Frugal Identity Crisis

This may sound hard to believe, but after dealing with some very frugal circumstances I'm now finding myself pondering what should be simple decisions.

For example, I'm thinking I might like a cut of beef other than "ground beef" once in a while. Instantly, I question this thought. Am I on the road to throwing away money just because I actually have a few dollars for a change? Should I just stick with ground beef because it is cheaper?

I guess this is a symptom of forced frugality. I really didn't have to make many decisions concerning spending because most of the time there wasn't anything to spend.

I am happy to report that I'm still using the rice cooker and cooking up batches of chili. These are easy ways to make those food dollars stretch. Oatmeal for breakfast is becoming a staple again though I did need to take a break from it after living on it not too long ago.

However, the issue that is giving me the most pause is the fact that I'm looking forward to applying some cash here and there. Different cuts of meet. Something more elaborate than a bologna sandwich at lunch time. Replacing some of the threadbare clothing that may not even fit anymore. Buying a pair of shoes for work that don't have a sole that is nearly worn off.

Individually these items wouldn't amount to a hill of beans, but taken together, after years of neglect, there are a ton of little issues waiting to be solved. Combined with all the expenses of moving to a new city and starting a new job, it's disconcerting.

Just because I have a good job doesn't mean I want to start throwing my money away...

AdBrite Review: Negative

In my ongoing effort to find a way to monetize my blog I recently signed up for AdBrite.

It seemed like a great idea. I could manually approve any offered advertising and avoid low quality material. When there were no advertisers available my Adsense would be shown by default. Unfortunately, the only advertising that AdBrite could offer was very low quality run of network material.

Eventually, I was sent an email suggesting that my site did not measure up to their "standards" and they requested I remove their code. I talked with their support folks a few times and it came down to the fact that it was costing them bandwidth and they were not earning anything.

I suggested they consider the long term ramifications of rejecting sites with higher standards -- as you can imagine what their network will eventually look like, but nonetheless, they deactivated their code and I had to remove it.

In short, if you are only willing to show quality advertising, don't bother with AdBrite unless your blog or site is very popular and in a niche that will support a lot of advertising. Hint: that niche is probably not frugality.