Speaking of the assisted living facility where I volunteer, I spent money on the woman who plays piano. She has had the same old songbooks for YEARS, and so I went on eBay and got her five more for $5. I'm gonna take them over to her today.
This cheat got me to thinking. It was exactly a year ago that Marvin and I were out to dinner in Westwood, and I was reading a $5 yoga magazine -- because I'm polite during dinner that way -- about people who made an effort to not spend money. I said to Marvin, "Let's do this" and he said "Okay." So that's how we got ourselves into this mess.
But I wondered, is there anything I haven't cheated and spent on this year?
The rules were: no restaurants, no gifts, no vacations, no shopping, no grooming, no entertainment.
Gifts. See above. Also, before I left my job in LA, I got a baby shower gift for a woman at work. But I have NOT gotten wedding gifts for anyone, next week is Marvin's birthday and all he gets is a dinner of whatever he wants, and I am making Christmas gifts.
This is pretty good for someone who spent over $1,000 on birthday gifts in ONE week last year.
And who spent $1,200 on Christmas last year.
Trips. Yep. Cheated here, too. We went to Cape Cod for a wedding. And we are going to Wisconsin for Christmas.
Restaurants. Well, this has certainly been curtailed dramatically from how we used to eat out. Which was daily. But we did eat at restaurants the whole time we drove from California to here, and also before our kitchen stuff got here. And we do cheat and go to, like, Subway sometimes. But still, way better than we used to be.
Grooming. So far this year I have not had my eyebrows done, nor have I paid for a mani or pedi. Someone bought me a pedi in May. I currently have rhinoceros hooves.
I have been dyeing my own hair, which I will be excited to stop doing. Excited to get my hair cut, too. I have not had facials, massages, reikki, chakra cleansing or any of the other ridiculous things I used to have done for entertainment. I am Nair-ing my own Clark Gable facial hair.
Shopping. The only time I bought stuff this year was when I had job interviews. Both times I turned down the job. Money poorly spent. Other than that, my clothes are a travesty. I look awful most of the time.
Oh, you know what? I also bought a dress and shoes for that wedding in Cape Cod. Yeesch.
Entertainment. We are doing well on this one. Went to a drive-in movie with Aunt Mary in September, and one of the last nights we were in LA, our house was completely empty except for an air mattress, so we saw The Simpsons movie at the Egyptian, which is a great theater. Other than that, we are really finding free things to do.
Also, we do not have cable here in North Carolina, and we did before. It sucks.
I have not bought myself books or magazines, which I like to do.
Marvin has not gone to see bands, which he likes to do.
So, in a nutshell, we have not been so perfect, but we certainly have gone with a lot less than usual. Plus, despite moving everything across the country, and making $100,000 less the second half of the year, we STILL have $8,000 to our names. Which is pretty good considering we maybe had $150 in savings last year at this time.
Honestly, though, you should see my feet. Pan called. Wants his hooves back.
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7 comments:
You guys are excellent! There is no way I could give up gifts or eating out. Other stuff? Well, I've never had a pedicure in my entire life, so, yea, Pan calls my house too.
I wish we had had time for a pedicure when you visited a few weeks ago. Maybe at Thanksgiving?
You guys have done an amazing job! It will be interesting to find out where you find the middle ground when you are done with this year.
I've never had a "professional" pedicure either, but there is a very strong possibility I'll never get a one, unless I purchase my own tools. I don't want to risk getting "cooties" from tools used on other people, especially since I'm trying to protect a relatively new (5 yrs) hip. Doing you own pedicue is not so bad, I make it fun, I get out on my back steps in the sunshine.
You have done an outstanding job of saving this year.
I would have to have a whole 'band' category. It wouldn't be pretty. And now, since Timmy has shown me the ways of Patty Griffin, it's just getting worse. So are you going to blow your 8 grand in 2008? Can you buy a whole house for that there?
Wow that was really interesting to read how it went (especially because I am new here!)
Last night I was suddenly taken over by a Juneism and said to dh, who had just eaten two plates of dinner and who also weighs about 160 pounds at 6'2", "T-rex called. He wants his appetite back." I thought this was funny but it gave poor dh a BIG complex. "What? Am I eating too much? I ate my normal amount, what's wrong??" ROFL! I can't figure out if I'm still laughing because my comment was so funny or because dh got such a big complex!
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