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Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

Submitted by Alison Leiby on May 27, 2010 – 11:25 pmView Comments

I used spend every spare penny of my paycheck on clothes and going out. I would eat canned soup and bagels from the bodega for dinner every night so I could spend an afternoon at Loehmann’s searching for discounted Helmut Lang and Marc Jacobs. And then I would take whatever (very little) money was left and head out to bars all night all weekend with my friends.

That time wasn’t that long ago, but in terms of my lifestyle it feels like decades. Something changed in my behavior, and I don’t know when it happened, but it leaves me feeling more mature than any of the conventional marks of adulthood (buying your home, planning a wedding, the usual suspects-not that I necessarily know how ‘adult’ those feel, yet). Now I find myself spending far more money on food and cooking than I anticipated, despite still being in the same tax bracket. Where I once would calculate the cost of things in how many drinks at a local bar or clearance-priced Theory tank tops I could get, I now think about gourmet and healthy foods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not only am I doing something good for my body (I cook very healthy and delicious meals), but I’m also, oddly, doing something good for my mind. It’s something new to talk about with people I meet, it keeps my mind active between the hours of 6 and 7 when in the past I would zone out watching tv, and I’m learning a lot about food and health in general. It’s not to say I don’t still spend money shopping and going out (I absolutely do), but these days I’m just as happy spending that money making a delicious meal with friends.

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