Cheapskate Confessions #1
Confession: I am probably not doing as much to help keep the polar bears from drowning as Al Gore would want me to. If I was a real cheapskate, I’d know a bunch of energy-saving secrets to cut my $200 gas bill in half, right? Or maybe I’d just be content freezing my ass off like these tree-hugging extremists.
Wrong. Scrolling through page after page of reader suggestions on Slate made me realize that I got nothin’ to offer in the “Be Efficient! Save Money!” department. My strategy is to keep the heat at 60 and work under three blankets, a cat, and multiple Snuggies. (Note: the Snuggies really don’t add much. Also, one size fits all is a LIE.)
Likewise, in the summer, I spend a lot of my time lying on the basement floor. Let me tell you, after having survived three New York City summers with no A/C, there’s no gift quite as divine as a basement. It helps to have a bottle of gin in the freezer at all times. Preferably, the freezer should be in the basement.
It’s not that I don’t believe in global warming. I do. It’s just that hanging a sheet of plastic over your windows is so hard, and takes so long. Do you know how many episodes of Columbo I could watch in the time it takes to winter-proof my house? Ugh. What a money-saving bore. I’d rather just concentrate on perfecting my boiled flour recipe and patching up the sweater I’ve been wearing since the third grade.

The Creative Workforce Fellowship is a program of the Community Partnership for the Arts and Culture, made possible by the generous support of Cuyahoga County citizens through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.
You are brilliant
1Also, when you have cats, putting plastic over the windows is like asking them to make your life harder.
2