Meet Fru-Gal

Something you may not know about me is that my husband and I once endured about 7 years of unemployment and underemployment. Yes, we're still married. Yes, we kept the house. Yes, my Sweet Girl was dressed everyday. Yes, we never missed one meal, and most amazing of all... yes, we paid the bills somehow! This all started during the recession of 2001. The tech industry (which DH is a part of) experienced a DEpression, not REcession. There was not a job to be had for *years*, people. September 11th didn't help, either. Those were survival years.

Needless to say, I became frugal -- aka Fru-Gal, as I like to call myself. (Cue the superhero music.) She is my super-hero alter ego. I became an expert on stretching our food budget and managing our resources: penny pincher extraordinaire! I had to -- everything was at stake.

With Fru-Gal's help and lots of blessings from above, we survived that time in our lives. I'm still Fru-Gal, but more mild-mannered these days with hubby working again. She will always be a part of me, though, and that's a good thing. I'm sure we'll see a lot more of her now-a-days with the unsettled economy and our need to recover financially from those out-of-work days.