WHAT I SPEND MONEY ON

(sigh)

Once in a while I print out a report on Quicken of what I've tossed coins at, and it almost always disturbs me. See, even though I'm aware at the time of what I'm spending money on, somehow when I see that report in black and white, I wonder what silliness overcomes me from time to time.

There are two of us in this house and we spend enough money on groceries to feed a family of six. We end up throwing so much of it away. It's ridiculous.

Coffeehouses have their corporate hand in my purse. Coffee beans, coffee drinks, chai teas, coffee mugs, ad infinitum. It's ridiculous.

Huge quantities of paper products because I can't go into Costco or B.J.'s without coming out with $200 worth of paper towels, toilet paper, sandwich bags, paper napkins, kleenex in the regular and boutique sizes. Of course, I then get home with all this stuff and bitch 'cause I don't have any place to store it all. It's ridiculous.

Bottled water. The tree huggers would hate me if they knew how much of this stuff I buy since the plastic is littering the planet. It's ridiculous.
Books. I have at least a dozen books I've bought since Christmas that I REALLY wanna read that still rest on the bookshelf collecting dust. More on the book thing at the end of this post. It's ridiculous.

I don't know why the manicure people extract such a huge toll on my pocketbook, especially since I hate a fingernail longer than the end of my finger. Somehow, though, I feel more "together" when these blasted nails are in good shape. I know. It's ridiculous.

Art. I'm picky here but have things that I love. I surround myself with these pieces and they bring me pleasure. But I spend too much on this stuff, especially since my children most likely will not appreciate my things and they'll sell or give them away when I'm gone. It's ridiculous.

But the thing I spend the MOST on is cookbooks, especially regional cookbooks. I devour them, read every recipe, make notes in the margins, plan time to actually COOK some of the gems I find in those pages. They're worth every penny I pay for them, and this is NOT ridiculous!

(sigh)