很久不見(jiàn)的好友Lisa, Karen和Gina一起吃飯。三個(gè)人都說(shuō),現(xiàn)在手頭很緊,彼此交換勤儉持家的經(jīng)驗(yàn)。Karen 說(shuō),
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(shuō),原來(lái)每星期六都要帶孩子去看電影,但是電影票一張十塊錢(qián),10 bucks, buck is spelled b-u-c-k, buck 是口語(yǔ)里提到美元時(shí)常用的詞。
一個(gè)月下來(lái),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(qián)省了,一家人租影碟在家看。Gina說(shuō),雖然沒(méi)那么多錢(qián)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?yàn)榻?jīng)濟(jì)衰退逼得大家不能花錢(qián)買(mǎi)娛樂(lè),不得不回去陪孩子玩游戲,一家人一起看電影,反而其樂(lè)融融。老話說(shuō),troubles can be a blessing in disguise,塞翁失馬,焉知非福。Lisa表示同意,說(shuō)一切都取決于心態(tài),如果心態(tài)是positive,積極的話,省錢(qián)也能變成一件開(kāi)心的挑戰(zhàn),萎靡不振doesn't help anything,于事無(wú)補(bǔ)。
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(shuō),為省錢(qián),她們家還采納了thirty-day rule,三十天原則,就是買(mǎi)一件東西之前,必須等30天,如果30天后還是想買(mǎi)的話,才可以買(mǎi)。Gina說(shuō),a lot of times,很多時(shí)候,30天過(guò)后,她們?cè)缇陀洸黄饋?lái)當(dāng)初為什么想買(mǎi)了。三個(gè)人省錢(qián)還有什么高招嗎?我們下次繼續(xù)聽(tīng)。