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Friday January 16, 2009 | 04:37 PM
I’m pretty miserly with money.
OK, the truth? I’m pretty miserly with my own money — anyone else’s, and I’ll spend, spend, spend as frivolously as I can.
I think I was just born that way, because I certainly wasn’t raised that way. Both my mom and my brother are good at squirreling away for rainy days. Not me. I love shoes, going out for drinks and dinner, shoes, shopping and shoes. In fact, today I am wearing my beloved Uggs that I was finally able to finagle as a Christmas present from my parents.
When I first moved out on my own, I realized just how expensive life on your own can be, especially where groceries are concerned. Obviously, it has only gotten worse over the past few years, and if you’re trying to eat healthy and go heavy on produce? Forget it!
The first few months on my own, I lived high off the hog, as they say, buying expensive brands at the store until I realized just how much I was spending (and just how much of that could and should be going toward utility bills).
So I did what any penny-pincher would do: I started to go generic. Generic cereals, generic cleaning products, generic, generic, generic. Truth be told, my mom was right all those years ago when she’d say you couldn’t tell the difference when I’d throw the name-brand product in her cart.
I should be commended for how miserly I’ve become. I even use coupons sometimes (yes, like a ’50s housewife, but sans the expandable coupon folder), and I very rarely deviate from my shopping list.
Sure, my store brand honey nut faux Cheerios taste exactly the same, and their rice is, well, rice. But there are some name brands I will never not buy. Jif peanut butter, Q-tips cotton swabs, Bumble Bee tuna, etc. Sometimes there are just no acceptable substitutes.
Proof: I bought generic cotton swabs for the first time a few weeks back, and the first time I used one, the stick gave out and I damn near took out my eardrum.
No, the lesson I learned was not to refrain from cleaning my ears in such a way that is widely warned about. What I gained from the incident was that sometimes it’s OK to not pinch pennies.
About the Author
Nikki M. Mascali began her career at the Weekender as an intern in 2005 - and holds the honor of being the oldest intern the paper ever had. She received her degree in journalism from Luzerne County Community College in 2007 and joined the Weekender staff full-time in 2006 as staff writer/designer before becoming associate editor in 2010. In March 2011, she was named editor.
Nikki has interviewed everyone from Gene Simmons to Richard Simmons, and her articles have run the gamut from local and national theater to music and in-depth reports on the radio industry and negativity in NEPA.
Nikki enjoys writing, quoting movies, traveling and being a diehard foodie - which is why she pens our weekly food and drink column, "Dish."
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