28 June 2010
Week of Extreme Frugality

Filed under t.o.v.

Ugh.

My first two weeks of summer vacation were glorious. I spent a few days in what really amounts to hibernation, like I do during all my breaks. When we were in college, R was convinced that she could catch up on missed sleep during breaks after trimesters, then bank sleep for the upcoming trimesters. That wasn’t my experience then, but since I’ve hit middle age, I’m changing my tune. I do need recovery sleep, and I need lots of it, and if I can get a week of lots (I’m talking ten to twelve hours per night) of sleep at the end of my summer, I can handle at least the first half of the semester without worrying too much about getting lots of it then. Yes, I know it’s not supposed to work that way, but it seems to work that way for me.

After my period of hibernation, I was up at dawn every morning for a swim. I’d come home for some television, housekeeping, and a late-morning nap. Then I’d be up to get some work done. Late afternoons I’d be at the park for a long walk. I’d call it a run-walk if more of it were running, but I’m pathetic.

It was working out pretty well, but I didn’t plan well and that resulted in my Week of Extreme Frugality. I have them often, to be sure, but I don’t usually have to watch my gasoline use, as I have this past week. It’s cut out my swims and most of my walks for reasons I don’t want to get into. I know I can walk anywhere, but walking somewhere while I’ve got a few bucks in my pocket works much better. And I really, really, really had to watch the spending.

So I’ve stayed home, venturing down to the shopping center once a day to pick up my daily allotment of whatever I needed. If you give yourself a daily task like that, you don’t feel so miserable. My funds weren’t ZERO, but they weren’t much more than that, so I spread it out over what looks like is going to be just over a week, spending a buck here or two bucks there for the things that make the difference between being utterly depressed and being just unhappy. I also had a few Starbucks gift cards from students. Those allowed me to spend ninety minutes to two hours a few times just reading and sipping tea outside the house. Those gift cards are among my best friends, I tell you.

I’ve reverted to vampire mode, something I do easily during my time off from work when I don’t structure my days, and that actually helped. If the bulk of your waking hours is after all the fun stuff is closed or after you might be hanging with friends, the solitude doesn’t feel like deprivation so much as indulgence. This has resulted, too, in lots of time with the television on, something I don’t normally take. Lots of World Cup soccer and Wimbledon tennis, not to mention old movies and just about every news broadcast I could fit in.

I hate it when I put myself in this position, and this has been the worst it’s been in a long time. When I eventually get out of it (late Monday, here’s hoping), I’m going to have to be more attentive.

2010-06-28  ::  me