Okay, do you want to hear the latest wrinkle in all of the things that I find weird about myself? Here it goes.
I have resented having to spend money on food.
I laughed a little when the epiphany occurred to me. I was looking at my bank account this morning in awe. I had money left over from last week. (I'm paid weekly) In the years of living with Bill I very rarely had more than $10 left over from week to week. Before him I rarely had money in my account at all! So to have a few bucks left over was ...... well ......... great!
So I immediately set out to figure out what had shifted in my life to bring about that change. It's true that paying off my car has helped, but that should only account for the lack of extreme low finances one week a month, this left over thing was happening regularly.
Then it occurred to me that food is no longer one of the driving forces in my life. I don't hurry home each night to cook a full meal from scratch. I don't think I have more than a package of cheese in the refigerator and a few pieces of fruit in the fuit bowl other than my stash of canned food. I wondered about this shift and then it hit me.
I resented having to put a major portion of my "expendable" money on food. I myself eat to live, but have been surrounded by people who came to expect meals on a regular basis that I prepared. They expected a stocked kitchen so that they could snack conveniently.
I don't resent spending money on housing, entertainment, clothes or many other items. I don't like spending money on taxes, but since that's not a voluntary expense I'm not going to sweat it. All of these things I see a concrete benefit from.
I don't starve myself. Actually quite the opposite. But neither do I stockpile food. I buy exactly what I need for that day. If for some reason I come up short when I have an urge to snack, I am happy that I don't have binge foods.
The really cool side effect is that I save money by not self medicating my emotions with food.
