Monday, September 30, 2024

Frugal & Devastation


 A picture from the Past.

 

Lake Lure NC. Peaceful small resort community, we spent our one night honeymoon here. Dirty Dancing was also filmed here. Check the pictures at the end of this post.

For Today:

An article on the net caught my eye, 15 wealthy people who are frugal. Some went to school hungry; some ate every Thanksgiving of their youth at the Salvation Army. One lady said she looked at her bank account every day and kept an eye on the balance. They remember!

I just looked over at my Sherry and said, “I married the right lady (she is our manager).  When I was in business I had an accountant, but I balanced my check book. If I was within a $1 I didn’t worry about it. My girl will look for hours for a nickel difference, the account must balance.

We are not RICH, but we have all we need, and most of what we want.  WE laughed together remembering our first year together. We had a budget. The USMC paid in cash in those years and we kept our money in an old cigar box with little separations for each expense. At the end of the month on my $78.00 a month salary we were able to play a round of miniature golf and share a banana split. We were happy as we could be.

One month we didn’t have quiet enough so I dug out a silver dollar dad had given me to hold so we would never be broke. I used it at the Miniature Golf Course.  The next month the owner asked, “Son would you like that silver dollar back?”

“Yes, Sir!” I said quickly. I traded an extra dollar we had that month to have that silver dollar. I may still have it. I have a collection of about 5 or six silver dollars. The owner said he could tell I hated to part with that one.



But we are penny pinchers, translate that, cheap skates. WE worked and saved to be debt free and have enjoyed that for over 50 years now.

When we bought our first big coach, 38 ft Overland,  we paid for it.  The salesman said, “You guys are in the top 3% of RV owners, most do not own their RV.” That surprised me.  We would not have been comfortable making payments and paying to park too.

Here in a Pennsylvania campground, we just received a call from our NC neighbor. They had a lot of rain and lost one tree that was leaning over the road and powerlines. We had not lost power, and the power company is taking care of the tree. Western NC was hit hard.  We spent our one-night honeymoon beside Lake Lure 68 yrs ago. Both communities are now devastated and mostly destroyed.


The entire Lake is like the above, Thank the Lord the dam held.

The Main St of Chimney Rock is not in Lake Lure.
We once lived 10 miles down river from Lake Lure and Chimney Rock.

Pray for all the communities hit by Helene. At present at least 35 deaths in NC alone.

NiteShipslog

PS: 

Once again ‘Thanks’ AGAIN to y’all for stopping by the Shipslog. WE are two thankful and blessed people. You add to our lives. 

5 comments:

Chatty Crone said...

I am listening about the hurricane right now - one of the worst ever. We did not get hit - but a lot of GA did. As well as other states. Take care and get home.

Victor S E Moubarak said...

Praise God you are safe. Take care my friends and look after yourselves. I am praying for you. God bless you and your family.

Mevely317 said...

Another sad example of nature's wrath; I'm so glad y'all are safe.
That's a pretty neat story about the manager who returned your Silver Dollar. Good folks still exists ... and I'm so glad to know two of you!

I'm mostly known as 'MA' said...

I am praying for all those affected by the hurricane. Such devastation never hit our area or any where I've ever lived. Glad you all are safe and only writing about the news. I too have been debt free since I retired. I used to have credit cards but canceled them. I don't have any credit rating because of that either. But I couldn't be happier, I too have everything I need and more!

HappyK said...

Praying for all in the path of the hurricane.
When we first got married we budgeted and put the money in envelopes! :)
We too have been debt free for years. We use our credit card for just about everything but get a great rebate so actually make money using it. (we ALWYS pay it off each month)