Practice Makes Perfect

Since discovering that my termination date is imminent, I've adopted a new way of thinking about my purchases. While I've been successful in reigning in my extraneous spenditures (i.e. clothes, shoes, books, makeup, home decor), I've never been able to practice the same restraint when it comes to food. To me, food is, like oxygen, absolutely vital, and to skimp on food would be to skimp on life, and that, my friends, is a huge no-no. Also? I'm hungry a lot.

I do most of my grocery shopping at natural foods stores, which can definitely get expensive. Because I've been cooking a lot more lately and testing new recipes, my trips to the store have become much more frequent and the ingredients more exotic and hard-to-find (read: expensive). In good news, I'm eating out a lot less than I used to. The bad? Trying new recipes means buying loads of groceries. Oh and I pretty much only buy organic produce, if I can help it.

But now I'm starting to pay attention to how often I "run to the store" for a quick something. How many times I pick up that extra dark chocolate bar or loaf of crusty French batard. Iced coffee from Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf? Yum, but... no. Last Wednesday (THE day) I had an appointment after work that kept me out until about 8:30 p.m. I didn't have anything prepared and had just planned on picking something up on the way home. With nothing but $$$ on the brain, I balked at the thought of stopping by Whole Foods for an $8 salad, especially when there's a Taco Bell on the corner. One bean burrito and $0.89 later, I had my dinner. The whole thing was quite sad, really, but in my defense, I've always liked their bean burritos. Still, I couldn't help but ask myself: Will I have to live off Taco Bell bean burritos from here on out?

I guess you could say, I'm beginning to practice living a life with less. It's a dash of fun mixed with 2 tablespoons of depressing. But to end on a positive note, maybe this just means I'll learn to eat a lot less and get really skinny. Hmph...

P.S. Right now, I'm debating whether or not to pick up a loaf of sourdough on my way home for lunch. A slice of toasted, buttery sourdough would go brilliantly with my (free! cooked! at home!) lunch, but would it be a waste of money? Do I NEED it? Obviously not, as sourdough does nothing but bad things to my waistline, but... it's so delicious. I want it.