Frugal tip for couples

Most frugalites have long known the value of reading -- especially with books borrowed from libraries rather than purchased at stores.


But one practice they may not have tried: Reading to each other.


I found the value in this back when Tim's eczema was flaring up regularly, requiring oatmeal baths. Problem was, Tim's ADD makes him restless and thus bath-averse. To keep him in and soaking as long as possible, I started reading out loud.


Eventually, this turned into a great way to get him to enjoy books he might otherwise not read. I'm a big fan of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. The books make me laugh, but also provide an interesting, almost third-party look at modern society. I knew Tim would enjoy them, if only I could get him to actually open one up. In the end, I just made him a captive audience. Sure enough, he was laughing out loud within the first few pages.


Nowadays, I try to save up the energy to read at least a few pages each night before falling asleep. It's a great way of both winding down from a stressful day and spending some quality time together. It's also helped our schedules, as it gets us in bed at a reasonable hour.


Oviously, depending on your partner's tastes, you may choose books that are more light-hearted. But if you both appreciate great literature and want to go for Moby Dick -- well, then, more power to ya.


Whatever you end up reading, it's a great way to get someone outside of his or her literary comfort zone. It's a wondeful shared experience, to boot, and an excellent way to end the day.


Of course, plenty of people have trouble going to bed at exactly the same time their spouses do. They might decide this tip isn't for them, because they'd never get through a book by the library due date. But remember: Some libraries will let you renew your books, so long as no one is waiting. Or you can try programsl ike Freecycle or Paperback Swap. There are even programs like BooksFree.com that act like a Netflix for books.


Even more importantly, it is so soothing to be read to, or fun to be the reader and share your books with your partner, that you will probably find yourself making time in your day. You'll be looking forward to the time spent together, as well as finding out the next plot development.


It's a bedtime ritual you can look forward to -- one that cost you absolutely nothing but be completely priceless.


To get you started, I'm doing a giveaway for a $25 Amazon gift card. Most of you should know the drill by now. You can receive an entry:

1. If you are a subscriber. (Anyone who's let me know they subscribed in the last is already entered.)
2. If you mention this on your blog.
   
3. If you refer anyone to this blog. (They need to let me know in a message.)
4. If you post this on any social bookmarking site.
5. Leave a comment on any post -- but please something more than "Great post" or "I agree."
   
6. And, now, if you tweet it. (Let me know if you do.)

Contest ends 1/17 at 11:59 p.m. PST. I will draw a winner using Random.org.

Interesting note....

I still didn't see Aveeno Eczema Care stuff back on the shelves of any drugstores around here. So I wrote to Aveeno asking for an ETA on the stuff.


The person who emailed me back is a terrible speller ("excema"??? c'mon, you're a skincare company representative, for cryin' out loud -- spell check) but otherwise quite helpful.


Apparently, although officially the "Eczema Care" line has been discontinued, the "new" products Aveeno® Advanced Care™ Body Wash and Advanced Care™ Moisturizing Cream are the exact same formula.


So if any of you have eczema (or even excema) or know someone who has it/loved that line of products, just go and find the new name.


And, for my troubles, I am getting some coupons in the mail. I do love customer service reps, even when they're orthographically challenged!

So close, and yet so far

Well, it's official: Tim has another boil.


I was starting to get my hopes up, because it'd been around two months (since the last time I posted about it) since he'd had one.


But he got another one -- and in yet another new strange place: his nose.


We were hoping that it was just inflamed because he was fighting a cold but the bottom of his left nostril got more and more swollen. And so he went in to the doctor to have it confirmed.


The best part? It's actually in his nose. Ewwwww. Poor fella.


It's disheartening for him (and me) to be sure. I think we were both starting to get our hopes up that he was officially getting a break from any more boils. The relentlessness of a chronic condition -- including a propensity toward MRSA, apparently -- is what truly wears you down.


But, to be fair, it's not all that surprising: MRSA actually hides out in the nose. So we're going to have to go back to swabbing with the anti-MRSA stuff, ick. Better safe than sorry though.


In part, his success has been due (I think) to not reusing towels or clothes, though that really increases our laundry load. It's money well-spent when you consider the pain and frustration of boils, let alone the co-pays for doctor visits.


The other big factor is that his light therapy has really been keeping his skin clear. Unfortunately, he's been starting to burn, even with sunblock, so they have to cut back on time/visits. And, as I understand it, he can't get light therapy indefinitely, since there's an added risk of skin cancer.


What you have to love about Western medicine is that nearly every solution creates a potential problem.


For now, though, he's relatively clear and actually vaguely comfortable (in between boils) so that has to be our priority. That and putting sunscreen on him as thoroughly as possible before each light session.


Anyway, we actually have some fun planned: My mom grabbed some screening tickets from the student center. And they just happen to be for Max Payne, a shoot-em-up that Tim wanted to see. We have to stand in line for an hour or so, but for a free movie I'm game.


So we'll go down to the University District and have Tim get in line, then I'll go and grab some cheap teriyaki (gotta love student-priced food) from an old favorite place of mine, and bring it back to him so we can eat. A cheap night to be sure!


I know I've mentioned this before, but you should always check any weekly papers your town has. That's where most movie screening tickets are offered, though sometimes regular papers offer them, too. Sometimes, you just go by a shop and pick up the passes; other times, you have to mail in a postcard or something. Either way, that's a pretty cheap flick!


I'm off to get some work done, we have appointments before the movie so work has to be done early today.

The basics

Okay, well this is the first post. A lot of pressure on me to be witty and such, especially since I just watched Lewis Black's "Root of All Evil" wherein blogging was made fun of.

On the chance that people actually read this -- which would imply this isn't the navel-gazing exercise I suspect it may be -- I suppose I had better fill in the broad strokes from the profile.

Yes, this is a frugality blog. Yes, my husband and I are paying down debt. That, at least, is probably familiar territory to many of you.

Here's where it gets a little, uh, unique. First, my husband's medical condition. Tim has really severe eczema, which he's had literally since the day he was born. Most doctors say it's the worst case they've ever seen. And if a flare-up gets particularly bad, he can often not stand to wear clothes.

More recently, he's been battling MRSA which (of course) loves eczema patches. He's had about 8 or 9 breakouts in the past 6 months. Between the two conditions, Tim's health made him miss so much work that his employer had to let him go.

So he's working on getting healthy again and trying to figure out what sort of work he could do, since eczema breakouts are bound to occur. (I'm encouraging him to look into the local vocational rehabilition center.)

As for me, well, mine goes back a long way too. When I was 19, I contracted a rare neurological illness called Guillain-Barre Syndrome

I won't go into the gory details (that's what the link is for) but suffice to say my case was severe and it left me with pervasive fatigue. I am on some medication which helps, but only to a certain degree.

Now, I know I shouldn't care about naysayers who will inevitably write in and say I'm a slacker or a drain on the system. But it's a touchy point. So let me be clear: When I say medication helps, I mean that when I take it, I no longer wake up and spend the first few hours of my day in an exhausted fog, fighting not to go back to bed, then giving up and taking a nap somewhere around 2 or 3 p.m. The medication means that most days I'm physically able to leave the apartment. And, often, I can run two or three errands in a day. Running three errands in a day, along with perhaps a walk for exercise, is an exceedingly productive day for me. And if I push myself too far, I become so exhausted that it seems like too much energy to chew, even if I'm hungry. If I really overdo an activity, I can become so tired that it hurts to breathe.

That said, I'm convinced there is work out there that I can do steadily for pay, because besides the fact that disability doesn't cover much more than rent, I miss the empowerment of earning a paycheck.

As for debt, we have under $2000 in his student loans left (this is down from $20,000 when we first met, thanks to deals with collection agencies, a loan from his parents, and general grit and determination on our part) but $10,000 on credit cards. $7000 of that is on a temporary 0% but it is still a lot more than I am comfortable with.

Currently, we're using hubby's unemployment checks to pay down debt. Out of a weekly $341, we pay $100 on the credit cards each week and $200 on the student loans every other week. (And yes, I know that's the same as $100 every week, but hubby insists this system works best for him.)

So that is the basic sketch of our lives. I hope I haven't made anyone run for the hills with all the talk of health conditions. I'm looking forward to posting about our progress and our life as this adventure continues. I hope I can snare some readers along the way to share the journey.