Who and how?

[kealina]

wow joan... it was really great to read your story... sorry guys but this is gonna be long...

for me (i'm still young), the things i've done have mostly been small things that any teenager/college student can do... my best friend in high school was pretty poor. government housing, mom on disability, she ended up working to pay the utility bills, etc... as i've mentioned before we didn't have a lot of money but we were yard sale fiends...one day i ended up seeing a pile of clothes in her size at a yard sale that was cheap and way nicer than most of what i'd seen her wear... when i suggested me buying some for her my mom (who can be generous sometimes) said we might as well buy all of it since it was so cheap... i think we spent maybe $10 or so on a garbage bag full of 20+ pieces of clothing... just regular tops and bottoms although i remember a cute pair of overalls... like any teen girl, she loved having new clothes... although she would spend the night already, after that she started occassionally spending friday night and tagging along on saturday mornings to check out the yard sales... my mom was also one of those moms that cook way too much food all the time so we always ended up sending her home with food... looking back i'm so glad we were each able to share things like that...
I have all sorts of memories where i helped in a little way... as for long-term benefits i don't know how much i did aside from be her friend but she's doing better than she was before, although she's still not doing great... she got married to a nice military guy and they now have 3 young girls so they are on a shoestring but at least they is still young, she's working on her education, and he has good job prospects (he's a computer tech) so i hold out hope for them...

my other friend i met in college...she was sweet, responsible and intelligent... she also was a foreign exchange student from Malaysia.... her affluent uncle sponsered her to come to the US and go to college...she ended up in hawaii because she had some other relatives living here on the island that were willing to help her out... like me, she commuted on the bus and was very budget conscious...because of the restrictions placed on exchange students she couldn't get a job to make money... she gave piano lessons for $10 an hour to help pay for textbooks and food... we found that we had a similar outlook on money and ended up hanging out... after i got to know her a little better and finding that we had similar taste i ended up sharing clothes with her... i lent her whatever clothing she had a need for (fancy dress, etc) and i also passed along clothes that she particularly liked that i wasn't very attached to... i might have kept them and enjoyed them if i hadn't met her but honestly it brought me pleasure to see someone i liked enjoy them even more because she had less clothing than i did and i felt i could always get more at yard sales... i also found out she loves fresh fish and when her and her husband ended up living near my parents for awhile i would arrange for my mom to save her a few of the fish my dad caught most weekends.... it wasn't a hardship for us but she really appreciated it as fresh fish would have been a luxury otherwise... i haven't heard from her since she went back to malaysia but i know she married a nice guy and graduated with her degree so hopefully she's doing well too...

i've done similar things for others but these two stand out as leaving warm memories with me because they required so little to be happy... they weren't demanding, entitled or anything else... they also didn't get all wierd when i tried to help them out, understanding that we were all in a similar boat and that helping each other out was natural...
i know clothes, and even food, aren't a major help (and they're definately not money) but it was something little i could easily do to help and i like to think it at least made them feel good... and in return i know they brought so much to my life that i'm thankful for... i know i wouldn't be the same person without having had them as friends so i'm glad i knew them..... we used to have so much fun together without spending even a dime... i really miss them both... but life goes on.... you graduate, get married, move away... i just wish i could find more people like that to hang out with... lol... don't suppose you guys would consider moving to hawaii? lol, we can take over one of the smaller islands and turn it into a frugal paradise...

[lillyb]

Originally Posted by Joan.of.the.Arch

Honorable people reciprocate when possible.

I like that! Too few many in this world, it's sad.

[PrincessPerky]

update on current, we loaned 20 bucks and bought some groceries, we got 20 bucks back already..dunno bout the groceries, but I am happy with the 20 back!

[cicy33]

Originally Posted by Ima saver

cicy, you must be talking about a 401 plan. An IRA is an independent retirement account and no one puts in money but you. If you or your spouse has earned income, you can put up to $4000 away per year for retirement (each) I would open mine in a good index fund like Vanguard Index 500. Just call them and ask for a prospectus. I would reccommend a Roth Ira because you can withdraw the money tax free at age 59 1/2!!

We had a simple ira at work and the employer matched our deposit up to 3%. it wasn't a 401. It was through Oppenheimer Funds. To the other post. In general I just don't understand all the workings. Like in the ira, they would take the money and I guess buy and sell stock to make money? but we couldn't decide which ones, we could only make the decision to do High risk, Medium risk and low risk, I took medium and the only money made was from the fact that I had a matching deposit. I don't really understand how it works and unfortunately most professionals have zero interest in actually explaining it to someone who doesn't at this time have the money to invest. But before I even consider it I have to understand it. Why bother saving for something to invest in if I don't get it?