1. Homemade Pizza- We found another meal we can make at home and get lots of participation from The Bub. He is all about putting the cheese on that pizza. Just very very slowly. I am also pleasantly surprised how much I like our helper tower from Kerf and Kind. I thought it would drive me crazy, and they looked really unsafe, but the Bub is happy to stay right there and help his dad cook. Pretty cool.

2. Tongs and a Baseball Hat- Why do people even buy children's toys? Why am I worried about these things? All my son wants is for me to take his hat off with kitchen tongs over and over again. For hours. It kind of makes me miss the good old garbage days.

3. Swing High, Swing Low- The Washingtonian posted an essay by one of their food critics about how to eat amazing food more often. His answer? Either eat in really low places (hole in the wall family-owned sorts of places) or really high (best places). He says we all spend too much time in the middle, and it keeps us from anything really good.

Agreed!

I feel like that is a key argument I am trying to make with this blog. The overwhelming attitude is that you try to get the nicest thing you can for the lowest price you can get it, and that means most of our stuff is not all that nice and not all that expensive. What if we changed the plot and swung high or low? He does say chains are generally middle of the road, but he doesn't touch on fast food, and I don't want to be that flippant here. I 100% believe that buying/getting things used is better than buying them at the Dollar Store or Walmart, but I know my privilege gives me time to track things down. You have to do what you have to do, but what if we all looked as Used as our other options instead of cheap and crappy but new?

For example, you want to buy a grill. I know what you want. You can get a grill that you know is well-made, contributing to the American economy, and lasting a long time (I am thinking an American-made Weber Grill- and not even the really exorbitant ones)

If you look at those numbers and say "Oh hell no" then rather than trying to parse the middle, full of mediocre, unethically-made grills, why not get something used? Ebay has hundreds of grills. Buy Nothing and garage sales are often selling grills? We think of Used stuff as junk someone else doesn't want, but why not save money and use something like that instead of still spending too much money on something that doesn't work?

In other words, Buy High or Buy Used. Can you do it for everything? Maybe not, but you can do it for most, and much like this guy's food budget, you can make more space for expensive purchases if you aren't always spending so much on the things you don't care about. I think this strategy is really working for our family, and maybe it would work for yours. Something to think about anyway.