The first entry

Living is not cheap, especially living in California. My mom told me of her days of youth shortly after she graduated from UCLA in the mid seventies. She started with a salary of $12,000 which she reckons in her days was decent (I find that hard to believe since that seems like nothing these days). She could afford to live on the westside in her OWN apartment, eat out , go "fun" shopping, and travel all on that budget.

I only dream of that kind of lifestyle these days. Salaries have definitely not kept up with rising costs of living and even though I make what could be considered a decent salary for a kid just out of school I still feel a tug every month. Gas is near $4.00 per gallon, minimum wage is $8.00. This means people on a minimum wage salary only are barely able to pay for their transportation alone, if that.

I wish I had a passion for politics and I wish I could change the way things are. I don't see myself in the near future being able to turn this around. I can only hope that whoever is our future president will take this challenge on. What I have decided to do in the mean time is start my "Frugality" blog to keep track of all saving money tactics I've come across. Whether shopping wisely, good but reasonable restaurants, tips, free services- whatever it may be I'll try to make note of it. I know it's not much, but maybe it will help some of you- at least those in the socal region.

Let's just see how this goes :)