Getting By Story Week 2

In our new book, What Doesn’t Kill You, our main character Tee is forced by circumstances to re-evaluate and change her spending habits. Last week w started a Getting By” story contest and yesterday we announced our first winner—Bryana C., from Aurora Colorado. The contest continues for five more weeks and a new winner will be announced next Wednesday.

So our question to you is (and we’ll ask again, once every week): What changes are you making to get through these tough economic times? What are you doing differently in order to get by? Send us your ideas—either leave them here as comments or email your idea to us at mybrokestory@gmail.com and we’ll post them. Once a week, for the next six weeks, we’ll pick a winning suggestion and that person will receive either a TiffiBag or an autographed copy of Gotta Keep on Tryin’. BTW we’re still accepting Broke Stories at the same email address.

Below are two of the entries we received for Week 1. We’ll post more of them, between now and next Wednesday and look forward to your comments and more helpful hints on how we can all make getting through these tough times a little easier.

CTR
I think the situation with the economy represents a great time for people to make green lifestyle changes that support both their wallet and the environment. To that end, I have installed a water filter on my kitchen sink to reduce pollutants and eliminate the need for bottled water. I was buying 7-9 gallons a week. Now, I get highly filtered water from the tap. I've also installed Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs to reduce my electric bill. These bulbs are more pricey than regular bulbs on the front end, but they last around 5 years and only use 25% of the energy of their counterparts. Hope this helps.



JC Martin
Before the economic crisis I had convinced my husband to take his lunch to work. That saves us a good $7-$20 a day. I started making him a couple sandwiches for his breakfast, which eliminated another $5-$8 dollars spent. He brings snacks and a gallon of filtered water from the tap with him every day. So not only are we saving money, he's staying healthy as well.We installed a digital thermostat, which we programed with our desired temperature which helps to cut back on electricity. I also cook a couple meals out of one pack of meat. I was surprised to watch Oprah and a guest chef suggested the same thing. I will make lasagna and nacho from one pack of ground turkey. Now I need to try his turkey noodle shepherd's pie and sloppy joes.We also shop with a shopping list, which helps us not buy things we don't need.The best thing is to have all my kids read even more than before in an attempt to keep the televisions off and their minds stimulated. And when they tire of that outside to play in the yard, gives them the necessary exercise.

'FESSING UP: We Share Our OWN Broke Story

Over the last few weeks, many of you have sent us Your Best Broke Story—stories that have been hilarious, surprising and heartwarming. We are grateful that so many of you have opened up and revealed personal, private details of your lives. So as the deadline for our online Tell Us Your Best Broke Story Contest approaches (1/20/09)
we thought we would share our very own “Broke Story” with you...

The journey that Thomasina “Tee” Hodges takes us on in What Doesn’t Kill You—from well paid professional to outplaced ex-employee who can no longer “handle her business,” is certainly a timely story which will resonate with a wide audience. There are people all around us who have gotten that call to visit HR and clean out their desks and are terrified because without their job, they won’t be able to afford to buy gasoline or groceries, keep the lights on, or cope with any of the unexpected little emergencies that become a big deal when you don’t have the money to handle them. Then there are those of us who, even though employed, live in fear the pink slip is coming, and don’t know what they would do without the next paycheck.

But Tee’s story is not one we tell from the outside in. Her trip from denial, to anger to acceptance and ultimately to reinvestment in her life is one we know intimately because both directly and indirectly we have lived through it, and it wasn’t pretty. It has been a six year long, down and dirty test of personal strength, our commitment to our craft and our friendship. Parts of the struggle are ongoing, but writing WDKY was a way to begin to take some extremely negative energy and make it into something positive.

There are very few people who know any of the details of how difficult these years have been—what it has taken to keep going, one inch at a time, but by opening up we hope to show readers that they aren’t “the only ones.”

For Virginia the situation started at the confluence of an unexpectedly large tax bill—ironically the result of a good earnings year—and a large sum of money that was contractually due to us – but turned to dust, leaving a devastating financial chasm and nowhere to go but down. As a result, savings evaporated, jobs eluded and bills mounted. So a great many of the hardships Tee goes through in WDKY are related not from knowledge acquired through research, but from having been there, done that and you can keep the t-shirt—thank you very much (Virginia really did learn how to fill her own tooth, and have a job where the commute was 2 hours each way).

On Donna’s part—it was about being Julie and Ron and all the folks who rallied to support Tee when she needed it. While the financial hardship hit Donna equally, she had great good fortune to have a wonderful husband who not only mitigated the burden of the monetary loss, but together, for almost two years, they totally supported Virginia.

In terms of the writing partnership, Virginia was ready to chuck it—without knowing what she would do instead, but Donna was not prepared to let the team go down like that. While the struggle was just as real, this was a darker and more difficult time than at the beginning when we were writing Tryin’ to Sleep. Back then, like Tee, we were full of “hope and expectation” which provides a much better head of steam than resentment and frustration. But because Donna continued to take steps forward in the direction we needed to go and coaxed Virginia to come along we were able to work ourselves back into writing the kinds of books that our readers have come to enjoy.

New Book Cover!!

“I really thought I had a handle on life—then it broke off.”

Straight-talking and witty, Tee is a fly forty-something. Divorced since her daughter was young, Tee has been “handling her business,” and she’s done all right. Organized, responsible and loyal, Tee went from being the first employee of a start-up purveyor of organic lotions to the right-hand of the president of what became a major player in the home and personal fragrance market.

But then everything changes and for the first time in 25 years, Tee doesn’t know who she is or what she’s going to do. She spent her life investing her hopes and dreams in someone else’s. Now it’s her chance to invest in herself. Can she step out on faith and a dream?

More about Tee --including an excerpt and a contest coming soon!