Two other thoughts

1. I'm seriously considering ending my Lenten Experiment in spending no money 'frivolously' (that is: not on utilities, food, medicine/hygiene/cleaning supplies for the house) because I think it's making me miserable and maybe being miserable in this particular way is not spiritually good for me. Maybe I still strive to *cut back* for some months (and I still do need to send a check to Week of Compassion like I was planning, and given the flooding in the middle of the US and some other issues, they can probably use it, and maybe also send a check to Special Olympics because I never did that after I planned on doing it).

But yeah. Maybe I do allow myself the occasional purchase of a book....or some "fun" make up....or something like that. This reminds me too much of 2016 and the budget cuts and when I freaked out and cut my spending to the bone for a while (even trying to cut back on groceries) and it was pretty miserable.

(And yes. I've read the articles that were "explanations" of the "But why do Poor People spend their money on things like lotto tickets and cigarettes" and you know? I am more sympathetic to the "explanation" than I once was, when I was younger - it IS hard to go through the daily grind of life with few to no small pleasures, ESPECIALLY WHEN you know that your cutting all that out won't save you enough money to fix the big problems. I might actually have weathered the whole furlough days fiasco better and happier if I'd allowed myself a few books from Amazon or the occasional splurge at JoAnn's....)

And even for those of us who are better-off in life, I think telling us "Oh, forgo the occasional $3 frappewhip beverage and put that in your retirement account instead" is kind of silly. Yes, I get delayed gratification and all and most likely as I child I'd have been one of those kids who "won" the famous marshmallow test. But delaying ALL gratification sours you, I think. And it's not like a couple of $3 aliquots of money a couple times a month are going to make the difference between a comfortable retirement and a miserable one....I think that's also one of the things some financial planners get shortsighted about, that there's a middle ground between being like the basketball star rapper who blows every penny on gold-plated whatever, and winds up broke at 36 and being the Scrooge McDuck* who socks it all away joylessly for some future time that may or may not happen.

(*And even Scrooge McDuck has his joys....at least in the DuckTales reboot, he seems less miserable-miser and more fellow-who-spends-his-money-wisely-but-still-spends-SOME. And you KNOW that when the triplets' birthday comes up, he's gonna be getting them nice gifts, you just KNOW.)

(And I really, really love the DuckTales reboot, and it soothes me a bit to know that this exists even as Pony is winding down to its last season, and I hope they can get a couple more good seasons at least out of DuckTales.....and dare I hope for either a TaleSpin or Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers reboot on the heels of DuckTales' newfound success?)


2. I might just get carry out for dinner. I don't know whether to do barbecue again or get a pizza from Roma's. (I suppose if I got a cheese pizza, that would be less-terrible on the sodium front). Part of it is just being tired (I need to stop faffing on the internet and get the work I said I'd come back after lab to do done) and part of it is just that it's been kind of a hard week already and you know? Sometimes food that is just simply food, without the added agony of "is it enough vegetables" or "am I getting the right vitamins and minerals here" and "is it not an excessive number of calories" is a nice relaxation. Also food that you didn't have to fix....


I do also have to run and pick up another carton of milk. Thank goodness for Pruett's, though, they make all the difference, so much easier to run there than to go across town to the Wal-Mart, especially at the butt-end of the day when you're just tired.

Edited to add:

Oh MAN I forgot how good Roma's pizza is.