Learning to wait II

Continued from previous post...

I learned to wait, look around, ask questions, plan and then buy. My grandparents did this, and my grandmother, after observing me in a store as a nineteen-year-old, commented, "I finally have someone who knows the value of a dollar." This high praise did not fall upon deaf ears and I felt completely free of any embarrassment my mother may have had regarding my developing money habits from then on.

During my school and working years, money was always a bit of an issue since I drove an older car which broke down with such regularity that my neighborhood mechanic's shop number remained on the refrigerator next to the wall phone in the kitchen. When the car died, his sage advice to "go Japanese," saved time and money, not to mention bestowing freedom from revolving debt and interest.

 My nights of shift work afforded me reading time, much of it devoted to personal finance for women. I also delved into disability history where I discovered that seventy-five percent of persons with disabilities who were qualified for work did not get hired, something that sadly remains true today. Living in a so-called "right to work" State which isn't Union-friendly and which pays below the national average for a variety of occupations made me aware that I was at least somewhat fortunate. When offered more hours, I took them. When laid off, I worked briefly in credit card collections for a financial institution. This further opened my eyes to the reality of debt and the problems people have leading to it, not all of which are caused by reckless overspending.

Several years as a freelance writer in this market meant that without at least a part-time job, my hours and earnings might be so erratic that a budget would be meaningless, so I worked part-time for a few years until a recession came. Losing clients and patience, I was hired to write in-house for a medical marketing publication, wrote a book on spec for an educational publisher in New York, then took a seasonal job scoring standardized tests.
My adventures in librarianship began in grad school. The best part of the entire experience was working in the library. Graduation and the worst "recession" this country has ever seen, along with medical issues, put paid any plans for a doctorate. I live now as a retired person, my primary mode of travel the two wheels beneath either side of a broadening backside.

My looming elder years promise to be interesting. I hope I'll be able to afford them.