Submitted by Common Sense on Sat, 01/26/2008 - 12:11pm.

by Jane Dwinell and Dana Dwinell-Yardley

Worried about a recession? Inflation? The stock market? Your 401(k)? Worry no more: use some good old Vermont common sense! You can prepare yourself and your family to handle the rocky road of current international financial markets by investing yourself in your future in a practical way. Here’s some ideas:

Stop spending money, except on necessities
Give yourself a few months to spend money only on food, shelter, and transportation, See what it feels like. See how much money you can save. Find sources of entertainment you don’t have to pay for — getting together with friends in your home or theirs, playing music, reading books from the public library or your personal library, going for walks or hikes in the Green Mountains, playing cards or board games with your kids, volunteering at your local theater or concert venue. Wear the clothes you have in your bureau, eat off the dishes you already own, and sleep on the sheets that sit in your linen closet. If you’re tempted to buy something, stop and ask yourself why. Do you really need this thing? Could you get the same end result without spending any money? Does buying this thing reflect your values? Just asking yourself these simple questions can help you stop unconscious purchasing. Sure, the pundits want us to spend more money to help the economy rebound, but does that make sense for our personal lives? No.

Save the money you aren’t spending
Have a financial cushion of six months to one year of easily accessible cash equivalent to your living expenses. Keep it in a Vermont bank that’s not tied to any of the giant financial institutions that are caught up in the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Get out of debtUse some of that money you’re saving to pay off your debts — especially credit card debt. Next come personal loans, car loans and student loans. You can then turn to paying off your mortgage. And, in the meantime, stop using your credit card(s) and return to cash. You’re just making the credit card companies richer with every purchase, and harming local businesses with the fees they have to pay. One of the ways Vermonters can be most independent is by cutting the strings of debt that tie us to the US economy and US corporations.

Invest in the future
Still have some extra money around? Prepare yourself for whatever lies ahead by weatherizing your home, trading your car in for a more fuel-efficient model (or a really good bike), and acquiring some basic garden and household tools so you can grow food and do your own repairs and maintenance. If you don’t know how to do these things, take a class or get a friend to teach you.

Reduce the cost of your necessities
There are many ways to cut costs of those things we absolutely need: good food, a warm house, and a way to get where we need to go. Grow food or hook up with a local farmer. Buy food in bulk. Stop buying junk food. Try eating up the food you have in your home without buying anything else except for perishable items like milk. Use compact fluorescent light bulbs — and turn them off when no one’s in the room. Use a clothes rack instead of a dryer. Turn the heat down a degree or two, and put on a sweater. Have either a cell phone or a land line — you don’t need both. Carpool, walk, ride a bike, or ask if you can work from home one or two days a week.

Even if the economy rebounds and stabilizes, your life will be better for having that savings cushion, being out of debt, having a cozy home, and knowing you’re not caught up in the “spend and owe” cycle like some governments we know.

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About Common Sense

Common Sense is written by Jane Dwinell and Dana Dwinell-Yardley, a mother-daughter blog team. They live on an urban homestead in Montpelier. Send them your questions and comments about food, fuel, family, or financial independence! Write to mountaingirl at vtlink dot net. You can also check out some of their other writings at their website: Spirit of Life Publishing