The scenario: After attending a mother-daughter event on Monday, (Working Parents' Conflict: Paycheck vs. School Performance ), I was behind schedule and my seven-day calendar was packed with deadlines. As such, the excursion to my daughter's school and a quick trip to buy an Arizona tea ($1.49) for my daughter represented the last time I have left our apartment building since Monday. Every day I've showered and changed into clean sweat pants, but I've stayed indoors.
Here are the perks of my frugal sweatpants wardrobe:
1. The Worker Bee: I've cranked out several articles.
2. The Reader: I've read 75 percent of The Light Bearer, a 1011-page book by Donna Gillespie about a female warrior during the Roman era. The attraction: If I'm not getting exercise, I can at least read about a woman who stays fit and taut.
3. Ms. Thrifty: I've spent very little money.
4. Vicarious Gladiator: I've watched the American Gladiator championship finale hosted by Laila Ali & Hulk Hogan on NBC via the Internet. The attraction: If I'm not getting exercise, I can at least watch well-trained men and women run around and battle for a title. The physical tests are also inspiring.
5. Anti-Aging Skin Model in Training: My skin looks great. I've given myself frugal facials using honey, tomatoes, garlic, and citrus juice. I slathered on the homemade goop and then continued typing on my laptop while the assorted mixtures worked wonders on my 49-year-old skin. (Today I'm going to smear pulp from an Aloe leaf on my face.)
6. Sugar-free Dieter: I've avoided sugar. With little opportunity to purchase candy, donuts or ice cream treats, I've remained on my no-sugar diet. (I make, of course, an exception for the sugar in my morning coffee).
7. Ocean Breeze: I've enjoyed the ocean view from my porch.
Here's the downside of my self-imposed shut-in status.
1. The Flab Seeker: I missed the weekly Yoga class with the personal trainer that I share with a group of women. Not a smart move: The financial and health costs of neglecting exercise are great.
2. The Flab Seeker, The Sequel: I've also skipped my regular routine of long walks. I have not even gone out to walk my dog. I'm now really terrified to face the scale at the grocery store. Maybe I've stayed in sweats because I don't think that any of my real clothes fit anymore.
3. Dumbstruck: With less contact with the world, I've had a drought of story ideas.
4. Disconnected & Disenfranchised: I've had less opportunity to network. The last time I was in a CVS drugstore, I bumped into a television reporter with whom I am sort of friendly. (We took a non-fiction writing class together through Miami-Dade College.) I was pleased to see her again and I will send her a copy of my book when it's published). I usually meet fun and interesting people when I go out into the world. These contacts usually yield either short-term or long-term benefits or just a friendly smile. But stranded in sweatpants, however, I'm too embarrassed to be seen.
Reality Check & Balance: I'm not really proud of my low spending tally. It feels fake. And I'm not really living frugally if I take cheap shortcuts that diminish the long-term quality of my life. I need to discard the sweatpants, jump back into the world and get some exercise. Meeting deadlines is not important if I sabotage my health.
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Sharon Harvey Rosenberg is the author of The Frugal Duchess of South Beach: How to Live Well and Save Money... Anywhere!, which will be published in June of 2008 by DPL Press.
your week sounds fabulous. There's nothing wrong with being in sweats! and you don't have to throw them out, work out in them!
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