A Few Thoughts On Family Budgeting

     I have to confess that every now and then, in the name of fiscal responsibility, I go online and search for ways to save money. I'll type in things like, family budgeting, how to save money for families, or something like these into the Google bar to see what pops up. Sometimes I am bewildered and sometimes I am amused by what I find. Today, for example, I found 101 ways to save on your family expenses. It suggested things that we already do such as bundle your internet, cable and phone service into one (outlandishly expensive) service. I added the outlandishly expensive part in case you didn't catch that. It really ticks me off when I have 996 channels and there is nothing good on to watch, but that's a whole other blog.
     One of the other suggestions is to stop buying designer jeans. What the!? First of all I haven't squeezed my ever widening heiny into designer jeans since I was a teenager and second is this really the best they could do to help families struggling in a bad economy. How about this one. Try not to use so much shampoo and conditioner when you shower. Huh? I get a huge bottle of Tresemme shampoo at Walmart for about $3.65 and it lasts me a few months, even showering everyday. I probably could use a little less, but it's like a little vacation for me there in the hot water, by myself, all lathery. Can you hear my voice dripping with lathery sarcasm here, I hope so. I mean, seriously, I want some reality based ways to cut down on expenses, not a list of things that are so far fetched that they are ridiculous. 
     Reading these confirms what I have thought for years, there is "them" and there is "us" or "we". "We" live in the real world where we see inflation every time we go to the grocery store and put gas in our cars. Then there is "them," who try to tell us that there really is hardly any inflation going on. Or the "them" that says family budgeting involves things like your portfolio and investing in this, instead of that. Get real "them". "We" are more worried about putting food on the table, keeping the lights on and whether we will have a job in six months. It's too bad "them" will never really know or care about "we."
     Or maybe it's just me?