Challenge #2 Wrap-Up: Frugal February

So the 28th also marked the end of Frugal February, and I have to say: I never realized how terrible I am at all of this.

I mean, my god, people -this was a struggle. And I didn't even succeed all the way!

The elephant in the room is the fact that, no matter how I spin this past month, our plumbing issues meant we still put a metric butt-tonne (real number) on the line of credit so we're in more debt than when we started. But that was largely unforeseen and sadly necessary so let's focus on what we did that we had some modicum of control over and not on what involved a beef jerky bag full of soiled toilet paper.

Ahem.

So let's get right to the meat of the matter: How did I do with my goals?

1.Taxis -FAIL

Let's get a big ol' pile of suck out of the way right off the top. In January I took about 12 cabs, and spent about $110. In February I took about 12 cabs and spent about $110. You can take the girl out of Spendville but you can't take the laziness out of the girl. The only two positives I can take away from this are 1) 4-5 of those cabs are in direct response to the work we had done on the house. I had to make some mad-cap bank runs, stay late at work to make up for time lost and go in late in the morning to let workmen enter. In a "normal" month, I would have done much better. 2) none of those were put on my Visa this month, which means I paid out of pocket for all of them. Small victories, people.

2. Coupons - MODERATE SUCCESS

My goal was to use 6 coupons by the end of the month and I used 5. They were all for things I already needed: yogurt, egg whites, laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, and pasta. I organized the ones I had, threw out the ones I likely wouldn't use and then started bringing them to the store with me. I think I'm going to start following my sister's lead and put the few that are expiring soon in my wallet so that I don't forget about them. While I fell one short of my goal, I'm putting this in the "win" column.

3. Pretty frock purchases - NOT GREAT, BUT OKAY

The beginning of February was rife with situations in which my sister would yell "FRUGAL FEBRUARY!" at me every time I even opened up a website that had ability to sell me objects. By the end of the month, all she had to do was shake her head and frown and I'd sadly close the window and go back to playing Spider Solitaire. Eventually, I did cave a bit and bought a sweater dress, pants and 2 pair of shoes. That doesn't sound like a success but for me, it was practically a miracle. One pair of shoes were part of a one-day sale of 50% off and I'd had my eye on them for months; the others were also 50% off. The pants were an exact replacement of my favourite pair that ripped on Frugal February Day 2 and were 30% off. The dress was also 30% off and was the result of having to throw out 2 of my only casual dresses due to wear and tear (and weird ketchup stains??) and this was a direct replacement. To offset these buys I gave away 6 more items to charity and threw away 2 or 3 additional pieces that were too worn to give to anyone. Yes, I was not perfect but I was much more measured than I'd ever been.

I think shopping is kind of like fast food for me: I can avoid it okay as long as I don't start doing it. No, I make sense. Like, I haven't had McDonald's in months, but if I cave and have it even once then I know I'll basically spend the rest of the month fishing Big Mac wrappers out of the trash just to sniff them. As soon as I finished my one-day shopping spree, I definitely found myself back on shopping websites and gazing at store windows. Happy to say I didn't fall for it. It took some concentration but I think this new-found will power when it comes to spending will stick around for a bit. I made a real, concerted effort to "shop my closet" this month and I re-organized my closet by colour so now I think I can get the thrill of a new outfit without having, you know, a new outfit. Plus it made it very clear when I was "missing something" in my wardrobe (ie: casual dresses). I'm going to try and keep this up.

4. Eating Out -SUCCESS

Image courtesy of: http://mydarlingangelgabriel.tumblr.com/

Totally proud of myself here. My goal was to only eat out/take in 6 times this month and I'm happy to report I stuck to those numbers. I'm choosing not to count Valentine's Day dinner (since I didn't pay for it and it was my 'gift') and the Dishcrawl, since we paid for that over a month in advance so it was well paid-off before it happened. We took in 3 times (Indian twice and pizza once) and I paid to eat out 3 times (once for coffee with a friend, once out for lunch with the sister for Galentine's, and the last day of the month to a sports bar with my family). On top of that, I also cut down my meals in the cafeteria by a big margin, going from a visit 3-4 times a week to once a week.

I'm really proud of this one because, other than taxis in the cold months, it's the hardest one to break. Eating out is easy and fun and doing it 3 times a week didn't seem like a big deal. But on top of being financially difficult to maintain, eating take out and restaurant food has.. how shall I put this delicately.. made my ass a big flabby chubbathon. I've gained a decent amount of weight since this time last year and I'm trying to put an end to that because frankly, my clothes are damn cute.

Planning our meals has been one of the best fighters against going out. It also makes me realize that when my mom got all pissy about making dinner when we were younger, it was less about the pain of making dinner and more about the agony of deciding what's for dinner. Seriously. Making decisions on the daily is for the birds. We've utilized my slow cooker a lot, and made beef pot pie, ribs, sweet potato soup, and homemade spaghetti sauce. All awesome. We're going to keep up the menu planning beyond Frugal February as it totally works for us and has kept our grocery excursions short which is a blessing for two people with short attention spans and an aversion to crowds. This also works out well for the college students in line ahead of us buying 30 cans of beans because a happy us means we're less likely to trip them accidentally-on-purpose.

5. No "Lazy" Fines - MODERATE SUCCESS

Lazy fines was all about curbing the user fees, late fees and any other little charges one accrues for being a lazy butt. I was good about some, but bad about others. I decided not to take out library books since I had books here I still have to read. I took out money twice from the machines at work but since my bank account allows for up to 2 free withdrawals a month that wasn't too bad. I'm going to count the annoying $1.50 that gets added on every time I paid for a cab with debit so that was a bit of an annoyance. But overall, nothing too aggravating and I became aware of where I was spending those little chunks of change.


General Successes:

Put $400 in my savings account
Put $400 on my credit card
6 "no spend" days.

General Failures:
See aforementioned pipe issues *grumble*
I stopped writing down what I was spending - and that made things harder to keep track of
22 "livin' like a Rockefeller days" ;)

So, TL;DR? I think Frugal February was a good idea and I'm glad I participated. I'm happy to try and incorporate these changes into my daily life and I'm even going to try to amp it up a bit later on... Broke-tober anyone?

Frugal February: Halfway to Heaven

Oy. We're at the halfway point of Frugal February and well... it's kind of apt, because I'm half-impressed with my mostly half-assed behaviour so far. It's been a challenge, no doubt about it, but a welcome one; I like thinking before I hand money over, and I'm extra chuffed if I have a no-spend day. In my post about my goals for the month I outlined 5 areas I wanted to improve upon. Come, friends, and let's see how I'm doing.


1.Taxis

I took 12 taxis in January, and wanted to quarter that number down to 3. Yeeah.. might have been a bit ambitious there. Especially since I've been working late this past week and a coworker has offered to split a cab with me a few times. All told, I've taken 6 cabs so far which is twice what I wanted to take but half of what I did last month. There's still time to turn this around and come under what I did last year but we are gonna put this in the "defeat" column for now.

2. Coupons

I have an overflowing envelope of coupons and I always forget to use them until they expire. The process of ordering, clipping, filing and tossing them is soothing but essentially useless. I've made a pact to use at least 6 this month and I'm not that far in - I've only used 1. But it was $1 off something we actually needed (detergent) and it was already 50% off to begin with so I was definitely cock of the walk (read: annoying, strutting person in that supermarket) that day. I've been using other types of discounts (more on that in a later post) but I could be doing more to use up the product coupons I already have. In my defense, the reason we haven't used a lot of coupons is that we haven't gone grocery shopping very much. Just twice since we've started the month and mostly for fresh foods and produce (for which coupons are sorely lacking). But still, I'll work on it.


3. Pretty frock purchases

This was tough because on day 3, my favourite pair of pants started to wear away in the leg and I was devastated and yet, determined to not buy a replacement. I have to admit, I lost the battle today and replaced them. But at least I got 30% off- right? RIGHT?

Today's little shopping outing for Galentine's Day was the first I've had this month and I'm pretty proud of that. Normally, I'd be popping into stores every few days, but I've been making a conscious effort to not even tempt myself. This has been an enormous issue, especially with the proliferation of online sales as of late, but I've avoided almost all of them. The two things I bought today were less than $100 - still not ideal but good for me. This one's a "not bad" so far.

4. Eating Out

This is definitely where I thought I'd fail the most but, honestly - I've been pleasantly surprised by how well I've done. I ate out 12 times last month and limited myself to 6 this month. So far I'm at two eat outs (one with a coupon from my sister, one coffee date with a friend) and two eat-ins (one pizza order when The Boy was too sick to move and Indian food I literally just finished eating before I typed this sentence). This is amazing, you guys. I'll try to keep it up (we haven't done V-day dining yet) but I'm pretty impressed with how well I've done on this so far, frankly. Call it a "success".

5. No "Lazy" Fines

So far so good on this one, too. No library fines (because I've decided to stop reading- gives you wrinkles) (okay, fine, kidding), no unnecessary bank fees, I even paid back some debts here and there. I've paid in cash where I can and have made my own breakfast (thus saving me cafeteria fees) all but two days this month. I'm doing really well on this front. I'm going to eat a brownie to celebrate. Success.

So, not bad so far. Just having the constant drumbeat in the back of my head to save money has helped me put more money on my credit card and more money against my debts. I'm still cringing occasionally but all in all, go me. Until March. Then hold on to your fucking hat. (okay, fine, kidding) (maybe)

Frugal February Day 7: Clothes Culling or How Not to End up Buried Under a Pile of Your Own Diapers on Hoarders

One of my biggest expenditures, other than eating out, is on clothing. Sometimes accessories, sometimes shoes, often lately dresses, the idea of something new as a "pick me up" is hard to resist. Moving from my apartment, where I had a decent-sized closet, under-bed storage and two chests of drawers, to our house where I have a dress rack but no closet, small under-bed storage and only one chest of drawers, was an adjustment. But it's been a good one. A smaller space means that I have to make do with less and it's helping to ensure that I get rid of things in a timely manner.

I'm no expert but I have been experimenting with different strategies to avoid a) buying stuff I'll regret and b) keeping stuff I no longer enjoy. I basically try to adhere to the following guidelines (rules sounds too harsh- unless you like the naughtiness of being a rule-breaker, in which case, call them rules and go on with your bad self)

1. My sister and I made a pact last year to stop buying "disposable clothing". Disposable clothing is categorized by us as a) pieces that cost less than $10 (usually with good reason) and b) things that are "nice enough" that you'll invariably hate a year from now.

 I recognize that for a more "daring" piece, disposability can be an asset- you're okay buying something trendy if it's also cheap enough to risk it- but normally, if it won't become a favourite, we talk each other out of buying it. We know each other well enough and have gone through each other's closets enough times to know what styles end up getting the sack year after year. For her it's thin sweaters with ties and generic "chino-style" pants. For me it's usually wide-legged dress pants and cable-knits. We are drawn to them only to hate them months (or even weeks, if we're being honest) later.

Even though we try to cull regularly, the 80/20 rule definitely applies to our closets. I'm making a conscious effort to change that but for now, I really do wear 20% of my clothes 80% of the time. The question we always ask the other when they're hemming and hawing over something in the changeroom is: do you want to wear it tomorrow? If the answer is no when it's brand new and shiny, you're never going to want to pull it out of the closet when it's a few months old.

2. Same goes for size/fit. If it doesn't make you look amazing right now, it's not worth it. You may lose those 10 pounds, you may get a curvier butt, you may sign up for some sort of scientific trial that leaves you with a tiny waist and the ability to shoot lasers out of your mouth but if it isn't something you want to put on your current body, it's just a scrap of fabric taking up room and making you feel inadequate. If you must have a "goal outfit" make it just that - A goal outfit. If you love it to death and feel that will be a motivator then hang on to it, but a second wardrobe of clothes is impractical, space-wasting and, frankly, depressing.  You should be able to look at your closet and be delighted by choice - not overwhelmed by the daily search-and-sort you have to do to find something appropriate.

3. Don't buy two of something - it makes it less special. This one is weird, and, of course, your mileage may vary, but for me, buying two of something is a recipe for a quick trip to the local donation bin. I remember when I was in high school, an American Eagle opened up for the first time and oh, but I was eager to shop there. I bought a pair of men's shorts (such a bad-ass) and two of these bright tank tops, one in yellow/blue, one in green/white. I loved the hell out of both of those tank tops.. for about six weeks. Then I started ignoring them whenever my fingers passed over them in my closet. Eventually, I just tossed both of them at once, after realizing they'd been in my closet for four years and I hadn't worn them in two.

The secret there is that I'd really only loved the green one. I bought the yellow one two days later when I was making my way through the sales rack and decided I might as well buy another. That was my mistake - now that "have-to-have-it shirt" became the "been-there-done-that-bought-the-t-shirt". It was immediately made "old" by the presence of another. I've since learned that even if I love a shirt, I shouldn't buy it in several colours - just last month I threw out two shirts that I loved when I got them but were too similar to styles or colours I already owned. Ugh - my loss, your gain, Canadian Diabetes Association.

The one exception I'm willing to make here is if you find something you love that's a classic (think dark blue, straight-leg jeans, great fitting plain white blouse, favourite t-shirt in a discontinued style), then I'd recommend buying two of them - but storing one (if you have the space) until the first wears out. I once had a fabulous pair of dark blue denim pants (yes, a pedant might call them "jeans" but they were thinner than jeans, with a good amount of stretch.. was I wearing jeggings? Oh god. They were probably jeggings) and I loved the hell out of them. They made my butt look great and they were comfy as all get out. When the inside leg of one side wore right through, I was devastated, despondent. I was more upset than I had any right to be, really. I sincerely wish I had bought two pairs because now they're long gone and I didn't even have the sense to read the tag so I could track them down again. And I haven't found a pair of pants like them since.

Another example, The Boy has a dark blue military-style button-up shirt in a timeless style that both he and I adore. He bought two of them and put the other away in a drawer. Now if the first wears out or fades dramatically, he can just switch it out for the other.

But I have accepted I just can't buy two of anything similar at the same time. The "fun" of owning the item is immediately cut in half by its twin. Like I said, it may be different for you, but I just can't fool myself any longer.

4. Take it out of your closet. When I'm unsure of whether to toss a piece or keep it, I take it off its hanger, fold it, and put it someplace out of the way for a day or two. I don't know why my brain thinks this way, but once it's out of my closet (or dress rack, in my case), it stops being "my clothing" and I can think more objectively about it. Often times that's all it takes for me to decide that a skirt or dress isn't worth my time any longer.

5. Consign it. I'm a recent convert to consigning but I was amazed that I made some actual money off of doing this. I had a few small bags of clothes I was going to give away anyway, and I took the best of the bunch to a consignment shop near my parent's place. I had to make a meeting in advance but the whole process was fairly painless. It's a little humbling to have someone paw through your clothing with a discerning eye but if you can get past the feeling of rejection, it's a great way to pick up a little cash. The place I went to charts your purchases online so you can see what's sold, how much it's going for, and how much you'll make off the deal. The place I went with also donates all the stuff it doesn't sell to local women's shelters. All told, I made about $35 off of my batch of about 10 items. Not everything sold but at least it ceased to be my problem the minute I stepped out their door. Great experience - I'm going back again in another week.

6. Have an honest friend. My sister and I are brutal on each other's wardrobes but it's necessary. Growing up, we'd try to get rid of things in our closet with our mom's help but every time we'd discard an item she particularly liked she'd moon "oh.. that was such a pretty piece. I always thought you looked so nice in it" and then she'd sigh like she was Catherine, pining for Heathcliff on the moors or something. We'd guiltily ask for the piece back and then hang it up, never wear it, and wait until she wasn't looking to throw it out.

Now we're wiser. We buy our own clothes so mom's not in the picture anymore, and occasionally we'll get together on the Straight Talk Express and hammer at each other's egos for a bit. It's all done out of love, of course, and we're only doing it out of a desire for the other one to look amazing. If we're being particularly kind we'll scrunch up our noses and mutter "not your best". If we're at the end of a particularly gruelling session we're more likely to yell "are you kidding me with this shit?! What are all the other hobbits wearing this year?" and then grab the clothing out of the other's hand and cram it in a grocery bag.

We usually do this twice a year - once in the spring and once in the fall. I go through my clothes first and remove whatever doesn't fit, has holes, or doesn't suit me for whatever reason. I take the "maybes" off their hangers and fold them (see guideline #4). Then I do an impromptu fashion show for my sister and she hurls abuse at me until we both just want the day to be over with our mouths full of pizza. We've got it down to a science now so it doesn't take more than an hour or two (often depending on how nimble the clothes-tryer-oner is feeling that day). It's a great feeling when it's over because you have tangible proof of your success and you feel you can justify bringing a few more "have to have it"s into your life.


So, that's it - those are all the tips I got for ya. Do you have any surefire ways to make sure your closet stays manageable? With the state of mine lately I'm starting to think "controlled fire" has its perks...




 * Note: not necessarily are you going to wear it tomorrow. Otherwise I don't think us Canadians would ever buy a pair of shorts

Frugal February Day 2: Laura Ingalls Milder

Let's... Get... Domestic!

Today was a cheat day - not because I did anything "naughty" per se, but because The Boy paid for groceries today instead of me, thus keeping it as a spend-free day. We bought enough stuff to last us the week, I think, though I lamented this morning that "we have a lot of ingredients but no FOOD". Because I don't like admitting that I have do anything for food to exist. Because I still have the coping skills of a toddler.

We've planned out what we're going to eat for the week, which is often half (or almost all) of the battle with staying home for dinner. I swear to God, if someone made me cook every night but would just tell me *what* to make, I'd be all "Lobster Thermador, I got this," every night.

We've pre-paid for a Dishcrawl that's happening near us this Wednesday and on Friday we plan on dominating at the British High Commission's Trivia Night (motto: lose your dignity to the sounds of posh accents, cheap beer and bad pizza), so those two meals are taken care of. And tonight I decided to wow the crowd with a slow cooker beef pot pie with puff pastry and an eggnog bread pudding. I'm not bragging, I'm just writing it as a reminder that I can cook, for when I'm eating marshmallows and Kraft singles for dinner.

I've been tidying the rest of the day, doing laundry, washing dishes, living this rock star life that y'all are jealous of. I don't want to make you jealous or anything but I also picked out some dirt from a swiffer pad this morning and then re-used it. I'm basically Lady Gaga in a hoodie.

Ooh- and I used another coupon! I know I shouldn't be excited about this, but I unabashedly am. Got me some super cheap laundry detergent, son *does embarrassing roof-raise* *trails off slowly* Now you're super-jealous.

Okay, okay. Not my most awe-inspiring post but I'm half-distracted by The Princess Bride on TV and the promise of Aerosmith songs to be downloaded for Rock Band, so my focus is understandably divided.

Frugal February Day 1: I Can Resist Everything Except Temptation

How awesome is it that Oscar Wilde has two perfect quotes about temptation? So awesome, that's how. 

So, as you may have guessed by my choice of quote, Day 1 of Frugal February was kind of a bust. Okay, a big bust. If today was an actual bust it would be the offspring of Ice-T's wife Coco and Dolly Parton. There was nothing frugal about this day, no matter how you spin it. I already used TWO of my three "gimme" taxis. I know, I know. But it was chilly this morning and I was lazy and ... even I'm not buying this nonsense. I then went on to get breakfast at the cafeteria (and also a slice of homemade lemon meringue pie) and ate a whole bunch of food at a little shindig in the office. The latter of those was free, but if we're taking frugal as not just a financial decision but lifestyle choice then... I exercised no restraint in any sense of the word today.

It was a blood bath that started with crab dip and ended with coworkers screaming for mercy.

But in my defense, our admin assistant really outdid herself. It was kind of an intense week so there was concern The menu for our casual end-of-day soiree included bacon-wrapped-dates, veggie samosas, cheese dip, the aforementioned crab dip, baguette, cheeses, dolmades, meatballs, chicken satay, tofu skewers, baba ghanoush (not spelled correctly but if I start changing it now I'll be up all night adding and removing U's), garam masala-spiced nuts, chips, crackers and roasted garlic. And except for the samosas and chips it was ALL HOMEMADE BY HER. And is officially more cooking than I... well, than I've ever done in my life, frankly.

I ate it so fast and so thoroughly that I think I actually got drunk off delicious. That can be the only explanation for our decision to invent and drink the "Bloody Santa Maria" (aka the "Caribbean Caesar") with a bottle of V8 juice we found in the divisional fridge and rum. It's as terrible as you think it is. Viva la revolution.

So calories and wallet gone to hell, I kind of just said "eff it" and took a cab home with some leftovers (if I spilled even a dollop of that crab dip I would have thrown myself under the bus that made me spill it). And now here I sit, be-sweatpanted and slightly peckish (I'm a monster), wondering how the hell I'm going to turn it around for the next 27 days. 

I had no idea how ingrained in me casual spending was, and I'm not entirely sure how to handle it. I get Mr. Wilde's quote more than you can imagine. Did I need that second piece of pie? Did I need to get breakfast as well as a snack? Did I need to get that cab this morning to get to work on time or would all have been well if I was a little late? I think I know the answers to all of those but I don't like 'em.

I'll end it on a positive note, however. I did do some things right.

1) The reason I took a cab home was that I brought home a bunch of (shoddily-wrapped) leftovers so The Boy could make a dinner of it. Which he happily did. Friday just feels like a "take-in" day and we usually get Indian or pizza so that $10 cab probably saved us a $30-$60 take-in bill, which isn't terrible.

2) I actually wrote everything down that I spent. The two cabs, the breakfast sandwich, it's all committed to paper now. I remember when I had braces I lost a lot of weight when I actually remembered to put my elastics on. Basically, that 2 second act of having to remove them to eat was enough for me to think if I'm actually hungry or if I'm just mindlessly chewing. The book is those elastics - do I really want to write this $3.14 sandwich down? Probably not. Writing is the worst.

3) I used a coupon! My uncle's birthday is on Saturday and I (foolishly) offered to get the cake. I forgot about my little challenge and was resigning myself to making a (terrible) cake. But then a Groupon came up for Marble Slab Creamery (my closest friend and cherished lover). I had an old Groupon credit in my account from a restaurant that closed (RIP Jean Albert's Soul Food) so I used that against the price of this Groupon. So I spent $5 on a $27 ice cream cake for his b-day. I'm feeling pretty chuffed, I must say.

Also I managed to make breakfast into a meal that has a dessert on the end so that has to count for something.

So, you take the good you take the bad, you take them both and there you have: Frugal February #1. It can only go up from here. Unless there's more crab dip. God help you all, then.

Frugal February: The Goals

Well, time continues to march forever forward and the month of love (vomit) is upon us. February is a usually a pretty chill month for me, finance-wise, but I'm still feeling the pinch of Christmas (and will likely continue to feel it until Labour Day) so I've decided to make a firm effort to spend time with my first love: money. I've already bought The Boy his (unromantic but secretly awesome) Valentine's Day gifts, and I've asked that he take me out to dinner instead of buying me anything. Because, much like J-Lo, my love don't cost a thing (but an onion ring). No, really. That was the full title of the song. Check if you want, I'll wait.

See? It's all about the fried foods.

Anyway, I'm going to try and embrace the concept of Frugal February. Mostly because of my second love, alliteration. I'm not foolish or brave enough to make sweeping life changes but there are definitely some areas of improvement I can work on. My goals are:

1.Taxis

Holy crap. I added up January's cab purchases and I spent $58 in credit/debit *alone* on cabs. Add in my cash fares and it's probably twice that, with me taking a taxi 2-3 times a week. Bus and walking combined, my morning commute is about 25 minutes. Which means cabs are mostly unnecessary but also cheap enough that I don't notice them adding up. In a month as inconstant, temperature-wise as February I doubt I can say "no cabs at all!" but I'm going to limit myself to 3 cabs this month, cutting my taxis by more than half. If I just got out of my bed 15 minutes earlier most days, I'd be able to avoid almost all my early-morning taxis. That's a mighty big "if", though. An "if" the size of a queen bed + comfy pillows.

2. Coupons

I order 'em, I open 'em, I forget about 'em, and then I make The Boy race around the grocery store with me on December 31st, convincing him we need 2 dozen eggs and a family-pack of Cheesestrings because "OhMyGodThey'reOnSale!!" Enough, I say. I want to use the coupons I have instead of continually ordering more. I'm not an extreme couponer at all - in fact I feel kind of guilty whenever I hold up the line with a few coupons. That being said, a dolla might not make me holla, but I'd do plenty for a twenty, y'know? I vow to use at least 6 coupons out of my stash when shopping.

3. Pretty frock purchases

Oh, this one is going to sting. I don't even add up how much I spend on clothes in a given month because I know it would make me cringe. And cringing causes unsightly wrinkles, and then I can't trap me a man, natch. My sister and I are total enablers when it comes to this but I'm going to try to "shop my closet" and *gasp* not make any new purchases this month. I don't even know if I can do this. I'm getting heart palpitations just thinking about it.

4. Eating Out

No! Wait! I changed my mind! *This* is the one that's going to be the hardest. Remember those halcyon days of yore when we looked at my taxi purchases and scoffed at the measly sum of $58 on cabs? Multiply that by 5 and you have what I spent on take out/eating out/drinks this month. And I should point out, I handle the lion's share of the grocery bills so that The Boy handles most of the restaurant/take in bills. Which means we ate out or took in about 12 times this month. Not including The Boy's weekly sushi lunches or Subway excursions or my paid-in-cash coffee and sandwich with my sister, or the tri-weekly trip to the office cafeteria to enjoy an "Early Riser" (read: Egg McMuffin without all the press). It's kind of insane, yo.

Eating out is basically one of my only vices and I don't want to get rid of it entirely (scroll back up and see what I asked for for Valentine's Day) but even that seems excessive for me. I'm going to cut that number in half. 6 take outs/restaurant visits this month. Which still seems like a lot but y'know what? We're two young and happenin' kids, unburdened by the costs of children or pets, making okay money - we're going to treat ourselves. However, menu-planning, lame though it may be, is going to have to become our friend. I forsee a lot of Manwich in our futures. No worries there.

5. No "Lazy" Fines

This is probably my habit that most annoys me, and it manifests itself in many ways. For example, I'll have a book from the library. I'll mark down the due date in my calendar. I'll finish the book. Then I'll get too lazy to bother bringing it back, incurring a daily fee as the days stretch into weeks. Or, I'll bypass taking out money from the bank I belong to because it's "too far away", then I'll take out money from a competitor's machine and swallow the 1.50 fine. When I learned they don't shut your water off right away just because you are late on a payment, I started paying that bill when I remembered it. Which is usually half-past too late. I want to try and go a month without late fees, overdraft fees, financial penalties and all and sundry money grabbers that only happen because I'm too damn lazy to check that due date, confirm that bank balance or make that extra walk to save a few bucks. I assume I'll eventually lose the use of my legs due to rapid weight gain or a loss of bone mass due to inertia, so I might as well use this body while I got it.

So that's it, that's the plan. I'll be checking in periodically to tell you how I'm doin'. But if you hear tears coming from my neck of the woods do send a polka-dot dress, size large, and an order of saag paneer, would you? Thanks. You're a peach.