By Prokofy Neva, Virtualtor
I've actually been pretty faithful doing JOT every day, and missed only one day apparently — but I just haven't gotten the blogs up. I've been making the art work and keeping a list.
So…receipts.
As long as I can remember, way back before the Internet, I have kept receipts — and kept receipts more than budgets and ledgers, which would render them more sensible. I occasionally find them even from college days or early days with kids — nuts! Why??? No one cares. The theory is that I'm going to "see where it's all going" and "keep to a budget" or something — but it never happens.
Keeping receipts alone will not save money, help you keep to a budget, or do anything, really, except fill up drawers and boxes with papers. Store clerks always look at me incredulously, receipt half crumpled and thrown away, when I ask to have the receipt.
Most of the time, I either throw them out without looking at them eventually; or, in fact I type them all up on Notepads but then accidentally delete them or purposefully "recycle" them later. And again, what is the point?
There was a thread with the contentious writer Molly McArdle — or should I say, the fairly normal writer Molly McArdle who all sorts of Internet nutters and haters flock to contend:
And I replied:
It's shocking to look at this old post — ancient! December 2023! — and note that the price NOW for one single Vitamin Water bottle at Gristedes, my forced go-to food-desert supermarket, is now $2.89 and $2.99 per bottle!. Meanwhile, Morton's still has them at 3 for $5, it's just that you have to walk down there, and it's about 2 miles there and back, including up a big flight of steps.
But Megan is largely right. What is the point? Her thread began with some Internet annoyances grousing about her claim that the price of apple pie ingredients had gone up. Or that the response to the price of pies going up is to make your own. Or something. I don't recall and don't want to go finding it now. Either point might be correct, depending on your region.
Prices have gone up generally $1 per item I usually buy. If the Finlandia butter is still $4.99, when Kerry Gold, once $5.99 is now $7.99, it's because the Finns just didn't get the memo yet. They will. A good indicator: every health food store near me, which would routinely have EVERYTHING way more high price or just generally have high priced stuff, except, oddly the Amy's dinners or the Dr. Praeger's frozen fish, is now much less. The Grape Nuts — which are now buyable again after a COVID hiatus — were only like $4.99. They last a good while, you can't eat that big a bowl of them.
In theory, I could study these receipts over a year and see what, if anything, is still worth getting at my store only the equivalent of a block away, or that 2-mile walk. Answer: nothing. But since a half gallon of milk is heavy to carry, I get it at Gristede's — although it's $3.49, version $2.99 at Morton's, so occasionally I do make the effort.
What's really more the point here, though?
To see if money is running out and then hold some back? It always runs out way before the end of the month — I was lucky this month that I had a payment for a job and it ran out only today — and the rest is made up with Amazon gift card credit from surveys, which can earn maybe $50 or $60, various other odd payments that might come in, SL cashouts, which take forever, something.
Looking at these receipts, and yes, finally typing them up, adding them up (then recycling them!) I could see that I spent $5.90/day on average for the first three months of 2024. Partly that was because for about a month and a half of that time, I couldn't swallow anything much above the level of mush after my surgeries and lived off oatmeal, yoghurt, mushes of various types whether potatoes, tofu, overcooked rice or spaghetti, protein shakes. Not ideal. But it's just hard to eat vegetables. They are hard.
Since whey protein proved so hard to digest (long story there) I moved to pea protein and it is AWFUL. At least the brand I bought. I simply refuse to believe it digests better than whey, given that it doesn't even DISSOLVE. It makes a horrid sludge and you have to drink it quick or else spoon it later like awful pudding where you didn't stir the instant package powder sufficiently. TERRIBLE STUFF.
But now that I'm getting better, I need to up my game and try to get better food. That will be expensive. It's not that my food-desert doesn't have fresh fruits and vegetables, they are just expensive. HOWEVER. The carts various immigrants have out along E. 23rd Street and 1st and 2nd Avenue are really cheap, and I simply have to get the cash and go to them. Imagine, two medium blueberry containers and half a dozen bananas for $6, which I got off a cart on 2nd Avenue the other day. Or less, if you keep walking.
In any event, the fact is, the stuff I've been buying is also expensive because it includes chips and pretzels, which I live off because I can dunk them in tea. But hardly healthy. I actually ordered almonds and apricots online because I can chop them up and put them in rice, I guess.
I really wish I could just hire a cook who would shop and cook for me — I'm happy to clean up — because I hate every bit of this. In fact if the future arrives soon, and the ideal food turns out to be some cube of tofullike substance in which all necessary ingredients are included, fine, I'll eat that. It doesn't have to be fancy.
One thing is certain. I won't collect receipts any more to record the hemorrage of cash. Instead, I will — now and then because I won't be doing this so often! — record a shopping expedition which is positive, buying fruits and vegetables or at least stuff in bulk or on sale. How's that?
Another example of "Just One Thing" leading to a changing of the direction of the vectors…
