The good, the bad, and the cheap side of both

It sucks being cheap. Yes, I know, I just reviewed a Martini I bought, I'm getting to that. I spent so many years worrying about every penny that it's stuck in my mind. I have no idea how many times I've found something I really needed or wanted and thought, "Hmmm, I'll wait a bit and see how money looks in a week or two". And, as you've probably already guessed, by the time I convinced myself to spend the money the whatever was no longer available, or the price had gone up.

I've gotten better about that(hence the Martini) on some things, but on the bills and daily costs of living, I'm still cheap. I'll skip some food item 'until next week' or not do something I need to 'till later'. I'll keep the temperature low in winter to keep the gas bill down, and high in summer to keep the electric bill down. When I bought this house it was the first I've ever lived in that had central heat & air, and it's nice, but the first winter I kept the temp down almost all the time, and the first summer I didn't use the a/c until it was damn hot. And then I finally decided enough was enough; I was tired of being cold in the house in winter and hot in summer, so I started turning it up(or down) a bit.

The new furnace is far more efficient than the old one, which made the psychic pain of the gas bill not as bad as I'd expected; the a/c having been overhauled a month ago should do pretty good as well, so that's not the problem. Right now it's 94 and humid outside with the air barely moving, so damn right I'm using the cooler. And it's nice. I don't have it turned down very far, but just clearing out the humidity makes it worth it.

Part of the trouble on using the stuff is that I like having the windows open. When it's cool enough at night I'd rather have the windows open and a fan blowing than having the a/c running. My job has such hours that sometimes I have to sleep during the day/evening, so it's just not cool enough to sleep without it. In the fall/spring, if I can get by with just using the heater a bit at night, or able to just crack the windows, I'm happier.

Over the last few years I've been able to ease up a bit on the cheapness; I still worry about the money going out, but I feel better about buying something I need/want instead of putting it off over and over until it's not there any more. Only occasionally do I go overboard(see 'Martini').

But I still catch myself- more than I like- looking at something I need and putting it off when I really shouldn't.

Oh well. The last few days I bought insecticide and ant bait because I have a lot of the little bastards in the garage. I sprayed them well, and the next day bought & put out the bait. It says it'll take about a week to really notice a difference in numbers, which is difficult to deal with, because as long as I see the damn things I want to grab the bottle & chemical-attack them again. But if I do that they won't carry the bait away with them, so I have to wait for it to work. Dammit, I bought spray and I want to use it!