. Many are executives, working people, retired people, and then there are the others. I won't dwell on this group except to say that there is a large contingency of homeless and mentally ill will ride the buses and one has to get used to that. Enough said.
So now I have been retired for three years, legally blind for three years, a Seattle resident for two years, and a guide dog partner for 1 1/2 years. Life has fallen into an easy pattern of stress-free living. I am enjoying myself almost all the time. There are some periods of boredom, but that is not such a terrible problem. I never feel lonely. There are so many people and friends and family and helpers in my life. But I used to be an adrenaline junkie, and still feel that need running in my blood. That is why I was running three businesses until I lost my good eyesight. I always liked living on the edge. I still get that kick from playing poker but it is something to explore, but need for excitement or adrenaline kicks. I think some people like the opposite, calmness and no excitement, but not me.
For quite a while they excitement, anticipation, and worry about the economy and politics and whether Obama would get elected without any voter’s fraud preventing his election created stressing and worrying. Now that he has been elected I find myself relaxing more about politics but not economics. I trust he will gather the best minds to work on the world's problems as he has done so far. I certainly wouldn't want his job but I am so glad that he has it.
So now I find myself retired and thinking in different ways about life. I think of those less fortunate than I and how I can help them with my energy and my good intellect. There are so many people in need that it is quite overwhelming to decide which way to turn. I have been putting my energy into helping grow the Toastmasters, including the prisoners, putting energy into the Mensa group of Western Washington, putting energy into a homeless community here in Seattle, helping some of the seniors at the Unitarian Church, and looking for other roles. I, at first, didn't know how I could do volunteer work with my diminished eyesight. Now I know that my abilities as an organizer and leader are needed in every organization to which I belong. That is how I am now volunteering. It seems to be appreciated. All the practice of organizing dinners and speakers for the Wharton Club and the Harvard Club and the Yale Club and the Certified Financial Analysts have helped me become an event organizer. Now I am able to use those abilities here. So I am coming in to my own in the organizations to which I belong. You see, you knew I would find myself and I even knew, I just didn't know how it would work out. This is how it worked out and it seems so obvious. It always does after you figure it out.
Yes, I know it's been a long time since I wrote. I can explain everything. Are you sure you want to read my excuse? Well, I've been busy. If I gave the list it will sound like I am on a treadmill. It doesn't work out that way in real life. I've become quite the night owl. I have had insomnia all my life. I remember having trouble falling asleep when I was eight or nine years old. All my life it was such an issue because I had to get up to go to work and take care of my children. Now I don't have those issues. I go to bed around one or 2 a.m. I get up around eight, throw on some clothes over my pajamas, walk the dog, and in 20 minutes I am back in bed and sleep until 10 or 11. I just love it. Sometimes I listen to a book for two or three hours and am up at 4 or 5 a.m. I don't give it a thought. Although my neighbors may be wondering what’s going on in my apartment.
I have a new method of getting books and listening. It is called the Victor Stream Reader. I can download as many as 80 books on to this player which is as big as a deck of cards. The actual chip that I put in my computer and into the reader is as big as a quarter. Isn't that amazing? I can put it in my pocket and listen to books when I take walks or when I am in the gym or on the bus or just at home. When I am out I hook it up to earphones. At home I hook it up to a speaker system so I can walk around and cook and do laundry and listen to books. I still love that multitasking.
The books are downloaded from a site called the National Library Service. They have 170,000 books. Not a lot of books. So many books I want are not on their site. Also, members are allowed to download 30 books a month. Only I feel put-upon. I am chomping at the bit waiting for the time to be up so I can get some more books. This is how I felt as a child when I was allowed to check out only 6 books at a time from the library. I was so happy to become an adult with no amount restrictions. One time I ordered over 100 books when I was doing research. They were delivered to me in cartons from the library. Now with the Internet I suppose people don’t order books like that anymore. Too bad!
I just finished reading a book called “Crashing Through” which is the true story of a man by the name of Michael May, who is alive today and lives in San Francisco. Michael, after being blind for 44 years, had his vision restored through the use of stem cell surgery. Most of the book is about his trials of trying to adjust to a new life with vision. It is quite an amazing story and I was telling my family about it. My grandson Kalyan asked me if I would want to have my good eyesight back. As I thought about it I realized that it would be as much of an adjustment to good eyesight as has been the last three years adjusting to being blind. I have built a whole life around being partially sighted. I have been looking for a good term to describe my condition or situation. In the medical world it is called legally blind, 20/800. In the blind community it is called low vision. I have called it a half cup of vision but it is a full half cup. My life is so filled up with accommodations and adjustments, all of which are quite terrific, and if I had my vision restored, all of this would go away.
My wonderful and loyal companion DaVida, who is the joy of my life. Through a variety of services I am able to take care of my self and my home so well. These include Jennifer, a volunteer through Community Services for the Blind, who comes over once every two weeks and we spend a few funny hours solving computer issues. She is so smart and has become a good friend. In fact, we set up a blog together. It is listed at the bottom of this letter. If you sign up on the blog, you will receive an email whenever there is a new posting. She has helped me build a social network here.
A terrific nurse’s aide, Analia, through my home nursing care insurance program comes several times a week. She and I do personal care and go to the market and to doctor’s appointments and bank and other kinds of chores.
Then there are services such as free directory assistance on the telephone and free movies in movie theaters and first row seats in theaters. I certainly love the attention and being special. Wherever I go people stopped to talk to me about my dog and they tell me how beautiful she is. Then they tell me about their dogs and cats, they're dead dogs and cats, how much they love dogs and cats. So there are so many conversations everywhere. If I were just the regular sighted person I would not be getting all of this attention and help. It took me quite a while to adjust to all of the help as I used to be extremely independent as you well know. But now I am enjoying it and I feel as if I am in charge and do not feel like I have lost my independence. It has been an interesting balancing act of being dependant and independent. I feel that I have accomplished it. It was not easy. The first year was extremely difficult for me as I felt that I had lost my independence. Interestingly enough, I feel in control of my life now even with all the help I get because I can decide what each person who comes here does for me. It just feels like managing a business as I have done for many years. I am so grateful to them for being in my life and making my life work.
People say it takes two to three years to adjust to new life experiences. It has been just two years since I moved to Seattle. I do love it here including the weather. Although it is often gray and dreary outside, people here are always having fun. As soon as I walk into the library, or a restaurant, or my home or someone else's home, it is always warm and full of life. I actually find it easier to be outdoors here than I ever did in Miami, where it was always hot. It is so much easier to be outdoors in cool weather. The trick is to dress properly. I have an indoor/outdoor talking thermometer and I can always check what the weather is outside before I go out. Then I dress appropriately so I can be outdoors and walk it. It is a different adjustment than if I were driving around. Then you can keep a lightweight jacket and a heavyweight jacket in the car and switch during the day. I have to dress in layers so I can discard a layer during the day when it warms up. Everyone carries a canvas bag or a backpack for that purpose. It is a different group of people who travel by bus and walk. Many are executives, working people, retired people, and then there are the others. I won't dwell on this group except to say that there is a large contingency of homeless and mentally ill will ride the buses and one has to get used to that. Enough said.
So now I have been retired for three years, legally blind for three years, a Seattle resident for two years, and a guide dog partner for 1 1/2 years. Life has fallen into an easy pattern of stress-free living. I am enjoying myself almost all the time. There are some periods of boredom, but that is not such a terrible problem. I never feel lonely. There are so many people and friends and family and helpers in my life. But I used to be an adrenaline junkie, and still feel that need running in my blood. That is why I was running three businesses until I lost my good eyesight. I always liked living on the edge. I still get that kick from playing poker but it is something to explore, but need for excitement or adrenaline kicks. I think some people like the opposite, calmness and no excitement, but not me.
For quite a while they excitement, anticipation, and worry about the economy and politics and whether Obama would get elected without any voter’s fraud preventing his election created stressing and worrying. Now that he has been elected I find myself relaxing more about politics but not economics. I trust he will gather the best minds to work on the world's problems as he has done so far. I certainly wouldn't want his job but I am so glad that he has it.
So now I find myself retired and thinking in different ways about life. I think of those less fortunate than I and how I can help them with my energy and my good intellect. There are so many people in need that it is quite overwhelming to decide which way to turn. I have been putting my energy into helping grow the Toastmasters, including the prisoners, putting energy into the Mensa group of Western Washington, putting energy into a homeless community here in Seattle, helping some of the seniors at the Unitarian Church, and looking for other roles. I, at first, didn't know how I could do volunteer work with my diminished eyesight. Now I know that my abilities as an organizer and leader are needed in every organization to which I belong. That is how I am now volunteering. It seems to be appreciated. All the practice of organizing dinners and speakers for the Wharton Club and the Harvard Club and the Yale Club and the Certified Financial Analysts have helped me become an event organizer. Now I am able to use those abilities here. So I am coming in to my own in the organizations to which I belong. You see, you knew I would find myself and I even knew, I just didn't know how it would work out. This is how it worked out and it seems so obvious. It always does after you figure it out.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
