Well the recession is recessioning, and this one isn't one of those little "that was a recession?" recessions of the early 90's. You can actually feel this one. Some of you are feeling it pretty hard. Even our own pet recession-proof industry to which Shelly and I have hitched our wagons (energy) is feeling a mighty pinch.

So save save save. Swallow your pride and quit pretending that you need to drink the premium brands of soda pop and you'll just die if you don't spend $10-$20 a week on iTunes. And remember a mantra I use around here. . .

"Need" is a strong word.
A "need" is a sine qua non. It's a thing without which your life would end or be greatly compromised. Recognize the things in your life that are needs (food, furniture) and the things that aren't really needs (eating out, new furniture). And if a TV commercial says that something is something you need, assume that they're lying. Learn to prioritize your spending, recognize deals and take advantage of 'em. Find coupons. Drop your cable TV subscription one tier (or dump it entirely now that the $40 digital gubment rabbit-ears boxes have built in program guides).

And if you see a true need coupled with the word "free", trample everyone in your way to get it :)

On that note, go to www.millionsubs.com and grab yourself a coupon for a free sandwich. Coupons are limited, so go now. Really. Go now. Browsers have tabs, so you can go now and read the rest of this blog post later.





Okay, you're back.

Also grab yourself a free short-stack at IHOP tomorrow (tuesday). I'm not a big IHOP fan, but pancakes are hard to do wrong, so I'll be there early. We did the free Denny's Grand Slam last month at 7am and got in and out in a reasonable time. We tried to hit 'em again for lunch but the line was out the door, so the key here is to get there early.


Another nice tip is the following equation. . .

Any leftover food plus tortillas equals yummy burritos!

We had some leftover chicken and chili from last week, so I bought some canned beans and about 50 tortillas. I also found a cheap fatty roast for $1.50 which I de-fatted, chopped up finely, and fried with some taco seasoning. Shelly and I then spent the next hour making, saran-wrapping, sharpie-ing, and freezing a whole freezer-full of burritos. This'll easily cover lunches and some dinners for the next ten days, and the total out-of-pocket for the whole affair was about $20.

Having lived through lean times before, I can attest that the deal-breaker food-wise isn't a lack of quality food. It's a lack of variety. Eating ramen noodles and balogna sandwiches three meals a day will save you money but will get old fast. Make yourself a list of food that you can make fairly cheaply and makes good leftovers (spaghetti, chili, stew) and give yourself a good variety so you don't feel like you're depriving yourself of the better things.

And you can't go wrong with chicken. A bunch of cooked chicken in the fridge has a thousand uses. You can just eat it. You can make sandwiches. You can chop it up and put it on a salad. You can make soup. You can get buffalo sauce and make spicy chicken.

Whenever I go to the grocery store, I check out the closeout section in the meat department. When they have trays of chicken thighs or legs for cheap (sometimes as low as a buck for an eight-pack), I grab it. You can throw it in a roasting pan with a little salt-n-pepper, cook it, tupperware it, and toss it in the fridge, and that'll give you the underpinnings of a bunch of cheap-n-easy meals.

Feel free to post any other "belt tightening" tips. We'll all make it together.



On another note, with a little luck Pop Pies 2 ought to hit a million plays by the end of the week. It definitely hit the ground running and is my strongest start yet, which is heartening.

The "Retro Pack" (i.e. 47 of my old 1990's discount-rack games that I regained the rights to) is done and is just waiting for me to come up with a way to sell it. My current plan is to sell it cheap (like $5) and make it free if you buy one of my $10 games. That way I should make a little money off it. The games are really pretty old technology-wise (256-color graphics, MIDI sound), so I really can't reasonably expect to make a pile of money from 'em.

I also had fun playing some of my old games. I forgot how fun a couple of 'em were, so I've decided to "Flash-ize" some of the better ones. I should have something to show off in a week or two.