Your Unemployed Daughter

photo credit: ShellyS
Your Unemployed Daughter has never been the thriftiest sort. Remember how you had to put her on a strict budget when all those charges at the Georgetown Ann Taylor showed up during her college years? (She is loathe to recall exactly how many pink twin sets and linen skirts she actually purchased, or why, but she agrees that it was, indeed, grotesque.)

She got better after she graduated, toned down her “champagne tastes on a beer budget” (thanks, Mom) habits for a bit. She was particularly proud of the frugality evident in her choice of 33¢ boxes of off-brand macaroni and cheese.

Actually, it was nothing to be proud about, as that was all that remained in her checking account during those years of a $25,000 salary, 2 roommates, and a walkup frequented by johns visiting our next-door neighbors. Still, back then she had fun crashing parties and eating all the cheese her tiny stomach could hold, or stealing salt and pepper shakers and wine glasses from restaurants when the need arose.

Ah, but money changed her. As her salary crept up, so did her lifestyle. What’s the price of shoes? Two hundred? Three? No problem. Cheap, by New York standards! And they’re on sale! What about a nice dress, perhaps to wear to that wedding in Cabo this fall? Min, $400. What’s the trouble with that?

The trouble is, of course, that YUD’s earnings were to come to an abrupt halt. And you can’t eat a dress, as Mom would say. Unless you have a lot of buffalo sauce.

YUD has not let this change of events get her down, however. She’s embraced her final pre-layoff purchases (i heart you, Unemployment Jeans!) and made no more. And since it’s been raining nonstop since late May, she hasn’t even needed to break out her stock of summer clothes yet, meaning they will all seem new(ish) when the clouds finally part.

In addition, she’s finding enjoyment in – how do you say? – bargain-hunting? For instance, she recently needed new ink cartridges for her printer/fax/scanner. She journeyed over to the neighborhood office supplies shop and proceeded to buy some ink. However, her clerk suggested the “generic brand.” And while once perhaps willing to disdain such a lowbrow consideration, she jumped at the chance to save $10 on each box. (Thank you, Essex card shop man.)

Also! She has been filling her very own SIGG water bottle and taking it with her on her daily gym visits, instead of purchasing water at the gym. She makes her own coffee! She even grinds it (which doesn’t save money, but shows you that she is a class act). And, she sometimes refrigerates the leftover coffee from her morning’s brew and makes ice coffee with it!

She hardly ever runs the air conditioner and instead prefers to sleep with windows open, unless the morons downstairs are engaging in one of their early morning singalongs. She wears a shirt twice – maybe thrice – before dry cleaning it. She hasn’t washed her sheets or towels in weeks! She disdains full haircuts and instead goes for the far more economical “bang trim.” She brings leftovers home. She buys lotion at Duane Reade instead of Kiehls, and waits weeks for a new pedicure. She is considering downgrading her NetFlix. She takes the subway instead of cabs, mostly. If she sees $20 on the street, she picks it up, and she doesn’t spend it on booze right away.

It’s like an adventure, really, this saving money. How do YOU do it?