My thoughts thus far!

Disclaimer: OK before I get into my thoughts about living at the poverty line for 2013 I just want to let everyone know that my blogs are not going to be as eloquent as Tim's. Tim has a way with words that I don't---I have a tendency to ramble and often times you'll find that my blog may not follow grammatical rules--I'm just going to write what I'm feeling at the time and hopefully I won't ramble too much! Now that I have stated that let's get to it.....

Let's start at the beginning  When Tim first brought up the idea of living at the poverty line for a whole year I can't say I was on board right away. Don't get me wrong it's not that I don't care about the poor--in fact I have a huge heart for them--I just couldn't see how it would work with all the expenses we have to pay. I basically told him well if you can show me how it's going to work and we can still pay everything that needs to be paid then I'll be more than willing to do it! So basically he looked up the info. and showed me how it would all work. So here we are 12 days into it. 

To be honest I have had mixed emotions thus far. As the first days started I was like this is not going to work because I'm going to have to tell all of my friends I can't do anything and I'm going to live as a hermit this year! I then later found myself thinking I chose to do this how many people and families who have not chose to live this way feel the same way and my heart and feelings changed dramatically! I felt more compassion towards the situation and found my selfishness slowly going away and my desire to make those around us aware of the issues that those living in poverty face on a daily basis. 

The main thing I have learned thus far is how stressful life can be at the poverty line. Right now I am constantly adding and subtracting numbers in my head. It's like the calculator won't turn off!! If you spend money on something that wasn't budgeted then you have to figure out where in the budget  you can cut from.  For example, if we decided to go out with friends for lunch and spent $20--that' $20 that wasn't in the budget so where do you cut from--groceries, gas, etc. It's very hard to do that so in the long run it's just better to buy groceries and invite those friends over for lunch instead! I can't imagine the stress if we had children. The calculations that would be going on in your head would NEVER stop! 

OK I am totally rambling now so I'm going to get to the bottom line! I know it's pretty early right now, but the main thing I have learned thus far is it can be pretty stressful living at the poverty line and it's important to find creative ways to spend your time when living at the poverty line. 

Please feel free to share my blogs with you friends if you would like or post a response! I look forward to reading your thoughts and posting more in the future! 

Peace be with you,

 Alicia