I am leading by example.
With a personal austerity program that I hope is an inspiration to both our lawmakers and budget balancers everywhere, I am holding out for July before flipping on the air conditioner.
Well, let me insert a disclaimer here: I did run the AC all the way back in May for three or four days when my out-of-town company began feinting. Wimps.
I also have turned it on for two two-day stretches while I was out of town to keep my cat from charbroiling. I figure if I can take the heat so can she; but that line of reasoning is only effective if I am here. If I'm not, the AC goes on.
Otherwise I have been suffering in silence. Despite the fact that no one reads this screed, I guess blogging about it sort of breaks the silence. If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a noise?
In any event, I am determined to hold out for the really hot weather.
Before any of my conservative friends accuse me of going over to the dark side, let me say that this is not some nod to phantom global warming or man-made climate change or whatever the hysterical environmental nabobs are choosing to call it these days.
No, it is just another money-saving effort in addition to not eating, washing dishes while I shower and wearing my underwear inside out to get an extra day's wear out of it.
I'd like to say that it's all about saving money, but a prerequisite of saving money is having money in the first place.
No, this is about not spending money that I don't have. It's called, figuring out a way to live within my means.
Dr. Schultz told us shinny-faced college freshmen in Econ 101 that a key principle of economics is guns or butter. The more guns you buy, the less butter you can afford and the more butter you buy, the fewer guns you can afford.
Made sense to me then and still rings true.
I haven't asked the cat, but I suspect if I put the question to her, "food or air conditioning?" she'd go for food every time.
Of course the cat's fur is falling out by the bushel-basket full, but I'm sure we'll both be wishing for the heat by mid February.
Time to take another shower and wash the pots and pans.
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