How The Down Economy Made Us More Wealthy

The fact is, many of us started to think harder about things like our homes. Replacing or adding more insulation to keep the energy we do pay for from escaping out the roof. Many of us that were wasting money on gas to drive a huge truck or SUV changed to a smaller vehicle and got used to it so when the economy recovers they’ll have saved themselves more money in gas that can be used for more fun, investment, etc…

Others discovered that the dollar tree foods aren’t all bad (although cereal is horrendous there). The 5.00 macaroni and cheese box (with the cheese sauce included) tastes exactly the same as the 1.00 version at the dollar tree (I was very picky on this particular product but my fiancé made me try it and I was astonished).

Although the challenges seemed harsh, the things we learned and grew from (and even realized how silly we were being by being brainwashed by “branding”) really took our money spending value up a notch.

Granted buying Nike shoes over pro-wings didn’t change- but learning to purchase Nike’s online after seeing what exact model number/type you wanted looked like, felt like, and what size worked best at Foot Locker stores, then went home and found the wholesale sites sell them for 50% of the store cost due to no overhead and trying hard to compete with offline stores that people were used to buying from (and wasting money).

We learned that buying ANYTHING online can be 50% cheaper and thus we have more money to indulge in the things we used to, simply by changing “HOW” we shop, what we trust, and even learning that online purchases can be done with a pre-paid credit card if you were once worried about identity theft- they can be put in no name, or any sudo name you want- secure!

We learned about things we’d of likely never thought of like that changing all the light bulbs in your home to those low wattage high light output bulbs not only helps the power grid companies pan out less “rolling blackouts” when electricity is used up on hot days (air conditioners etc…), but we also learned to lower our electrical bill without doing much more than swapping out bulbs (and can leave them on longer with less expense even then!).

We also realized that those bulbs don’t get hot like the normal ones do so our kids are safer around them, our house won’t burn up if the lamp falls over and the bulb rests on the carpet!

The realization of how things really are not how we've been brainwashed to believe they were- changed how we thought and that is an investment in your education!

These things became a habit that will serve us far into the good economy- but more importantly we learned to better survive if the economy never picks up or if we find ourselves in this again.

For some, breaking out of a dead end job and into a career became a necessity so the economy forced them to better themselves and liberate their mind, time, and gave them more time with their family.

Many people who came up in their business, their jobs, etc… that would have normally normalized their ability to live the same way they were (ignorant of how to properly get the most bang for their bucks), discovered that they can live happy by living smarter and now have MORE money than they would have- consistently.

Many of us realized that we were very irresponsible with the way we spent the money we made and came to realize that we could be twice as wealthy simply by diverting our funds to more lucrative things.

We also realized that the technology and venues were there to give us the ability to double our money without making a penny more than we were making, just in how we spent the money we did have! Perceptively this was the same money but the spending power- the true mark of how we view inflation- changed and inflation for many in fact, went down- and money's value up!

Buying the same foods cheaper, buying in bulk, buying in bulk with family to get the discount and using Tupperware to store the foods that don’t spoil- even utilizing those Costco and cash-&-carry warehouse stores to get our food saved a ton of money and increased our quality of life.

If you don’t need 3 gallons of cooking oil but your entire family and friends base all use the same oils- why not chip in purchase the bulk oil, then separate it (divvy it up) and store it in the last bottle you had bought and used up (recycle the container as a "refillable" container) and now pay 1.00 for the same amount of the SAME NAME BRAND oil?

You could in fact offer your friends/family a "refill" service on their cooking oils (and many more things) simply by taking the initiative to buy the super bulk oil by Crisco or any other brand they use, and having them come by to refill their overpriced bottle for half what they'd pay normally.

You can even go to their house and offer more than one thing. You could actually turn a profit this way by figuring out what the normal price is and how many bottles you can refill from one "tub" of the name brand super bulk items. In a way you become their "delivery" Costco, and make money in the process of saving them money!

We learned to live better on the same money and to double our income not by stressing out trying to get a raise but by thinking smarter to give ourselves a raise.

We also realized that this was not something that only happened because of the economy- but the economy made us, forced us, to think about things harder and thus things like this that have been around for a century already- were useful, available.

We could have saved this money all along- in fact it’s easier to re-purpose our budget than to try to earn more money.

Another great thing we realized is that most of those cool but cheap products sold on infomercials would eventually- like the Movies to VHS in the 80’s make it into the stores at a much lower price up to a year later.

Many make it to the dollar tree like those really amazing (we got some) bottle tops for cans of soda that make it possible to preserve the carbonation.

They were 20.00 then later 10.00 for a set of 12. I just bought a set noticed the same company (Telebrands) made them, at the dollar tree for a whopping dollar- and since I live in Oregon- I pay no sales tax, shipping (or forced shipping for a second set you can't opt out of on the commercial)!

If you wait a bit less than a year in fact- most things that are amazing and expensive come down in price (even televisions, cell phones etc...).

Let the wealthy pay for the “newness” of it and get it cheaper 6 months later- much cheaper. The iPhone is a good example. I can buy a new one for 200.00 online or I can get a used one (last model) for $50-$100.00 on eBay. I even found a way to contact sellers on eBay to get a discounted price by offering to buy in bulk if applicable.

Don't buy through eBay for more than one of anything- you can contact the buyer, slip in your email address (this may take cleverness but one way I did it was to code an email (if sent through eBay's propitiatory email system) or figure out if they have a .com site.

Using who-is sites I can find their actual email or a way to contact them by phone from their whois data- many eBay sellers feel they are getting ripped off in eBay's ever increasing fees and they'd be delighted to sell to you at the price less the eBay fees!

Many eBay sellers are hoping you will buy from them once then find their off-eBay store where they can make a better profit. If a friend has already bought something this seller offers, and they are willing to help you, you can use their purchase to do this (to get yours outside of eBay cheaper on their site, or find their site often in the package sent to the customer/ your friend). Taking initiative saved me thousands this way! I saw opportunity.

The last model of the iPhone does practically everything the new one does with a few concessions missing like a better camera- but why do you need one more mega-pixel when you can’t even print out or use more than 2.0 megapixels anyway?

I learned a lot from the down economy. I don’t make a ton of money but what I make is incredibly efficiently spent - and I don’t penny pinch at all.

It’s not about being a penny pincher, or a scrooge, but in realizing you have options- many of them accessible without any more work- just changing your routine to go to the dollar tree for a few things and the grocery store for others.

Many things you’d find at your local grocery store are also found at the dollar tree- some aren’t as good- many are. For example you can buy an extended candle lighter (the one with a trigger) for 4.00 at Safeway but the SAME thing can be found for 1.00 at the dollar tree.

I’ve saved 40.00 at a time using coupons I found IN THE STORE, on their own circulars for food I was already buying, and in some cases I tried a new brand of orange juice and you know what? I tasted BETTER! I also realized that my local grocery stores have buy one get one free sales all the time but there is a formula you can figure out to when they happen. You can wait, buy a lot of your items for months in one shopping trip for 50% of the normal price AND get another set free!

The thing I also realized was that Safeway 15 miles from my house and the one a mile away have sales at DIFFERENT times. This means the buy one get one free is happening just about every week, just at different stores at different times!

Most people just sit around and wait for the economy to recover through the efforts of others. By making better buying decisions, educating yourself about the reality of marketing, sales, and business, and paying attention to things, itemizing what you believe and know, and where that "information" came from in the first place- you can make better choices.

Being wealthy or poor comes down to choices

Some people make 1200 a month and live lavishly; others make 1200 and live broke- with no kids, no high expenses, but bad choices. (the same works out for people with kids and a higher income)

I've seen a family of 4 survive lavishly on 1200.00 a month while a single individual living with her parents makes the same money has 1/100th the overhead/expenses- and is depressed because she feels "poor"!

This is what really got me thinking about the economy and what makes one person rich and one poor- it's CHOICES you make. When you gain control of your financial situation you become your own money tree.

Good Luck! Share your savings/budget/awareness ideas and things you do or figured out in the comments! Help everyone reach wealth at minimum wage even...