Twinkle Loon

The month is coming to an end! My final spending for the month is $182.08 I went over by $82 but I still think I did a good job. I would have liked to come in at $100 but that would have taken some preparation before hand and that kind of defeats the purpose.

Things I learned about my spending habits- I spend most of my money on the weekends! It was pretty easy to stay away from spending money during the week. I didn’t really have to change many habits with my routine. I brought food to work for lunch and made coffee at my desk and made dinner at home.

The majority of my non-grocery spending came on the weekends. The weekends were pretty rough because I wanted to go to restaurants and bars and the movies. Ugh! And it was rough resisting buying things when other people around me were purchasing things. “No, put that sweater down! you don’t need it!”… Nope, I bought the sweater. It’s nice and comfy though, I like it. I’m wearing it right now in fact.

Do you ever feel guilty for going into a store and then leaving without buying anything? Especially if it’s a small local business and you like things in the store? I find my self wanting to say “I really like your store! (whisper) But I’m not buying anything. I’m really, really sorry! It’s very nice though.” (guilty shrug) as I scurry out the door. I feel a little crazy writing that but it’s not just me! Not one hour ago a woman came into our store and did basically the same thing. She walked around a bit and then slowly walked past us ducking her head, looking to the side at me and giving an apologetic smile as she walked out the door.

I am really glad that I went through with this experiment but I am ecstatic that it is over! It brought to light my own issues with ‘consumer guilt’. Feeling guilty for buying things I don’t need and feeling guilty for not buying anything at all. I learned what I could get away with and I also learned what I don’t want to sacrifice in the future. Food! I am so tired of eating salami and cheese sandwiches for lunch and pasta and spinach for dinner!

So I know that technically I still have one day left in the month but I am flying out tonight to visit a friend in San Francisco so I’m not counting tomorrow. It’s a Holiday anyway. I can get that off right? Well I’m going to anyway. All bets are off tomorrow, I am going to eat to my stomachs content!

I don’t know if I’m gonna make it guys! I only have $26.73 left for the rest of the month. Yikes!

In the past 8 days I went out with my friends for Indian food at Mughal Garden-$11.49 Got a cold and had to buy some medicine- $5.50 Paid for drinks for me and my boyfriend at Colosseo- $22.65 And had a whole lot of fun! Except for that cold part…

So I basically have a $1.67 a day left over. Lets not joke around here, I am going to go over $100. BUT I would still like to get as close as possible to that $100 mark so the game’s not over yet!

Bloggy woes- Still no photos, but hopefully the problem will be resolved this weekend.

It has been seven days on my $100 a month budget. I started off with $10 in cash which I spent the majority of on fried pickles and mead at the Renaissance Festival. Hey, you gotta treat your self some times. Today I had to go grocery shopping for lunch and breakfast food and spent $23.63

One of the biggest changes I have made in my spending is not buying food while I am at work. Previously I would buy coffee and a bagel at the local coffee shop and it was really draining my wallet. But since we have a nifty hot spigot on the water cooler at work I can make coffee in my french press! Sure, maybe it’s a bit strange to have a french press sitting on your desk but that alone is saving me almost $15 a week! And instead of buying a bagel I make yummy oatmeal with brown sugar… also at work (side note: Yes, I make oatmeal at work in the morning. I hate being late and taking public transportation can be unreliable. Therefore I choose to get to work a half hour early and make my breakfast there than risk making it at home and end up late to work. capice? Hey, it works for me).

I have been getting by making dinners at home by just working off what is in the pantry. I am getting a little worried about my next big shopping trip. I like to eat somewhat healthy (fried pickles aside) so eating from the dollar menu is not an option to me.

I have $76.37 left and 24 days to go, that’s only $3.18 a day. Time to get creative!

Update: Huzzah!! I am back in business!! We have photos people! Thanks to my awesome boyfriend Nathan! Love you!

Hmmmm my blog doesn’t seem to be working properly. It has decided not to upload photos. Minor glitch! Not to worry, I have my tech people working on it (a.k.a. Landon the super amazing website genius!)

Moving on, I have decided to do a little experiment and it begins today! Two months ago I decided to try and limit my spending to $300 for the month. I ended up with $23 left over and it really wasn’t that difficult. So I have decided to really put my self to the test and live off of $100 a month.

The Rules:

• All regular monthly bills will be paid as usual, including my monthly light rail pass. 
• All “business” expenses will be exempt from the $100 budget as long as I am using the purchased materials for a salable project.  
• I can only spend up to $100 in a given month, savings from one month will not be carried over into the next month.
• All other expenses including food, gifts, clothing, and entertainment will come out of the $100 budget.
• All purchases and cash withdrawals will be recorded on a piece of paper wrapped around my debit card.

This is an exercise in seeing how much I can get away with, reevaluating what I really need and creatively using what I already have. I am really hoping that this will be a fun and enlightening experiment! I will post regular updates about my triumphs and woes.

To quote  No Impact Man- “Make sure that what you use really makes you happy!”