THE TWELVE YEAR ENCORE

While the rest of the world was panicked about coping with something called “Y2K” and the new millennium, my world had its own crisis to consider. Empty. Nest. Syndrome.

The year was 2000 and had been living for 8 years in Georgia. As each child left home, I decided to find an activity to consume my time in my child’s absence. I volunteered two Tuesday mornings a month teaching a class to clients at St. Vincent de Paul. The topics included how to create a budget; how to stretch food dollars and the value of couponing. I continued with my volunteer work for two years until my second child went off to college.

After a 20-year career in nursing, I had left the profession in the late 90s. My “encore career” took me into higher education. More than a decade into my second career, I found myself dusting off my old STVP notes and upcycle my old, yellowed newspaper article.

It’s now 2013. Well into the new millennium, everything has moved to technology. I had to recreate my notes into a Power Point Presentation. Find cutesy “Clip Art” to jazz it up. Make it look and sound entertaining yet educational. Save it to a thumb drive and have it appear on the BIG SCREEN for my students…aka “my coworkers”.

My “Frugal Bugle” newsletter had gone high tech.

SOUND THE BUGLE: Today’s tip: As the expression goes, never let a good crisis go to waste. For that matter, never let food go to waste either. If you are not eating those leftovers within a day or two, put them in the freezer or transform that food item into a new, different meal. In future blog posts, I’ll demonstrate some of my more creative uses for expiring milk and repurposing leftovers. To throw away food is throwing money into the trash. To save money, save your leftovers.