Managing Stresses of Starting a Business
This article from nearly 2 years ago is a good look at 5 steps to try and maintain focus while reducing the stress we experience from starting a new business. Some of these tasks are indeed helpful when looking at the worry that we face when starting something and working our way through paths that lead to dead ends and paths that continue to provide fruitful encouragement.
One I can say that I fail at on a day to day basis is taking care of my health. My ambition is there to eat better and exercise more, but my practice doesn’t frequently live up to my ambition on this task. I know that my energy will improve and my overall focus will include with a healthier lifestyle, but I can be very obstinate and committed to older ways.
If you are starting a business or thinking about it, you should know that you will traverse all kinds of paths, but you will also see all kinds of opportunities as your clarity improves. It’s not easy, but it is very rewarding no matter what the result!
Where to Get Cheaper Groceries
If you are like me, you may have carried around a perception that Trader Joes was more expensive than other grocery stores, but the facts may confront that perception according to they Checkbook.org post in Boston about supermarket costs by chains. They found that Trader Joes (17% lower) and Aldi’s (40% lower) than other grocery chains in the comparison set (like Stop & Shop).
I can attest that produce like fruits and veggies definitely seem lower on average. My family and I have recently started shopping at Trader Joes on Sunday Mornings as a family outing with the kids, and we have seen that the amount we get for the dollars we spend is more than when we go to other places like Big Y and Stop and Shop in our neighborhood. We also noted that the organic whole milk we buy is almost $4 - $5 cheaper at Trader Joes. The thing that is weird about this though is that I always held the belief that it was more expensive because it has an image of being more “organic”, “liberal”, etc.
Because of this perception, I wanted to look up some information about price comparisons and found this article. It’s worth a read and may prove worth your time to search out a Trader Joes or Aldi’s within a drivable distance of your home or workplace. For us, 10% savings each week is a savings of about $10-$20 per week. If you multiply that by 50 weeks, you start to see significant savings of $500-$1,000 per year. The downside however does show up when looking at “variety.” So you still may need to buy some items at your local grocery store, but if you can afford to budget time and space to get some things at these stores, you may be able to save some good money.
Some Ways to Manage Your Budget and Save Money Each Month
I found this post on a site called thesimpledollar.com. It calls out that you should have up front knowledge that they have ADVERTISING for sponsored services in this article. That said, most of the tips reign true. When you are revisiting your budget it is important to think about where are the places you can save some money. A cut here and a cut there can really add up.
We live in a society where things are truly accessible and we can afford the luxuries and niceties in life. But in a gratification now world, we also sometimes overlook that we are susceptible to market changes, recessions and employment changes in our lives. The more we take control of our financial lives, the more stress free we can live tomorrow.
If you have a depression era relative, take some time to talk about what life may have been like for them and/or their parents when times were “really” hard. The US suffered in 2007-2008, but we didn’t see anything like what our elders saw in the 20’s and 30’s. Frugality was a necessity and we would all benefit from hearing more about the ways we can take control back in our lives by limiting debt and buying with power rather than credit.
What Was Life Like in the Great Depression?
There are talks about a recession looming on the horizon. Talks about tariffs, dollar value, and more are creating some uncertainty that can only add to the stress in our lives as we think back to the Great Recession of 2007-2008 on the heals of the collapse of the subprime lending market and other financial industries. Because I mentioned the Great Depression in the previous article, I thought I would look up an article on what it was like to live in the Great Depression.
My grandmother would tell us stories about the ways they saved and used their farm for sustenance in addition to livelihood. She talked about how the neighbors in rural Viroqua, WI would come together and help other families in need, even when their own supplies were at risk. All to often I hear people say that we are in a predicament because of those generations that came before, but the reality is that our desires for consumption and materials have increased throughout our history - we consume more today than we ever did before (https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=39092), even with our attempts to recycle, reduce our carbon footprints, etc.
If you have a moment to read the article featured below, we need to remember that while this experience forever changed the outlook of two or three generations, it was a time of enormous stress that broke families apart, challenged the value of a man, and drove many to suicide. But through suffering can also come meaning.
Before blaming previous generations, let’s look at ourselves and think about how we could learn from those who had to truly do with less. The great news is you can reach out to people and get first hand accounts still…bit those with reliable memories are passing. So we should take the time to ask them things like, “how did we ever make it through the toughest times (when unemployment was as high as 25%, and even upper class professions saw their wages cut by as much as 40%)? And how could we adopt some of those same lessons learned by being more frugal and less wasteful? To quote the article, “Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without.”
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