Dear Dr. LeCrone:
The information in your newspaper columns has recently been put to good use in our household.
The issue has to do with our needing to make changes in our lifestyle due to the economic difficulties we face, primarily due to the rising price of gasoline and other energy-related parts of our budget.
We are a family of five, and both my husband and I have full-time jobs. Our three children are ages 12, 10 and 7.
We started out by all sitting down together and agreeing that we had a family challenge of coping with economic problems or giving up. Our unanimous choice was that we would be survivors, not quitters.
Next we used the psychological strategy of viewing what we could control and what we could not. We had no control over the rising cost of energy, but we did have control over other areas of our monthly expenses.
We then moved to separating our wants from our needs. For example, we wanted to eat out but we needed to be able to pay our electric bill, so we therefore ate out less.
We then, as a family, began to break down our different expense items into smaller parts and again looked at wants and needs. We would like for it to be toasty warm when we wake up in the morning, but do we really need this? We would like to have the premium cable package, but do we really need it right now? We would like to go to the store to pick up things on an as-needed basis, but we need to consolidate our errands into trips that would burn less gas.
We set up several of these family meetings and made a game out of who could think of the most ways to economize in our family. We were shocked at how much money we have saved over the last several months.
A few of the additional benefits have been to teach our children and exercise our own ability to make good decisions, work as a family unit, compromise and look at our lifestyle differently.
Finally, we chose to view these changes as not a result of failing on our part but as a result of needing to cope with an economic downturn. Our adversity has strengthened us.
-A reader in Texas
Dear Reader. Thanks you. I’ll pass your valuable story to others.
Hi.
I’m an experienced Clinical Practitioner, Administrator, Professional Writer, and Lecturer.
