trunny roubles

i've been financially challenged for my whole life, some times more than others. i'm very, very good at living frugally. i'm not so good with money-related stress. i tend to do stupid things when things get bad, like stopping eating and developing ulcers. not so good.

i've been reading about the american economy and keeping track of what's going on - it doesn't look good. and when the USA takes a dump canada has to turn the bathroom fan on. all this means that i'm not likely to be suffering from excessive affluence any time soon. and things are bad for us right now, thanks to some unexpected, expensive events. so i'm feeling the money stress. but if the economy is tanking i need to learn some better coping skills. i can't spend the next five years obsessively reworking the numbers, skipping food and not sleeping. those things aren't my idea of fun. i need to find new ways to be.

so we have a new budget. i think it's going to work. i don't feel guilty and wasteful every time i eat something, since i know that my meals fit in our budget. and i can ride a bus without panicking about the bus fare for the whole ride. in fact, i can buy the things i need and the things i want, within limits. because i've told myself that the amounts for each thing are set in stone and i can't change them just because i'm neurotic.

so instead of seeing how many vital things i can cut from our lives i'm trying a new challenge: how good of quality of life can i provide within the budget? i've begun baking, knitting, making soy milk. cooking, attempting to clean more, trying to use creative, homemade solutions. plant pots made from flyers, homemade biscuits when i want a snack, things like that. if i save enough up i'm going to get the supplies needed to make cheese. in the meantime i'm buying the odd avocado or kiwi, savouring really good coffee.