24 September 2010, Friday
Shopping Day One.
Travel--a kind of chosen poverty--prepared me a little for this day. I have good walking shoes and Tilley travel socks and a rolling backpack (advantages that a person who is poor doesn't likely have), and I used them and two bus tickets to get around.
It took 3.5 hours to spend $10.65.
Zehrs
4.99 Cheese
1.79 Onions
6.78
Dollar store
0.69 Macaroni
1.50 Peanut butter ($.50 more than budgeted)
0.69 Spaghetti
2.88
Shoppers Drug Mart
0.99 Bread ($.80 less than budgeted)
And I was exhausted. Actually welcomed the 35-minute wait for a bus. Saw an old friend on my rounds--I red-faced, sweating profusely in the 28-degree heat, he taking a leisurely stroll on his lunch hour. How does a person who is poor manage shopping in winter?
Some foot discomfort, in spite of good walking shoes and Tilley travel socks, and unaccustomed knee pain. How do people without good shoes and socks manage their shopping? How do people with chronic pain?
Went to bed at 9 p.m.
Chronic pain is hard.
ReplyDeleteGetting good shoes can be done, but you have to troll the thrift shops and pounce on deals when they show up. That can be hard (especially when shoe funds come out of the grocery budget). My strategy is to make visits to the thrift stores part of my weekly shopping routine.
Bicycles can be an effective form of transportation when the weather is good.
Once you get into a routine then things get easier. You learn which stores have reasonable prices and go to them on a regular basis, and then visit other stores once in a while. I don't go racing all over town every week.
I'm not on OW, but my weekly budget is pretty close to $20 and I get around exclusively on bike and foot.