But it did. 

Major health problems hit early last spring. Surgery and treatments afterward cost money. A lot of money. Thank heavens for health insurance, but even at that, I was responsible for thousands of dollars out of pocket. Then my car broke down. 

What was I thankful for? An emergency fund and extra savings that were easy to get to. I had resisted putting money into funds that would take weeks to access, not because I'm so smart, but because I'm hard headed. Lucky, some call it. 

I know it won't happen to you.... but just in case, you might want to take another look at your financial backup plans. Make sure you can get to the money immediately. Emergency savings can be critical to your survival when you really need them. It may not be as drastic a situation as I had last year, but a refrigerator that quits working needs to be replaced now, not next week. 

Don't depend on credit cards to fill in the time gap because they have a way of getting away from you. Even if you determine that you'll pay them off as soon as your money comes in, things happen. 

Do depend on your emergency savings. That's why you're putting money in there, to use when you need it. 

Believe me, you'll be glad you took the easy, direct way of handling a financial emergency. 

Financial Emergencies
Emergency Funds
Creating an Emergency Fund

Image Courtesy of Cecco.  I wonder if Johannus Adrianus Zoet knows he has his wallet?

I have found myself in the unenviable position of having lost my wallet sometime between getting into our seats on the airplane in Indianapolis last night and looking for said wallet this morning prior to our family trip to downtown Baltimore.

Crud.

After a panicked phone call to the airport, the airline, and the restaurant where we ate dinner, it appears that the wallet is either well and truly lost, or I have found a remarkably good spot for it--so good, even I cannot find it.  The good news is that there has not been any unauthorized activity on my credit or bank cards.  No, the loss of my wallet is mostly problematic because I now have no way of proving my identity next week when I fly back home.

I called the Indiana BMV, which I did mostly for the vocal exercise, because I was fairly sure that there would not be anything that particular bastion of bureaucracy would be able to do for me.  I was correct.  I can apparently request a duplicate driver's license that will arrive in 7-10 business days, and no, there is no way to expedite that process.  When I asked the BMV if there was anything I could do, they suggested that I call the TSA.

Luckily, the nice lady at Southwest told me that I could bring anything with my name on it (like a credit card, hardy-har-har) to prove my identity and just plan for some extra time to get through security as I will have the advanced security check.  (I'm just hoping no rubber gloves are involved).  Since J is heading home ahead of me, we'll plan on having him overnight my (expired) passport to me and I will plan on a friendly extra hour with the TSA next week.

On the plus side, LO did great on the airplane and the pilot even let us sit in the cockpit once we were landed and at the gate.  Sadly, the child was less interested in the millions of buttons, levers, and lights than he was in my cell phone.

Overall, I think this will be a great trip, despite the two hours of outright panic from this morning.  But now I know: mensches should keep photocopies of important documents somewhere accessible.  You never know when your wallet will decide to move on to greener pastures.

People who are living a Thrift centered life will be more successful if they approach things in a creative way.

Welcome to Thrifty Living Today. A special way of life for the Twenty-first Century.

My name is Lori Blatzheim and I am your host.

People with ingenuity and the ability to think in a different way may try a different approach to get what they want. Some have the ability to form mental images of things that either are not physically present or have not been created by others. Or, they may try a simple solution. If it works, great. If it doesn't, try again. 

Let's look at a typical wife and mother. She checks her kitchen cupboard and realizes she is missing an ingredient for the dish she is preparing for dinner. She considers what she does have in her cupboard, and substitutes that. She goes on to have dinner with her family without dashing to the grocery store. 

She has demonstrated resourcefulness and ingenuity.

Or, how about the family that has other uses for their spendable income. The mother wants a footstool to place by a favorite chair. She grabs the red seat cushion from the chair and puts it in the trunk of her car.

She drives to a second hand store and buys an inexpensive table of low height. Next, grabbing the red seat cushion from the trunk of the car, she walks into a fabric store and picks up a small uncovered square pillow the size of the table top. She also selects a piece of strong material, the color of the red chair.

After driving home, she shows her purchases to her creative husband. He takes the pile of pieces, ensures their strength and assembles them. Now this family has a footstool. It cost almost nothing and will provide a place of rest.   

Would you do this? I did. I am currently sitting in the chair with my feet on the footstool. I admit it is an unusual solution, one that not everyone would take, but it worked for us.

Why does creativity help?

The person who follows Thrift will seek the least expensive but best solution possible. He or she is flexible and does not always stick to the status quo.

He or she might try to save money by:

• using a tool designed for another task, to help with an associated activity

• hosting a party or celebration in a park rather than at a more expensive place

• check personal resources to see if a new item (dress, tool, book etc.) is required

• find a needed item on sale   

What is there to be creative about?

Many things in life can be altered by a creative intervention.

Thrift centered couples, just starting out, can find furniture that needs a bit of work (a screw, some paint, or slip covers). They can look for pieces that work in their home. In the future they can replace these pieces if they want to but, for the time being, they can furnish a room or apartment together. 

They may try some do it yourself projects such as renting a carpet shampoo machine and trying it on their carpet. Or, they might try making a simple repair.

Sometimes people feel hesitant trying to fix something or cooking something new. They may not have done this in the past and now doubt whether they are up to the task. They may worry about what others will say especially if they fail in the attempt.

Trying something new requires courage, a willingness to try, and the willingness to fail. On the other hand, without trying, a person will never know if he or she can succeed. That person will miss the opportunity for success.

When is it needed?

It is impossible to say when an opportunity will present. It is probably better to ask the question "if an opportunity occurs, will you take up the challenge?" For example, if you run out of gas and there is a gasoline station ahead would you go to the station, negotiate with the Attendant for a container, pump some gas into the container, return to the car, and pour it into your car? For some of us that might be a real challenge

Sometimes the challenge takes longer to consider. For example, what if your family wants to take a long distance trip. Would you drive or fly? Why would you travel that way?

How is someone creative

We tend to consider a person creative by the way he or she thinks

The person uses ability to put two and two together, come up with an organized plan, attempt to fix a problem  and come to a positive conclusion

Can you learn to be creative?

Some people believe that you can. If you practice some of the hallmarks of creativity, you may find yourself becoming more confident. You may try new things, new strategies, and work at things in your own special way. 

Lori Blatzheim is a wife, mother, nurse, writer, and thrift advocate. She knows that use of Thrift can help people because she has experienced the benefits. 

Below is an addresses for a site discussing creativity. You may want to check it out. 

http://www.copyblogger.com/highly-creative-people/

If you want to see people reduced to spittle-flecked maniacs yelling their opinions, bring up the subject of babies on airplanes in mixed company.  (By mixed, I mean parents and non-parents).  (And by company, that generally means the comments section on an article discussing babies and plane travel, because most people are usually more polite and less spittle-flecked when you are discussing heated subjects in person).

Babies can certainly make the misery of air travel much more miserable.  I've certainly had my fair share of kicked seats and shattered eardrums.  But even before LO came along, I tried to be understanding of the difficulties of a parent wrangling a child. I was sympathetic to the fact that it must be awfully hard to get yourself, your stuff, your child, and the metric ton of stuff necessary for your child's happiness successfully from one part of the country to another without committing any wanton acts of frustration upon another human being or packet of peanuts that happened to get in the way.  So I thought I was prepared the first time that I traveled cross-country with LO.

I was sadly mistaken.  As bad as I thought it must be for a child-wrangling traveler, it was worse.

Tonight, J, LO and I will be heading to Baltimore to see grand-mensches and attend my sister's baby shower.  I hope that we will arrive in one piece, and without the concentrated hatred of all the other passengers on the plane.  I hope that the extensive list of necessary traveling baby-gear that I have created and double-checked multiple times will not prove to be missing some vital object.  (Diapers!  I have to bring diapers!)  I hope that starting at 11 am with packing, cleaning, stroller-breaking-down, dog-kennelling, bank-stopping, and (eventually) driving to the airport will give us enough time to make it through security and onto our 6 pm flight without having a screaming child before we even make it onto the plane.  I hope I'll get a second or two to read my Kindle on the plane.  (Ha ha!  Just joking about that one.  There's no reading when you've got a one-year-old on a plane!)

Wish us luck!  Next time you hear from me, I'll be on a Coast.