Baraka_Guru

I'm in one of those nasty situations where I make a little and owe a lot.

I always chuckle a bit when people talk about "disposable income." What an odd term. The word disposable has that connotation of something one could throw away and not have to worry about. If that were the case, I don't think I'd ever have a disposable income.

My money is pretty much accounted for each month, and there's nothing left over. I don't have a disposable income, when you consider the most sober definition of the term. I haven't had one since before moving out of my parents' place back in 1998.

This is why I don't need to heed people when they talk about cutting expenses, controlling your spending, or participating in Buy Nothing Day. To me, cutting expenses and controlling my spending means cancelling my World of Warcraft account to save $15 a month, and perhaps only going out once in a given month (and try to spend less than $40 when going out). There is very little else where I can save money. I've done everything else, mostly. But at the same time, I don't want to lose my mind.

I go several days without buying something, so Buy Nothing Day to me is like a Read the News Day; I do it most days, but occasionally there are days I don't.

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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot