Recent talk of inflation (and the possibility of hyperinflation) has left me very jumpy. That’s why a squib in Melanie Lockert’s newsletter really resonated with me.
“Do you ever feel like you’ll never have enough? This is a common issue when it comes to money mindset, and can impact our financial and mental health,” Lockert wrote.
“So one thing I’ve been doing lately is something I call ‘abundance tracker.’ I track all moments of abundance.”
A few recent examples:
Lockert’s health insurance premium decreased.
She received a gift card for food from someone who couldn’t use it.
She cashed in Starbucks rewards points for a free coffee.
According to Lockert, tracking “moments of abundance” can help reset your mindset: “From the discounts you get, to the gifts, time and support. It all counts.”
Turns out I’ve been doing that for the past week or so. I just didn’t know what to call it.
Whenever articles on inflation/hyperinflation ramp up my heart rate, I’ve been combating those fears by focusing on:
What I have. Decent health, liquid savings, a retirement fund, a job I can do at home without dressing up or commuting. Any one of those things is gold all by itself, but the cumulative impact is platinum.
What DF and I have. Each other! Also low daily expenses, lots of food and household items stored, and the ability to genuinely appreciate simple things. Our life is quiet, but sublimely rich.
In other words, my abundance tracker is working just fine.
A bit of background on Lockert: In 2013 she created a blog called Dear Debt to chronicle her battle against $81,000 worth of student loans. Then she wrote a book called “Dear Debt: A Story About Breaking Up With Debt.” (As an Amazon affiliate, I may receive a small finder’s fee on purchases made through my link.) The writer also hosts a podcast called “The Mental Health and Wealth Show.”
Matters of concern
In the past week or so DF and I have talked about what inflation/hyperinflation might mean to our lives. Things are already expensive here thanks to the Alaska Gouge, and they’re likely to get pricier.
A truck-driver shortage exists in the Lower 48, especially as regards petroleum delivery – and petroleum is a problem all by itself. Like it or not, oil affects almost everything we need, including but not limited to plastics for packaging, fuel for farm equipment, fertilizers for food crops, and a huge array of everyday items that ranges from eyeglasses to heart valves to telephones.
On the topic of telephones: Be very, very careful with yours, because a worldwide computer chip shortage is driving up the cost. That shortage also affects cars (the average vehicle has 50 to 150 computer chips in it), appliances and electronics. Everything will get more expensive to replace, and you might have to wait a long time. (My great-nephew has been waiting since Dec. 25 for the PS5 that he was to have received as his main Christmas gift. At this point we’re hoping it’s available by next Christmas.)
And: Remember the toilet paper shortage? The cost of wood pulp is going up, too, as is lumber for homebuilding and remodeling. It’s likely that TP is going to get a lot more expensive. DF is likely to postpone an expanded garden bed project for a while because the cost of two-by-fours has jumped noticeably.
In the past, this sort of thing would likely have caused a full-blown anxiety spiral. And in fact I have had the bag lady dream a time or two lately, even though Rational Me knows that’s not going to happen.
Then again, lots of people blithely assume nothing bad would ever happen to them and – surprise! – it does. But here’s why I think we will manage just fine:
- We plan carefully.
- We live frugally (yet happily).
- We have those resources noted above.
Because our needs are relatively simple, we need not spend a lot to satisfy them. Because we don’t spend a lot of money, we don’t have debt. Because we enjoy finding frugal hacks to reduce costs even further, the money we do have goes a long way.
The abundance tracker: It works
Perhaps those who’ve never been really, really broke are better equipped than I to deal with hyperinflation prophecies. Sure, they might worry. But they don’t think, “This is what I’ve always feared, now coming to pass: the point at which everything I have disappears.”
I’ve had that thought a time or two in the last couple of days. It lasts only as long as it takes me to go over how much we have stored, how careful we are with our money and how low we’ve kept our expenses. To quiet that disaster-monkey in my head I will flip through financial statements and check the pantry/freezer in order to remind myself, “Look. You have money, a paid-off place to live and lots of food. You will not be homeless or hungry, and neither will anyone you love.”
I also have the ability to be happy with whatever I have, which is what my dad used to call a “useful life skill.” That doesn’t translate to martyrdom, mind you: DF and I genuinely enjoy dining on food we’ve prepared (and maybe grown) ourselves. Although we do go to plays, concerts and First Friday art events, most evenings are spent taking a walk (weather permitting), listening to music, reading in side-by-side armchairs and just delighting in each other’s company. Our abundance tracker is off the charts.
Now that I think about it, my abundance tracker was on even when I was really broke. The biggest-ticket items, such as my finally-completed divorce and my university scholarship, were sources of great joy. But I was also grateful for stuff like a library card, a 49-cent radio from the St. Vincent de Paul thrift shop and the free blackberries that grew everywhere in Seattle. As Lockert notes, it all counts.
Readers: Do you track your abundance, in large ways or small?
Related reading:
Wonderful advice, Donna. I’m reminded of the classic song lyric “I count my blessings instead of sheep.” Doing so is an instant antidote to my racing disaster-at-every-corner thoughts that pop up occasionally. And it’s not only physical wants — will I run out of money — that cause worry. Emotional wants — will I always be alone — are also diminished by revving up my abundance tracking.
Taking note of what you already have is a good idea. I try to live simply and recognize that I have an abundance of blessings. Living quietly does not mean lack of enjoyment. I have reasonable health for my age, a paid off home, children all working and helpful when I need them, good family and friends, and I enjoy the challenge of frugal living. Above all I have faith in God’s provision; He’s provided in the past and He will continue to do so, maybe not what I want but what I actually need.
I have to track my abundance every day or I would lose my sanity to the constant stress. This column is a good reminder of working with what you have and living without what you don’t need.
As a country song put it, “I have everything I need, and nothin’ that I don’t.”
My own version: “I have everything I need, and some of what I want.”
I like to think I track my abundance. Just before reading your article I was thinking how happy I was to be able to detail my husband’s car and repair his torn seat cushion without paying some one to do it. I was thinking how happy our house full of foster dogs (two adopted by us) makes us with their interesting and lively personalities. I’m thankful I live near my local Walmart and have the convenience of having my groceries delivered to my car. I am happy that my husband is in remission from cancer and my health is relatively good. Most of all, we are finally able to share our abundance by having guests stay with us; our second group of visitors arrives tomorrow.
So much good fortune! Being retired with a paid for home certainly helps allay our fears of being broke, as does having an employed son and daughter in law. As much as I don’t like the cost of everything going up, I am happy my frugality allows me to keep expenses down when I can to afford everything we need, and to be able to host our guest properly without going broke in the process.
Good examples all. Thanks for being such a consistent reader and commenter.
“It’s likely that TP is going to get a lot more expensive.”
One way to beat the cost of TP, and TP shortages, is to install a bidet.
Last year, when TP was in very short supply, bidets also sold out, but last I checked, they were widely available again.
Another way to reduce TP use is to substitute something reusable, like the Kula Cloth for #1.
And like many things that save money, they also reduce your carbon footprint.
Or “family cloths.” But I’m not there yet.
Love my bidet from Amazon and my handy husband.
One of the best abundance trackers is my gratitude journal. Every day I try to list 3 things I am grateful for: clean air and water, safety, my pets, etc. I am full of thankfulness at night when I list these. At first I thought, “Three things? I’ll never get that many a day!” It was easy. My daughter asked if I ever repeated. Well, yes, I do. Her name appears often as do my friends and relatives.
My last night journal included throwing away the masks! In my part of the country, we have been more free than in other areas, but now that the mandates were lifted, I feel more back to normal. I also noted crops being planted and reading Fannie Flagg’s continuation of the Fried Green Tomatoes saga.
Incidentally. Donna, your column made it a couple times, especially when I was feeling a bit down and your words brought some sunshine.
Thanks for your kind words! And I agree that writing it down is a good idea. You can go back over the pages when you’re feeling sub-par.
I just re-read “The Whole Town’s Talking” by Fannie Flagg, and it made me want to go get her other books from the library even though I’ve read those, too.
First let me say that I love reading your blog, but this entry does not work for me. My parents were in concentration camps and then displaced person camps for two more years trying to get into some country, any country that would accept refugees. The world, no matter how well you plan, can fall apart completely—they had property, money, advanced degrees, blah, blah, blah, and it was all worth nothing when the world caved in. Abundance counting is nice but it will protect you from nothing, nor will thinking we have all we need. We, too, have a paid mortgage, know how to garden and preserve food, have a great insurance policy, have money in the bank, our truck and our car are paid off…and yet, if this country continues to splinter and some sort of civil war happens, all the things that in a civilized society signal security, will be worth nothing.
To some extent I agree with you: When the fertilizer hits the ventilator in a MAJOR way, everything we have can disappear. I just read a novel on that topic called “House of the Rising Sun,” which depicts how quickly the world descends into chaos after a disaster.
But for the most part, planning and care and intentional living will stand us in good stead. And most of us plan for the expected and the unexpected — not for the catastrophic. When it comes to the latter, whether it’s an electromagnetic pulse or a zombie apocalypse, no one can really be fully prepared.
Wasn’t the Pandemic catastrophic? Over half a million dead? Shortages? Low income people getting hit the worst as always? I am blessed in that my husband kept his job and only went to the grocery store (he worked from home). Because of all my comorbidities I stayed home and went nowhere and saw no one.
Of course it was catastrophic. I didn’t say that it wasn’t. In fact, I have a dog in that particular hunt since one of those deaths was my father.
YES I love this! I try to write daily in my gratitude app and also log any money that comes my way that day. I guess, essentially, it is my own abundance tracker.
Once again, words 9f wisdom from my favorite PF blogger! ❤
I find counting on my fingers ten things I’m grateful for will help to lift me out of a funk. Sometimes one of the things is just the brains God gave me. I’m no Einstein but I can work a household budget, shop for groceries cheaply, cook pretty well…enough to keep my husband happy…and developed a passion for reading early in life which has become a lifelong and frugal habit thanks to the public libraries in each town I lived in.
Those all sound like abundance to me.
Sorry for the late comment, but I’m getting caught up on my blog reading. Anyway, every night when we say bedtime prayers with the kids, we all share things we want to thank God for, ask God for, and praise God for. Whether big or small, we always find lots of things to share.
Another thing we do at dinner is to share our holy moments of the day. These are things, again, big or small, that we did to make the world a better place. It could be as small as picking up a piece of litter or holding the door open for someone. The point we are trying to teach them is that all the little things add up, and if every person did at least one small thing a day to make the world a better place, it would have a huge impact.
Sometimes people think they shouldn’t bother unless they can make a huge donation or volunteer tons of time or the like. But, the little things add up to a big impact, just like with frugality!
That’s a lovely lesson for the two of you to teach the kids. Who knows how many converts to kindness they’ll make just by modeling that lesson throughout their lives.