Spending Diary- Days 3, 4, and 5

Ah the weekend. Obviously the weekend is the time of week where spending money is easy and fun. Lately I have been experiencing a series of Play Day weekends, where playing begins usually before noon and does not stop until the wee-est hours of the following morning, which takes a toll on the cash. There are errands to run, bars to tour, concerts to be seen, farmer's markets to visit, cooked breakfasts to be consumed, and on and on. There are weekends that are so damaging to my budget that to check my account totals on Monday I need a shot of whiskey and a stick to bite. I refused to allow my spending freeze to deter Saturday/Sunday Play Days, so I had several strategies for saving:

-I took out $40 in cash on Friday and vowed not to touch plastic for the remainder of the weekend

-Mom came up on Sunday for Easter, which is a nice break for the wallet

-I compromised some of my liquor standards and decided to drink cheap beer and down some nasty shots

Friday I was busy working all day and made no time for spending during the day. Breakfast at home, and a homemade salad for lunch.  

In the evening I lifted $40 from the account and had my money for the weekend. To this my two kindest friends, Megan and Kayleigh, laughed and called me a fool, which only served to increase my defiance about over-spending during weekend fun. That evening, I found $25 in my backpack I forgot I had, which I decided would be my secret overwrite protection in case the $40 disappeared quicker than expected. 

Friday evening began with free yoga-score! Thereafter we indulged in a delicious meal of lentil tacos made by Kayleigh- yum!! Nice one Kayleigh. We dressed ourselves to head out to the bars, but at the last minute changed our course and headed to..... oh this is good...... a TOGA party at a house, which was choice not only because toga parties are bitchin, but liquor is on the house. Spending freeze tip: HOUSE PARTIES! We did, however, have to a take a cab home, which totalled a ridiculous $17 for 4 people. I contribubted $5 to the tab and that was the day.

Total spent for Day 3: $5

Saturday morning began with an abolsuely delicious breakfast at The Kitchen with the Raab family, where I ordered braised chickpeas and gawked at Cal Ripken Jr, who was also enjoying breakfast with his family two tables away from us. Thereafter we hit up Farmer's Market, which was full of energy and many Boulder People. Yay Farmer's Market! I bought a jar of Whiteside Honey Co raw honey for $4, and a bag of arugula from Isabelle Farm for $6. It was easy to resist spending at Farmer's Market, since it is still too early for all the real veggie goodies.

Onto the next event: sitting around for a while at Alex and Kayleighs to digest and recover from the previous evening. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was on TV, which we watched almost all of- free! Next, Kayleigh picked up her 80-pound charity bike from Megan and we went on a bike ride to Pearl since the weather was so delicious. We met Alex and proceeded to walk around Pearl for 75 minutes seeking the PERFECT location to have a beer. After several circles and much confusion we settled for Boulder Cafe, and had 2 rounds and some shrimp. Due to our delay in finding the perfect locale, we slipped in just in time for happy hour and the total bill was only $13, tip included- not bad!

For the evening we all headed out to the bars. To save on bar spending we had some drinks at home, which included but was not limited to shots of blanco Sanza and Jim Beam (yes a serious breach of standards I know)  and I personally had a 0$ bar tab.

Total spent for Day 4: $21

Sunday began with church, which cost me 1$ that I put into the offering plate, such a cheap Christian. Brunch was on mom, and treats following on the farmer. For a rainy day activity my mother and I drove around North Boulder to look at the unreasonably beautiful, gutted homes at the edge of the foothills, a completely fascinating endeavor that was totally free (if you do not factor in the small quantity of gas consumed to drive around). For dinner we cooked and later we headed to the Laughing Goat for a sweet, FREE performance from Dj Zuk, which was so chill I almost floated away. 

Total spent for Day 5: $1

I stayed well under my $40 for the weekend, had tons of fun, and didn't tap into the extra $25 I found! Take that Megan!

Spending Diary, Day 2

So the trick is to stay really busy. When you are busy spending money is at the bottom of your list. But also when you are busy, you are eager for a nice drink at the end of the day, which was the case yesterday. 

In the morning I prevented myself from spending on the usual--chai, food, errands, etc--by going on a long run, the result of which made me simply crave lots of water....free!

Having done the grocery store the night before, I saved on breakfast, lunch and dinner with items from my fridge, and there was even some left over chocolate from the previous evening's affairs, which held me over during the afternoon lull of trucking RFPs and emails emails emails.

After work, however, Kayleigh got paid and finished an exam so it was beer time. I picked up the Liquor Mart special, a 12-pack of Widmer Brew Fest variety pack, on sale for 12.49.....ah how I love you Liqour Mart....and we indulged. Not feeling particularly energetic later, I opted not to visit Walbut Brewery with the rest of the crew and went home for some reading and music, both of which I have already paid for.

Today has to be tight, because tomorrow is Farmer's Market, where spending too much money is all too easy and has not guilt associate with it because, duh,  its the Farmers's Market. 

Total spent for Day 2: $13.51

Spending Diary- Day 1, part II

The $0 I spent yesterday very quickly became $32.30 due to a cooking oversight, so I have to amend Day 1. 

It all came down to butter. My tasty dinner, a zesty fresh salad with delicious mashed potatoes and fresh green chilies from Abbondanza, was on the stove and on its way to finished when I remembered that I had no butter, no milk, and no olive oil, rendering the perfect mashed potatoes with green chilies dish impossible. To Sunflower we went and my bill rang up as: 

Napa Valley olive oil: $12.99

3 boxes of cereal: $13.57

Nature Valley butter: $4.99

Fresh strawberries: $4.00 (note: Tis the strawberry season! Organic strawberries 2 for $4!!)

Nappa Valley grapeseed oil: $9.49

Rudi's bread: $5.29

2 Chocolove chocolate bars: $5.18

Total:  57.30 

minus: $25 from my partner in crime

My damage: $32.30

Granted, only one item was necessary for the completion of the potatoes, but this is likely my last grocery store visit of the week, so I had to prepare. Since Sunflower incurs the majority of my spending money I figure it will have to take the greatest cut during my great cut-back. But it was nice to be home again at the old Sunflower. I absorbed as much of the lovely produce display and aroma of natural food products as possible. This will sadly be my last last Sunflower visit for the week. 

Real total spent for Day 1: $32.30

Spending Diary, Day 1

On Saturday I opened my online checking account and promptly stopped breathing. I had way less money than anticipated and what's worse is that all the spending was on food and booze. I am embarrassed and mad about my unconscious spending and have decided it is time to start better monitoring my spending money. I know there a plethora of fancy online tools and other banking features that automatically document this for you, but writing about it is clearly more fun. 

So the next week is dedicated to documenting my now very tight budget and the clever ways in which I can save money. 

Prologue Day (yesterday): I expected to have lunch with my friend Bethany at Saxy's, a new deli I was excited to check out, and in typical form she overslept. Rather than pick up a sandwich on my own, I abstained from the restaurant and grabbed lunch at whole foods instead. I am on a veggie kick this week so I went for sesame kale, a very inexpensive selection at just $2.52 for one of the small plastic containers at the deli, and roasted beets, which was more expensive at $4.15 for the same size, due to the weight. Note: Go for the greens rather than roots veggies because you'll save on weight. 

A side  note about salad bars... Whole foods should really offer an smaller alternative to the large cardboard containers at their bars. The temptation to fill it to the edges and with all the heavy goodies like tofu, boiled eggs, peas, and artichoke hearts is unfair. What begins as an endeavor to create a simple, low cost salad quickly becomes a massive $12 purchase. To date, the least expensive salad I have managed to purchase at the Whole Foods salad bar was $6.80. Next time, I'm gonna stick it to 'em, and make a salad thats less than $5.

With my food, I grabbed an organic Recharge for $2.99 (the organic is only .49 cents more) and I had to get the larger size because I was in need of electrolytes after a morning run. The food, drink, and an emergency box of tampons totalled$17.25, which ended up being perhaps comparable to what I would have spent at Saxy's, but I also got the veggies and tampons I needed, so I'm pleased. 

This was my only purchase yesterday. I developed a massive headache at the end of the day and really wanted to grab a chai to test if it was due to caffeine, but opted to taek two Aleve, which I had at home, and called it good. No more purchases for the rest of the day.

Money spent yesterday: $17.25

Day 1 (today): So far I have spent nothing, but entirely by accident. I didn't spend anything all morning, but later had to get out of the house to do some work and determined I deserved a chai so stopped at Brewing Market. After ordering I realized I didn't have my wallet with me and the hot barista I made small talk with gave it to me for free. Score! I was glad that I didn't pay, however, because their house chai was shitty. I have to spend another few hours in a coffee shop tonight so I will have to make another small purchase, but I will spend 150% on my drink with 50% going to the barista tip to balance out the karma from this morning. 

I am bumming because I ate the remainder of my cereal this morning, which means I need to make a purchase decision. Do I purchase the delicious, tiny box of organic granola at $4.49 and wake up tomorrow delighted about my first day's activity, or do I forgo spending and eat the equally healthful but not nearly as motivating for getting out of bed eggs already sitting in my fridge??  Okay, so $4.49 is not a lot of money, but going to the store is, especially on double savings Wednesdays at Sunflower Market. If I go, I will pick up a loaf of bread, Rudi's for $5.99, which will, annoyingly, be my second bread purchase of the week, since I somehow misplaced my previous loaf. On that note, I will save myself some food money by keeping better track of my food, but that is another story....

I am getting around on the scooter and bike due to nice weather. The scooter still has half a tank, which should give me another 25 or 30 miles, at least another week, when I alternate it with biking. So my gas budget--about $10 monthly-- is also reduced. Score!

No money spent on lunch today, I packed a bit of the very large salad I made on Sunday, which I have been portioning out throughout the week. I can extract only one more salad from that one, and will need to find a new lunch solution for the rest of the week. Definitely thinking I need some bread...

Money spent so far today: $0