It should come as no surprise to anyone that freelance writing pays in buttons. A. and I do ok thanks in 99.99% part to A.’s job, but we do need to be frugal, a skill I mastered during my Toronto years. Although when I say “mastered” what I really mean is “would buy Vogue and cigarettes over food.” Still, I am one of the only people I know who can make a tin of black beans, half a bag of rice and an apple last for three meals. It’s not pretty, but it can be done.

So today, when I noticed that our little change dish was overflowing, I thought I’d count it to see how much was there. $4.56! Wowza, that’s 2/3 of a sheet of bus tickets. Then I remembered an old cottage cheese container that we used to store change in – more money! And behind that? A cheesy purse with more change! Well then. In the spirit of scrimping and saving, today’s resolution: roll change to bring to the bank. Who knows, there could be a whole grocery bill payment in there! Most exciting.

In other news, I checked out a daycare for Budsie today. Let me first say that I’ve been on the waitlist for daycare since Budsie was an 8 week old fetus and only two weeks ago did I get the call that a space might be available. Sigh. So I went to look at the joint and well, it was ok. But does everything have to smell so….sterile? What kind of cleaning products are these places using? I want my kid to get germs damn it. And to not be resistant to antibiotics when he’s 10. Yeesh. The next big problem – we really can’t afford this place. I mean, of course we can’t if I don’t go find a full-time job but even if I did, $17,900/ year is a tough pill to swallow. And clearly Stephen Harper’s $100/month isn’t really going to cut it (asshat). Back on the waitlist we go…