I'll admit I've been feeling a little down regarding recent inflation and its effect on my once fine budget. It's definitely "putting a crimp on our style," so to speak.

Rather than mope about it, I suppose now is a good time to reassess our expenses as they come up and decide if we really do need them, if they can be reduced, or if there's a suitable sub available.

While I'm a little bummed about starting to cut some of the little luxuries life has finally afforded us, I'm still immensely grateful for the quality of life we can maintain at present; if it doesn't compare to most American's lifestyles, it's still embarrassingly good compared to much of the world.

Still, it hurts on some level to be reminded by others, often in a patronizing manner, how fortunate I am to have these luxuries to sacrifice. Of course those pointing this out are not yet at the point of making sacrifices; much easier to complain about snow on your neighbor's roof, eh?

So onward we go, more careful than ever, not thrilled about having to be the bad-guy-money-police again. It was nice to be able to loosen the purse strings, even if it only lasted a short time.

Living consciously can be brutal.