Frugal Friday

I don't know how many people shop at the Dollar General Store but today I did. Talk about bargains. A nice blouse $4.00, knee shorts $4.00, socks $1.00, sandals I already have. So for around $10.00 I have a nice outfit for Monday. I love being frugal with my shopping. I simply refuse to pay full price for anything like this. They even have some groceries. All my cream of chicken, celery,mushroom soups were 2/$1.00. Beat that WalMart.
Now that I have mentioned WalMart here I go......I absolutely hate what they are doing to the store here. They are taking away the craft department. So many older women are in need of a fabric store here and that is what I wrote them about a year ago when this same thing came up. They will not stop til they have a monopoly on shopping in small city's like the one I live in. Some time back we could go to WalMart and sit in the little radio diner and have a light lunch or just a drink and snack to tide us over while shopping. They took that away. Never mind elderly and disabled people need a break during many tasks such as this. I see they are even taking away some of the benches elderly people would sit on while waiting for their family to finish their own checking out after helping them shop. WalMart gets no stars from me for their store. Today I chose not to go there for anything. Our one local vegetable/fruit stand got my business and I got better quality fresh local food. I will get my meats and frozen foods later as I have to break up my shopping due to my condition.
Being on a fixed income causes people to make choices of how they spend their money. Housing and monthly bills come first then groceries. If there is anything left is isn't for entertainment it would be for the medicines they have to have. I never realized how hard people had it until it happened to me. When the money runs out that's it and there is no more til the next deposit from SSD. But through this comes the silver lining....we don't have to worry about what movie to watch or where to go out to eat or if we will go to the ball game on Friday night. There is no money in the budget for that and I am certainly OK with it. I have learned why older people like staying home so much. The madhouse rush for everything in life. We can't move that fast anymore so we get in the slow lane and when that gets too fast we park it. We might venture out for an occasional ice cream cone and drive up and down the main streets in town for a little bit of fun on a school night...gas in the car permitting. Then it's home for the time being.
You might ask how do older people spend their time at home. Time flies when you are older because we forget what day it is a lot of the time. Go to bed for a little nap and wake up thinking it's the next day. Some people work on making quilts and other craft work. Now as far as I know and from what I have seen men just putter around from one thing to the other without accomplishing very much. The most fun thing to do and I find myself doing this at times which is to go back in time in our minds and think about all that we have done and where we've been and who we've seen and realize that it really didn't mean as much as we thought it did back then.
Think about the elderly people who live in your neighborhood and try to be kind to them and if you are inclined to go walking and see them sitting on their porch, they would probably love to have you walk up to the porch and let them know who you are and as their neighbor you would like to visit for a few minutes. You may have took 5 minutes out of your walk but the gift you just gave them was worth more than gold or silver because you made them feel like someone cared enough about them to stop and say hi. Being old is a lonely thing and many of us haven't learned how to cope with the challenges of growing old. Today I feel older than I am after having to go out. Tomorrow I will still feel old because I am. lol Til the next time I remain Just This...Alice