Keeping tabs

First, apologies for a update delay -- a combination of chest ailments of all sorts (including the peculiar sternum inflammation costochondritis), plus grad school applications have kept me pretty busy for the past few days. I've been telling myself that writing inquiry letters and personal statements have been taking care of my business-letter-writing requirements (which, well, it probably does. For that matter, any ideas about how I prove to you lovely people that I totally know how to write a first-rate letter?).

Meanwhile, though, I've also been continuing to take care of monitoring my personal expenses in much greater detail than I have ever before. I sort of always thought this kind of thing (intense budgeting, specifically) would become automatic as I became an adult, but it never really has. I've managed my not-overdrawing-bank-accounts, etc. thanks largely to a great personal stinginess more than any kind of organization or anything.

I've been noticing two things, as I've been really monitoring my spending. First, and surprisingly, I haven't been cheaping out on things I actually require, or on things I really enjoy. Rather, I'm taking it easy on the impulse buys -- skipping nail polish (because I never wear it anyway) in the Duane Reade where I lost my house keys today, for example. I'm still buying what I need (or what I've planned in advance for -- a delicious raspberry jam French toast breakfast on Sunday, for example), but those things are more thought-through, and that makes me enjoy them even more.

This is probably a healthier way to live, in general -- eliminating the unnecessary -- and it's kind of in line with recent thoughts on fast fashion, as well. More than anything, I'm seeing this as one of the longer-lasting effects of my handbook project. 1911 farm boys were far from conspicuous consumers. Maybe we can learn something from them.