Comments on: Furlough Friday

By: Dave Farquhar

Dave Farquhar — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 23:47:00 +0000

It’s amazing how much money cooking at home (and not eating out) saves.

The budget cutbacks are affecting government contracts, too. A lot of contracts are getting cut or eliminated. The private sector is growing (finally!) but not fast enough to absorb all of the jobs the government is bleeding. While reducing the size of the government could be beneficial, the reduction has to be done in a controlled fashion to avoid nasty side effects.

The ironic thing is that in 2005, I got into government work because there were government contracting jobs available and the private sector was cutting. Now, eight years later, I’m looking to do the exact opposite. Unfortunately there are about 10,000 other people in the St. Louis area trying to do the same thing at the same time.

By: Mom

Mom — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 23:43:07 +0000

LOL Morgan told me last night she needed to wax her eyebrows. I guess she’s been helping you.

By: Rob

Rob — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:40:29 +0000

I have offered to provide all of those hair services for you, although I’m not sure what all of them are. But I’m pretty sure I could do it.

By: Susan

Susan — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:31:23 +0000

Some other changes in effect: I canned my $140 every six weeks for a nice haircut and color and have moved to super it’s with a
Coupon every eight weeks and a home hair coloring kit. I’ve started waxing my own eyebrows ($5 for ten waxes vs $25 every six weeks), and then I’ve added having to do all the yard work at a savings of $85 a week. It sucks and my hair looks bad and my eyebrows are crooked. Our neighbors are
Plotting to do a yard intervention I’m sure.

By: Earl Green

Earl Green — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 13:25:28 +0000

Looks like you’ve stumbled onto why I spend so much time in the kitchen. I’ve been known to sweat over the stove coming up with three days’ worth of meals at one time, as well as stuff like fruit salad and brownies and whatnot. As long as I can keep up that pace, we almost have something like a normal lifestyle. Getting the kiddo to try something new that I’ve never cooked before is frequently a problem, but staring bedtime in the face on an empty stomach usually changes that argument!

We probably eat out once a month, if even that often, and usually if it’s an occasion like getting out of town and going to Arkadia. The rest of the time, it’s up to me to not give everyone food poisoning. I think I’m doing pretty good at it, and we’re able to get a modest amount of groceries to go quite a long way for us.

By: Deborah Husbands

Deborah Husbands — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:38:24 +0000

Love this write-up Rob…We get to a point that we need to worry about ourselves instead of the job and how backed up it will be. Just doing what we can and if some projects slip behind so let it be…they will wake up eventually and realize this is insane.

Love and Miss you guys….have fun on your furlough..

I am so glad I retired!!!:)