This recession is not good for the soul...or the face. Overpriced rent, paired with a reprised love of 'going out and being social', is breaking the bank and I've just realized that the state-wide salary freezes that I gently pushed upon other agencies apply to me too. Defying all stereotypes, I'm less wealthy now than I was as a teacher...without a master's degree...in the south.
In order to save money I've taken the following steps:
1. Tweezing of the eyebrows. My eyebrows, relatively speaking, are not horrendous. Yet, as reiterated many a time by Carmindy on What Not To Wear (I worship at the shrine of Clinton and Stacey), the eyebrows are the frame of the face. My frame, at the moment, appears to be of the shoddily designed, plexi-glass variety sold at Ocean State Job Lot. Those guys are tough to keep up with! I am now very aware of my discount-store frame when in the presence of a woman with well-groomed eyebrows, and although I like to think of myself as low-maintenance and un
concerned with that which doesn't really matter...I'm insecure.
concerned with that which doesn't really matter...I'm insecure. 2. Peanut Butter for lunch. Every day. I od'ed on Peanut Butter around age 5, resulting in a 10 year hiatus from the spread of the gods. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the inexpensive redundancy in my lunch 'meat' does not result in a similar embargo in years to come.
3. Outlet shopping. I tend to enjoy stores that have a pile of the same piece of clothing, sorted in ascending size order. That way, I can just go in, find my size, purchase and leave. Stores that have a mish-mosh of clothes, regardless of how inexpensively priced, stress me out to the point of hives. The Filenes Basement Bridal Sale is among the things I would find in the inner circle of my own personal hell. Thus, outlet shopping is not ideal. I am, however, currently wearing a jacket purchased at 70% off this past weekend. It's a size too big and I just resewed a missing button back on...but desperate times call for desperate measures.
My actions, I believe, are in full support of Mr. Geithner's bold- if not scary-as-all-get-out- plans to reign in outrageous spending and align priorities for long term success. Yet if my long term success is dependent upon, let's say, looking good- I am setting myself up for a long life of misery.
