Showing posts with label Kitchen Table Economics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kitchen Table Economics. Show all posts

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Why I will never shop at a Menard's again.

I like to save money whenever possible. I gave Menard's a try. I just assume go to other big box stores and make up the difference filling out surveys for money. Clark Howard listed Cashcrate.com as a legit "work from home site."

 Cashcrate.com

I don't know if it's worth the effort, what do you think?
ANYWAYS, I was jumped in the parking lot as I was about to open my car door, and totally surprised I wasn't being mugged, but rather falsely accused of stealing "copper" plumbing  items. I almost laughed at the idiots, but they were dead serious as a BIG DUDE felt me up and went through my pockets as his overseer, Bill Hamilton, barked out "where's the copper!?" Since Tiny didn't find anything my pockets except my cellphone they tried to corral me into the store, but I stopped myself since I had nothing and I really wasn't sure they were legit. Neither showed any I.D. as being employed by Menard's, so I said they can't hold me against my will and went to Lowe's.
I went to the police department and they said they couldn't do anything regarding my being assaulted since they didn't leave marks when they were cornering me and going through my stuff.
Stupid Menard's is not gonna get my business, again. Dumb Find better search terms. Click on the stars and let the web help. Click on the provider icons to see their search results. 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Monday, September 17, 2012

Living Well in a Down Economy

Going to the dentist is a pain to some, but I like going for it gives me a chance to talk with people.

Our regular hygienist has two girls  and a husband that has been between jobs a bit. Her husband has a temp job now but its 90 miles away. Rather than commuting daily, he has an apartment.

This situation is a scenario J and I have discussed. You do what you have to do, and sometimes situations makes sense to change your mindset.

Just being open-minded doesn't mean an opportunity will present itself.

Just have to stay positive and think about the things that we have control over.

In the grand scheme of things, happiness is obtainable if you want to be happy. Worrying gives rise to preparation, but worrying for the sake of worrying is senseless. If Plan A doesn't work then go with Plan B. As long as contingency plans are based on reality and are goal oriented towards the same general result then progress will happen regardless of the small episodes of failure along the way through the process of elimination.

Is there a fate worse than death? Worrying about such things surely ranks up there, which makes me wonder why there are atheists in the world. I puzzle about a number of things, but I don't worry about them enough to desire reasons based on whimsy. Regardless of the causality, things happen for a reason, and I try to go in the direction I am meant to go. Situations present themselves and circumstances dictate which path I follow. Dumb luck happens, but preparation helps nudge one to be in the right place at the right time. It's easy to regret decisions in hindsight, but regret is wasted energy unless a lesson is learned.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Grill purchase

So I bought a grill today that was on sale. Do I have buyer's remorse? Probably. I tend to feel ill when I buy things regardless of the rationale for the purchase (I read a lot of reviews on Lowe's website in addition to the rating of Consumer Reports. Heck, I even asked a guy I know that bought the deluxe version  of the grill for his opinion. No one deterred me from making my less than impulsive purchase).
In the grand scheme of things, grilling is a luxury. Old grill was a gift that merely set us back the price of the propane tank. That was at least 5 years ago. Got a lot of use out the grill, but I feel the need to log all of the new grill's usage. Maybe I'll make a spreadsheet of the cost for steaks and such made and cross reference with a comparable restaurant until I feel I get my $ worth for the grill.
Even could keep track of burgers made on the grill. Steak N' Shake will be hard to beat price-wise with Kids eating Free on Weekends, their $3.99 meal menu, and their bombardment of coupons.  We ate there yesterday for lunch and the meal cost a whopping $13.02! That's including drinks, soul, and milkshake.

A pound of ground beef costs X. A quart of ice cream costs Y. A bag of buns costs Z.


Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Grill shopping

Hard to believe that it already has been 4 years since hurricane Ike ventured into Ohio and knocked out our power for NINE DAYS, but getting older distorts time as events blur with the accumulation of experience thus dulling ones' recognition of not-so-significant events.
I mention Ike because it was Ike that made me truly appreciate our propane grill.
To me, food is fuel, thus eating is a necessary event. In the grand scheme of things, food devoured becomes waste excreted regardless if it's baked, boiled, grilled, or frozen prior to consumption. Enjoyment of food is so temporary that it is low on my personal priority list when I consider spending my funds. Quantity outweighs quality as general rule, but for the occasional indulgence which sparks life into mundane events such as consumption of food.
Our propane grill was a gift from J's parents. They like to grill so they got us one. I saw the grill as an object that performed redundant duties given that we had a kitchen.

After Ike, I decided it wise to have a means to prepare food without being dependent upon public utility companies. I used the grill to boil water to make my coffee.
The grill has now come to a point where it's needing to be replaced.
Grills come in so many varieties and prices that one has to consider durability. Cheap grills rust out regardless of where and how they are stored. Heat from propane destroys surface integrity of places in contact with flames, so the innards of grill need to be more than pretty to the eye to hold value.
Char-broil has a series of grills that seem to meet my desires accordingly, even with replacement parts that cost less than replacing the grill unlike our current grill that seems to be a brand that is akin to Craftsman.

Sears and the Craftsman mystic

Sears doesn't really make anything, they just brand things as though they do.
When we bought the house, we accepted a number of things as being inconveniences and worked around them.
One thing that falls under this category is the garage door opener. We have a one and half car garage, and the opener had two remotes. One remote never worked, so I  thought of buying a replacement only to see the sticker price for Craftsman remotes to be about $50.
That's bizarre given that a new chain driven opener costs roughly $129.
 
Since we only had the space for one car, we just left the matter alone since we could just take the remote with the car we wanted parked in there or just as well use the keypad.
We did this until the second remote died last month.
Seriously thought about buying a new garage door opener, but it occurred to me that Sears isn't really a maker of things and that I should looking into other brands of remotes if I didn't find a deal on Ebay.
Sure enough, I found two new remotes for less than the price of one "Craftsman." Still wouldn't mind getting a quieter garage door opener, but that's an inconvenience I can ignore until the opener dies or we move.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Support your public libraries, schools, etc...

Just saw an article updating the process in fixing something that seems to be the root of a lot of budget problems. Seems that bi-partisan support exists to help collection of states' sales tax on web purchases.
Not sure how anyone can argue that it's a tax increase by making enforcement simpler, but that's what the Amazons want to say to help their advantage over brick-n-mortar retailers.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Venturing to Walgreens via Target

So we had places to go and things to do, the first stop was to PetSmart to look at aquariums to replace or 10 gallon tank. Our tank is a couple years old and our fish need a bigger home. We've had to move our male betta out to heal up from being attacked. Saw some aquariums, but nothing said "buy me now."

We went to Target next. I had to see the Pharmacist about getting the second half of K's medication. He'd left a vm while we were at PetSmart, so he was expecting us. Got word that the Walgreen's down the street had the script waiting for us, but we did some shopping at Target before leaving.

Had a coupon for $3 off a $25 or more purchases of groceries, and we had to look a while for $25 worth of food since there's quite a few things I will not buy at Target. But we found enough food and bought some things that we needed.

We left for real groceries that were at Dot's Market in Bellbrook. We buy all our meat there. Never heard of them having a meat recall like Sam's and Kroger, plus they don't use Pink Slime.

Since we were in the neighborhood, we stopped at Dairy Shed. I prefer Dixie Dairy Dreem. The chocolate from my dipped cone was like syrup and dripped a puddle upon reception. B got the brunt of the mess as it was handed to me while she was standing by my feet. A lot of ugly kids were staring about, which hadn't been a concern when were ate at Dixie where most people use the drive thru.

We made our way to Walgreen's upon returning towards home. It was a nice and easy in and out stop.

Got home, and made dinner using the items we got from Target and Dot's. Cheaper than eating at Steak'n Shake, but most things are cheaper when you fix them yourself and don't have to leave a tip.


Thursday, July 5, 2012

Don't forget your Pepsi when you go to Holiday World

A few weeks ago, J and K were watching PBS show a series on amusement parks. They featured a park called Holiday World that was in Santa Claus, Indiana. Not sure why, but they were intrigued, and they thought it a good idea to go there this summer.

We went today. Spent most of the time in the water park portion, so I didn't take any low quality pics or vids.

No one likes roller coasters in the family but me, while everyone likes water play, but me. The kids had a good time, so I won't say anything bad. I especially can't complain about the price of admission.

Check out their site. They don't charge for PARKING! They have a FREE PEPSI oasis almost every twenty yards. They have FREE sunscreen as well. Ample places to relieve oneself after drinking a gallon of Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Sierra Mist, Gatorade, or other Pepsi friendly product.

Admission was discounted with the presentation of a PEPSI can. Family of four admission cost less than $150. Only had to pay for food, carny games, and souvenirs.

  • Food stands were mostly outdoors, which sucked with the heat index being over 100 degrees.
  • Food selection indoors was limited. They didn't have chicken! Burgers, Pizza, and hotdogs were what they pigeonhole you into liking. But beverages are essentially FREE. I had rancid coffee, but only a person like myself would drink coffee when it's 100 out side.
  • They had build your own stuffed animals! So we had to get a Penguin and a Poodle, since the carny games were rigged thus making those stuffed animals unattainable.

Kids had fun, but wanted to go home rather than stay another day ( adding a second day was a very reasonable option that could have been decide upon leaving for the day). We got home around 11:40 tonight. We left around 7:30 in the morning, so it made for a long day. It's almost a four hour drive, but it's in a different timezone, so we gained an hour of fun!

Holiday World, a place in the middle of nowhere that is great for kids like mine.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Making money on a Sunday, the story of July 1st

Summer is the time for a vacation or trip, right?

Stay-cations are the rage for a reason, but we don't have a hot tub or family pool of our own, so a mini-trip is in order.

With situations being what they are regarding my employment status, I'm more hesitant about partaking in a vacation than my normal "frugal" self. As I have gotten older, I've learned that vacations are for memories and the kids grow so quickly that doing things together has a short window of opportunity. 

Since kids grow so quickly, they outgrow their clothes more often than simply wearing them out.

Hello- Once Upon a Child! A decent place to clean out some drawers and re-invest the proceeds towards the budget for a vacation.

We literally have tubs of clothes that we have kept for some reason or another, so we occasionally sell things to our local Once Upon a Child. What they take depends on season and their store's need, so we made a trip today to the Beavercreek store.

It takes about an hour for them to review your goods, so we ventured off to Half Price Books to kill time and to sell some things we didn't need.

When everything was said and done, we came home with more money than we left and got out of the house for a few hours.

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Saturday Night at the local Kroger

Ever go shopping because you had a coupon that you had to use by a certain date and that particular date was today?

I had a "save $6 off your next purchase of $25 or more" coupon that expired 6/30/12, so I made a dash for the store on a Saturday night.

We're Meijer's people in the sense that we shop there for food more than we do Sam's Club, Target, Walmart, Cub Food, Dot's Market, Health Foods Unlimited, Gordon Food Service or Kroger, but we buy things when they are on sale if we need something and it's convenient trip-wise.

We live in a very food-friendly shopping area, seeing that we have the above places to choose to do our shopping. We get the Sunday paper for the ads, and we comparison shop.

Kroger and Meijer double coupons and give coupons to save on your next visit a lot of the time.

Kroger generally has the best price for Very Vanilla Silk Milk with a price usually under $3 for a half-gallon. Silk soy milk runs for $3.29 at Meijer, and K drinks at least a gallon a week(K grew out of his milk allergy four years ago, but he still doesn't eat anything with cow milk in it).

Our stainless steel Frigidaire side by side refrigerator gets filled easily with the other things we get, so I don't buy more than 2 gallons of K's milk at a time. With my needing to buy an additional $13+ in food, J made a list from the ad we had and gave me appropriate coupons for my "quick" trip to Kroger.

I get to Kroger and notice that there are a lot of people shopping for a Saturday night, but also, the sale prices quoted by J didn't jive. So I called J for a legit reason for once to see if the ad she used was current, and it wasn't.

Kroger's ad runs from Monday through Sunday, while Meijer's ad runs from Sunday to Saturday, thus ads get confusing at times.

Kroger runs crazy ads from time to time, so I bought 10 random items that I, at least, like, thus saved an additional few bucks upon check out in addition to the original $6 coupon.

Upon checking out, I prefer self-service. I really don't like waiting in line, but I had coupons and several bags worth of things, so I picked a human occupied check lane with a conveyor belt and dividers.

There were two of such lanes open. Both were at least three customers deep, but there was a person lingering kinda between them. I had to ask her in which lane she was, and she picked one that looked slower. I shop enough that I have a fairly good instinct for slow lanes. I always avoid lanes with old people because they almost never use debit/credit cards because doing such is frowned upon by certain age groups.


I get cash back rewards and always pay my monthly bill in-full, so I make money when I spend money using my BankAmericard or Chase Freedom card.

The guy in front of me paid for his $62.57 grocery bill with all fives. Who carries around 13 five dollar bills? Are five dollar bills the  current standard for tipping bartenders, strippers, waiters, and waitresses now?

Not sure what the woman behind me used to pay, but she was the same person I asked which lane she was using. She either chose poorly or she was a quantum physicist that can be in two places indiscriminately like Brian Green.


I supposedly saved over $16 using my Kroger Plus Card. My total came to $35.10 before giving coupons.  I only had to "charge" $27.15.

I say "supposedly" because I bought a few 12 count boxes of Kellog's Pop-tarts for $1.99 that are originally $2.29 when the price for an 8 count box is $2.27.

Grocery shopping is a science not meant for those shopping on an empty stomach.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Waiting for number 3

Last week, the A/C stopped working. A/C was dead and needed replaced. A/C came with the house, and looked old. Dreaded it going out, but expected it all the same.

Today, our Sebring wouldn't start. Cars is 10 years old. Had a new battery 5 years ago, which made me think the battery was the culprit again. I still have the receipt from when AAA came and replaced it when we had stopped at Bob Evans as K and I were going to a Metro Park with my folks. Didn't have AAA at the time, but folks did. Got AAA membership within a month of the incident.

Luckily today, the car was at the house and it is our third car. I debated if I wanted to have the car's battery replaced or not, but I knew I wasn't going to replace the things seeing that it's in the front wheel basin. Called AAA, and they sent a battery van over. After running the computer and testing the vitals of all the starting components, a verdict was made. Battery was not quite dead, but could use a bit of charging. I opted to have it replaced.

Car batteries are not expensive in the grand scheme of things. A set of tires costs a bit more. A water pump costs a lot more. Struts cost more.

Perhaps it is wrong of me to want to keep a third car as a back up, but I just don't see getting something equal in value if we were to sell it outright. Kelley Blue Book values the car differently than I do.


Sunday, June 17, 2012

An actual Jobs Bill

So I have a blog, I technically produce content to share with whomever stumbles upon my random commentary on simplicity of life and the happiness found within it.

I live in Ohio, so I am a target of unsolicited political calls, mail, email, radio ads, television ads, and web ads. I cannot avoid a national election, let alone a statewide election.

This election is being framed as a popularity contest as they normally are, but I've never been much about hype. I look at the issues that concern me and think of the long term goals of the candidates.

I always pick the lesser of two evils.

What are the issues that effect me most?

Only one is on my mind, for I'm unemployed. I've had a hard time keeping a job after being laid-off a couple times. My industry was never outsourced to a third world country, but the funding essentially was hijacked by the same sort of  circumstances that made sending jobs overseas practical from business standpoint.

"Loopholes" are blamed for outsourcing.

Is it a "loophole" that Amazon does not have to charge local taxes when it ships merchandise across state lines?  Yes, they deliberately look for tax loopholes and monitor threats to them. Supposedly, the sales tax loophole will end this year, but I haven't seen much about congress fixing the problem of late.

I haven't heard anyone bash Jeff Bezos in a while, but I hear about nameless Wall Street types or anything related to Wal-Mart. 

Amazon is worse than Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart supposedly destroyed small businesses, but Amazon went further and took revenue away which paid for Police Officers, Fire Fighters, and School Teachers.

If Commerce Law was implemented to make the market place fair for bricks and mortar storefronts vs virtual entities, then a lot of the tax funding problems we see will be addressed.

More funding for local governments directly related to consumption would been seamless since the price differences aren't going to jump for local merchants, while online retailers can find other ways to squeeze their profits to offset shipping costs. People will still buy stuff if it saves them time.

Seems too simple, but more local sales, means more salespeople needed locally. More people working locally along with more local sales means more tax revenue. More tax revenue means more funding for public entities, which allows for more employees which can buy more things beyond sustenance levels. Another benefit is that there is less need for the generation of tax revenue from other avenues.

Destroying Amazon's loophole will benefit all. Amazon will survive because people like Amazon for reasons beyond the sales tax aspect..

News coverage from major networks chooses to ignore these facts because they are sponsored by CORPORATIONS that exploit these tax laws and their viewers in kind purchase online to avoid taxes.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Sorry not much to see

Being perpetually between jobs or underemployed means mainly getting by on a single income.

We live well enough, but priorities come first when it comes to what gets purchased.

Never felt the need to upgrade phones, so I'm a bit behind the times on a number of things.

Apple comes out with new iDevices so frequently, I'd feel sick if I was hooked on such things.

Maybe one day, I'll add pics to this blog of the worthwhile variety, but until then I will have to create details to spur your imaginations if I am not simply commenting on an article I saw off Twitter. 

Ever notice that having a land line means that you are likely getting calls for donations daily. Sorry, but I really don't have $200 to give.


Tuesday, May 29, 2012

FACEBOOK FREEFALL CONTINUES...

What exactly made anyone think that Facebook stock would be a good buy?
  • Was it the free games?
  • Was it the free means to keep in touch with old flames just in case your marriage got irreconcilable?
  • Was it the success of Myspace?
Seriously, it makes money on advertising and selling its users' information for market research. What else does it sell?

I only saw Obama For America ads blanket the site of late, and people aren't fond of their info being used for marketing. Maybe I'm missing something since I only see Facebook as a fad, but something must be wrong in Menlo Park, right?

What's driving people to use it? 
  • Cyberstalking? 
  • Farmville?
  • Chat features that AOL used LAST CENTURY?
 I don't know, since there are plenty of sites out there that do things better than Facebook does, which makes Facebook seem to be a fad. Myspace was better for blogging and sharing music, if I remember correctly, but it turned ghetto once everyone caught on to its existence. Now it's a punchline: Facebook is for people you know. Twitter is for people you wish you knew. Myspace is for people you wish you didn't know.

Facebook simply peaked prior to its IPO, so it had no where to go, but down unless it bought up/merged with Yahoo and Microsoft to compete against Google.

Mergers don't exactly work all the time as AOL/Timer-Warner clearly indicated.

The IPO made sense for Facebook, because it needed capital to grow/develop beyond its current rut.
  • It costs a lot to run servers to allow up to 900 million users access to their online Facebook content.
  • Facebook has a number of issues with hackers, so they have to prevent outside parties from invading their servers. 
Off course, I'm just saying what is on my mind regarding the subject, so who am I to say it was a bad buy or not? All I remember about first learning about stock is from looking at the daily paper as a kid. I liked Coke and McDonalds, but the stocks never did a whole lot from my vantage point since they were big and established companies that stayed about the same + or - a few cents. They mostly went down day to day when I looked, so I figured just because I liked their products that I didn't need to own a piece of the company.

Stock Market needs to be taught in basic high school education. People need to understand how corporations are developed and structured. Some people assume things about the market since they see how successful people get rich quick and young, so they relate the markets to playing the lotto or outright thievery. They get involved for the wrong reasons, and nothing good comes of their endeavor..

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Unemployment, Child Care, Minimum Wage and Basic Kitchen Table Economics - All politics is local

As an Ohioan, I don't care what they do in Colorado, Arizona, California, Virgina, or Tennessee. I mind a little about things in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia because they share elements of  Ohio's economy, but they could be foreign countries as far as I'm concerned. Washington is a bubble and they seem to think they know everything.

I'm not going spout statistics I can't give a specific reference, for they can be used in a number of ways to make any argument. I can give you numbers to contemplate. Saying that 85% of library school graduates being employed sounds good until you consider that leaves 15% displaced which is nearly double the national unemployment rate which includes workers of all educational backgrounds.

Having a master's degree is required to be a librarian in an accredited school, but there's no such requirements to get a minimum wage job. Minimum wage has increased by 40% within the last 10 years, but the starting wages of professional fields like teachers and librarians haven't. Even the fields that paid a "good" wage of  $10 an hour stayed roughly the same, because $10 is greater than $7.30.

When minimum wage jumped from $5.15 to $7.30 in Ohio, I was laid off from my job in a hospital library. The hospital's payroll budget hadn't increased, so they had to find ways to staff the hospital accordingly. The professional position I held was eliminated and replaced with a paraprofessional position which on the surface paid 67% of my hourly wages.

Ironically, I didn't utilize my employer's healthcare benefit which saved them from paying me an additional 40% in benefits, thus meaning my lesser qualified replacement could be costing them 5% MORE than I was.

Healthcare costs have risen since then, so the % is far greater now, I imagine.

Anyways, I wasn't given the choice to take a pay cut, so I got unemployment that was 55% of my wages. Seeing that I was spending 23% of my wages on childcare, 1.75% of wages on local city tax,  and 7.6% on FICA/Medicare taxes, my wages on unemployment were in line with what I was making being employed.

Paying for childcare is a major hindrance in making a budget work, but finding adequate childcare is tied to the problem.

How much should you pay for childcare?

Let's just say a daycare charges $35 a day which averages out to be less than $5 an hour. $5 an hour is less than minimum wage. If someone makes minimum wage and is paying for child care, then her take home pay is eaten up mostly by child care costs. 

Mathematically speaking, there's little incentive to work in the normal sense, but yet people need to eat and keep a roof over their heads. Though the essentials of life grow on trees, we pay with money for others to harvest food, build houses, and heat our homes. Money doesn't grow on trees.

Basic Kitchen Table Economics needs to be taught to children at an early enough age for them to appreciate that having a job is for more than paying for new stuff.

Should a kid in high school make the same wages as a guy trying to support his family? Minimum wage laws dictate such occurrences.

Monday, May 7, 2012

Loopholes


The two constants in life are supposedly Death and Taxes.
People are willing to spend a lot of money to stay alive as long as possible, for they can't take their money with them. It's the insurance and pharmaceutical companies' fault that the medical bills are to high.
People pay people to find loopholes to avoid paying taxes. It's the fault of the rich that they don't pay more.
 
It is human nature to not want to over pay for goods, services, and taxes.

Unfortunately more times than not, a certain adages like, "You get what you pay for" and "there's no such thing as a free lunch," hold true.

I don't understand what people expect when they want free healthcare and free education.

Do they expect teachers, doctors, and nurses to be their slaves and to work for nothing? No, but they want someone else to pay without having skin in the game.

I'm still annoyed that MCA died. I never bought a Beasties album, but I didn't hate hearing them when my brother played them. I didn't care for a lot of my brother's collection, while some of it I liked a lot.

Cancer sucks. There was a time it was a seemingly instant death sentence, but modern science has come a long way in terms of giving hope. Curing cancer for good is still a long ways away. Drug companies have to do research and development to invent new means of treating diseases. R&D makes it take years to get a new medication on the market. Manufacturing the end product is relatively cheap, but the costs of the R&D need to be recouped for the company to break even. Only a short window of opportunity exists for BIG PHARMA to reap profits and Joe and Jane America are the lucky ones to patriotically pay the tab(Lott, 2007).

Yes, I finally finished Freedomnomics, and I would like to wish its author, John R. Lott, Jr., Ph.D., a happy birthday. His book gave a good counter-balance to Freakonomics which works well with my philosophy of conflict indifference. I see that he has a newer book out that I feel needs a cursory perusal.



Saturday, April 28, 2012

Kids eat free

Being home all the time and not having a taste for food makes dinner a challenge at times. Making others happy about dinner is my primary concern. If I make something that no one wants, then food goes to waste as well as the effort I used to prepare the meal.
I really don't care for chicken, but ground beef isn't good on a daily basis. I need to open up the menu a bit. Lately, we have a marinade chicken on the grill one night, pizza another night, and hamburgers on the grill, spaghetti or beef tacos the other night we eat as a family with me responsible for dinner.
When all is said and done, Saturday we usually end up at Steak'n Shake. Sweetened Iced Tea is only a buck, and most sandwich and fry meals are $3.99. On weekends, kids eat free. Plus, there's always coupons in the paper or weekly mail that knocks off the price of an adult soda, side or a desert. So a family of four can eat for $11.95, if one were bold enough to stiff his waitress. I wouldn't think of it since we eat there so regularly enough that we have gotten good at their claw machine. There's no such thing as a free lunch, but it's affordable and freshly prepared.
Being cheap all the time is hard. It wears on you after a while. It's not hard to eat cheap, if you like things like canned coffee, oatmeal, Wonder Bread, and rice. They make vitamins to help you supplement your lackluster diet. You get what you pay for.
I have a cousin that Tweets about donuts, cupcakes and chocolate daily, and she finds time to drink vitamin fortified water.
I like Totino's pizza 'cause they're cheap. I would rather have Little Caesar's, but I don't splurge on myself the $11.99 for 2 large pizzas and order of crazy bread unless the family is involved.