In an attempt to save money, I have come to the border between frugal and cheap, as I am sure many people do. Maybe I am quibbling over semantics here, but I have always thought there to be a very distinct line between frugal and cheap. My basic view is that frugal is a positive and long sighted version of cheap – value over price. For example, a cheap bottle of wine and a 40 of St. Ides will get me equally as buzzed and leave me equally as hung over. While the bottom-shelf wine may cost an extra $3, at least it has a shot at tasting decent. Therefore, the wine has clearly assumed the position of the frugal choice with its value added ticket to flavor country. Seems like an easy decision to me.
The real frugal choice would be going with a tall glass of tap water, staying home, and reading a book (via library, borrowed or stolen* to up the frugality), but that would throw off the example. I will also add an exception regarding most men’s early college careers. This is right around the time when the badassness that comes along with polishing off the luke-warm ass of a Steel Reserve 40 has the ability to offset the mild enjoyment that comes along with drinking 750mL of Sutter Home merlot straight from the bottle.
*Please don’t steal stuff.
December 4, 2009
Hello and welcome to WISDOMLION.COM. I believe you have just stumbled into a gold mine, my friend. A gold mine filled with more than just gold. You can now get in on my journey as I finally get around to doing all of the cool stuff that I was always “totally gonna do someday.” And best of all, I will be sharing my newly acquired wealth of knowledge with you as I go.
Some things that I will be immediately diving into (and will be the main purpose of this blog) are:
OIL PAINTING: I have done a hand full of of oil paintings in my life, but they were all done over 3 years ago and I have almost no technical knowledge. It’s about time I drum up a new masterpiece.
HOME BREWING BEER: Again, I am not completely new to this, but I am certainly no master. So far I have had a fairly successful stout and an IPA that had a ton of booze in it and tasted like band-aids.
RUNNING: Finishing a marathon has always been something that I would love to do but have never put any effort into. Mark my words, this will be changing soon.
GARDENING/SPROUTING: I now have a small backyard that my fiance and I share with a downstairs neighbor. Also, sprouting is a great way to grow your own food indoors for super cheap. And its good for you. Awesome!
WEB DESIGN: I have never really been too interested in web design, but this site as it is today could stand to be spiced up a bit.
SAVING MONEY: Oh how I long to having a savings account again. Trust me, I will be trying to learn all of these new skills on the cheap. Hiring an art teacher, some field hands and a running coach would be cheating and make for a boring read anyway.
I may also learn French, build stuff and grow an awesome beard. I’ll do my best to keep the beard posts from dominating the website.
June 7, 2009
