Surviving, and Thriving, in Today's Economy

Last September my wife and I separated after 13 years of marriage. Where am I going to go? I asked her. I had no friends or relatives in South Carolina. Nor did I have a job. An injury in November 2009 left me unable to drive a truck, and the company had finally let me go after in February (after surgery and 4 therapy sessions failed to make it good enough). I went through Vocational Rehab but still hadn't found work. The economy was really bad.

Go to your sister's in Pennsylvania, she told me, renting me a car for that purpose.

So I packed everything up (after making sure it was okay with my sister first, of course) and drove the thirteen hours from Columbia, SC to Milford, PA.

Not bad, that Monday I found a temp job working at the local WalMart. Not bad for having no car, too. I was feeling pretty good. Got a bike to get around town. Made friends at the local coffee shop, where I was able to access the internet.

The latter was due to my sister not having a house phone (cell only), no television service and no internet. A great way to keep expenses down, but hard on someone who practically thrived on the web. See, I had been doing okay writing content for sites like Yahoo! Voices and Examiner.com. Not a living mind you, but it was work I loved and it made some gas or pocket money. My wife, however, had not shared my enthusiasm for my writing as an income source.

But then the WalMart thing ended a little sooner than we had been led to believe, and I found myself once more out of work. And Milford, a summer tourist destination in upstate Pennsylvania, really didn't have much work to offer a vehicle-less person. Especially one in my age bracket.

So, with my sister's austerity measures as a guide, I decided to re-invent myself as a full time writer. I used my last paycheck to buy my computer. (The other one had developed issues - it broke.) I started telling people about myself. Got into writing more for Examiner - local politics and such (Milford is the County seat for Pike County) - and looked for more online work. I now write for several content sites, maintain several blogs and websites, started my own company, and continually look for more.

In the meantime, I started rolling my own cigarettes and pay about four cents per cigarette as opposed to twenty-five or more. I use generic detergent and other grocery products, shopped at the dollar store (a real one where things are all a dollar), and learned to survive on less food than I was normally used to. Decreased my junk food intake, which is also good for my health. And all the walking around meant that I didn't have to pay for gas, upkeep or auto insurance (plus I lost 20 unwanted pounds). I look for deals from different places at different times (eggs for .99 at K-mart vs $1.79 at WalMart this week - through Jan. 21), shop at thrift and the aforementioned dollar stores for Christmas presents and groceries, plan my shopping trips to make the most out of my time and money, and generally counted my pennies. (Which go in the penny/nickle bank, dimes in the dime bank and quarters for the laundromat baggie.)

I snagged some clients, charity mostly, who pay in barter (get my coffee this way). Some clients who pay in cash. And others who pay through the internet. I am slowly building my "brand" and even finished a couple of books that have been published, with the time I am NOT spending watching television or playing video games.

Its not a "pay my mortgage and bills" sort of enterprise, but it is slowly getting there. And even though I am not "paying my own" at her house, I give her some money from time to time. Thanks to my sister's guidance - and her belief in my abilities - I can live on much less. And have more time to follow my passion as a full time writer.