Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Saving money


Most of you probably haven't heard about this, but gasoline has become somewhat expensive. I pine for the days of sweet, sweet $2.99 unleaded. Now that the price has risen 25%, our very way of life is being threatened. Some day, I will bore my grandchildren with stories about the halcyon days of $3 gasoline. They probably won't even know what "gasoline" is, and I'll get wheeled back into the license plate factory in the nursing home.


How we are getting by in these tough times:
1. I have changed my coffee drinking habits. For a while, I switched to drip coffee from my Mr. Coffee machine. That was a pretty brutal change that didn't last. We're not exactly in the Great Depression! I have now tightened my belt by switching from the Venti to the Grande size at Starbucks. It's tough.

2. Under Consideration: We've considered changing Bella and Velcro's food from organic and healthy chow that costs more than our meals. We will replace it with the poisonous stuff imported from China. You know, the stuff made from ground up dissidents, sick livestock, and all that algae they cleared out in preparation for the Olympics. That should save at least $20 per month.

3. We are gardening to mitigate rising food costs. We spent approximately $80 on seedling plants (heirloom tomatoes, bell peppers, watermelon, and cucumbers). Another $100 went toward supplies such as landscape edging, mulch, and tomato cages. I have contributed many hours of sweat equity. Our total crop this year has been about 20 tomatoes. That's about $10 plus an hour of toil per tomato. Maybe we should have just gone to the grocery store.

4. NETFLIX, BEGONE! I feel such shame every time I see the little white sleeve in its usual spot in the entertainment center. Beneath a layer of dust and cobwebs it taunts me. This movie has sat untouched for almost a year. That's right. We've paid over $100 for Dexter: Season 2, Disc 1. We're cancelling.
5. Homeslice Pizza: Chris Floyd is the two-time reigning pizza-eating champion of Homeslice Pizza in Austin. As champ, he enjoys a free large pizza any time he visits the restaurant. We tag along and get free pizza. A recent one was particularly good: pepperoni, meatball, spinach, mushroom, mozzarella, and fresh basil. They say that "free" is the best sauce, and it was.
By my calculations, all this belt-tightening should fund a few days worth of diapers.

2 comments:

Sarah said...

Alas...we have already switched our dogs and cats to the McDonald's of pet chow. They appear healthy, but I think their mental states are in danger. They crave the food constantly...as if on a 4-legged quest to prove the documentary Super Size me applies to canines too. I think there is crack in that food! We also feel your pain with the failed attempts at Texas gardening...and must, with much shame, admit that we too are Netflix bitch. We've been collecting dust on Jimmy Buffett Live at Fenway disc 2 for longer then I care to admit. Sad times for the Collins household.

Lou said...

Just the words "pizza eating champ" makes my stomach hurt. Also, you might want to rethink turning your back on Dexter. Of course they will most likely be airing reruns on TBS soon anyways, so maybe there is no loss there.