Free Reads

We TV premiered a new reality show called "Downsized" (Saturday, 9/8c). It features a blended family of 9, struggling to make ends meet since the economy and housing market took an enormous dump. They've already filed bankruptcy and now they're dumpster diving, scrubbing toilets, and doing whatever they need to in order to get out of their state of poverty.



Although I find some aspects of the family dynamic to be ridiculous (i.e. applying 8% of the family's income toward the youngest daughter's cheerleading, when they barely make rent), a few ideas are pretty darned inspiring. In last week's episode, the mom started a housecleaning business. She's a bit of a wuss, so not only did she undercharge the homeowner, she agreed to bring in her own cleaning supplies. Since the family didn't really have the money to invest in cleaning products, she looked up recipes using common household items like baking soda and vinegar. I've been using both homemade cleansers as well as the commercial varieties, so I paid some attention. Now, for my wood furniture, I'm partial to Pledge. It's a throwback to my days as a wee one. Since my bathtub isn't connected to the shower and I don't have an extendable nozzle for it, I prefer baking soda and Dawn because everything is a pain in the hindquarters to rinse, and if I don't rinse as well as I should, it'd probably be better to soak in a tub laced with baking soda and dish soap than a tub of Soft Scrub. Anyway, when you're looking at a lady and her kids who are used to paying someone $125 to clean the house, it's pretty neat to watch them switch gears and choose responsibility over self-pity (in which they occasionally indulge). Anyway, it all got me thinking that even though my family is doing okay these days, saving money is never really a bad idea.



Last year, I went on a magazine and novel diet. When I learned that I was spending up to $175(!) a month on novels, I knew that I had to put the kibosh on that and really analyze how I spent the family's money. So for a month, I decided that I wouldn't buy any magazines or novels for myself. That meant learning to limit myself to window shopping at Barnes & Noble and Half Price Books, undoing habits that I didn't even realize I were ingrained.



The city libraries made it so much easier. It seems that almost any title I'm interested in is available at the library, including a few magazines I enjoy, such as Self. I come from a city with the worst library so this is truly a breath of fresh air. The big prince's school has a public library on its campus, so I often send my checked out items to school with him so he may return them for me. They also have a decent stock of ebooks, so I've spent very little on books for my reader. In fact, last summer, I kept myself up to my armpits in ebooks from 1,250 miles away. The first three weeks were pretty easy, but I almost fell off the wagon on the 28th day. The book section at Wal-Mart called to me like the donut shop next to the Jenny Craig. However, with some help from my step-princess, I stayed on track. So I did what any intelligent, victorious woman would do--I extended the diet. For four month, I didn't buy a magazine or a book.



When I did give myself permission to buy a book, my standards raised to the point where for weeks, I couldn't decide on a book to buy. When I finally did, I felt horrible about it, like I had betrayed my family. Eventually, book shopping became easier until I could finally shop with wild abandon again (although not to the tune of $175 a month).



So here it is, a year later, and I'm back on the magazine and novel diet. The trigger? After watching "Downsized," I autumn-cleaned my house. The number of magazines that went to recycling and the library swap bin was astounding. Many dollars over the last few months gone down the drain. The two exceptions are knitting books and magazines (same exeption as the last diet) and Runner's World (since the library doesn't carry it and Half Price Books seldom gets recent copies, plus I plan to actually subscribe to two knitting magazines and RW). Maybe it seems ridiculous to feel so good about doing something so small, but I've learned that small things can lead to more small things until everything together equals big change.