Thursday, July 10, 2008

I Can't Help It - I Need To Vent

Unless you've lived in a cave for, oh, I dunno...the last 2 years, you are quite aware of the stink-hole the economy of the US is in. And getting worse.

Ok, I can understand the griping. Seriously, I do plenty of it myself. Yeah, I'm a bitch that way. But, please - get over yourselves, people!

I am so sick of hearing, "Oh, it's such a hardship to me that I had to cut down from four movies a month to two!" or "I only get a manicure once a month now!" and "I actually have to cook at home three nights a week now!" also "I can only afford to buy one pair of new shoes a week and only get my hair and spa treatments once a month!" or "Oh, poor me, I'm so broke I can't afford gas for my SUV, but look at the two hundred dollar arbor I bought at the box store today!"

Oh. My. God. You poor babies! Can you hear the teeny-tiny violins playing for you?
Give me a break. How do you think people that couldn't afford to do any of that stuff before this crunch feel to hear you spew these pointless 'hardships' when they're trying to figure out something as simple as how to get enough change left over in the budget this month to get a loaf of frigging bread on the table!?

Most people are more worried about how to pay their electric bill (some that just went up 28%, thank you very much) and have enough left over to buy groceries to feed their kids. Or the choices of buy enough gas to get to work and cut your meds in half - freeze your ass off this winter because you can't afford fuel oil or just let them foreclose on your house altogether because it's coming down to heat this winter or the mortgage. Some are even handing their pets over to the animal shelters because they can't afford to feed them, for Pete sake!

And as for the gardening thing: What is it with you people who say you're growing veg to save money and then turn around and say you're spending hundreds, even thousands in some cases, for the 'have-to-have-or-it-won't-grow' shit? Put a damn seed (bought cheap/traded) in some turned-over soil/bucket. Water. Watch grow. Weed. Harvest. I'm so tired of hearing about the 'initial investment' of gardening. Unless you count seed cost and your labor, there isn't one!

WTF? Since when do you have to have soil delivered to your house by the yard? Synthetic fertilizers up the ying-yang? Lumber to build raised beds? Ridiculous amounts of soil amendments? Fancy mulch?

To hear some of you talk, you'd think you have to have thousands stashed away in the bank before even thinking about starting a garden! And no, I don't mean all of you, by any means. Lots of griping gardeners really do have legitimate complaints when it comes to money.

My biggest pet-peeve of all?
You have to spend mucho bucks on beautiful pots and containers because you wouldn't be caught dead with a plastic pot in your yard. Laws no! M-O-O-N! That spells if-you-grow-something-in-plastic-we'll-all-snicker-about-how-tacky-you-are! Ummmhmmm.

Our soil gets tilled, planted with seed or transplants I've started myself, watered only when necessary, mulched with old newspaper and weeded. The bugs duke it out all by themselves. Fertilizers are a luxury item - this ain't the palace gardens. Watermelon, cantaloupe, pumpkin and cukes all get plopped in a 5 gallon bucket on the patio with a mix of garden soil and homemade compost and watered. That's it. And you know what? That's all they need!

Spend hundreds and thousand to grow food? Not in this lifetime.

Seriously, I can't take this fake crap anymore. If you're one of the people who are honestly hurting and trying to make-do with what you've got, just know this: you're not alone. If you're not one of these people growing to have enough stashed away so you won't have to make a choice between a bill and food, then shut your pie-hole!

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3 comments:

Flighty said...

Hello! It's good to see you blogging again.
I agree with all you say as there's plenty of people like that here as well.
I often find that genuinely less well off folks don't gripe as much, or at all, and do their best to make-do with what they have.
Take care! xx

Tina said...

Hey there, Flighty!
Yeah, I'm still being a miserable bitch and so not posting much.
All this excess and waste makes me nuts.
Although, I am feeling rather smug in the fact that I already know how to manage on having pretty much nothing as it's what we've been doing all our lives. I just go bonks when people gripe about having to cook at home! Say what?! That is so unreal to me not to, as we can't afford to eat out!
I see it's hitting you guys over there pretty hard also. I'm sorry.
Things have to get better pretty soon, right? Hey, I have my fingers crossed! :)

Flighty said...

Hello Tina! It's been a miserable summer here with little sun and lots of rain.
Yes it is just as bad over here. The bookshop where I work part-time is closing at the end of the month. Thankfully I don't need to look for another job but there are plenty of other folk who aren't so fortunate.
Take care! xx