很久不見的好友Lisa, Karen和Gina一起吃飯。三個人都說,現(xiàn)在手頭很緊,彼此交換勤儉持家的經(jīng)驗。Karen 說,
K: We've stopped going to the theater! We used to take the kids every Saturday, but with each ticket costing about 10 bucks, it adds up to a couple of hundred dollars a month! These days we just rent a movie and stay at home.
G: But you know, even though we can't do as many things as we used to, I feel like our family has grown closer since we've been spending more time together.
Karen說,原來每星期六都要帶孩子去看電影,但是電影票一張十塊錢,10 bucks, buck is spelled b-u-c-k, buck 是口語里提到美元時常用的詞。
一個月下來,一家人看電影就要兩百塊,上面用到的it adds up to是加在一起的意思,把這筆錢省了,一家人租影碟在家看。Gina說,雖然沒那么多錢玩這玩那了,但是一家人經(jīng)常在一起,our family has grown closer,感情反而更親密了。
L: That's true for us as well. We play board games at night with the kids and when we watch movies we do it as a family.
It's funny, but the recession is forcing us to get creative and actually...it's kind of fun!
K: You know the old saying: troubles can be a blessing in disguise.
L: I think it all depends on your attitude. If you stay positive, saving money can be a fun challenge. But being depressed about it doesn't help anything.
Lisa也有同感,因為經(jīng)濟衰退逼得大家不能花錢買娛樂,不得不回去陪孩子玩游戲,一家人一起看電影,反而其樂融融。老話說,troubles can be a blessing in disguise,塞翁失馬,焉知非福。Lisa表示同意,說一切都取決于心態(tài),如果心態(tài)是positive,積極的話,省錢也能變成一件開心的挑戰(zhàn),萎靡不振doesn't help anything,于事無補。
G: Another thing that has really helped our family is instituting the thirty-day rule.
K: What's the thirty-day rule?
G: Well, every time we think about buying something we don't really need, we wait thirty days and then ask ourselves if we still want it. A lot of times after thirty days, we can't even remember why we wanted it in the first place!
Gina說,為省錢,她們家還采納了thirty-day rule,三十天原則,就是買一件東西之前,必須等30天,如果30天后還是想買的話,才可以買。Gina說,a lot of times,很多時候,30天過后,她們早就記不起來當(dāng)初為什么想買了。三個人省錢還有什么高招嗎?我們下次繼續(xù)聽。