Give a Little, Get a Little

She’s so frugal that if she had two dimes to rub together, she wouldn’t do it for fear she’d lose one.

I can always count on her to shut off the lights while I’m still in the room, turn down the air conditioning while I’m still sweltering, and use half the meat the recipe calls for.

And I love her for it.

The other night our junky ol’ computer monitor finally gave out in a blaze of blue hazy streaks. Grabbed a dinky spare we happened to have, but the text was so fuzzy, I couldn’t read what I was typing.

“That’s it,” I blurted. “I’m going to Wal-Mart and buyin’ a flat panel display.”

She stopped me, of course. Why spend the money? Why perpetuate the system of dumping computers in the landfill by buying more of the stuff unnecessarily?

She was right. Again.

So we borrowed a decent monitor from her dad for a couple days while she asked around for a free one on www.freecycle.org. Two days later, I sit here with sun tan lotion and my shirt off, basking in the glow of a huge 19” monstrosity, marveling at its clarity, detail, and color.

It was free. It helped the environment. I feel all warm and happy, and it’s not from the radiant glory of this monitor.

Do your part. Check out www.freecycle.org. Get stuff you need for free. Even better, get rid of some of that junk that’s laying around.