Staying Within Budget

 

Staying Within Budget

There are many good reasons to save money or resources.  There are two main reasons why you should save money.

1.       Because you need to   

2.       Because you can

There is such thing as going over board: here are some examples from my years of growing up.  I’ve said before that my step father was so tight with money that he could squeeze the buffalo off of a nickel.  Before we moved to the Pacific NW we lived in the Rio Grande Valley part of Texas.

·       The Rio Grande Valley (RGV) or the Lower Rio Grande Valley, informally called The Valley, is an area located in the southernmost tip of South Texas. It lies along the northern bank of the Rio Grande, which separates Mexico from the United States.

·       The Rio Grande Valley is not a valley, but a floodplain containing many oxbow lakes or resacas formed from pinched-off meanders in earlier courses of the Rio Grande. Early 20th-century land developers, attempting to capitalize on unclaimed land, utilized the name "Magic Valley" to attract settlers and appeal to investors. The Rio Grande Valley is also called El Valle, the Spanish translation of "the valley", by those who live there. The residents of the Rio Grande Valley occasionally refer to the area as "El Magico Valle del Rio Grande" ("The Magical Valley of the Rio Grande"), and also simply by the initials R.G.V.

·       The region is made up of four counties: Starr County, Hidalgo County, Willacy County, and Cameron County. As of January 1, 2012, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the population of the Rio Grande Valley at 1,305,782.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2008, 86 percent of Cameron County, 90 percent of Hidalgo County, 97 percent of Starr County, and 86 percent of Willacy County are Hispanic.

·       The largest city is Brownsville (Cameron County), followed by McAllen (Hidalgo County). Other major cities include Harlingen, Edinburg, Mission, Rio Grande City and Pharr.

Cost of Living 1956

·       How Much things cost in 1956
Yearly Inflation Rate USA 1.52%
Yearly Inflation Rate UK 4.7% 4.7%
Average Cost of new house $11.700.00 Average Monthly Rent $88.00 Average Yearly Wages $4.450.00 Cost of a gallon of Gas 22 cents Average Cost of a new car $2,050.00 Ground Coffee per LB 85 Cents

My family would go over the grocery (newspaper) ads, and actually drive between towns to buy the price leaders (the lowest priced items used to draw you into the store.  Grocery shopping used to take up to 6 hours and 40 miles for driving to get the best prices.  Try to remember that gasoline back then was a mere 22 cents per gallon (at that rate we would only spend about 66 cents on gasoline, at today’s gas costs you would spend almost $10).

Payday for my stepfather was every two weeks $120 take home per paycheck or approximately 81% of the average yearly Gross income. I am very proud of the old fella (he did very well for the times).  With the economic turmoil of 2008 the average national income for 2009 was $39,423.00.  Many young families struggled then and still do now to make 75% of the average yearly income.  Look for “Staying Within Budget.”  The best is yet to come…..