And we now have a word..

..so what do you think 'a girl who manages to dress fashionably even in these challenging times of a budget crunch' is called?

Apparently, the term is 'recessionista'. Yes not kidding. And I hear its been around for ages, and I am ashamed to have not known about it.

Anyway, the point being- this budget crunch is beginning to wear on me, have you gotten there as well? I mean with these soaring gas prices and the real estate crash and food shortage and price hike and gloom and doom all over - no wonder half the world is wishing for this year to end already.

The day I started stocking my work place refridgerator with a bag of baby carrots for my afternoon snack is when it all set in finally. Gone are the days when I obsessed over the fact that my dress size had jumped one level. No longer does it bother me that some of my old jeans(ye faithfuls) will never see the light of the day cos I dont see myself going back to those sizes any more. I am not sure if its pessisism or a lost cause- either way I dont even wish to attempt such a monumental task.

No, those have ceased to worry me any more. I have cut down grocery trips to once a week, I use vegetables and their peels, I have increased the fruit intake(gasp!), my commute to work was minimal to begin with, I rarely go beyond the 5-mile radius of my home for anything...but all this is beginning to wear me down. Airfares are prohibitively expensive, airlines are beginning to charge for everything else right from the blanket on red-eye flights to food to perhaps even the life jacket- by the time I get to fly next. Coupons and shopping have become a pair, always employed in conjunction. And this term recessionista seals the case.

Now we are expected to live up to this title. Dress fashionably within a budget.

So what makes for an indulgence in these times? Driving to NJ to savour Oak Tree road and the myriad Indian stores with a good chaat overdose?

Well, maybe that IS what will make for my summer "break", after all!