Money is not to be wasted. I definitely disagree with that "poor people shouldn't have nice things" concept, and I'm not even trying to disagree with it here, because "waste" is relative. But I'm much more cautious with my spending than I ever used to be. Just because I may want to see a new movie, and can even somewhat justify it by saying that I haven't gotten out much and my enthusiasm for life is starting to flag, seeing that movie might be the difference between eating lots of cheap ramen that week or eating a tasty pot-roast. Food comes first.
My sewing has improved. I can't afford to buy much in the way of "new" clothes (I say that with quotation marks because I nearly always buy second-hand anyway, so even if it's been worn before it's still new to me), so I learn pretty well how to repair things. The skirt I use for bumming around the house is showing a lot of wear and tear. Time to break out the needle and thread and sew up the rips, no matter how long they are. My stitches are getting more even, and I've saved the skirt from the rag bag!
Cooking is more fun than I used to think, and I love making soup out of leftovers. I'm still learning, and my food isn't perfect, but it's a start and I'm certainly better at it than I used to be.
Free stuff is a blessing. Free TV sites, the few books I get from publishers in exchange for reviews, a meal at a friend's house, going out for a walk in the park... These things keep me entertained and happy, and don't cost me a penny.
Entertainment is everywhere; you just have to know where to look. If tomorrow, we suddenly couldn't afford to keep paying our Internet bill, I don't think I'd miss it much. Sure, I might go to the library to take advantage of their free wifi once or twice a week, but the amount of stuff i have to do otherwise could keep me busy for well over a year. Backed-up podcasts, books, video games I haven't played yet, art that needs my attention, board games to play... I'm about as broke as I've ever been in my life, and I actually have more to do than ever before.
Which brings me to...
There is so much that people take for granted that I don't anymore. I used to take for granted that I could go to the corner store and buy a chocolate bar. No longer. People still seem shocked that I don't have cable TV, as though I'm depriving myself of one of the essentials of life or something. My mother has bought me bus passes out of pity for the fact that I have to walk just about everywhere I do, which I appreciate but don't really need when the trip in question is only a half hour walk uptown and then a half hour walk back on a nice day. I look on so much now with different eyes, and wonder what kind of lives people lead when they think that so much is essential when it's the very opposite. "Convenient" isn't the same as "necessary."
Being broke does wonders to make a person more eco-conscious. Believe me, even if you only save pennies a month by doing it, you stop wasting quite so much. Little things, like turning out lights or whatnot when there's no need for them, walking instead of driving or even taking a bus, recycling and reusing more because you can't afford not to. It all serves a double purpose, and leave me feeling kind of proud of myself.
While being unemployed has driven home that money is important to a lot of life, it isn't as big a deal as I used to think. On days when I'm feeling terrible because Rei's paying all the bills and I still can't find a job and EI's giving me crappy money and I worry so much about losing everything, Rei reminds me that we're not doing as badly as we could be. We still have the cats. We still have a roof over our heads and food in our bellies, and neither of us is so deeply in debt that we won't be able to start pulling ourselves out of it the very moment I get my first paycheque from a new job. Money is important, and we do need it, but the need for it isn't something that requires me to freak out because we don't have as much of it as we used to.
