Hello pretties,

The government is open…well for a while. The whole thing is utterly ri-dayum-diculous; nonetheless, I am not here to talk politics, but to focus on the lessons learned from the Shutdown.

Lesson 1 – Save, Save, Save

You can never save too much. This situation was a wakeup call for everybody to have an emergency fund set aside. I get it, I get it, it can be super hard to save. But there are a lot of ways to save money, a little a time. The famous 52 -week challenge is a great place to start. Here’s a great visual to help get you started.

There are other easy tools like apps for your phone. I use Qapital, which I posted about here.

Lesson 2 – Everyone Can Help

Just about every one of us knows someone impacted by the Shutdown. Offer assistance to friends/family impacted, which does not have to be money per se. You can offer to take a family a meal or purchase gift cards for gas stations, grocery stores, or drug stores. Offer baby sitting services for a night out for stressed out parents.

Lesson 3 – Get Involved

Now, I said I was not going to get political BUT we have to get involved. We can not just vote and walk away. Contact your local representatives and tell them what actions you would like to see our elected officials take regarding this shutdown. They need to hear from the citizens that put them in office. Call, email, fax or send letters to members of Congress to tell them you support federal workers and want them back to work with pay and backpay as soon as possible. You can find U.S. Representatives here and U.S. Senators here.

I hope we all learned something from this situation but more importantly, I hope this issue is resolved in a way that makes sense. We, the people, should never be held hostage at the whim of the government. It just isn’t right. Save, help, call, let’s all do our part.

What are your thoughts?