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!