Mom and dad finally cut me off. Now that I'm no longer able to be spotted money, my biggest concern is eating and drinking throughout the day. So I made a huge grocery list.

Not to bitch, but I have the bad habit of eating people out of house and home and I refer to myself as a nighteater, because in the morning, you will have no food or drink.

With this issue, I say...

@Nymphetamine, you were right!

I'm not having a baby, but you were right about when I would show my true abilities. They say in dire times, you will show what you're made of.

When it comes to food, if you don't know how already, learn to cook things from scratch as much as you can- buying ingredients is much cheaper (usually- you won't want to be learning to make your own Kobe Beef anytime soon!) than buying prepackaged food, and once you figure out what you're doing even just a little bit, you can make some pretty delicious meals too! Even some of the standard "cheap meals" like rice & beans can be made delicious with just a little bit of attention, and they are, in fact, cheap!

If you're eating people out of the house, it sounds like you've got a very big problem you need to do something about. Maybe you should try one of those fridge locks that opens only at certain times a day - or some other thing that can wean you off the nightly eating? And having any kind of unhealthy snack food in the house is a very bad idea, because it gives you a too easy access. Try loading up your fridge with stuff that's healthy to snack on (carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes...), and don't keep any sugary stuff in the house (particularly not regular or diet soda, or massive amounts of juice), so you can at least turn your bad habit into a slightly better habit.

You're not doing yourself a favor living like this. Perhaps you'll learn something when you have to buy your own food. And don't kid yourself into believing that fast-food or snacks are cheaper than proper food while you write that grocery list. I've studied prices and nutrition labels a lot lately (I'm on a food intolerace diet, and have to steer clear of certain things), and while prices are probably different from what they are where you live, I've noticed that meat and veggies often cost a lot less per kilo than candy does. It often just looks more expensive, because people only stare at the product price, not the price per kilo (or whichever weight system your country uses). Buy ingredients, not finished food. It's often cheaper and often lasts a lot longer. And start to cook from scratch - you don't need a lot of skills to fry a piece of meat or chop up veggies for a salad. The more nutritious and healthy the food is, the less you'll eat, and the less you spend, because your body will be satisfied with what it gets. Also, people often use a whole lot more money on snack food than proper food. Your body needs fat and proteins to be satisfied, but the good kind of each. The kind that satisfies your stomach and your brain.

Eating sweets, snack foods, and consuming anything with lots of fast carbohydrates will make your blood sugar levels rocket, which in turn makes you want more. When the blood sugar drops like a rock a little while later, you get hungry again. So if you snack a lot in the evening (was it pizza and soda you preferred, or some such?), it's no wonder if you get hungry again at night. Fatty, carbohydrate-rich food is about the worst thing your body can get (crisps, cookies, ice cream, anything that's deep-fried, etc.), because it stimulates the body to store the fat and tricks you into eating more, all at the same time. Pizza is one of those fatty, carbohydrate-rich things that makes you crave more and more. Same if you go all day without food. At the end of the day your blood sugar levels are so low your body practically screams to find as much food as possible, particularly anything rich in fast carbohydrates. You go into caveman-mode, and start eating anything you can get your hands on. Do this over a long enough period of time, and your body gets used to it. You disrupt your sleep, your appetite, your brain chemistry, and bad circle goes full circle.

I guess you've heard the saying 'you are what you eat', right? Well, it doesn't mean you're a carrot if you eat a lot of carrots, but it means that your body takes up watever you stuff into it. Your body needs vitamins for the chemistry in your body to work like it's supposed to. It needs the essential building blocks that proteins and fatty acids give, and it needs the good kind of carbohydrates for energy. I've noticed for myself how bad eating habits can completely disrupt brain chemistry, and how a good diet can help get things back in line again.

Bottom line is, if you continue with bad eating habits (yes, eating only at night is a very bad eating habit), this is going to continue to affect your brain chemistry and how your body works in a bad way. What just happened with your parents should be a flippin' screaming and flashing sign that something needs to be done in your life, and that you're the one who needs to do something about it. Either pick yourself up from the bottom and try on your own, get professional help, or get someone you trust to help you stick to a plan. Start small if you need that. Three meals a day at regular intervals and times, plus perhaps a light snack (nuts, berries, a banana or an apple). If it's difficult in the start, it's because your body has a different rhythm. It's going to be a bit like drug withdrawal mixed with jet-lag. Your body and brain is used to something else, but you need to get on a different track. Your body isn't going to like it, but keep in mind all the troubles you've created for yourself, and remind yourself that you need to change your lifestyle, otherwise you'll never get on the right track.

This is an excellent blog about eating well on a budget. Some great recipes and ideas.

Why, thank you

Actually, I haven't been eating much as of late. My middle ear is distracting me. I have not exhibiting that behavior, but it is an old habits I'm breaking okay.

I should let you know that I lost 30 pounds from my fattest and the doctor said I no longer need the obesity health problem pills, just the essential ones.

Today, I am budgeting for the beginning of the month.

Not if you're the one who gets eaten

Oh, and Pandaqueen - if you don't eat enough, your body goes into starvation mode, and will have a hard time losing weight because every little thing you eat will convert into fat. Short-term, you might lose some weight, but when you start eating more again, your body takes some time realizing there's now plenty of food, and you put on even more weight because the fat-storing still works ovetime. Hence why short-term weightloss diets that focus on just eating less, or using powders or shakes, rarely work long-term. Converting to a healthier, long-term diet, and having regular, healthy meals that don't play rollercoaster with your blood sugar levels is what makes you lose weight on a long-term basis. It's usually better to lose a little at a time on a steady rate than lots at once, because the body needs time to adjust.

Actually, my stomach has not been very alert lately. I don't crave like everyone else.

PS. My doctor is not only certified for general practice, but is certified for gynecology and obesity\diabetes treatment. As I am obese and a woman, it saves time shopping around for doctors.

I just got checked out for the first time in a long time involving my stomach and had blood drawn today. My doctor has my best interest at heart when it comes to my health.

I am only going to say this once: I am healthy and losing weight, stop dispensing advice when I didn't ask and just let me be on the issue. I am fine.

It's time to sell drugs, engage in underground street fighting, gambling, and murder for hire.

Mook, I think the murder-for-hire should come before the drugs. To sell drugs one must first purchase them, and for this she will need income.

What I found helpful when living in the flat, is pay all bills with the card (or direct debit) but when it came to food money, I worked out a reasonable food plan, and only took out that much money in cash, then i wouldn't withdraw anymore money until the following pay day.

It's easier to keep track of your money when you can see it. Buy all essential food first, always have a bag of pasta or rice in the house just incase and don't get new shampoo or soap or anything like that until you know you will be running out in the next few days, even if you see something you really like, UNLESS it's on sale and you KNOW you have the spare money.
Go to cheap stores only, don't buy anything name brand (unless the off-brand version is disgusting, you may be poor but you don't need to torture yourself) and if you have to travel and need to spend busfair to get to the shops, budget the money further in advance and buy in bulk so you don't have to travel.
But, i will say, even though it's not considered "essential" you should always put a little money aside for a few snacks and sweets, because otherwise you just get depressed.


When you're working out your money and budget, always round UP your outgoings and round DOWN your income, that way there is always wiggle room. I round up/down from the £1, so if something will cost £1.01, I'll count that as £2, but if I have like £20.95 coming in, i'll cut off the 95p and count that as £20. That way if something unexpected happens, usually I'll have at least £20 "safety cushion" a month from rounding everything.

That's what we did. We went from spending £70 a week when we didn't know what we were doing, to less than £30, and that was including snacks and sweets. That was for 2 adults and we were comfortable, even on the poverty line. But we don't smoke or drink either so that obviously gave us a monetary advantage over the average person on low income.

While this is hopefully a little extreme, it might be worth googling the "live below the line challenge" (a charity thing where the idea is to spend a week paying less then £1 a day for food). It should give you some ideas of what is filling & cheap and you can use your extra money to buy spices or similar to add more flavor. Also, if you live in a rural area, maybe try to learn some basic foraging (mushrooms are too risky, but it can be quite easy to find stuff like blackberries and wild garlic which can be used to add more flavor to stuff). Hope this helps.

I don't have much advice to offer, but when I was in the dorm, I wrote down every thing I bought. Snacks, dishes, cosmetics, textbooks... I calculated my average food expenditure and now aim to earn more than enough to support my food purchases.

I also stopped buying cosmetics for similar reasons. I'm constantly discouraged from wearing/using them, so there's not much use buying new ones.

Get you one of them jobby jobs. Seems to be the best way to get some moolah. Works for me. Not much fun, but it's not supposed to be, that's why they call it "work". Although I guess there are other ways, like dumpster diving.

I've heard you can actually find good food dumpster diving. "Freegans", they're called.
http://www.businessinsider.com/dump...-photos-2014-10

Don't know that I'd be brave enough to eat dumpster food. Maybe canned stuff and sealed stuff I could handle.
I already sell lots of crap on eBay and have well into 5-digits in my eBay sales account, but then I see stories about the stuff this guy finds dumpster diving:
http://www.wired.com/2015/02/high-e...ng-matt-malone/
Makes me wonder if I could make 6-digits easy with that kind of loot. Don't know that I'd be brave enough to do it, I don't like confrontation and it's bound to happen (cops, security guards, employees).

Fascinating stuff, anyway. Rather sad how wasteful our society is, but I digress.

First off, MisterMook, I have enough to deal with in terms of life. I don't want a criminal record.

Next, I have gotten my spending under control, having to give up two video services until I am back to normal. I at least had $35 to cover the overdraft from last month.

Now, I don't believe in foraging for my veggies, as I am not sure what is within.

Also, I am going to look for work once I get spending down.