I had an aha moment yesterday. You have my permission in advance to laugh.

My Bag Lady sometimes wakes me up at night asking about our retirement budget. "How are you going to cut back and spend less?"

So Art and I were taking a walk - we'd been cooped up for four days while he recovered from his hand surgery, and I was ready for some fresh air. As we neared home, I said, "Do we have anything to fix for dinner?" He said yes, there were a couple of steaks in the freezer, and yams, and green beans from our garden.

I thought to myself I really wasn't in the mood for steak. I wanted chicken. I thought about walking to the closest grocery store and picking up a chicken. Then I had my aha moment. I realized I'd be paying whatever the store wanted me to pay for the chicken. But if we waited until chicken went on sale, we'd get more for our money. All we'd lose out on is chicken today.

So we thawed out the steaks! And they were ribeye, my favorite.

I've always chuckled at Art's habit of poring over the grocery store ads and clipping coupons. He spends half an hour a week doing this, and then he might go to as many as five stores, picking up only the sale items. I thought that was a tremendous waste of time. When I need to shop, I go to the QFC - our closest store - and get everything I need.

But once I'm no longer working, I'll have the time to save the money. I relayed that information to my Bag Lady, and last night she didn't wake me up.