My renewed mantra is self sufficiency. In order to achieve such things, I may have to endure a more lavish form of poverty (I'm better off than a lot of people) for a while. Rather than boo hooing about the poor house, I'm going to make it a creative experiment. Here are some ideas: Eat lentils! Lentils are cheap and yumsome. You can form them into patties, nuggets and loafs, sprinkle them on salads, and mush them into paste.
Cease the intake of fermented beverages except for on Sundays from 4 to 5 pm.
Plant seeds in exchange for vegetables and herbs from seemingly over abundant neighboring gardens.
Buy groceries from farmers and "ethnic" markets.
Attend the free skool.
Stay in the woods and avoid consumer pockets including malls, downtown dwellings, or shopping strips.
Peruse food carts and hidden 82nd street taquerias.
Spend more time at the library or riding ontop the biblioburro.
Hang out in storage units filled with things people forgot about but can't seem to part with.
Make stuff I need out of free stuff I don't need found on the street or on craigslist.
Invite myself over for a dinner prepared by me.
Read to old people for free cups of tea and good old fashioned story telling.