Being Frugal

Have I blogged about this before? I feel like I have. But it's still on my mind. Sometimes I am really frugal. Like I will not buy anything in Hawaii because the prices are exorbitant and like I really wanted it anyway. . .

Or take Satursday night, when I was just dying for some Panda Express Green Bean Chicken. Have you had that stuff? It's just delightful. Crispy beans, long strips of white onion, grilled chicken with that oh so delicious sauce. I can smell it now, with some icy root beer, too.

No, we did not go. We ate this instead:

It was a frugal decision. A mutually frugal decision. These are bowls of steamed green beans with chicken veggie pot stickers. And that little packet? That is our sauce. Straight from the freezer, bought for an occasion such as this one, where neither of us feels like cooking. Phew! Frugality is tough.

But then there are weighter matters. . . like . . . smart phones.

Ty and I have been using our pitiful phones that "look cool" but "act like a fool" for 22 months (as of yesterday). I'm starting a new job on Monday and I will receive a small stipend towards phone calls made when I am away from the office (which will be the majority of the day--more on that when I start working). Tyler's work will pay up to $75 specifically for a data plan so that he can email, call, etc., any time and any where.

This is where frugality becomes even more challenging. It starts to wrestle with the concept that I know doesn't really exist but has been a part of my vocab for years. Years. The word is--fair. Is it fair for Tyler to have a smart phone while I do not? Is it fair for me want a smart phone when my work will not reimburse what Tyler's job will.

The questions go on. Is it fair to get an expensive phone when 35% of the time I do not know where my phone is? I've left my phone in a McDonald's in nowhere Pennsylvania. I've dropped my phone in the toilet. Is it fair for Tyler to want to get a hold of me and not be able to because I have no smart phone? What is fair anyway?

When the guy at the Tmobile store was downloading my contacts (yes, I did get the new smart phone, too), there were dried crumbs and grease on the phone.

Frugality did not win, friends. I got the Gx2 with Google. Apparently its all the rage in the android world, at least the T Mobile android world. I just barely figured out how to check my email. I'm pretty sure this phone will become my life saver. Well, maybe it's more that I will spend my life figuring out this phone.

But don't worry. We are still frugal. We do not have cable. We drive one car. We go to the grocery store two times a month instead of weekly and have saved a ton.

I think I'm just trying to convince myself that it was okay to not be frugal about this phone. Oh well, I have 13 more days to decide if this is a must in my life. I'm pretty sure I've already decided.