thrifty part 2

THRIFTY part 2

Okay, so I found an actual thriftily priced thrift store.  I knew they were there-they existed prior to my moving here.  I had popped in one day long ago and looked at their sad and pathetic book selection ( the standard mass produced middle school reading level drivel ) and walked away never to return.  Yet something or someone planted a bug in my brain and I was prompted to visit again during a day off during my two week notice period.  I had ordered the grain grinder as my bread supply was going to end and I planed on now making my own ( I always eat first thing in the morning prior to coffee and vitamin pills, but now that replacing my work days with Visiting The B-POD Days I have an hour and a half commute and an hour heavy labor and need to eat again just a couple of hours later prior to returning or my energy level drops really low and I get weak.  Bottom line is I’m going through a lot of bread or bread like products now ) and when we went to the feed store to grab a bag of wheat ( remember, low price not likely to last, buy yours NOW ) we swung into the new and improved thrift store.

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Surprisingly, the book section had two great books.  “Patriots” and another book whose title eludes me right now but was prepper related but which I also already owned.  True to form however the rest of the room was a waste of trees.  But that was not why I was there.  I had a, hopefully, life time supply of shirts and the wool sweater supply was okay ( my wrapped and stored long term wool was plentiful but when the ex’s daughter last visited the B-POD she stole most of my sweaters so I still buy more when I see them just to build up my daily wear ones ), but pants were still problematic.  I had plenty of old pants that didn’t fit well anymore ( typical Hank Hill build from middle age-the ass shrinks as the gut grows.  I had lots of pants from pre-gut but they were good for Apocalypse Now Skinny only ) but I only had two and a half pairs of fitted ones.  A brand new pair of Dickies, a pair I’ve worn about half way through their lifespan ( about two years before you need to start patching.  At $25 from Amazon-cough, hint-they are $6 per six months wear.  Wal-Mart slacks are $12 per six months if not $16, and you can’t mend them as the fabric is too thin.  Wally the low price leader my dimpled white ass ) and one pair patched and mended.  Since Elko is not a climate conducive to shorts for over half the year, I kind of need pants.

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Now, prior to this I would have impatiently charged in, looked around half-assed and left empty handed.  But not working for The Man ( cough, hint, buy through my Amazon links or buy my books so I can keep my sole job as a writer ), or in this case having conclusively decided in less than two weeks The Man could pack fudge and die, I have a lot more laid back of an attitude and am far more relaxed and take my time doing things right rather than rushed.  That is one benefit I really hadn’t foreseen.  My productivity has skyrocketed as I do things correctly one thing at a time.  No more multi-tasking which is code for “do another persons job in no extra time and no extra pay”.  The corporate job used to be a time I’d pre-write the days article in my head as I was tasked with physical labors but had degenerated into such stress and rushing I could barely mentally focus on the task at hand let alone this far more important job of town crier for the Apocalypse.  They were barely paying for my body yet they insisted on my brain now-which is beyond rude, yo!

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Do you know how hard it is to find my size in pants?  Fat gut but far less fat than most and long legs.  Most thrift store pants are really fat waist and really short legs.  Yet, I find THREE pairs of slacks.  All brand name, not Wal-Mart.  And as a bonus a light weight wool sweater.  All for $15.  Here I was with only two pay checks to go and I spent some of the last money in my wallet at the thrift and feed store.  And I was happy to do it.  One cup of grain a day is three months of bread from a sack of wheat.  It isn’t my main amount of calories but it is my main filler prior to dinner.  For less than $4 a month.  And the pants?  I was looking at having to buy another pair of Dickies, a brand I love and swear by ( enough that I gambled $60 a pair of their boots.  I haven’t wore them yet, but I feel confident.  Well, especially since I won’t wear them eight hours a day but more like two.  They should, in theory, last a LONNNG time ) but $25 is still a major investment now.  Far better a $4 pair of thrift store slacks.  My trip to the thrift store isn’t as much about being frugal, or stockpiling for the collapse, or keeping growing kids in clothes, or helping out a charity for Mongoloid kids.  It is peace of mind eliminating yet another expense.

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That is what puts my mind at ease.  Yet one more thing I need that I needn’t stress over.  It is like replacing those stupid asphalt shingles on a roof with metal or tiles.  You spend a little bit extra and then it is worry free for decades longer than it would have been otherwise.  Because to me, wanting to live on almost no money, a pair of new pants is 12% of a months income.  Now it is either zero, for years to come, or at most 2% eventually.  I can handle low single digits far better than low double digits.  I can have one better than average month in income and suddenly I have another ten years worry free about pants and still have money left over for another odd item I finally needed to replace.  Thrift store buying isn’t just stretching the budget, it is peace of mind AND reducing your needed budget.  My bike will be needing new wheels soon, especially now that I’m using the washboard dirt road again, and yes that is going to hurt badly now that prices are up, but I can’t explain how much preferred that problem is to me.  To most of you driving a car is necessary.  To me, NOT having that need is an immense load of worry I’ll never again experience ( and a paid for home is even better! ).  I’ve tried to emulate that feeling for almost everything I own or need to own.  Remember Alfred P Newman from “Mad” magazine? “What?  Me, worry?”.  It is a nice feeling to have.

END

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