Simple living (pt 2)

At a glance, living simply means we can't have nice stuff. While that isn't totally true, it is how I feel a lot of times. We only get 100 dollars per month, so buying expensive items just isn't an option. That is probably the toughest part of my day to day life since I took a big pay cut coming here and was used to being able to spend 300 dollars in a month or saving up for something. What do I spend my stipend on these days? I mostly buy food from the grocery store. It is nice to have food that isn't expired, didn't come from the foodbank, and hasn't sat in our pantry for years.

The bit about living a simple lifestyle and it bringing us closer to the people we serve is pretty true. While I don't think any one of us has experienced being homeless, living simply (which approaches living in poverty) give us some insight into our guests' lives. It also gives us a little more respect from them, I think. We make much less money than the average homeless person. We don't pull up in expensive cars wearing expensive clothing, etc. We roll in our donated cars (one of which is missing a window right now) wearing the same donated clothing that our guests have access to, eat the same food, etc.

This whole thing can be a challenge. There are some days that I just want to go out and buy something, but I can't. There are nights when I want to go to a nice restaurant and get a steak, but that would be spending a large portion of my stipend. I am learning a little more about being frugal, and that could very well serve me in the future.