Daphne writes today about the cost of food and other goods her household consumes over the course of a month. Note these three things: Daphne counts, and accounts for, every penny; there's a furry resident in her household; her reflections on alternatives to toilet paper.
While most people treat the one-cent coin as throwaway, we value it. Last month, Daphne spent $107.93 on food. That's 10,793 pennies; or 360 pennies per day. Not a heck of a lot.
I record all my expenses using an old version of Quicken Basic. I even break down the Groceries category into sub-categories: Bread, Dairy, Fruit-Veggies, Other Carbs, Protein, Treats. There's a separate category for Household and Medicine.
By the way, I've no idea why I still pay an amount for my thyroid medication. Given zero income and BC's Pharmacare, it shouldn't be happening. Yet last month I was charged $4.76. Think about that. That's 476 pennies. Consider the above per day penny count for Daphne. I work to keep my daily expenditures under 200 pennies.
Note that Daphne's is a three-person household. (I include Kitty in that number, natch.) My household also has three residents. We've had some desperate trials over the past few months. All has worked out but there are likely bad times ahead.
Then there's toilet paper. It's a horrible thought that we flush money away like that. As with Daphne, I've gone over the alternatives. And there are some months, more of them lately than a couple of years ago, when I do the dampen-cloth-wipe-and-rinse procedure.
Can't quite (yet) bring myself to the, er, shittier application of the cloth. But hand-washing at the sink after each piddle I've become accustomed to. In fact, I'm ALMOST coming to prefer it. When you think about it, a clean damp cloth does keep one's nether regions cleaner, fresher. And it's good for the environment!
Not that I'm advocating for it, you understand.
ETA: When writing this post, I assumed Daph's frugal food budget covered both humans in her household. My mistake and I'm glad of it.
1 comment:
Hmmm....a damp-cloth, eh? Maybe I'll start sewing, after all.
I don't flush the used toilet paper. I drop it into a basket, eventually burning it in my wood stove. This eases the use of my septic system and helps keep me warm.
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