Kadizzle surrendered yesterday and bought hearing aids. Making the purchase at Costco Kadizzle got to sit and watch people go by. The number of people buying cases of water was amazing. Who ever would have thought you could sell plain old water. If you read one of the water bottles it will tell you it is just well filtered city water.
Pointing out the waste to Mrs Kadizzle she quickly pointed out that Lord Kadizzle himself has bought cases of bottled water. OK, a confession Kadizzle has done it. Now for an explanation. In the desert you do need water. Keeping in your car, your truck and your backpack is essential. Bottled water can be a life saver or just convenient.
On the other hand there is nothing wrong with most tap water. In Hazen the water was excellent. It came from the big lake and was delicious. Good water is nice, but is it worth the price? You can filter your own water.
The worst aspect of bottled water is the gazillion plastic bottles in the ocean and the landfills. Of course there is the other problem with people in economic straits paying for something they should not.
Poverty is often created by poor spending habits. Think about what one pack of smokes per day cost over a year. A pack is now ten dollars. 365, times ten is three thousand sixty five dollars up in flames. Look at most people struggling and they will be burning their paycheck with a tobacco fire.
Kadizzle likes to observe shoppers when he is forced to the Walmart. There they are. They drove up in a car with duck tape holding the fender on and then they go inside and line the shopping cart with soft drinks, buy some fried chicken and a stuffed animal for the kid.
There is another end to the spectrum. That is the cheap old men like Kadizzle. Stroupini buys his jeans at the thrift store. He is a retired banker. Kadizzle sniffs the thrift store and garage sales once in awile. Recently Kadizzle bought a new pack of sponges for a dollar. Over at the regular store the pack sold for 11 dollars. We needed tools for our new home. For ten bucks Kadizzle got a pick, a shovel, and a sledge hammer. Now do those tools really wear out. No. Saved about $75.
Hope no one is offended by this, but Mr Cheap (Kadizzle) goes nuts when he sees a bright orange five gallon bucket someone paid for. You can easily get all the buckets you want free. Kadizzle has about twelve he got from the construction guys. Rinsing out a bucket is not difficult. The amount of stuff free for the asking is amazing.
This gets to the final point. You get poor in small increments, and you get rich in small increments. A lot of little decisions add up to one big decision, you will be broke.
A saying Kadizzle has tried to live by is " A man is rich according to what he can afford to do without ". Not needing, or wanting, is one of the best keys to happiness.
More than once someone has told old Kadizzle, " You are such cheap". Kadizzle takes it as a compliment.
The Fargo paper has an article today about a panhandler and the life he leads. These people are classic. The guy stands in the cold an begs. If you can stand and breath someone will pay you. The greeter at Walmart stands, breaths and says hello. That would seem to be better than freezing in the cold. There are so many low paying jobs that require so little. Kadizzle has talked to more than one person who sits in a truck all day for $20 an hour. An electric company had an open ditch with equipment in it they did not want anyone to fall in. They paid someone $20 an hour to sit there. At another location a construction company had to park a lot of equipment in an isolated area. They paid someone to sit there.
If you are so incapable of not figuring out where to sit maybe you deserve to sit in the cold or the rain. You could get a job sitting earn some money then buy a bucket or some water, or maybe a pack of weeds.
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