The Chronic Consumer

Okay, this isn’t shopping related at all, but I just can’t escape from Olympic news right now, so I figured I might as well join the frenzy. Michael Phelps, the 23-year-old American swimming phenom, won his record-tying 7th gold medal yesterday after coming out on top in the 100m butterfly. This was supposed to be his “signature event”, but he ended up winning by just .01 seconds — and surely looked like he was going to lose.

At any rate, that was the very first event of this Olympics that I saw live in its entirety (no kidding), and was the first time I really took a look at Phelps. All I have to say is, wow he is really cut! Great muscle definition without a hint of body fat anywhere.

I recently read an article about how Phelps has to eat 12,000 calories per day just to have enough fuel to get through his rigorous training regimen. Can you imagine having to scarf down that much food? I’d need a truckload of weight loss pills to help me recover from even one day of 12,000 calories, never mind trying to live like that!

I’m not sure when Phelps will go for his 8th gold of these games, but there’s really little doubt that he’ll get it (even though it’s a relay). After that, prepare for even more of a media frenzy surrounding this guy. He’ll get endorsements galore, and add to his list of sponsors that already include such brands as Speedo, Omega, Visa, Power Bar, and AT&T.

I consider myself relatively lucky since I only have one child to feed. That certainly makes things easier on us when money is tight like it has been for the past several months. I can’t imagine what kinds of struggles families of 4, 5, or 6 people are dealing with as the economy continues to stagnate.

But yes, even for a family of 3, there are numerous budget cutbacks that we’ve had to deal with. For example, we don’t have any “fun money” to speak of at all anymore, which means we haven’t been going out to dinner or even out for ice cream at all. We haven’t been going bowling, miniature golfing, or go karting either — all activities that we usually love to do during the summer. And worst of all, we’re not going to go on a vacation this year.

These aren’t the only cutbacks we’ve had to cope with. My husband is not getting any overtime at work, so his paychecks have been considerably smaller than we’re used to. Everyone always says don’t count on overtime pay when calculating your budget, but he had been getting steady overtime for more than 5 years, so it was hard not to take that extra money into account.

In addition, we’ve had to cut our grocery budget by $20 per week in order to be able to afford a basic cable package. That kind of sucks, but I’ve just been eliminating junk food and snacks, and buying generic brands when possible, so I’ve made do thus far.

Hopefully some areas of the economy will start to recover soon. I know the housing rescue bill that President Bush just signed will provide much-needed assistance to qualified home owners and mortgage lenders, so maybe that will have a trickle-down effect on the rest of us.

I’m hoping and praying that it does, because I want to get back to my carefree days of shopping sprees and impulse purchases!

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Just like practically everyone else I know, the bad economy has affected me in a bunch of ways. I haven’t been able to shop for and buy fun things, and as a result, haven’t been posting as much on this blog as I used to.

But I hate not updating my blogs, so I’m determined to post at least 3-4 times per week here whether I buy anything or not. Since I don’t have a product to review today, I thought I’d do something different and just let you know what some of the top searches for this blog are. These are the terms that people enter into search engines before ending up on my site. Here are my top 7:

bed bath beyond bankruptcy
stranger than fiction watch
monster energy hoodie
asso soap
colon cleanser
cutco knives
OSIM iSqueez

Actually, I’m kind of surprised by these results, as I never would have thought that, say, Asso Soap and Cutco Knives would be such big hits with my readers. I guess that’s why it’s so important to pay attention to stats!

I was talking to my friend Leigh from SoCal today, and the conversation inevitably turned to how everything is getting more expensive — seemingly by the day. The cost of living in Southern California has always been high compared to the rest of the country, but things are truly getting out of hand now. When you add the fact that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find good jobs in Los Angeles, you know lots of people are facing some tough times ahead.

At any rate, Leigh is having to cut back on everything these days in order to get by. No more shopping sprees, no more new cars, no more unnecessary magazine subscriptions… and no end in sight. I’ve had enough of all of this, and can’t wait for the economy to recover and for prices to get back to manageable levels. How about you?

So my husband and I spent the better part of the evening talking about how we’re going to spend the extra $600 that we just got from the IRS. We think that this amount is actually a bit difficult to work with. On the one hand, it’s not quite enough to allow us to look into any North Padre Island rentals or take any kind of extended vacation. On the other hand, it is enough to buy a couple of decent tech toys, such as new MP3 players, video game systems, or cell phones.

I just wish that a single want or need would rise above the rest so our decision would be clear-cut and easy. But it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. There are just so many different things that we’d love to spend this money on that it’s proving very hard to decide here!

I’m so excited right now! I was taking care of some bills this morning and was about to move some money from our savings accounts to checking in order to cover the outgoing funds when I realized that a transfer wouldn’t be necessary. That’s because I saw the following entry sitting right at the top of my transaction history:

Yes, my tax rebate is here — in full and on time!! Wow, what a fantastic way to start out the day! And you better believe I’ll be pumping that money right back into the economy. It’s time for a much-needed shopping spree!

I go to a gym three times a week for cardio and weight training, and on other days, I spend at least 30 minutes on a mini-stepper that I have here at home. Well, at least I used to, before the thing broke yesterday.

This is actually the second mini-stepper that has broken on me in the past 3 years. I don’t know if it’s me or if I’m just buying crappy products, but I’m getting tired of this. These machines have come from two different companies, so maybe I’m the problem after all. Maybe I’m using the machines longer than they’re supposed to be used, thereby causing excessive friction and heat, which could lead to breakdowns and malfunctions.

At this rate, I’d probably just be better off buying diet pills and forgetting about spending money on more home exercise products. My garage is full of ab machines, thigh machines, and now mini-steppers that don’t work anymore. What a waste!

With Father’s Day about a month away, my husband has started hinting around at potential gifts that he’d like to receive. Actually, “hinting” is giving him too much credit, as he’s not very subtle at all! So far, he has expressed interest in a motocross helmet, a Playstation 3, some new Xbox 360 games, or a set of Cobra golf clubs.

Which one will I get him? Well, let’s just say it sort of depends on what I get for Mother’s Day this Sunday! That’s only fair, right?

I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand all the kiosks that are set up at one of the local malls around here. It used to be that those booths and carts in the middle of the walkway were just put out on a temporary basis for special events like craft sales or whatever. But now, they’ve more or less become a permanent fixture, making it impossible to go shopping without getting accosted by 50 different vendors on any given day.

These kiosks offer everything from cell phones to Crocs sandals to mens gold watches, and I admit that I can occasionally find good deals on these products. But I hate having to walk around with my head down, trying to avoid eye contact with the vendors so I don’t get stopped every 10 feet by yet another sales pitch.

I wonder if these kiosks are common to all malls or if this is just a Midwest thing. I don’t recall seeing these when I went to San Diego and Honolulu, so I have no idea….