The sun will come up---in about seven hours. It's "Tomorrow!" already.

[vanillafluffy]

Today is the first day of the rest of my life. What am I going to do? Well, Disney World is right out. I can't afford that shit, even if it's a "mere" 50 miles away. At the moment, my checking account balance is entirely to the right of the decimal, I have a like amount in my wallet, and payday isn't til Friday (and I need to be damn stingy with

Comments

[pwcorgigirl]

There's always the holy trinity of kidney beans, diced tomatoes and corn topped with a little of the cheese or beans with some taco seasoning and tomatoes served over a baked potato.

I go to two SAL stores and one is a lot like what you described. The other is so clean I was amazed at the difference. Aldi is heaven for the frugal shopper -- what a fabulous place!

[vanillafluffy]

I was surprised by the selection---the frozen items especially. And the meat prices were really good as well as looking good.

The trinity is much like the bean jumble recipe I got from AI, only her version uses a jar of salsa and adds a can of black beans. I tend to used diced tomatoes anyway, because it's something I keep in my pantry. Salsa, not so much.

[pwcorgigirl]

Are any of the churches in your area running a garden ministry this summer? The Methodist church here that's right in downtown has a place set up for people with excess garden produce to drop it off for those in need of food. It's a wonderful idea because every gardener goofs and plants too much of one thing, so it keeps food from going to waste.

I need to check my ever-fertile cucumber vines and take a few by.

[ang5fam]

Our local Save-A-Lot is exactly as you described! I was a customer there after hubby had his transplant and I had 3 children to feed on less than $70 per week. Often times, patrons were being arrested while I shopped. Really creeped me out

[vanillafluffy]

You and pwcorgigirl (See comment above) ought to get acquainted. Her ambition is to have her own thrifty cooking show on cable

[chocolate_frapp]

I used to live in a part of Calif. that was nothing but shrimpy little towns, some of which were so small they didn't even have a zip code and some of the people there looked like Beavis and Butthead. I couldn't wait to GTFO.

[vanillafluffy]

These must be their east coast cousins.

[vanillafluffy]

An early birthday card? I know you're in some dire straights yourself, girlfriend---I hope it's not something extravagant! (And I don't think JDM would fit in my mailbox---he'd have to come up and ring the bell.)

[vanillafluffy]

Thanks, sweetie! It's lovely to have happy mail to look forward to!

[jagfanlj]

*hugs*
There are few things in the work-world worse than a job that tries to siphon bits of your soul away. It sounds like today (yesterday?) was the first day in a long time when you could really breathe.

A word of cauation on kicking the caffeine. Take it from someone who's been there -- don't try to stop all at once. You'll wind up irritable, moody and with a massive headache. Start off easy and do half decaf/half regular or switch off between the two. Depending on how bad your 'habit' is, do that for at least a week before cutting the cafeine completely.

[vanillafluffy]

I've decaffeinated so many times---! My secret is Excedrin, the headache remedy with caffeine. So far, I've been without since...Monday afternoon? Yeah, Monday. Had some Excedrin as needed yesterday, er, Tuesday. None Wednesday, and in the wee hours of Thursday, so far I'm okay. I'd worked my way up to 2+ liters a day, which even I think is excessive, and with the money crunch that's about to decend on me, I can't afford that! On the other hand, if I go out to lunch with my mama, sure I'll have a glass of sweet tea with lemon! We go out once a week, I don't think that's so bad....