I could probably write a book about thrifty mistakes, but I’ll start by breaking the topic down into two categories. (That’s how you know things are serious, people. Categories.) Let’s call category one The Execution Mistake. You’re trying to be thrifty and you buy all this rice. You screw up the cooking time and end up throwing bad rice and good money down the drain. Or worse, you try to hem your brand-new pants and you end up with brand-new too-short pants that make you look like a nerd. (Don’t get me started on pants.) Basically, the stuff of tragedy.
Behind door number two lies The Personal Taste Mistake. That’s when you buy something to be thrifty and then find out you just don’t like that thing. You either have to try to act thrifty and suck it up and use the thing (whether it’s an unflattering shirt or a new type of grain), or you have to throw it, and your money, down the drain. Neither option is particularly appealing, so sometimes it pays to give an initially despicable purchase a little bit of time to grow on you.
Which brings me to Campari. Let me stock a bar, I thought, because Pia and Califia told me this was thrifty. I will entertain my friends at home, and we will drink delicious thrifty drinks from my at-home bar.
Turns out Campari is one of those things I only think I like (because it’s all sophisticated and bitter) but really ewwww I totally don’t at all.
I felt guilty about that now totally unthrifty bottle of Campari, so every once in a while I would try having some with soda. Yuck. Then one night, I made an amazing discovery . . .
Gin + Tonic + Loads of Lime + Splash of Campari = TOTALLY DELICIOUS
Adding a sprig of mint = I’M A MIXOLOGIST
Emboldened, I added a splash of Campari to a glass of iced tea. Too subtle. What did it need? Shockingly, MORE CAMPARI. At which point it became totally delicious.
A happy ending to a thrifty tragedy. Clink!
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