Frugality Vs. Reality: Cash Flow and Your Home Business
I used to read a lot of personal finance blogs but I’ve stopped because they mostly just make me feel like shit about myself. However, I think what Mrs. Micah is doing is really cool, so I stop by there every now and again. (She does a good job of differentiating herself from many PF bloggers by not being a psycho. Mrs. Micah and I can be friends.)
Anyway, she wrote a post called When Generics Bite Back — Razor of Death, the title of which is good enough that I wish I’d written it. In the post, she basically discusses how a generic razor ate her husband’s face and they’ve struck men’s razors off the list of things that are cool to buy generic.
Before I started my home business, I was a full time mama. I had dreams of being uber-frugal, but I always had an excuse. I was pregnant. It is Canada and therefore too cold to traipse halfway across the country to save a nickel on a can of peas. I am tired. Whatever.
But then I would read these PF blogs and read about people who seem to spend 20 hours a day saving money. It’s all they think about. When they shower, they’re thinking about ways to save money. When they eat, when they sleep, when they have sex, everything. (It’s entirely possible they have more sex than the rest of us because it saves them money on a gym membership. At the same time, they might need to do more laundry. OH THE CONFLICT!!!)
Eventually, I begrudgingly allowed that I was not the kind of person who could organize a grocery list around which brand of rice was on sale that week and I resolved to do my best and let the chips fall where they may. I’d still like to be the type of person who can feed a family of nine on $27 a week, but such is life. Sometimes you suck.
When I started working from home, though, then the PF stuff really came out. We’re not going to have a steady paycheck. Jack’s older and requires things like food. He has the tendency to grow, at inconveniently frequent intervals. I made new resolutions. We will eat nothing but brown rice and water. Not a drop of alcohol would pass our lips — that three dollars I would spend on a gin and tonic could be saved towards my retirement! We would be the frugal kings of the world.
The factor I’d failed to consider was that working from home actually tends to take more time than not working from home, at least in the beginning. When you’re at home, your computer is right there, and you hear the little bing that says you have new email. The idea of rinsing beans to make a nice hearty soup for three cents a serving just doesn’t cut it when you’re hysterical and overworked. Add pregnant with a toddler who has given up on sleep, well, it’s ugly in our house.
Basically, I liked what Mrs. Micah was saying. I like that somebody else out there realizes that not every generic brand is the same and that the You’re-Just-Succumbing-To-The-Marketing crowd are delusional. (Um, I work in marketing, so I kind of get it.) Micah’s face proves it. Jack’s wet bed when we buy generic diapers proves it. The horrible itchy rash every member of our household gets when we decide to cheap out on laundry soap proves it.
Cheap can be great, but it can also be a false economy. Perhaps the most frugal thing to do is actually put some thought into your purchases and consider the cost benefit ratio of cheap vs. chic. If your children will only eat Campbell’s soup (and frankly, having tasted the No Name brands, I can’t exactly blame them) you’re not saving money by buying El Cheapo Soupo. “But it’s five bucks a case!” the PFers screech. That may be. Congratulations, you just spent five bucks for your kids to pitch a fit and your soup to end up in the garbage.
I remember when Jack was about 6 months old and I was debilitated by postpartum depression. Jamie had just gone back to work after parental leave and I was too depressed to even do laundry — I would pull it together to do a week’s worth of work clothes for him and the rest of us got by on Febreze and the sniff test. I was terrified we wouldn’t have enough money — we actually made more on maternity and parental than we did on his salary — and I turned to PF blogs and message boards for some solace.
Don’t ever do that.
I came onto one board where the ladies were talking about a woman one of them knew from church. Apparently, the woman who wrote the post “caught” the other woman in the grocery store buying generic premade oatmeal. The vitriol these women had towards this other woman –who they had never met in their lives — was simply astounding. “I can’t believe she bought store-bought oatmeal!” was said in a tone that one would normally reserve for “I can’t believe she fellated the priest in front of the entire congregation while he was baptizing a newborn baby!”
Just do the best you can. Working from home can be really scary. When you don’t have gigs, you’re worried you’ll starve. When you do have gigs, you worry about what’ll happen when you don’t. It’s normal. Don’t let the psychos get you down.
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Next Post: Family Day And Love And All That Crap
I’m glad you liked it! Sometimes PF can be a downer. The point is supposed to be learning how to manage our money simply so that we can live happily without debt and use our money well. Unfortunately, it’s easy to become wrapped up in minutae.
Good luck managing your cash flow in this new situation!!
Hey Mrs. Micah, and welcome! It’s great to have you.
I think what tends to happen is that people who aren’t really at peace with a new lifestyle (whether it’s PF or a church or quitting smoking or whatever) they spend so much time judging themselves that they can’t help but externalize it and judge other people. I mean, really. Do we care that much about what other people are eating for breakfast? No, it’s just that there’s only so much poison you can spit at yourself before you start spitting it at other people.
Thanks for stopping by!
When I got married 12 years ago, I met the most wonderful mother-in-law in the world. Honest. She’s so incredibly sweet, I just love her to pieces. The thing is, she’s also the energizer bunny when it comes to running a household and it shows. Her house is in order, it’s neat and tidy, she’s great at managing the budget, the groceries, you name it. I was really intimidated by this at first, because I was nowhere near that organized or together.
I used to let that bother me, in fact it was the basis of a few problems. But I’ve grown over time, and even better, I’ve improved at my own home management skills.
I guess I’m going the long way around the block to say don’t beat yourself up, and especially don’t compare yourself to someone who’s been in the game longer. Just work with what you have, do the best you can at the time and let the rest of it roll. No one can ask for more than that.
As for judgmental people who spend their time picking innocent bystanders to shreds for their personal amusement, I say pffffffft. So there.
If you’re going to dip into the frugality thing at all, I say fuck all the boards which are full of paranoid raving hippies anyway and go straight to the source–get the book version of the old Tightwad’s Gazette from the library. Here is a woman who was truly out of her mind. You will never again think there is anything romantic about being able to raise a small army of children on what most people spend on dry cleaning. I find her admirable, but in no way do I want to be her.
I am frugal about some stuff. We cook more than we go out. I go to Starbuck’s maybe once a month. I drive a 20-year-old car (but it’s a Mercedes so I feel cool), my husband drives a 35-year-old car (but it’s a Mercedes so he feels cool) and both our cars are paid off.
Things I should spend more money on: professional appearance. A good cut & highlights are a truly frightening amount of money, but I need to do it more often. And I need more work clothes. OTOH, I don’t in fact care what people at work think, so maybe I don’t need to spend more there.
Self-indulgent shit I do spend money on: books and subscriptions related to the side biz, good groceries, part-time Montessori school for my kid. And I have a pretty sweet collection of fountain pens, although I gave up spending money on them about a year ago.
@ Amy - OMG, yes, on the mother-in-law front. I spent years in awe of my m-i-l. I fretted that I would never have a house as clean as hers. Then we were over one time and she, at 60, got down on her knees to pick up a grain of cat litter that could mark the hardwood. They are her floors and that is her right, but it made me finally realize that no, I would never have a house that clean so I may as well stop beating myself up about it.
@ Sonia - Yes on hair. Eventually, I shaved mine. I have the kind of hair that other people think they want - straight as an arrow and so thick it takes three minutes under the shower to get it all wet. The people who want that don’t seem to realize how much more shampoo, more dye, more little highlight foils it takes. “Ooh, you have so much hair!” they say, right before they tell me I’ll need more highlights and therefore more money.
Sometimes I use this as an excuse to buy things… four people in this house and no-one’s had a haircut in a year. I figure that buys me a latte now and then.
Waxing, on the other hand, has become non-negotiable. When you have that much hair on your head, it generally doesn’t just stop there. You know when they have a price list with a range of prices? Like, Brazilian bikini wax, $40-$65? Yeah, I’m at $70.
I’m with you on the hair. People told me “Ooh - You have such thick hair!” All I thought was “Yeah, and I have to wash it 2 or 3 times before the damn shampoo penetrates to my scalp. I think heads of hair like mine are why they call us Italians “greaseballs.” Nowadays, I get it cut one millimeter short of “Did you just enlist in the Army?” whenever I can.
I’m with you on the whole frugality-is-hard-with-kids. I’ve had to say “screw it” and appreciate the time I save buying stuff that cooks faster or is just easier to put together. That’s time I can spend with my kids (and money I can earn back later). Life’s too short to buy crap that’s not useful just because it’s generic.
But gimme a generic thing that’s just as good and I’m all over it :-)
Hi Naomi - After selling my business and starting another one, my income has plummeted, so I’m also finding Mrs Micah useful.
I have met those people who criticize you for now buying the cheapest brand possible, even though it tastes like pig swill and it’s so annoying.
Sorry - i meant “not” buying the cheapest brand possible. I should spend more on lightbulbs.
When we first switched to one income my husband and I started on this battle about the grocery budget. He was positive we were spending way too much for a single income family. I thought that was silly. We moved somewhere houses were twice as cheap because of one income. He stopped taking flying lessons because of one income. We do not suddenly need half as much or half as good food. Food is one of those basics.
After battling back and forth for two years I finally decided to fight dirty. I told him I would start cooking frugally. I made a very nice two week meal plan and cooked very frugally for that time. Since meat is the most expensive component that’s what went. I’m not sure which was more evil of me, the white bean and kale soup without sausage or the winter squash soufflé. (The second was actually very good once I got done seasoning it.) By the start of week 2 I found him coming home from the store with several frozen pizzas. :) We’ve gone back to normal cooking and haven’t had that fight again. I just don’t think he realized what he was asking for.
Plus, there are just somethings I will not short cut on. With all the problems with our food supply and recalls on things like meat I will not buy the cheapest ground beef I can find. I feel that’s like playing Russian roulette with your health. I consider it like generic razor blades. In that case I’ll spring for the real thing even if I have to pay a little more and buy it from the nice farmer at the farmers market who says people are free to come see her healthy cows/sheep/chickens grazing on a green pasture anytime we want.
I won’t say much ’cause life in France is quite different I guess, and we can eat fresh things for cheap, we’re ARE very lucky for that.
But as far as laundry goes I may have a suggestion : soap nuts ! We’ve started using them about 2 years ago, and they’re just magical. Very cheap (like 10$ for 500grams, and you use like 5 grams per laudry…), ecofriendly (totally natural, you can even water your garden with the water from the laundry if you like !), easy to use (just drop it in the machine in a tied sock or in a small cotton pocket sold with it), AND hypoallergenic (no smell, no allergies, no nothing ! if you want to smell something, you can sprinkle the nuts with essential oils). What more could we ask ?!?
Here’s are two links for those who’d like to know more :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapindus
http://www.inasoapnutshell.com/
Oh, and Naomi can testify that I don’t sell laundry products for a living, I just find these so useful and cheap I thought I’d let you know :P
I hope this helps a tiny bit !
Oh, and we’re still quite broke even with soap nuts… but without them we’d be EXTRA broke ^^
To put a business spin on this:
Men with Pens: We write content that won’t end up in the garbage.
Now for the personal aspect:
This is why I believe in buying quality. I used to buy melamine crap furniture. My friend, who had a beautiful home furnished with antiques, solid hardwood furniture and wonderful art, looked at me strangely when I sighed with envy and said I’d love to have furniture like this.
She said, “If you stopped buying that melamine crap you have to replace every time it breaks, you could invest in better quality furniture that looks outstanding and lasts a long time.”
Enough said. Get quality content that looks good and lasts a long time. Hire us.
Ok, James, will you be my mentor ?
Absolutely.
Lesson one: Never be afraid to seize the opportunity to shamelessly plug your business when the occasion is absolutely perfect.
Lesson two: When shamelessly plugging your business on Naomi’s blog, be fully prepared to be dragged through the mud for doing so.
Lesson three: All press - even bad press - is good press.
;)
hi naomi!
my name’s shaun and i purchased your ittybiz phone consultation. however, you don’t seem to be returning my phone calls or emails.
what’s up with that? are you flaking out on me? stealing from me?
i can’t think of an honest reason to take someone’s money and then disappear.
Shopping trolley judging…. always fun to be the subject of! We try to live frugally, me being a full time student/part time freelancer and the missus being a full time mother/part time student. As we tend to cook everything from scratch, our trolley is usually filled with fresh vegetables and all sorts of cheap staples, but the one time I had a very tough piece of coursework’s deadline the next day and bought myself energy drinks, chocolate and - gasp! - ready made cupcakes, a parent from our son’s school happened to see me and since then has branded us the family that lives on chocolates and cake…
My two cents (since I’m trying to be frugal!)
You can’t take it with you. Don’t be so concerned with Freedom 55 and having enough for later, that you forget to actually enjoy some of it now too.
I’m 38 today, three years ago I almost lost my wife to cancer while having four little children to care for, and it sort of made me think.
You see TV commercials and all kinds of blogs saying “save your money” or “buy used clothes” and then, “boom” - you’re 55 and a millionaire.
Great. Now what? You have lots of money (but maybe didn’t quite do what you wanted to do while you were getting to 55), but maybe you’re too old and sick to enjoy it.
There is a happy balance. So, I never buy a new car. But I buy new clothes. I have a good keyboard and mouse for my computer (the laptop keyboard sucks).
We try not to eat out a lot or buy our coffee at Tim’s (no Starbucks where I live), but we went to New Zealand for vacation last summer, and it was worth every penny.
Bottom line - don’t forget to have some fun, because you could get hit by a bus while crossing the street to deposit your money at the bank!
@James : I guess I’m not broke enough yet to be up for lesson two and bad press… But I’m working on lesson one and good press !
In the meantime you can check out the most lovable plushies you’ve ever seen at : http://www.zoohliah.com
Or get the most amazing graphic design by hiring me : http://www.joohliah.com
Yeah I know, I can do much better than that… still learning ;) I’m an artist, not a marketer damn it ! Another good reason to hire me as an artist ;)
Jooliah posted something but it’s only showing up in my email… hers was a UK link. Here’s a link for the Canucks. Sounds interesting:
Soapnuts!
No, no, Jooliah… you have to say how YOUR plushies are all about QUALITY and they won’t fall apart and they’re not made in China and how ONE good quality plushie will outlast 20 cheap ones for cuddles that last forever!
@ Everyone - I promise I will respond to your comments soon, but I have to respond to Shaun first.
@ Shaun - Hi Shaun. When I received your email, I sent you a response from my gmail account, realizing I could be having a problem or you might have been marked as spam or junk at the IttyBiz email. The most recent email I sent you was on February 12 at 8:40 p.m. EST apologizing for the errors and offering you a full refund for the mistake, whether or not you wanted to continue with the package. I will resend that email now, and I’m sorry for the confusion.
@ Jooliah - those plushies look pretty cool, I think my triplets would love them (hey, you could get *three* sales)…
And those soapnuts look interesting (thanks for the linkage James).
I do probably 3 loads of laundry a day so I think I’ll follow up on this, in the interests of frugality… ;)
@ James : Once again, everything sounds so appealing in your words ! argghh ! True about the handmade stuff, true about the inconditional and eternal lovin’, but let’s be clear about something : they dont vibrate (yet), alright ? :P
Oh and thanks for the soap nuts link, I didn’t think html would work here…
@ Brett : Ooh right, you have triplets. Your wife is the third person I worship after James (new mentor) and Naomi (hey, it’s her place we’re chatting in, and she rocks). I would love your triplets to get some Zoohliah ! And you would love it too as they would finally have plushies you wouldn’t be ashamed to have in your living room ;)
I would be even happier if you switched to soap nuts : what’s good for mother earth is definitely good for us.
@ Jooliah,
They are wonderful, and they have an older brother who has outgrown plush toys, or you could have a fourth potential sale… I’ll let my wife know at lunch that she has a small fan club on here! Yes, she is certainly a pretty special person to have carried those kids.
(Of course, I am humbled before any woman who has born a child. That is some undertaking, a physical and mental feat I cannot imagine doing myself. Well, not that I could do it, even if I tried…)
@Brett,
I am also sooo humbled by childbirth that I haven’t tried it yet. I have given birth to loads of nice plushies nevertheless, and although I guess it’s not as fulfilling as kids, it’s also much less painful, and for now that’s fine by me ;)
Also, every child deserves a Zoohliah ! And nobody has ever been know to have outgrown them either… I don’t mean to push the adoption on you (yes, you adopt a Zoohliah for a small fee, you don’t “buy” it), but it could be a pretty bad civil war if 1 kid out of 4 didn’t have a present…
That said, I have to agree that if he’s 17 he’ll definitely prefer a car.
Hello all.
I own a Zoohliah (it was supposed to be for Zack but Jack got to it first) and I can honestly say, it rules. The little dude takes it to bed and has an absolutely hilarious time watching Jamie and I play volleyball with it in the living room. Jack HATES stuffed animals but he has taken to ZuZu like it is a pet or a sibling. We definitely heart Zoohliah in this house.
Hehe, I knew this Zoohliah would be happy with you guys ! I’m glad that you’re happy to have it too :D
@ Dave - Did you just enlist in the army?
@ James - You’re such a trampy pants. I love it. Please, plug forth on my blog. What else are people supposed to use the comments section for? I mean, seriously! :)
@ Rose - Absolutely. you have to know when and where to draw the line. When poor Micah’s face is bleeding all over his coworker’s desk, “Yeah, but I got a great deal on razors!” just ain’t gonna do it.
@ Jimmy - Ha! Isn’t that always the case? After spending the morning throwing up, I decided not to bother with make-up and niceties when we went out to Walmart later. I subsequently spilled chocolate milk on myself and then the baby kind of threw up on me and THAT was when we met Jamie’s former boss in the baby section. She gets this look on her face like, “Yes, working from home is clearly working SO well for you.”
@ Brett - You’re 38 today? Like it’s your birthday? If so, happy birthday! How old are the little ones?
You raise a very important point. They say the most common thing couples fight about is money, and people would do well to remember your story.
Like, congratulations, you just spent an hour fighting with your husband or wife about the price of a pound of chicken and now they are dead. Bet that’s a conversation you really regret having now. Frugal is important because being broke is scary and anxiety inducing, but it’s not the be all and end all.
@CatherineL You need to spend a lot more on light bulbs, I’d bet. Pony up for compact flourescents. It stings a bit at first, but the long term savings is more than worth it given they use around 15% the energy for the same amount of light and have lifetimes measured in years. These are bulbs you’ll actually want to pack with you when you move.
Yep, some things are just not worth saving money on. “Facial tissue.” (Puffs with lotion is the way to go during the cold and flu season, which seems perpetual with little kids.) Also, toilet paper. Wiper blades. Multitools. Furniture is a big one. Fruit snacks.
But the store brand macaroni and cheese (or, as I learned from Barenaked Ladies, “Kraft Dinner” to our Canadian neighbors) we get from our local ginormousmarket (Meijer) is actually better than the Kraft stuff, if one lacks the time to cook from scratch.
@ Matt - You’re talking two different food groups, there. Macaroni and cheese involves real macaroni, real cheddar, a white sauce stirred and melted carefully over the stove using real butter and flour, and all mixed together and baked with love for a true family meal. Add salad and warm crusty bread.
Kraft dinner is the best freakin’ awesome bright orange food that you’ll ever eat. Boil, stir, slurp. Probably made of plastic and loaded with sodium. Table and family optional.
Never, never by store-brand KD, dude. It’s awful. Just not the same.
thanks for the quick response, naomi. first class all the way.
If we’re going to give tips, then I advise a few cautions on the compact fluorescent light bulbs. Flipping them on and off shortens the life span, so putting them in rooms where you’re going to leave them on for 15 minutes or more is recommended. Otherwise you lose out quite a bit. Also, they contain mercury (as do all fluorescents) so if one breaks be sure to follow EPA guidelines in cleanup. DON’T vacuum them, you’ll spread the mercury into the air.
@ Jooliah - I’m sure my oldest might actually want one - he’s only 6, so he’s not quite ready for the car…
(Umm, is it okay if I, as a grownup man, adopt one? They do look pretty cool. Maybe I’ll get one for the office…)
@ Naomi - oops! I guess my wording did make it sound like my birthday is today (bad choice of grammar) - no, just still 38 like I was back on October 23rd. But thanks for the wishes!!!
My oldest is 6, and the triplets are 3 years old.
That’s the thing about it - and I admit to getting caught up in it all, sometimes. You worry about money, or not having what “The Jones” have, when meanwhile most of us are lucky to live where we live. Here in Canada we have really great social programs that most of the world does not have.
So when I get like this, I say to myself, “be thankful you & your family are healthy”.
I remember one night, very late when my first child was only a few weeks old, and it was my turn to get up and feed him - one of those 3 am things. I was looking at the little baby bottle we had for him, with cute little cartoon animals on it.
I looked at it and thought, “other little babies like him in most of the rest of the world do not have this - we are lucky.”
I thought about that for a long time.
When I feel like yelling at my kids because they are bugging me (!), I try to think about stuff like this, and then whatever it was that they were doing seems so unimportant.
Unless they were trying to set fire to the cat or something.
@ Brett - I think you have this godlike touch in the ability to make my throat get all tight. Cripes. Stop it.
@ AmyL - Considering I have over 30 fluorescent lights in my home, I am now petrified to turn on any lights and am considering removing them with gloves and a face mask. Thank you.
@ James - oops. (and, thanks - I can’t help it, I just write how I feel)
I’ll save some of it for my book, otherwise you won’t get any work done today, and I won’t have any material for the book. Oprah, here I come!
@ AmyL and James: Snopes to the resuce: http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/cfl.asp. Also, http://www.epa.gov/hg/spills/index.htm. Short version: If a CFL breaks, it takes some extra care to clean up, and for heaven’s sake don’t use a vacuum, but it’s nothing to get to worked up about.
Okay, so when they finally wear out, they do need to be disposed of as hazardous waste and not just tossed with the trash. See if your local community as a facility nearby, or if there’s a special hazardous waste pickup day (our (surprisingly progressive (he added parenthetically, wondering how many parentheses he could successfully nest (four, it turned out))) city has one).
@James You’re right. Macaroni and cheese is not the same as mac’n'cheese (or Kraft Dinner). But, dude, I’m telling you: Meijer store brand mac’n'cheese rocks.
@ Brett - Don’t worry, you go ahead and make him weep like a little girl. He isn’t working today. It’s Canada’s first annual Family Day. Like President’s Day, but, uh, for families.
Fuck, now I want Kraft Dinner and every store in the country is closed.
@ Naomi - don’t remind me, I work for the Federal Government (sort of) which explains:
1. why I’m in at work today and,
2. why I’m not doing any work today :)
> does not work for the government
> must support the government (and thus, Brett) by paying taxes
> cannot afford to screw off for a third day in a row
> is making a terrible mess of trying to work while minding a teen and a toddler, both of which are at home for the day
*big, big smiles*
@James: ROFL. Just doing my part to spread terror on a Monday.
@Matt: I was more dismayed about the 15 minutes on thing than the mercury. Although that is a bit of a freak out, we’ve all been accustomed to fluorescent lights for decades. Have you heard of the experiment where half a town was given cfls in the late 80’s to compare to the other half of town on incandescents? Energy use in the cfl homes went up! Isn’t that a kicker?
And dude, Meijer mac’n cheese is way bland compared to Kraft. Unless you mean the stuff with the cheese sauce (as opposed to the powder). The sauce one is great.
@Naomi: I”ll send you all the Meijer Mac’n'cheese you could want. [snort] Of course that’d take weeks. Stupid mail system. Takes forever to do international anything. Perhaps instead you can make some? I have an easy recipe…:)
(as we government workers like to say) 9 to 4, nothing more!
With a lot of hard work, I’ll be able to go independent and help James to support my (old) co-workers… :)
All this talk of mac’n'cheese / Kraft Dinner made me hungry. I wonder if we have any…
oh oh, I can see how everyone’s working hard today ^^
Sadly for me, this is no holiday in France so it was a perfectly normal working monday. But fortunately for me, it’s now 11pm and I get to go to bed in approximately 12 minutes :D
@ James : You seem to know your way around a kitchen, I’d get hungry if I wasn’t already stuffed with melted cheese on potatoes and homemade chocolate cake…
@ Brett : I’m sure your 6 years old would love one. And I am also sure you’d be delighted to have a Zoohliah at work with you. Especially working for the government and all ^^ Then you can have cuddles anytime when you feel down, or when there’s no new post to comment on at Naomi’s :P
And I so much agree on the unimportance of small matters, but you’ve already said everything and it’s too late for me to get into philosophy ;)
@AmyL I sem to remember someone…Mythbusters?…finding that time to be a lot shorter. Like 30 seconds? If only there was some way I could look up something like that, some readily available information resource…
@AmyL and James It’s the plain ol’ powder stuff. I just had some of yesterday and was impressed by its tastiness. Then again, I do use a little (and by “little” I mean “quite a lot”) extra butter. But, I’m willing to concede my tastesmay have been skewed somewhat by not having had the Kraft stuff for quite some time.
So I will get some Kraft and have a mac’n'cheese-off soon. And I will post the results here or on my as-yet-unlaunched-but-more-and-more-obviously-necessary business blog. (And just watch those clients roll in!)
(I also feel it’s necessary to add that mac’n'cheese is not the pinnacle of my culinary tastes. Just wanted to make that clear.)
@Matt: The MythBusters (episode 69) test in question appears to have been on incandescent bulbs, not CFLs. The question at the time was how much energy is drawn at the point of turning it on, and the conclusion is that only a fraction of a second’s worth of energy is drawn so it’s more efficient to switch them off. Fluorescent tube lights draw 23 seconds worth of power, and the analysis says it’s better not to be flipping them on and off. CFLs are not mentioned. I happened to do a couple of blog posts about the subject (the point being that it’s important not to just believe everything we’re told) recently, and nowhere did anyone refute the part about leaving CFLs on for 15 minutes thing. I can dig up references if you like. :)
I’m a pretty annoying nerd, eh?
Annoying, no. Nerd, yes.
I once spent $14 on a small container of almonds. But they were “premium” almonds. So, I totally know what you’re talking about.
Just catching up on blogs today ….. pick & choose your frugalities carefully. Like the time my husband said we could save money by cutting out the weeknight bottle(s) of wine ….. but, then again, therapy sessions are more expensive than wine so, um, no. :-)
“I can’t believe she fellated the priest in front of the entire congregation while he was baptizing a newborn baby!” OK - the entire post was worth that one line!
Of course actually I enjoyed the entire post. And I agree. Especially about razors. They will rip up your face. Same goes for other things that touch your body - like toilet paper, tissues, and medicines.
@AmyL Well, there you go, then. I haven’t had cable for a while, so some of that stuff’s starting to get a bit fuzzy. Thanks for clarifying.
“I’m a pretty annoying nerd, eh?” Nah. It’s important to get the details right.
No cable??? You poor thing! How do you survive without HGTV and TLC and Discovery and National Geographic? LOLOLOL. We’ve gotten so we almost never look at network shows at all which totally cracks me up. Quite often the new spokesbabe or spokesdude for various products in the commercials causes Hubby and I to ask “Who the heck is that?”
I guess it’s not frugal to have cable, is it? :) Oh well.
@ Michael - Thank you. It was my favorite too. I know you’re not supposed to laugh at your own jokes but honestly, I’m still laughing at that one. I would really suck at standup. I’d be giggling the whole time which would be murder for my street cred.
@AmyL It was tough at first. Especially since we only got NBC and Fox for a couple of months until I got the roof antenna up. Now we only get networks. We still don’t who the the spokesfolks are, either, though. Moved outside that golden 18-to-35 demographic, you see.