As much as I try to not be, I am a product of my parent's upbringing. For better or worse, I am massively influenced by their actions, traits, and habits.

For example, my mother always worries about money. Regardless of how much they make or have, my mother always worried that we would never have food on the table. Now, mind you, as a child, I used to get irritated by this because, well... we always had food on the table. And, on top of it all, we weren't picky about our food. Yes, we liked having good food. Yes, we had the privelege of having good food. But, if you ever hear my mother talk about our financial situation, you would think we were on the verge of bankruptcy and all but using food stamps to purchase our groceries. It used to bother me that everytime we did something, it would always come back to money.

After college, when my sister and I had gotten jobs to support ourselves, we would go home to visit and, sure enough, at some point, the discussion would be about their financial woes. For the record, my parents have no financial woes. They aren't financially wealthy by any means but they do have enough money to live out their lives. Anyway, after college, my sister and I would go home for a visit and, to avoid hearing about my Mom's "woes", would just pay for everything.

So, cut to the other day, I'm shopping for jeans. I have decided to pay more than $20 for jeans. I am treating myself to a nice pair for my birthday. I set a limit of $60 (some of you know that I hate paying a lot of money for something like denim, which costs like... nothing). I search some higher-end stores but no luck (apparently, skinny is the new thing). I check some outlet-type stores (I find some good ones but again nothing is rocking my world). I decide to stop by the Old Navy. And guess what, I find a pair of cords for $6.97!!!!! I try them on and they fit great. Got myself a new pair of cords.

I head home and show Mike. His reaction: "Frugal to the core." Jeez, I've become exactly what my parents raised me to be. Well, except for the gay thing. Later.  ¶ 9:10 AM