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Pam, Linda, Woodie, Roberto, Jon, Colin, Scott, Susan, Julie, Dave, Laura, Dave, Bob, Micky, Bob, Sue, Ross and Mike, welcomed Celia, Deb and Grant to their first meeting.

Mike opened the space with a brief round of introductions (including reasons for attending today's meeting and how long you've been coming to VS Chicago), followed by general announcements.

Nancy from the Old St. Pat's Crossroads Center, wished to thank our group for volunteering during the Center's recent Civic Forum -- our presence really made a difference. As the Forum finishes up next week, Nancy mentioned the Center is always looking for volunteers to help with various jobs around the office. If you'd like to stop in and help out, give the Center a call.

Pam announced Your Money Or Your Life coauthor Vicki Robin will be speaking at the Unitarian Church of Hinsdale, 17 West Maple Street, Hinsdale, Illinois 60521, on March 20th. Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 at the door. There is also a reception for Vicki from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Reception tickets are $25, which includes (in addition to meeting and mingling with Vicki) appetizers, snacks, beverages and admission to the talk at 8 p.m. Info or questions? Contact Pam or Woodie at ecovegy@yahoo.com.

Ross mentioned VS Munster (Northwest Indiana) will hold its monthly meeting, Saturday, March 16th, 9:00am till noon, at the Munster, Indiana library (8701 Calumet Avenue).

The group then began posting discussion topics, creating an agenda for the meeting:

* Help! me define Simple Living/Simplicity to a group of interested parents in a parenting group setting. (Woodie)
* I want to get rid of my cell phone but I'm scared (Celia)
* Breaking Old Habits (Grant)
* Does anyone have any candidates they are entusiastic about? (N-Bob)
* "Frequent Flyer" type credit cards => do they really save money, or do they induce more spending (Mike)
* The Honda Insite, 68mpg hwy/61mpg city (Jon)
* How far are "we" willing to go to feel safe & "secure"? A Police State (Julie)
* Changing Food Shopping Habits (Linda)

Following, is a brief recap of the eight (8) discussions:

Help! me define Simple Living/Simplicity ...
The convening group talked about how information/commercials can be either informative, exploitative, or manipulative. Real needs come from within -- for example, eating when your body signals hunger instead of eating because of the scent of a cinnabun. It is hard to tune out media messages, and hard to differentiate between information and manipulation.
Also explored were reasons why folks sought simplicity -- becoming healthier (due to less stress, better eating habits...) and true freedoms (from not having to work in high paying/high stress jobs in order to pay off debt, mortgages...) were mentioned.

I want to get rid of my cell phone but ...
Safety, convenience, and savings emerged as needs and reasons for having cell phones. Regarding safety, so many folks have cell phones now, one is hardly needed if your car breaks down. You also don't need cellular service to place 911 calls -- those calls go through from any working cell phone. Is having a phone clipped to your hip really a convenience? Or is it an intrusion??

New cell calling plans challenge land line phone pricing, making it possible to save money overall by wisely using a cell phone. Discussed was looking at your family's total phone bill, and see if you can do better shifting Long Distance calls to a cell plan. With their current $30/month plan, Mike can call weekdays anywhere in the US and talk up to 200 minutes -- on weekends, he can talk up to 33 hours (which he just might be able to do...). Since July, Mike and Linda have been saving $15-20/month on their overall phone bill -- and they've been able to talk more with out-of-state relatives & friends.

But just like credit cards, cell phones require management.

Exceeding your cell plan's minutes is costly -- it is easy to lose track of your minutes and then incur extra charges. At $.35 to $.45 per minute after your allotted time, it is very easy to add $100, $200, $300... to your monthly bill. Don't get surprised by your monthly bills -- use your phone and/or provider's features to track your minutes. Just like credit cards, know your balances and use only what you can pay for. Perhaps that's why cell calling plans are attractively low -- if you lose track, who makes the money? (information, or manipulation?)

Breaking Old Habits...
Discussion included looking at book buying, food, smoking... all kinds of habits. Mentioned were challenging a habit seven (7) times to eventually break it. Establishing a new habit takes on average, 21 days. Go to the library, instead of buying books and dealing with their clutter. Literally stay out of stores -- it's funny to say, but if you don't spend money, you won't spend money. Regarding impulse buying, Grant mentioned the very impulse triggers a deliberate rebellion response within him. Susan mentioned the www.about.com web site as a source for talking about frugality -- simply search the site for this or any other topic.

Any candidates they are entusiastic about...
With primary elections ten days away in Illinois, Bob asked if anyone was really enthusiastic about any of the gubernatorial candidates. A certain Republican candidate seems to be better qualified, while a Democrat seems the most electable -- which prompted discussion around, "Does the most likely electable candidate, by reason of the current elections system, become the most corruptible? Does electable = corruptible?"

"Frequent Flyer" type credit cards...
Do frequent flyer/cash back credit cards really save money? Or do they induce you to spend more (without you noticing)??

Mike noticed when he switched purchasing gasoline from cash to credit card, he seemed to buy more gas. When money came directly out of his wallet, he seemed to drive less -- he reduced the impact on his wallet by either consolidating trips, or realizing some trips were not necessary. But when using the card, he lost the immediate and direct impact on his available cash.

Celia mentioned grocery stores know there is a bump up in total sales (around 20%) when they accept credit cards. The 4-5% cost of accepting the card is more than offset by this bump in total sales -- folks at grocery stores apparently do spend more when using cards. She also noted a "frenzy" seems to appear when you're close to getting the frequent flyer ticket -- "I'll just put this on my card...".

All this then led to a discussion on the subtleties of tracking your money.

Pam noted they track their expenses via a Quicken credit card. All they need to do is simply download all their activity, and the card and Quicken software automatically categorizes the purchases. And with every $6000 of total purchases, they receive a $100 voucher for use on any airline.

But Pam also wondered, if by not physically writing down purchases when they occur, does one lose perspective and awareness? Do you then tend to spend more because there is no moment for pause, reflection, and deliberation??

Mike mentioned with expenses lower now that he has left paid employment, he was directly inputting his expenses into Quicken software without writing it down. He noticed his expenses seemed to "be up" -- at least higher than normal, so last month he reinstalled his 10 year habit of writing down what he spends, then later transferring to Quicken. Funny thing happened -- February's expenses were much lower. He feels there is a direct impact when you write things down, and pull money out of your wallet instead of using a credit card for rebates/convenience.

The Honda Insite...
Jon talked about their new a hybrid electric/gas automobile -- a Honda Insite. After two months of operation, Jon noted the cold from winter weather affects the car's batteries, thus lowering gas mileage into the 50+mile per gallon range (note here -- only 50+mpg!). Other then a decrease in mileage, the car has been just great. Woodie shared his expertise from researching these types of vehicles. Jon mentioned Woodie helped put them in contact with a dealer via the internet, where they were able to arrange for quite a deal on the car. And with government tax rebates on top of the great mileage, the Insite is working out just great.

The group also discussed the Toyota hybrid and new Honda models coming out soon. There is an electric vehicle group in DuPage County -- a recent meeting featured a truck converted from gas to electric.

Scott mentioned coasting as a means of increasing gas mileage on conventional vehicles -- coast to the red stoplight, down hill..., and always keep your tires properly inflated (also a great safety advantage). Proper wheel alignment and tire balance is also important.

How far are "we" willing to go to feel safe & "secure"?...
Became a discussion of how America tries to control the world through money and war. We have knee-jerk reactions to events, when our policies of greed and control of other countries (ie, Republican Values) create situations that justify their hate.

Changing Food Shopping Habits...
Linda challenged their food expenses beginning in January. They always seemed to do good with food, but she felt there was still room and ways to lower expenses, while maintaining a healthy and fulfilling diet. Her solution? Don't go shopping... at least for a while.

What started out simply as, "Let's not go shopping this week", as led to not shopping since January. There has been an occasional trip to pick up onions, carrots, and eggs (and some fresh organic spinach), but other then that, powdered soy milk and using what's on the shelves has kept them going.

Scott mentioned, "You're living off the 'food-grid'", while Celia noted they were living off their food inventory. Micky said, "When you go shopping, you have to find places to put what you just bought, so I guess there probably is plenty of food already around."

The lesson Linda and Mike have been learning is there is plenty of food already in the house -- just use it up. Also important is breaking the habit of going shopping for food.

The results so far have been great -- lowered January & February food bills. But there have been some losses... an addiction to pop, chips and chocolate, and... a few pounds of excess weight.

Mike adjourned the meeting and closed the space at noon. Conversation continued outside, in the halls, on the street, around Honda Insites...
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(Reported by Mike Lenich)