Day 4

Blog Post #5 January 4th, 2020

Today I had a meeting in Austin with Erin Shank to work on the brochure for the Western District Bench Bar Conference.  We decided to meet at Whole Foods. In order to get there I had to drive past Bu-cee’s twice; it was hard but I did it. When I got there Erin asked if my business was ok since I had told her I could not meet for lunch.  She had forgotten that I was living on a budget and was worried about me. That made me think about how our clients have to tell their circle of friends and family that they have failed in their financial life and have to live on a budget.

Because I was at the meeting all day, I had to send my husband and daughter to the grocery store.  Total amount spent today was $168.00 We also got a $100 visa card for $85 and a Lowe’s card for $50 and a $10 gift card for the grocery store. So we can take advantage of the extra money and use them for groceries next week.  Not all clients can take advantage of these offers. A client told me the other day “Miss Heidi $20 to us is a big deal”. Sometimes it is easy to forget that $20 to me is not the same as $20 to you. Another thing to keep in mind is that the “cleaner” food is often more expensive.  At our local grocery store we typically get natural, free-range chickens that don’t have GMOs or hormones. This time we had to get cheaper chicken which probably means hormones and GMOs were used and they were probably kept inhumanely. When you live on a budget you do not have the luxury of being nit-picky about what meat you consume. You often have to buy whatever you can afford and try to make meals out of it, if you have the time.  I will go into greater detail about the struggles of healthy eating and cooking in a blog to come!