My mood is different today. I feel as though a burden has been lifted; I’m happier, nicer and possibly more optimistic. Let’s start where it all began: last night. One of the sites I frequent has established clubs in each of the major cities, and if there isn’t one where you live you can create one. I joined the one in my city; we scheduled a meeting time, and location (the library in one of the corners, which is much better than a coffee shop where you feel obligated to keep buying coffee, a doughnut, etc. or get out rather than keep talking).
Some might think it would be rather uncomfortable talking to a stranger about such a taboo topic as money. I found it enjoyable, uplifting and stress relieving. I do admit, however, that I was more than a little nervous leading up to 7:30 last night. I had even made a plan; I would wait in the car (that ’86 Cougar) and watch for her, I knew what she would be wearing after all: brown jacket with a brown stripped purse, if she looked like there wouldn’t be a feasible connection between the two of us, then I’d ditch. I looked at the time on my Blackberry at 7:26, and decided I better suck it up, and head on inside.
What I found was a wonderful woman, who’s been married since she was 28, with three children (aged 18, 16 and 14), who’s now 46 years old. We started talking about what brought us there that night: Gail Vaz Oxlade, her TV show Til Debt Do Us Part, blog and aptly named Gail Clubs. Soon our conversation turned to talking about life in general. It turns out her husband is a saver, and she’s the spender. I said how I had been a compulsive spender, but had been turned to a saver by my Fiancé (now I hoard money, and can’t believe that he buys a pop from the vending machine on a job site, when he could by a 2L bottle for the same price). It seems she and I both try to gather as much information from as many different sources as we can about money; she introduced me to another book (of which I still need to get the name), and I introduced her to the Smart Cookies (a group of five women from Vancouver whom have made their own club, calling it a Money Club). By the end of our hour together, I felt like I had a true friend, someone that I connected with; someone that wasn’t a stranger anymore. We’ve decided to meet once a month to discuss a pre-determined topic.
I would urge anyone to get a club going, whatever your method, talk about your financial issues and meet some new people. After all, everyone just wants to tell their story.
March 18, 2009
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