Raisin bran, asparagus, cat litter, Valium, milk...

I have a ton of homework tonight, but instead of doing it, I decided to go grocery shopping.

What? I needed groceries.

Oh, all right, I just like grocery shopping. And besides, I was out of milk. Milk is kind of the limiting agent of my grocery reaction. Milk is to groceries as underwear is to laundry: once you're out, you *must* get more.

Now, we all know that I don't have much money, but this is actually what makes grocery shopping fun. It's a win-win situation. When you don't buy something that you want, it's an admirable act of self-control and willpower. When you do buy something that you don't really need, it's delicious self-indulgence that you deserve for being so thrifty all the time. Of course, sometimes this works out oddly: tonight I denied myself coffee and therefore justified the purchase of a new coffee grinder. (I shop at SuperTarget, if you're wondering why both those items were available at one grocery store.)

I'm pretty good at keeping the grocery bill down; I don't go shopping when I'm hungry and I don't buy a whole lot of useless crap that I don't need. I eat Ramen on occasion. I only commit one cardinal sin of budget shopping: I don't make lists. I only end up leaving them places, and I'm basically afraid that they'll end up here, just asking people to make fun of me and my grocery shopping. Not that I don't deserve it.