Research and Conversations

My co-workers are excited about the book I'm writing. They all want to talk about my process and my ideas. I think it's fabulous to receive such instant feedback, but some of the conversations it has prompted have blown my mind.

In the break room yesterday, I was speaking with a woman who is in her late 40s. We'll call her Kelli. Kelli lives alone, on one income. In previous conversations, Kelli has revealed that she has multiple maxed out credit cards that she only pays the minimums on because that is all she can afford. She is stressed and worried about her finances on a daily basis.

Kelli enjoys her McDonald's breakfast meal at her desk every morning. She can also be found at least once, and often more, per day at the Coke machine buying sodas. She wears stylish clothes and has a vast collection of gorgeous name brand dress shoes.

When Kelli and I were chatting about cost cutting and budgeting, she said "I know, I know.. the first thing everyone says is stop buying scratch offs!" Kelli is firmly entrenched in the "It's only $5 crowd."

I can rattle off 10 ways for Kelli to cut her costs without even having to think really hard about it. I can refer her to any number of my favorite blogs. She may have a heart attack if she read Lynnae's blog over at Being Frugal or Frugal Dad's words of wisdom.

I'm considering giving her a free copy of the book, when it's finished. I have a feeling she is going to provide me with a lot of valuable data for my research. It makes me a little sad to have these conversations. People like Kelli are why I am writing this book and starting my business in Household Finance Coaching.