Thursday, September 2, 2010

Buyer's Remorse

... and it frequently comes after I've eaten out. Like tonight ~ I had gotten a few things at the store to make a Greek salad with a simple pasta dish for dinner tonight, but when my husband got home after three days away, we said: "Let's go out."

Forty dollars later, we asked ourselves, "Why did we do that?"

That's how impulse buying feels ~ rationalizing before as to why you should, and thinking of other ways you could have spent that money if you didn't. Were we celebrating? No. Was it a special treat? No. It just felt like a good idea ~ maybe because we could leave the house.

Any way you look at it, when you're income is stretched, like it is for many of us ~ it was a big price to pay when we could have stayed here, saved the money, and ~ most important ~ probably eaten a much healthier meal!

(As we drove home I thought ~ I could have paid for two extra days of pre-school classes for my granddaughter this week with that money!)

Another example of our heads battling with our hearts ~ we can count on our heads to supply the arguments for going against our hearts ~ every time.

To be mindful here, what I know for sure (as Oprah would put it) is that I get a very good feeling inside when I've put my energy (represented by money) into nurturing myself. I do that with good food ~ and the $13 I spent at the grocery store this afternoon felt a lot better than the $40 I plunked down at the restaurant.

The food was good ~ but not as good as I coud prepare at home. Fortunately, the next meal always provides the opportunity to make another choice!

(Go to my Recipes linked at the bottom of this page to see what I could have had!)

2 comments:

Sara said...

At Paula's Mindful Eating class yesterday, she shared an amazingly easy way to make a Greek salad. I went home an prepared this and oh wow my husband does not often say how much he likes a dish and this one he did! I peeled 3 large tomatoes, layering some on two salad plates, then added a chopped cucumber, sprinkled over, and over that, crumbled Feta cheese mixed with chopped mint leaves fresh from outside our door, and some sliced Calamata Olives to top it off. I sprinkled salt and fresh ground pepper, the over that, according to Paula's directions, I poured a mixture of whisked olive oil 1/4 cup, and lemon juice 4 tsp and 1/2 tsp grated lemon zest. Wow, what a salad. I added a simple Soba noodle dish, drizzled with olive oil, and sprinkled with grated Parmesan cheese. If I'd had Pinion nuts I'd have added those, as well. Paula said that a glass of wine and some French Bread would top it all off, sounds perfect. It was! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Sheri said...

Great advice and it looks like some great recipe suggestions.

Thanks, Paula!