I didn’t think it would be possible, but we’re living without a television set … and feeling okay!

To remind you, we’ve made a clean move from Michigan to Texas and currently living without furniture, appliances, cable TV, cell phones, car payments, and other “necessities”. I can’t say we’re unhappy!

So how are we getting by?

• We have a nice laptop with a wide screen. We use it like an entertainment center: Pandora for radio, Vongo for movies (although movies kinda B-ish), Google videos for miscellaneous, and, of course, Ze Frank for sarcastic fun.
• We work close to home and carpool using my Benz, which saves us a bunch in car-related expenses.
• We bought a local SkypeIn number for a few bucks a month, which saves us from having a landline.
• The whole sleeping-on-an-air-mattress thing is getting very old, but we are sticking it out until we have enough to buy a queen bed.
• We work out at a free gym and swim in a free pool (compliments of the aparment complex).

Of course, we’ll end up having the furniture, the TV, and the cell phones, but for now the money we’re saving on not having the aforementioned items is unreal:

• No car payment(s), less $220/mo.
• Reduced car insurance, less $80/mo.
• Reduced automotive repair, $1,200/yr or $100/mo.
• Reduced fuel expense, less $250/mo.
• No cable TV, less $50/mo.
• No cell phones, less $100/mo.
• No “City of …” garbage and water bill, less $50/mo.
• No gym fee, less $25/mo.

Total saved per month: $875.

Well, it’s not that perfect, though. We pay $200 more in rent, but utilities come out about the same – in Michigan you pay a lot in the winter for heat, in Texas – in the summer for A/C. Still, I figure we save about $500 a month after capitalizing moving expenses. As a bonus, we make more at our jobs, which will eventually push us back into the cell phones/TV/car/fuel/repair money pit …

My grandma always forced me to eat soup or borscht for dinner when I was a kid. She said that one liquid meal a day prevents gastritis, ulcer, and a bunch of other stomach-related diseases. The rationale was that a liquid meal is like “giving your stomach a break because it doesn’t have to work as hard to digest some delicious homemade soup as it has to digest nasty dry foods”.

I don’t know about giving breaks to stomachs or my grandma’s crazy Ukrainian hoodoo beliefs, but I got used to having regular meals, with one liquid meal in the middle of the day. Because a human body is pretty much like my supercool 1984 Merecedes-Benz diesel in that they both are reliable and cleverly put together, whatever fuel you put in either of them means how they are going to run in the long-term.

This new job of mine is a huge enemy to having regular meals. I wake up, eat some random breakfast, work ’till about noon, then grab whatever they offer at “the cafetorium”, and don’t eat anything until I get home, which could really be anytime from 5 pm till 4 am. This is like putting rotten crap diesel fuel full of sulfur and algae into my car.

So after eating crappy meals at the “cafetorium” for a week and paying dearly for them, I decided to brown-bag my lunches. I went straight to Sam’s Club and got me a few cases of what looks like junk food:

Here’s the explanation:

• I don’t want to be “that guy” at work, so to prevent my co-workers to ever question my breath, I got a box of gum and stuck it into my desk. With the amount of social interaction we have to deal with at work, rancid-ass breath that smells like roast beef and hot garbage is out of the question.
• Baked chips have no saturated fat and are a good source of the carb intake. They are also very convenient.
• V8 juice – I love. Two servings of veg make it a great lunch drink.
• I know, a case of Coke … Not really necessary, but I don’t want to brew or buy coffee, so it’s my morning pickmeupper. I gotta have the caffeine and sugar because sometimes I’m dragging because of long work days and not enough sleep.
• Diet DrPepper is for wife.
• TLC bars are an awesome source of fiber … plus they are convenient.

What you see on the picture costs about fifty bucks – a price of eight lunches at work. I’m hoping to make it all last a month. Here’s people who don’t brown-bag:

Of course, that’s not all I eat. I throw in a can of soup, a sandwich or a hot-dog, some raisins, and fruit.

So is it worth it?

Ah … Duh. A similar meal would cost $7-8 at “the cafetorium”, and my cost is only $2-3, if that. I have to put in a little more work into it, but 1) I’m saving a ton of money 2) I’m keeping my grandma happy by eating a liquid meal 3) I’m putting decent fuel into my body regularly.

Before I sign off, I’ll share this little ditty – wake up, toss eggs on stove, then shower. The eggs are ready when you get out, and it forces you to not spend too much time in the shower, which in turn cuts water and electricity consumption.