Futon Island

I work with a guy who is self described as the cheapest man on the planet. He freaks when you buy a candy bar for 75 cents out of the vending machine when you could go to costco and get them for 50 cents. He takes dates to the employee dining room where he can eat for free and he is sure to bring his Tupperware along to take home extra. The big joke when ever he takes vacation time is that he’s going to be spending a week on Futon Island and if he wants to see the world he will just jump on Google Earth and go anywhere.

Now I’m all for saving more and consuming less, in fact I fully believe that it’s the key to our survival as a society, but the Google Earth vacation is a little extreme.

However, staying at home this summer travel season is not a half bad idea. With gas and oil hitting new records for the nth day in a row, we are all feeling the pinch. Memorial day is just around the corner and planning a backyard barbecue/pot luck with the neighbors, some yard games and a kiddy pool will send a message to the gas companies more than any windfall tax. A trip to the local park or pool will save a huge amount of money compared to a long road trip to the beach. Spending a day at a community garden or pick your own or fixing up the back yard to grow your own veggies could be a fun way to teach the kids about local living and being responsible. Lets be honest, it’s hard to say no when all the kids want to do is go to disney world or the local water park, but the sacrifices you make today, may help to assure that those kids have some sort of future tomorrow.

~ by takinitback on May 21, 2008.