This past week I have been trying to get back into the frugal swing of things. I am back to making bread and crackers; using up stuff, using more dried beans to stretch my meat supply, things of that nature. In all of the chaos of the past few months with trips to Fla, the garden, work, etc.; I had taken some shortcuts, been using store bought bread (thrift store), and yielding to the temptation to eat out some. Now in my defense, it was usually two Little Caesar pizzas or a couple of Subway footlongs for $10. Still, not a good use of my resources. So, back to the frugal band wagon. Yesterday was extremely hard since I was to work the whole day. I didn't get off work until 5pm and arrived home to find the kitchen a mess. I grumbled and complained, but loaded the dishwasher anyway. DH apologized for not loading the dishes. I need to post here that it wasn't his job to do the dishes. It was the job of Rubic and Einstein. Need to work on that one. But, while in the throws of guilt DH was truly susceptible to coercion for eating out. In other words, he agreed to go pick something up for dinner. Oooo I thought about it......long and hard. But in the end I told myself to just go ahead and make the pizza at home. Christmas is coming, everyone else's birthday is coming, Car Insurance and tags are due; so that $10 here or there adds up. So I took the frugal road and feel much better for it. The pizza turned out great and all were happy with the results.
I share all of this with you because I want to emphasize; Being frugal is work. The more frugal you are the more effort goes into it. That being said, it is worthy of your effort. Either way I have to work. I can either leave my home and spend 40+ hours a week to earn a paycheck (In which Uncle Sam will take a sizable sum ((Cause we are rich ya know)), or I can put forth a little more effort at home to save money. This is the whole concept of "a penny saved is a penny earned". Saved money is money that isn't taxed by the way. Knowing all that, I am still human and can easily be lured into taking an easy way out. Now this is not to say that we can never have fun, but it needs to be fun that is both planned and budgeted. For instance, we are going to see the new Thor movie next week. I have budgeted the amount for tickets. We, as a family, enjoy the Marvel movies at theaters and so make a point to see them as a treat. We don't buy refreshments there unless we are "Vacationing". Then it is like a planned amusement park trip and we expect the ridiculous prices. Otherwise we might have an ice cream afterward or some other such inexpensive treat. In other words, we pick and choose our battles.
On the agenda today is a trip to the Nora Mills granary in Helen, GA.
We are on our way there today to pick up more wheat berries for grinding. On the way DH and I will be enjoying the peak leaf watching in the mountains. Then it is home for lunch and we promised Rubic and Einstein we would go to some thrift stores for them to search for vintage video games. They are spending their birthday money, so uh...Yay! I need to put something in the crock pot for dinner. Can't believe I am writing this post at 4 am in the morning. Think I am tired now so will probably go back to bed. Hope you guys have a great fall day.
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