I invested in food and my health for the next month. This meant a rather large expenditure (we're talking relatively here). After fixed expenses, you can usually spend the rest of your money how you like - including choice of meals, drinks, entertainment (including going out, etc.).
I was wondering when something like this was going to come up, and I was hoping it would show up in Weeks 2 or 3. But nope. Week 1. A deal too good to pass up - on something I am going to buy and consume anyway. (Anyone thinking Costco here?)
So let's start at the beginning, like one of those movies that gives you the ending at the beginning and then takes you through all the events that got you there. Yeah, I should write screenplays.
I got overexcited and made too much hot cereal (with blueberries!) yesterday morning, but it was good 'cause it filled me up for most of the first half of the day.
First thought into my head was: absolutely nothing to do with the amount of cereal I made. RENT.
Due 3 days ago, I had to ask my landlord if I could pay it on the weekend when I got paid, therefore avoiding the 3 days of interest I would have to incur if I borrowed the money from the bank. We're all living with our future paycheques in mind, aren't we?
My landlord is awesome. I have yet to have one like her (besides my boss from the previous summer, who also gave me a sweet home for three months for the price of a coffee a day, and my friends in the pub in England, but they're more like family than landlords), and I've been living on my own for over 10 years now. Anyway, when I asked to pay rent a few days late, she said: "Sure! And just make it $500 for feeding the cat when they go away for a few days." That's $50 off. And she provides me with toilet paper. In case you're wondering....I would have run out of TP 3 days ago...and it's not exactly cheap stuff. I would have to do the taking-from-the-coffee-shop-toilet-thing, and that violates one of my rules: No Stealing (though...this topic is highly debatable, as my friends continue to point out). So paying for it when it goes in, paying for it when it comes out. It's like dying. Sort of. As in, you can't even die for free. Funeral costs are through the roof. (Have I mentioned my A.D.O.S.S? - "Attention Deficit - Oh! Something Shiny!")
So in the middle of my split shift, I stopped at the grocery store to spend as little of my $16.76 as possible, while giving myself as many healthy food options as possible. Mixed beans for bean salad, canned soup, fresh red peppers, a tomato, 2 packages of rice crackers and a little tub of edamame dip - $11 exactly. That leaves $5.76 til the end of Saturday. Looking pretty good!
Then came the kicker. After my shift, I stopped at Whole Foods (one of my favourite grocery stores for their selection, local options, vegan and vegetarian options, awesome staff, and the fact that their produce tastes like the fruit or vegetable it looks like). I always go in there for a few specific things, like Emergen-c packets. I love them. Anytime I'm feeling a bit blah, or have the inkling that I'm getting sick (especially in the city), I throw one of these in some water and down it. So awesome. So...grabbed a couple packets ($0.69 each + tax) and headed for the cash, and wouldn't you know, these people have professional merchandisers working for them because the display of Emergen-c cases (boxes of 30 packets) on sale totally stopped me in my tracks. $14.99 + tax. Some quick math on my phone's calculator (a savings of $6.40 if I bought the case rather than the individual packets - more than a whole day's worth of living - but also more money out of my pocket initially) and some internal debates, and the packets went back on the shelf and I headed to the cash with the case.
Week 1 Receipts. Day 6. March 2011.
This is the problem with projects like this. They are so flawed. I can never actually duplicate what it's like to live on a seriously limited budget. As it stands right now, I'm only doing this for a month. I may decide to do it for longer to better replicate the situation in real life (if I can hack it). But then, I'm also out of here for 4 months in the summer. For anything I want or need to buy, I can just wait til this is over and splurge on it then. There is an end-date for this. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. In my situation, I can always flake out and get support from a number of places. I've already had so many friends and family offer to give me food or money in the past week (This also makes me laugh, cause I'm not starving really, but I have started to lose weight). As warm and fuzzy as that makes me feel...it's not within my rules at the moment (no pity, no donations). I'm so lucky to have that support system. I will never be left homeless and on my own. I will never starve or be devoid of nutrient rich food...there are too many people in my life that care about me, and they wouldn't allow that to happen. Also, it's just me. Noone else. I can uproot myself whenever I want (I do this often) and start again (as long as I don't get too far in debt and get "stuck"). And I stand in the same position for others around. I'm there to support my family and friends in whatever way I can, if possible. Not everyone has that support system.
Get two people on a seriously limited budget that really care about each other, if one person pauses just for a moment to help the other person (because that's what humans do!), it leaves that person in a seriously compromised position which may take weeks, months or years to recover, if ever at all. That's messed.
So now, where do I stand? Already behind. There is no planning for the future on a budget such as this. It's all day to day. One day I might save a few pennies, or a few dollars, but in the next, something will always come along and take those savings from me. Even if it's thinking ahead and being more economical - like my case of Emergen-c. It's more money out of my pocket right now, which means less in the near future. If anything else comes along like this, I almost definitely have to pass it up for the right here, right now, consumption.
I guess the next step is looking at the month as a whole - get an idea of how the rest of this is gonna go down.
Quick self-assessment:
Currently on day 6.
Day 6 spending: $27.79 (whoa!)
Week 1: already overspent by $12.04.
2 days left in the week.
From Sunday, 4 weeks left in the month.
Budgeted amount left for the month: $140
Actual amount left for the month: $127.96
Taking me down to about $4.5 dollars a day for the rest of the month. Oh and today and Saturday's money is already spent.
Ha! The plot thickens...
Rice and beans anyone?
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