The Word Is Frugal

My finals are almost finished. Actually, I have already passed all exams, but I still have one paper to hand in, so I don't consider myself really free. I passed the exams in due time and got good grades, so it seems I'm eligible for the stipend in the next term. There are rumors that stipends are getting a little bigger as of this September. We'll see!

Luckily I don't feel like I need to splurge on things, as I feared I would. Quite the opposite, I try to save as much as possible before leaving Moscow. I have about one week left before going back to Hometown, so I decided that this week would be my "week of frugal living". I wanted to cut back on grocery expenses. I recently whined that I go to the grocery store too often and I can't help it. However, this week I did decide to try buying a lot and cooking in a bulk. I'm sure reading inspirational pf blogs helped a lot.

So, I spent about $20 in a grocery store on June 20th and cooked a substantial amount of food. The next day I even took my lunch with me, something that I haven't done for a long time! Now I try to pass the whole week on this food. The only thing I still have to buy often is a bottle of my favorite mineral water. I know that tap water would cost me nothing, but I can't make myself drink 3 pints of Moscow tap water, even filtered, because I hate the taste. Yesterday I read that tap water in New York is as tasty and pure as bottled water. I wish I were so lucky.

By the way, I remember when I learned the word "frugal". Seriously. It was somewhere in September 2005, when I was reading a book for my English class. The book was Three Men In A Boat by Jerome K. Jerome, and the line was "Then we run our little boat into some quiet nook, and the tent is pitched, and the frugal supper cooked and eaten." At that time I really didn't know such a simple word! I even thought that the word "frugal" is not really often used. I certainly didn't read pf blogs then! ;-)