Food or Fiber?

I am a grown up adult mother and I'm in charge of the budget in my house.  In the real world, I am responsible, reliable and predictable.  I go to work five days a week, I teach knitting on Saturdays and I go grocery shopping on weekends.  That makes me an adult.

When I am not adult-like is when it comes to yarn and fiber.  I have to face the dilemma of buying fiber or meat for a week or buying yarn or coming up short with the mortgage payment, and with a 20 year old (practically) grown son living in my house, meatless meals are unacceptable as is being turned out on the street because the house is in foreclosure. (Which it's not, thank goodness!).

That said, let me tell you the rules I must live by in order to keep my son (and my cat) happy.

1. Never shop online after midnight.  The purchase you make at 11:45 p.m. is acceptable.  The after midnight purchase smacks of desperation.  If I tracked my purchases (which I don't do), I'd find that my before midnight purchases are moderately priced, while the purchases after midnight are all over $100.00.
   
   
2. Don't sneak yarn into the house.  If I'm sneaking it into the house because it was way expensive and I'm too guilty to knit it in my house, so it has to be a 'subway knit'.  Not everything I want to make can be made while traveling on the train.  Lose the guilt - knit with abandon.
   
   
3. Fill your online shopping basket as much as you like.  I visit a lot of places and fill my basket everywhere I go with stuff I might want (as soon as I can check the stores to see what it's all about).  Filling my basket makes me happy - until I check my wallet.  Oy!  Now I have to wait until payday.  Fortunately for me, the vendors are smart and while I sleep, they reclaim the contents of my basket.  Thank you!
   
   
4. Limit my 'pet' yarn purchases.  I have knitting yarns and pet yarns.  My knitting yarns get knit up eventually, my pet yarns are for petting, talking to, visiting and generally making my yarn bins happy.  I bought it because it was pretty, on sale, or because someone had it in their hands and I got jealous.  I keep it for posterity, and maybe because I'm a little bit competitive.
   
   
5. Be wary of impulse buys.  "Oh pretty!" is not a good reason for buying yarn.  It has to say 'socks' or 'scarf' or something meaningful.  Most of my impulse buys look at me saying, "Not enough yardage here so keep it moving sister!"  Dang!
   
   
6. Candy Crush Saga is a total time suck and you can't knit while you play.  Now I have to choose between the two, right?  No!  I can knit when the lights are on, I can play the game in the dark.  Problem solved.  If you're not playing, don't start!

And there you have it.  I just wanted to share with you some of the wisdom I've gained over the years so that I'd be talking with you instead of shopping online after midnight.