Journey & Destination

June 30 1999 Today I felt as if I had a lot to be happy about. I woke up feeling good, I got the house clean, my friend Kathy came over with her two children, Jeff and I opened our very first savings account, and we spent the evening as a family. After a wonderful meal out, we headed to the pet shop for entertainment and to find out about their obedience classes. I guess we are going to keep the dog after all. While we were there we saw a beautiful cat in the adopt pet area. She was a gray tabby, resembling our Barney, and was a year old. Jeff was a little smitten with her. Her name was Miss Mullet and under animal history it said "caught fish to feed her four babies". I asked a clerk about her and was told that she had lived near a tackle and bait shop on the island and was stealing bait but that she had been going into the water, catching fish and feeding them to her four babies. What an amazing story, we thought. The donation to get her was $50. I could tell Jeff wanted her, but I was hesitant. We are getting another cat come September and we have a dog, I told him. So we left the pet store without her. As we drove away, he said that if she was still there in a few days he wanted to get her, and I agreed. So I guess we will see.

I wish I could say Jeff felt as happy as I do about life. He is quite miserable and is constantly worrying about his classes and teaching summer school. He acted like he was having a good time but then after awhile he began to complain about never having enough time to study, enough time to do this and that, and how he was not getting enough sleep. To most people he appears laid back. If they only knew what a tense person he is and anal ta boot. He has Monday off, so I told him not to sweat it and he could catch up this weekend. I literally had to force him to go to bed tonight before he passed out from exhaustion.

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The other day a friend was visiting the house and after coming out of the bathroom asked me what toilet paper we used. Well I know some people would think this is strange, but I have been asked much worse, so I told her I either by Charmin or Kleenex Cottonele. She gasped "you sure do spend ALOT on toilet paper". In away she is right, I do. I scrimp on lots of things but TP isn't one of them. I wanted something that is going to feel good on my bottom if you know what I mean. I don't want something hard and rough that doesn't work, I want something soft and nice on my rear end that does the job without rubbing me raw.

If you don't know this about me already, I'm always looking for a deal, using a coupon, getting something for free, heck, I'm CHEAP. I am not ashamed to say it. I am not cheap about some things. I don't buy cheap shoes -- but I wear them till they are literally falling apart. I buy good luncheon meat from the deli -- I hate the way the others taste like. I do not buy cheap bras or clothes for my family. I do however buy on sale, often with additional discounts. I even buy the expensive clothes in resale shops or on eBay. I also do not buy cheap furniture. I want real wood, and I want name brand -- half the furniture I have bought has been second or third hand, but its the good stuff and I usually buy at a great price. Some things I'm not willing to budge on.

I will probably be a bargain hunter and cheap ass for the rest of my life, even though now it isn't necessary. I hope to never have debt again, except for cars and mortgage, and I hope I never have to worry about where the next meal is coming from. That is why I will remain the frugal person that I am, no matter how much money we have.

In case you haven't figured this out by now, I came into money when my mom died. I used a large portion of it to pay off debt and buy Jeff his truck. The debt was killing us for the most part and usually by the end of the month we were getting help from my parents to feed us. I had driven this clunker of a car, one I inherited from my great aunt, that needed thousands of dollars of repair. Thankfully my parents had it fixed up right after I had Wild Child but right after she turned a year old my car died in a bad part of town, late at night, coming home with a breathing machine for hubby.(he has asthma) So some how, some way we managed to get approved for a loan and we bought my Protege.(Hubby worked weekends to pay the note and insurance)

Money at one time totally consumed us. We argued about it, we thought about it, we lusted after it. Jeff hates money, I on the other hand respect it. I've learned to respect it more and more, and I have learned not to let it control me and who I am. So I gave a good bit of the money away, and the rest we have tied up in this or that. Having the money freed us from many burdens (the debt was double what Jeff makes in a year) but we still get a little paranoid. That is why I will keep my penny pinching ways.

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Right now I am listening to the Indigo Girls!

I just got finished reading Refunding Express!

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