I was recently shown a lesson in giving by a young lady dressed in her Army uniform.

What happened was this: I had gone one town over to shop at Grocery Outlet. "GO" has a lot of things that my family eats and uses, and often I end up paying about 40 % less for them if they are purchased at that store. It's one of the few places where i really see that I too have an "inner shopper."

So this was one shopping spree where the items that I bought almost took every penny I had on me. When the clerk handed my change back, I realized I now had 17 cents on my person. Apparently by buying two or three of each needed item, I could really  blow through my money a lot faster than expected.