31 Things Update---The real class, the 31 days of it, ended mid-June. I fell behind. I decided that was okay. I've finished something like 20 things. I have 11 more things to write about. They started to be things I wanted to write a lot about, so I decided to give myself some extra time. I just need to finish before the end of September...when the "31 MORE Things" class starts. Anyway, end side note, here's Thing Nine...
I remember one night when Miles was just starting to drink formula...he’d had some tummy troubles with the first brand we tried. His doctor recommended we try a different kind and I headed to the store and bought three or four different types...some soy, some for young babies, different brands, etc. And on the way home, I realized how much of a financial burden this might have been for another family. Formula isn’t cheap, and I’d just bought a lot of it so I could guess and check which kind was best for Miles. I realized how fortunate we were, that this was easy for us.
Though I don’t think we’re strictly “frugal,” we don’t have a lot of expensive habits. Nathan walks to work and mows our lawn. I make a weekly trip to Costco to stock our fridge with low cost milk. All four of us prefer to wear our favorite clothes until they fall apart, or we outgrow them (in the case of the boys.) I have pieces in my wardrobe from high school. The boys in our family all get their haircuts at home. Vacations are usually trips to stay with our relatives. Nathan and the boys enjoy lovely meals prepared by Google at school and work. Our ideal evening involves TV, library books, and quesadillas. Babysitters are almost always related to us, and therefore very affordable.
Even our splurges are fairly practical. The boys go to a gloriously lovely daycare center. We have nice cameras. A fancy double stroller. We live in California, which is a splurge of a sort. Twice a month, two magical ladies come to vacuum, clean the bathrooms, and mop our floors.
My guilty pleasures? Manicures, once a month or so. Coffee from the cart in the library, if I don’t have time to make it at home in the morning. Digi scrapbooking supplies, and photobooks from Blurb or Shutterfly--though I always do these things during sales. And I’m on a first name basis with the staff of my local LaBoulanger. I buy my lunch at work way more than is “necessary.” I could pack a lunch and eat at work. But the process of walking downtown, ordering my usual sandwich, talking to the staff, sitting in the booth and reading my book makes me so happy. The margherita al fresco, probably my most frequent purchase.
Though I don’t think we’re strictly “frugal,” we don’t have a lot of expensive habits. Nathan walks to work and mows our lawn. I make a weekly trip to Costco to stock our fridge with low cost milk. All four of us prefer to wear our favorite clothes until they fall apart, or we outgrow them (in the case of the boys.) I have pieces in my wardrobe from high school. The boys in our family all get their haircuts at home. Vacations are usually trips to stay with our relatives. Nathan and the boys enjoy lovely meals prepared by Google at school and work. Our ideal evening involves TV, library books, and quesadillas. Babysitters are almost always related to us, and therefore very affordable.
Even our splurges are fairly practical. The boys go to a gloriously lovely daycare center. We have nice cameras. A fancy double stroller. We live in California, which is a splurge of a sort. Twice a month, two magical ladies come to vacuum, clean the bathrooms, and mop our floors.
My guilty pleasures? Manicures, once a month or so. Coffee from the cart in the library, if I don’t have time to make it at home in the morning. Digi scrapbooking supplies, and photobooks from Blurb or Shutterfly--though I always do these things during sales. And I’m on a first name basis with the staff of my local LaBoulanger. I buy my lunch at work way more than is “necessary.” I could pack a lunch and eat at work. But the process of walking downtown, ordering my usual sandwich, talking to the staff, sitting in the booth and reading my book makes me so happy. The margherita al fresco, probably my most frequent purchase.
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