Flowers From Uncle Sam

You may have thought you were buying flowers with your economic stimulus check, but what you really spent the money on was gasoline. Look at a graph of retail gasoline prices for 2008. What you will see that the spike in gas proces very closely followed the distribution of economic stimulus checks. I wonder if it's just a coincidence.

You may have thought you were buying flowers with your economic stimulus check, but what you really spent the money on was gasoline. Look at a graph of retail gasoline prices for 2008. What you will see that the spike in gas proces very closely followed the distribution of economic stimulus checks. I wonder if it's just a coincidence.

While I'm all for brighten ones spirits in hard times, I'd think Heubeck would be more concerned with her family's safety from eating off chipped plates that could be leaching toxins not to mention cutting their lips. The day my child asked if his towel was a rag and I chose to buy a bunch of plants is a day I want someone to slap me upside the head. Of course neighbors don't see chipped plates so perhaps this is more about curb appeal than happiness.

I was dismayed by all the negative comments over what seemed to be a thoughtful reflection on how flowers and the like can brighten our spirits.

Do you think Heubeck realizes there are more people without any dishes or towels, much less than chipped ones and worn ones.? If money is tight don't sit and whine. Plant seeds.

Are we seriously readng about how a women picked flowers over dishes, towels, sheets when she got her stimulous check???? I have a really hard time feeling sorry for someone who spends $1,000 on FOOD for their family of four. Seriously???? Lady, get a full time job, stop purchasing more food than you need, make a better budget and stop pitying yourself because you didn't get to plant your lillies this season. You have a house, a healthy family, a car that works. Count your blessings. How immature!!!

Goodness, the pity I feel for this poor woman who suffers the indignity of not being able to fill the flower pots outside her impressive home and the embarrassment she feels at the thoughts of her neighbors disgust.. While she complains about having to spend $1000 a month on feeding her family of four one wonders if she is cognizant of the fact that many in this country have only $100 a month to spend on feeding their families.

I love flowers and the beauty they provide, but this year I didn't plant any. We've been having a drought and though I could afford to buy flowers, I couldn't water them. But even if I had the water, I think if my choice was paying for groceries or flowers, I'd buy a few seed packets and save money for necessities. I'm also a freelance writer. I have all the work I can handle because the publications I write for have laid off full time employees (like I once was) to hire freelancers and save on paying benefits.
I hope while this writer enjoys watching the ruffled edges of her petunias flutter in the breeze, she collects the seeds when the plants die after the first frost. I don't think she's going to get another stimulus package next year.

I love flowers and delight in seeing the beauty that they provide. But when a mom's putting groceries on a credit card it doesn't seem right to spend $100 for plants that will die with the first cold snap. I'm also a freelance writer and know it can be difficult, but I love to write and accept the challenges of tighter budgets.
Although it might make her happy to see those ruffled edges of the petunias fluttering in the breeze, I hope hope she collects the seeds from this year's plants for the future.
I'm thinking we should all prepare for more budget crunching and no stimulus check to buy pretty flowers next year.

I thought this article was rediculous!! When you are buying groceries with a credit card you can't pay off, how about you pull the flower box's in the garage. And, perhaps pay your bills!!

You have got to kidding me! I cannot believe that Elizabeth Heubeck thinks she is in some economic crisis because she had no flowers in her flower boxes or that she has frayed towels or chipped plates. Has she taken a look over her shoulder at the home she lives in, because from the photo, she does not appear to be suffering. Let's trying being grateful to have a job and a home and maybe a little grateful at getting a stimulus check in the mail at all and maybe putting the money into food to feed her family if she is in such dire straits. But of course it is easier to blame George Bush and the current administration for her financial problems.

I couldn't help thinking, as I read this article, that it was a prime example of what is wrong with society. Elizabeth was more concerned with making sure that the neighbors didn't think her family was struggling than she was with making sure her family had the things they need. Rather than spending $100 on flowers, Elizabeth could have spent a fraction of that money on vegetable plants and seeds. The vegetables could have been planted in the beds set aside for flowers. The vegetable garden could have been a fun family project that would have helped lower the cost of the family food bill and taught Elizabeth's children where their food comes from.

I understand what the writer was trying to say in this piece but really, $100 on flowers when your children could have learned something by doing all of the flowers from seeds, plus the family time she would have spent doing it with her children.

It is tough this year. Next year, I believe it will be worse. When I read your article I thought of the foolish things that I have purchased lately. I stopped pretending that everything is normal. I don't care what the neighbors think. I would like to think that I would spend a couple bucks on flower seeds rather than a hundred on plants this late in the year. Also, change your priorities; food does not go on the credit card.