Lori Alexander 31: The Viral Godly Tudor

[feministxtian]

My (paternal) grandmother always worked. My mother went to work when I was about 10 to pay for my aunt to finally be able to get out of Cuba and come to the US. That included a year in either Spain or Mexico (emigrating from Cuba was REAL interesting) where my aunt had to be fully supported by family. My uncle (mom's brother) kicked in some, but Jose wasn't known for wanting to spend money. My aunt arrived in the US on my 13th birthday and became my mom's nanny and housekeeper. Mom continued to work full time until just after my dad died in 1998. I don't think my mother would have kept working if my aunt hadn't been the housekeeper and nanny. The mother got to come home from work and sit on her ass...ya know, the mother probably would have gotten along quite well with Lori...two bitter old bitches who think they know so goddamn much. 

[Sarah92]

With this recent post... Seriously show a little freakin empathy people. Assuming they have luxuries and take expensive vacations. Are you kidding me? That's Lori you're describing. Is it possible for some people to live on one income? Sure but gosh darn everyone's circumstances are different. Makes me want to cuss and wish that I wasn't blocked from her page. 

[AlwaysDiscerning]

Quote

Most people aren’t dancing in praise to the Lord when they dance these days, Donna, but this is a Christian’s liberty to decide whether or not their dancing is glorifying to the Lord or not. My oldest daughter danced for a Christian ballet company for nine years and it absolutely was glorifying to the Lord!

Of course when her own daughter dances its godly! LOL!. The Alexanders have special passes from God. 

[lilwriter85]

1 hour ago, Sarah92 said:

With this recent post... Seriously show a little freakin empathy people. Assuming they have luxuries and take expensive vacations. Are you kidding me? That's Lori you're describing. Is it possible for some people to live on one income? Sure but gosh darn everyone's circumstances are different. Makes me want to cuss and wish that I wasn't blocked from her page. 

 

Someone responded to them that she didn't a lot of luxuries despite having two incomes.

 

 

 

[AlwaysDiscerning]

Jilly has a comment up on her blog, which I am surprised made it through given she banned Jilly on FB. 

I love how Lori suggests the Tightwad Gazette. That was early 90s and once again they forget inflation. Living on 40K nearly 30 years ago is the same as 80K or so today.  I wish Lori could prove us wrong by living on a small salary. Lori has never needed to be tightwad.

[EowynW]

Medical debt is CRUSHING in this country today. We just now had to set up a simple bank credit card to help with our large dental copay. We are faithful to pay it each month but we are still scared it'll make our credit bad or some other calamity. (We've never had a credit card before, it wasn't allowed in our fundie families growing up and no one taught us about building credit. So we are teaching ourselves) 

[feministxtian]

what is it with these idiotic women thinking that two incomes = luxuries? Shit, when I was working, it was for the little things in life like groceries, utilities, etc. Now, we've cut to the bone and get by on what we have but...ya know? There's a big difference between getting by (and it's just the 2 of us) and managing to support a family. If we still had kids at home, we'd be totally screwed. 

[lilwriter85]

lol at Lindy telling people to get rid of the Internet. Her whole comment is ugh for me for several reasons.

-Having a smart phone doesn't necessarily mean luxury. Many people get smartphones through upgrades and some people don't use data or anything else that may increase the monthly bill. Buying a clunker isn't always a smart move. If you live in area with hard winters it can be quite risky. Having a used car can be a huge financial drain if keeps breaking down. I know that not everyone can go out and a buy new car. But, if working to have safe cars is one of the reasons you work that's not a bad thing. 

 

 

ETA: if she is suggesting sewing as a way of making money from home. That's not that great of a suggestion imo. People aren't constantly needing alternations. Oh, and guess what, Lindy my mother(who worked outside the home)  knows how to sew and she altered our clothes when needed.  She taught me to sew. Some working women do pass on skills to their daughters.

 

[Sarah92]

Seriously yeah buying a clunker can just cost you more money. I bought a car for 1200, have almost dropped probably 800 on it to keep it moving and I have probably another 500 that I should put into it but can't afford. If you have a mechanic in your family maybe you can get away with it. But now I wish I had gotten a better used car with smaller monthly payments and better gas mileage that I'd be driving for many years. 

[Loveday]

3 minutes ago, lilwriter85 said:

ETA: if she suggesting sewing as a way of making money from home. That's not that great of a suggestion imo. People aren't constantly needing alternations. Oh, and guess what, Lindy my mother(who worked outside the home)  knows how to sew and she altered our clothes when needed.  She taught me to sew. Some working women do pass on skills to their daughters.

My working mother tried to teach me to sew. It wasn't her fault I failed to learn. I just hated sewing. And these days, sewing one's clothes can be pretty expensive, but Lori and her minions don't mention that.

Canning ain't cheap, either. At least not at first. You have to buy the jars, lids, and seals. Maybe a pressure canner, depending on what you want to can. And not everyone has space for a garden. Or, if they do, getting the ground ready for planting can  be pricey, too. If not, you have to buy your produce at the local farmer's market--IF there's one nearby. Or drive a ways out into the country, to find a farm stand. By the time you've done all that, you've spent a lot more money than if you'd just gone to the grocery store and shopped the sales with coupons in hand (not to say that it isn't worth it--home-canned foods are so good!).

I wonder if Lori has ever canned tomatoes. I did that a couple of weeks ago. It's not difficult, but it's time-consuming, and I can't picture her dealing with the mess. Or with maintaining the necessary cleanliness of jars and equipment. Can't be using chicken juice-saturated Norwex cloths to set your sterile jars on! 

 

[lilwriter85]

1 hour ago, AlwaysDiscerning said:

Jilly has a comment up on her blog, which I am surprised made it through given she banned Jilly on FB. 

I love how Lori suggests the Tightwad Gazette. That was early 90s and once again they forget inflation. Living on 40K nearly 30 years ago is the same as 80K or so today.  I wish Lori could prove us wrong by living on a small salary. Lori has never needed to be tightwad.

Lori is an out of touch moron. Sadly, there are some baby boomers that are like her. They forget about inflation, education costs, and other things that go in. I'm so glad that my baby boomer parents aren't out of touch morons like Lori.  Sometimes being frugal can only do so much.

[Frog99]

I think the whole lot of them are crazy. Seriously. 

I know our budget- I can assure you I’m not losing money by paying daycare. Even at its highest, it was never more than 10% of my income (husband’s not included). My working is necessary- income and health insurance. We don’t have a fancy house, DH’s truck is 13 years old and my vehicle is 4 years old. I have a newer vehicle for safety reasons and the warranty. I traded in a 10 year old vehicle that was quickly becoming unreliable- and we were headed into winter. At the time DH was working full time as a paramedic (in addition to his business) and worked 24 hour shifts. We haven’t taken a vacation in 6 years- and even that wasn’t “fancy”. 

I don’t think lindy and Lindsay even know women who work out of the home. I think they have some stereotypical idea of what that looks like and they aren’t willing to hear from the experiences of those living it out. 

And Lindys suggestion to go to my “fellowship”?? I would feel like a jerk walking in, able bodied, asking for help. That money is for people who don’t have that ability. 

Staying at home has never been an option afforded to poor folks and families of color. I am getting the sense that most of her fans have never had meaningful interaction with anyone outside their own individual groups. 

[Loveday]

I loved The Tightwad Gazette, and used some of the ideas when my kids were little to help keep within our budget. But even then--I'm talking the 90s--I realised that a lot of Amy D's numbers were well out of date, not to mention a lot of her ideas. She went through most of that hardcore frugality during the 80s. So fast forward another 25 years, and they're positively medieval. The TG is still a great read for inspiration, to get into the frugal mindset, but we're in a whole different world now, and washing out plastic baggies is just not going to cut it any more.

[desertvixen]

Amy D also had military benefits to fall back on, didn't she?  Husband was retired Navy, I want to say. 

[Loveday]

6 minutes ago, desertvixen said:

Amy D also had military benefits to fall back on, didn't she?  Husband was retired Navy, I want to say. 

I think when she started doing the hardcore frugal lifestyle, he was active duty. They were saving to buy a farm or something. But yes, then he retired and I think was making something like $30,000 a year retirement pay. I don't know if he had another job after that, though, or if they were both doing the homesteading thing along with her frugal living newsletters. I can't remember the whole story, it's  been quite awhile since I read the books. I should probably donate them to the thrift store, maybe one of Lori's leg-humpers will find them! Ha ha.

[lilwriter85]

27 minutes ago, Frog99 said:

 

I don’t think lindy and Lindsay even know women who work out of the home. I think they have some stereotypical idea of what that looks like and they aren’t willing to hear from the experiences of those living it out. 

And Lindys suggestion to go to my “fellowship”?? I would feel like a jerk walking in, able bodied, asking for help. That money is for people who don’t have that ability. 

Staying at home has never been an option afforded to poor folks and families of color. I am getting the sense that most of her fans have never had meaningful interaction with anyone outside their own individual groups. 

I'm not buying Lindy knowing people who work out of the home. When you work from home you aren't tending to all the needs of the house throughout the day. Many companies will not hire women with young children to work from home unless there is proof of childcare. Some work from home jobs require set hours and if you're doing something like customer service from home you are logged into a company server and they are seeing your interactions with customers. There are also project deadlines, phone or video conferences in work at home jobs which can't be constantly interrupted by kids.

I agree, I don't think the fangirls have ever had meaningful or insightful interaction with people outside their circles. They might see some working women in clothes that looks very nice. But, for all they know the clothes could be from Wal-Mart or Target and they just assume that the women's clothes are very expensive. If a working woman and her working husband have a brand new car there could be a practical reason for it, but Lindy won't consider that.

[nokidsmom]

19 minutes ago, Loveday said:

My working mother tried to teach me to sew. It wasn't her fault I failed to learn. I just hated sewing. And these days, sewing one's clothes can be pretty expensive, but Lori and her minions don't mention that.

My mom also taught me to sew and I sewed a lot of my clothes when I was younger. My family lived on a shoestring and that's how my mom came by getting us new clothes, by sewing them most of the time.  But fabric and patterns were a whole lot cheaper compared to now.  I still sew but nowhere near what I used to do.  Partly because it is more expensive to do so I only make something if I can get a better fit by sewing, such as dresses.

27 minutes ago, Loveday said:

Canning ain't cheap, either. At least not at first. You have to buy the jars, lids, and seals. Maybe a pressure canner, depending on what you want to can. And not everyone has space for a garden.

When I first canned, I had no garden so I had to buy.  Even though now I have a garden plot it still takes a lot of effort and time to prep what I am canning.   Not to mention a lot of water since I was water bath canning.  Last year, I had a bumper crop of tomatoes and canned tomatoes, ketchup and salsa.  I was doing it nearly every day.  I probably could have saved by just going to the grocery store, but home canned stuff is so good. 

18 minutes ago, Loveday said:

I loved The Tightwad Gazette, and used some of the ideas when my kids were little to help keep within our budget.

I borrowed the TG from the library and while I could implement some of Amy D's ideas, not all of them were feasible for me even at the time.   But yeah, by the time the book was published Amy D already had her hardcore years behind her. 

[Frog99]

Regarding sewing- I can do a button, but that’s about it- and I took home ec. If I need more than that, I’m heading to the alterations shop that’s closely situated to other areas where I conduct business. 

I kind of thought the scary mommy fans would show up on her page- but they haven’t. I wonder how let down she’s feeling about that...

[nokidsmom]

18 minutes ago, desertvixen said:

Amy D also had military benefits to fall back on, didn't she?  Husband was retired Navy, I want to say. 

Yes, at the time I found out about her book not long after it was published, her husband had retired out of the Navy.  Both of them were on the farm they purchased, somewhere in Maine I think.

[feministxtian]

If I cut any more corners in our budget we'd be homeless again! Well, Ok...we could get rid of the money-pit Mustang and cable/internet...but even that wouldn't make much of a dent. The 'stang is paid for. So over her bullshit. 

[Frog99]

Where was the comment about dancing? I can’t aeem to find it. 

[Loveday]

@nokidsmom , my goal next year is to can salsa! I'm only just learning how to can (my long-retired mom is teaching me, and I've actually caught on to this, unlike sewing! LOL), and have also made a couple of batches of strawberry jam. Makes me feel like my own grandmothers must have felt when I look at those pretty jars sitting on my pantry shelves. 

[lilwriter85]

6 minutes ago, Frog99 said:

Regarding sewing- I can do a button, but that’s about it- and I took home ec. If I need more than that, I’m heading to the alterations shop that’s closely situated to other areas where I conduct business. 

I kind of thought the scary mommy fans would show up on her page- but they haven’t. I wonder how let down she’s feeling about that...

I was also hoping the scary mommy would have shown up on Lori's blog or FB. i haven't checked the scary mommy article since yesterday. Did any of Lori's fangirls show up over there?

[SuperNova]

Lori's idea of saving money reminds me of the time when Gwenyth Paltrow tried to do the food stamp challenge and live on something like $28 of food for a week. She quit after four days, binged on protein, and gave herself a C-. I don't remember her purchases except she had 7-8 limes. Why would you buy that many if all you had was $28? Gwenyth and Lori literally have no concept of what it means to be frugal because there's no real fear of going hungry if you didn't budget well enough. Anyone who's actually had that struggle knows that a miscalculation or frivolous purchase can spell catastrophe. 

[lilwriter85]

Lori just posted this on FB. Not all of these tips can work for everyone.

6 minutes ago, SuperNova said:

Lori's idea of saving money reminds me of the time when Gwenyth Paltrow tried to do the food stamp challenge and live on something like $28 of food for a week. She quit after four days, binged on protein, and gave herself a C-. I don't remember her purchases except she had 7-8 limes. Why would you buy that many if all you had $28? Gwenyth and Lori literally have no concept of what it means to be frugal because there's no real fear of going hungry if you didn't budget well enough. Anyone who's actually had that struggle knows that a miscalculation or frivolous purchase can spell catastrophe. 

I remember when GP did that. She got laughed at by many. GP is different than many other celebs. She was born into wealth and then got more wealth by working as an actress. In a recent years, she has claimed that she wasn't spoiled by her parents. GP's site Goop is annoying as fuck. She recommends very expensive products to her readers.