In November we’ll have a diversion as the careers of all those RINOs and Dems get flushed down the toilet by the mid-term paroxysm of voter rage. That will give us through Christmas to savor the schadenfreude and contemplate all the judges Biden will not get approved.
But in January as we look at the cost of the Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, we hosted there won’t be that much to feel thankful for. As the saying goes, we’ll all be getting a little hungrier next year. I’ve already heard that the property taxes here in Dunwich will be up a good bit and the cost of food and just about everything else will be surging very soon. And energy and transportation costs will become horrific.
But that’s when the tough get going. Camera Girl and I have already started to consolidate different shopping trips to save on gas. And the last barbecue was burgers and dogs instead of ribeye steaks. Looking to next winter I’ve decided to make the ultimate sacrifice. I’m going to lower the thermostat from 72 (and sometimes 74) to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. I know what you’re thinking. Lots of people set it at 68 or even lower. Sure, but those people have ancestors who lived in Cimmeria and Ultima Thule. My people come from the sultry regions of the Mediterranean. In order to survive even 70 degrees in the winter Camera Girl and I will have to wear our snow apparel indoors. Who knows, we may even cut the cable this year. Of course, that won’t be such a savings as it seems. The packages that include phone, internet and cable don’t really go down all that much if you drop cable. But we’ll see. After all there’s nothing on and every little bit helps.
I was trying to think if there was any other savings, I could implement to weather this storm. I am contemplating taking a position in the Dunwich town government. There’s a part time position that would net me a few thousand dollars a year for what has been described as a few hours a week’s worth of work. That could be a worthwhile idea. But I hear there is an extremely annoying Democrat that would come along with the job and that would be bound to make my life more “interesting.”
And I have been on a diet for the last year or so. Unfortunately, it’s been working pretty well so by next year I won’t have anymore weight to lose and eating less won’t be the benefit it currently is. But knowing what a frugal shopper Camera Girl is I don’t doubt she has already started making buying decisions based on rising costs. In fact, I know she has. We recently planted a number of pepper plants in our garden because she informed me that peppers were now off the shopping list based on their current outrageous price. It would be a shame if our menu featured less and less fresh produce.
But that’s reality. I think back to when I was a kid and my parents were feeding a very large brood so vegetables were frozen peas and corn. And when things were really going badly there was some frozen spinach which for me was impossible to swallow. I even tried mixing it with mashed potatoes. But nothing made it palatable. So, I’ve got a long way to go before I’m anywhere near that level of wretchedness.
Of course, I’m so much better off than most folks out there that I feel silly even writing about making ends meet. I think of the young families I know who are really tightening their belts. The cost of feeding, clothing and housing a family is a crime. When that old idiot unleashed his war against petroleum, he doomed this country to runaway inflation and recession. We’ve got until 2025 before we can expect any relief. That’s a really long time to hang off a ledge by your fingernails. But when you have no choice, you do it. And hopefully four years of misery will be enough to convince even the stupidest Millennial that rainbows and unicorns are just things you tell toddlers stories about and not the basis for an economy.