july 21, 2010

OMG

This is the end of my blog!

I can't believe I did this for a whole month! I am pretty proud of myself. I think that this experience will make me look at the price of everything I will buy from now on, and truly try to get the best bargain. The amount of money I've saved this month was AMAZING! Thanks for watching everyone! <3 <3 <3

Love,
April

July 20, 2010

Hi!

Tomorrow is the last day of this blog. :O

I spent $7.50 on coffee, a cookie, and lunch!

$26.54
+$5.00
______
$31.54
-$7.50
_____
$24.04

July 19, 2010

Looking back on this month, I spent five dollars a day. I sold a painting for 100 dollars and added that to my allowance. Either way, no matter how much I spent it really cost me 150 dollars this month.

There are going to be three more days (including today) of my blog. I am going to spend the rest of my money allowance within these last three days, which means on average I will spend about ten dollars a day.

Looking at my bank statement, I cannot believe the amount of money I've saved. I didn't realize how much money I used to fritter away on crap food and transportation. The bus alone used to cost me four dollars a day. I couldn't imagine! I used to be frugal, but now I know how frugal one can actually be and still be happy. I know my savings account is happy!

BTW, I just did laundry in my sink. It washes undergarments like a charm!

(update)

I spent ten dollars on laundry, which rules because this time I didn't have to do it in the sink. HA! :D

$31.54
+$5.54
______
$36.54
-$10.00
______
$26.54

July 18, 2010

What uppp? I spent 30 dollars today on groceries, but I got a killing's worth!!

I went to the 50 percent off section and bought a bunch of pasta, flour (the bag had a tear...oh well!) cookie dough, cheese, and wheat thins.

I also spent $2.25 on lunch, and got some ice cream afterwards.

All of this = 30 dollars, and I'm still within my budget! What's awesome is that I found my checks had more money on them than I had anticipated. Sweetness!


$56.54
+$5.00
______
$61.54
-$30.00
_______
$31.54



Only three days left of my blog!!!

July 17, 2010

Hi blog!

Today I spent $1.50 on coffee, $2.00 on a soda (lol what a ripoff!), and $1.10 on lunch.

$2.00
$1.50
$1.10
______
$4.60

Thank you McDonalds dollar menu! I am one frugal mother***ker! >:D


$5.00
-$4.60
_____
.40

$56.14
+$00.40
_______
$56.54

July 16, 2010

How much did I spend today?

$0.00

Awesome! :D

That's what happens when you buy a lot of food. Night guys!

$51.14
+$5.00
______
$56.14

july 15th, 2010

Yesterday I spent $4.00 on breakfast and lunch (dim sum rules).

Today I am going out to eat. I assume the bill will come to around fifteen dollars. I am still ahead of the game by a good amount of money!

-Aprils :3

(update!)

So I'm awesome and only spent $5.00 for lunch. I went to Shalimar (awesome Indian food) and got chicken tandoori, naan and dip. It was amazing, and totally filled me up for only five dollars. The one I go to is on Polk Street, because it rules.


I spent $25.00 at the grocery store today. I know that's nutso considering my usual budget, but I only bought things that would contribute to a larger meal. For instance, I bought a bunch of walnuts, sugar and bananas for banana bread. I also got carrots, a 5 dollar chicken, celery, peppers, and an onion for chicken soup. I got tomatoes and Italian sausage to make spaghetti. I have enough soup stuff to make about two servings of soup. If I save all of the chicken and boil the soup stock, I'm sure I'll have enough for a HUGE pot of soup which will last me a long time since I can freeze portions. I'm going over budget because I made extra money, but in the long run it's going to last me a long time. I guess what I have learned from doing this so long is that junk food is a great way to lose a lot of money, and the food only lasts for a few minutes. When you go grocery shopping and know what you're doing, food can last you weeks or even months if you freeze stuff!

$76.14
+$5.00
_____
$81.14

-$5.00 (food)
-$25.00 (shopping for food)
___________
$51.14

July 13, 2010

I SPENT NOTHING TODAY!!

I made some Ramen with an egg in the daytime, and cooked up some rice, a sausage I had in the freezer, onions, and spices up at night. Yummo.

Also, my roommate Don was telling me about CDs and compound interest in such a savings that has an interest rate of more than a negligible amount per month. I wanna look into it so I'm not a total broke-o when I'm old.

My back hurts. Time to clean my room!

$71.14
+$5.00
_______
$76.14


BY THE WAY...

I'm going to clean my room and bathroom tonight. I'm telling myself that whatever random change I find under things, on my drawers, etc is added to my fund. This will give me the incentive to actually clean like a pro! :D :D :D :D <3

July 12, 2010

My hair diffuser cost me 20 dollars!!! However, my hair is looking mighty sweet because of it. :)

Yesterday:
Hair diffuser: $20.00
Dim Sum: $3.00
Coffee:$1.50
_______________
$24.50

Today:
Coffee:$2.00

$92.64
+$5.00
______
$97.64
-$24.50
_______
$68.14
+$5.00
_______
$73.14
-$2.00
________
$71.14

July 10, 2010

Hi all! Catch-up time!

Two days ago (8th):

$7.00 Nuts
$1.25 Bananas
$2.00 Coffee
$4.00 Tons of ramen (rounded up)
___________________
$14.25

$120.62
+$5.00
______
$125.62
-$14.50
______
$106.12

Yesterday (9th):

$2.50 Dim sum
$7.00 BART ticket
___________________
$9.50

$106.12
+$5.00
_______
$111.12
-$9.50
_______
$101.62

Today (10th):

$1.25 Gatorade
$2.75 Dim Sum
$10.00 headphones
___________________
$14.00

$101.64
+$5.00
_______
$106.64
-$140.00
_______
$92.64


I've been spending more than five dollars in the last three days, because I have actually made money to add to my budget. SPLURGE! I need to not continually spend more than ten dollars a day. I could if I wanted to, but the idea of saving up for something important instead of convenience seems like a better idea to me.

Though I have used a higher budget during these last few days, I have still cut back. For instance, when I went to Walgreens I almost a bunch of junk food. I mean, I had the money! However, my newfound miser habit made me refuse to buy crap and at least buy stuff that is full of protein (nuts), that would fill me up and be used with other stuff (peanut butter and bananas or banana bread, and egg drop soup for the ramen). Yes, my 36 eggs are still lasting me! Whoo hoo!

Keeping track of everything you spend your money on makes you very aware of what is and isn't going to last! :) I think that I'm gonna buy a hair diffuser tomorrow, because I know I'll totally use it!

July 9, 2010

Going to a party tonight if I'm not too zonked. I'll make an entry tomorrow night! <3

July 7, 2010

My hometown is full of chickens running around. I always wanted to take one.

I spent the last two days of my break in Sacramento. My aunt drove me home, and paid for my train trip back. Awesome!

I saw my best friend Jenna before she was going to leave for Southern California, so that was completely good and worth the trip itself. We had a BBQ and played rock band all day. I really wish I could have seen my parents this time, but I was only down there for a second and would have wanted to spend more than an hour or two with them. Next time! :)

I spent 10 dollars on a gift, but received 40 dollars for the trip home from my gracious aunt. The train ticket came to 28 dollars, but I might do a BART transfer in Richmond which would cost be about another five dollars, but I would for sure make It to work by 3:00 (I ended up not buying the five dollar ticket).

Becky told me that I could get some food with the rest of the money on the train, but I’m going to pocket it instead and use it for lunch today. (later edit - lunch was $7.29 and it was a soup bread bowl at Boudin. SPLURGE-O!)

I actually sold a painting! My awesome friend Alex bought my painting for 100 dollars. I was going to get my blankets dry-cleaned with the money (it would have been about 20

dollars per blanket) but Ruth gave me some sheets that apparently dry-clean your blankets in a dryer. If it works, that saves me 40 dollars!!!

I made 100 dollars, and was given 40 dollars. When I started this blog, I said that not only does unused change from the five dollars roll over and add up, but if I made money outside of my job I got to use it in my budget. Excellent! :D

$20.91

+$40.00 (from aunt)

+$5.00 (daily)

___________

$65.91

$28.00 (train)

$7.29 (lunch)

$10.00 (gift)

_________
$45.29

$65.91
-$45.29
_______
$20.62

+$100.00 (painting sold)

___________

$120.62

July 5th 2010

I R in jail!



Hi guys! I worked on the 4th until wtf am, so tonight is a double post!

Yesterday I spent nothing, and my awesome aunt Becky took me to Alcatraz and bought be a sandwich. I went into "The Hole," which is solitary confinement. After that, I felt lucky to go to work! I spent nothing yesterday. Whoo hoo!

Today I spent $3.78 on drinks at Taco bell. Man, sodas at Taco Bell are HUGE!
SOOOOO

yesterday + today:
+$10.00

$24.69
-$3.78
_____
$20.91

I might go buy a gift tonight.... :)

I spent three dollars on dim sum for breakfast and lunch, and that's it! AWESOME.

$12.69
+$5.00
______
$17.69
-$3.00
______
$14.69

July 2nd, 2010

Reclaiming my awesome organization

YEAH soooo that weekly post thing I was gonna do? I think I'm still just going to post every day, but just make this blog less awesome (sorry). I don't wanna spend an hour a day on a blog that focuses on just me, because that would make me some sort of manglomaniac narcissist. I will just record what I spend so I'm organized, and I can keep on the 5 dollar a day ball. Posting this weekly is going to pull me to the dark side of "Oh a chowder bowl sounds awesome. Frugality can suck it!" My heart and wallet must be strong, and so I have to make a daily post.

Totally good cookie: $2.00
Lunch (McDouble & 2 apple pies): $2.19

$4.19

$11.80
+$5.00
______
$16.80
-$4.19
______
$12.69


:)

june 30th, 2010

Hi everyone! I have decided to make this blog a weekly thing because updating every day is kind of a rush job and a pain in the butt.

Here is what I've done so far:

June 28th -

$8.87 groceries (chocolate, sugar, onion, bell pepper, tomato paste, tomatoes)
$2.00 bus fare
______

$18.00
-$10.87
_________
$7.13

June 29th
$2.19 lunch

$7.13
+$5.00
_______
$12.13
-$2.19
_______
$9.94

June 30th-
$2.40 - groceries (cherries, bananas, apples)

$9.94
+5.00
______
$14.94
-$2.40
______
$12.54

July 1st-

$1.38 coffee
$1.36 envelopes
$4.00 monster drink
___________

$6.74

$12.54
+5.00
_______
$17.54
-$6.74
_______
$11.80



<3,
April

June 30, 2010

Hi all! I'm still alive and well...I'll post more tonight!

June 28th, 2010

It's my day off and I'm gonna go see a movie. YAY! I'm going to this place:



on Haight. Someone won 2 tickets to see it. I've saved up 18 dollars so far, so I can go over budget today. Rad! See you tonight!

June 27th, 2010

Hi y'all!

I am really tired; today was busy. I spent three dollars for breakfast and lunch (dim sum again!) and $1.49 for coffee and an 11 cent tip, which came out to $1.60. My manager Maureen saved the day this time as well, and got drinks for us! I really like my coworkers. Also in the receiving department, Don gave me three more cans of fruit, which rules. It's funny how sometimes when you feel like you're running out of basic things, the goodness of the human heart swoops down and saves the day! :D I totally have at least six cans of fruit!

I think I am actually getting more organized, thanks to this blog. Other than save money there are a bunch of things in life that I find myself wanting to accomplish, but they are all jumbled up in my brain and I never end up getting them done. Some of these include learning Cantonese and Portuguese, painting, learning how to do long arithmatec in my head (I bought books on how to do this), getting better at 3d graphic and animating (I have a degree in this), learning python (applicable to the software I use, and a good programming language to learn), keeping my living area very clean and keeping this blog. So far I have gotten a little cleaner, kept this blog, gotten a few chapters in my math books and haven't touched animation or Python. Hmm...now that I'm writing this all down, I think I have too many goals at once. I'm seriously trying to do this all at once!! :C

I love how I just realized this while writing. Hmm. Good lord, thanks for reading this far! <3



breakfast + lunch = $3.00
coffee + tip = $1.60
___________
$4.60


$5.00
+$12.60
___________
$17.60
-$4.60
___________

$13.00

It's an even dollar amount! Neato! :3

June 26th, 2010

Hi Everyone!

Last night after I wrote my entry, I decided to use what I had in my house to make some chocolate truffles. I used Alton Brown's recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/chocolate-truffles-recipe/index.html

I didn't use any brandy. I did make raspberry ones out of the good jam I had, and I finely ground up some coffee to make a batch of caffeine tweeker truffles! :D

Follow the recipe on the site. Here are some visuals of the process:



I didn't get to take any pictures of the final product because my camera overheated (lol), but the final product looked like any chocolate truffle you'd ever buy for crazy amounts of money, and they're YUMMY! One coffee truffle is like a shot of espresso.

After making this last night, this morning I decided to get up early and actually walk to work! :) I left an hour early and swung by the Dim Sum place. I spent $2.65 and tipped the lady 35 cents. Always tip at least something! I had enough for breakfast and lunch, for sure. I probably could get away with spending just two dollars on two meals that way. Sweet. I got two steamed pork buns, a beef bun and two sweet bean rolls. That's some bang for your buck!

On my way to work, I passed by Washington square. It was a beautiful day!


At lunch I ate my dim sum and some truffles while overlooking the dock at the pier:


After work I spent $1.79 on a quart of milk, because I was out of it at home.

$12.33
+$5.00
______
$17.33

$3.00 Dim sum
$1.79 Milk
______
$4.79

$17.33
-$4.79
______

$12.54

June 25th, 2010

Hi Awesomes!! I have some free clipart from http://free-clipart.net/ so I can be lazy!

I took the bus today, but the machine on it was ganked out and the bus was basically busted and late...so it was free. Excellent!

I was 10 minutes late, however. I was really sad because I expected my boss to yell at me, but instead he hugged me and got his hair stuck on a coat hanger. :)

For breakfast I mowed down some bread and peanut butter. Last night I packed some deviled eggs, a half loaf of bread, and some peanut butter. Come lunch time I was craving a hamburger, so I went and got one off the dollar menu as well as the two for a dollar apple pie. I lost my receipt but I remember that my total was $2.19. I ate most of my eggs, the hamburger and the apple pies. I saved the bread and peanut butter for after work!

By the way, my coworker Eimer (Think that's how you spell her name) bought everyone something to drink today. I requested water...so I got a free bottle of water technically as well. D'awww...what a nice thing for her to do! Thanks Eimer! <3

I work at a store at Pier 39. I noticed that when some older Cantonese ladies looked at our jackets, they would keenly study the stitching of every product. I used to think it was strange, but now I realize that a lot of them used to sew professionally. I talked with one of them and she told me that she used to sew for a living for pennies on the dollar. When she found one of our baseball caps, she was delighted at the stitch for such a good price. You learn to appreciate little things when you've been on the production-end of something. Most people would not take pleasure in the double-stitch of the brim.

My point is that if you learn to make things yourself and take joy in the basics of life, you are far more likely to find pleasure in a good stitch or a gift of a bottle of water. That simple joy is something that no money can buy.




$9.52
+$5.00
______
$14.52

-$2.19 (lunch)

=

$12.33

June 24th, 2010

Hi everyone! I'm excited because I found new stuff on my top shelf: baking powder, corn meal, baking soda, a big thing of salt, yeast, and my roomie gave me some spaghetti noodles! Also I found some cheese slices on the bottom of the fridge. Yay!

I remember buying this stuff when I was making banana bread (it ruled). I still have three packets of yeast left, and flower and stuff! I also have cornstarch and corn flakes. :D I love finding new things in the back.

I ran out of bread today because I made peanut butter sandwiches for lunch (with deviled eggs and that orange I had in the fridge). I spent no money on lunch today, and made it all myself.

I am out of bread. It's like clockwork that I found the yeast packets! This recipe actually calls for no eggs or baking powder/soda, but it does call for yeast. Apparently San Francisco sourdough can be made by making dough and setting it out for a while to grow its own yeast! That will be for another day though...

There is an AWESOME site called the simple dollar. I found the recipe there.

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/11/04/homemade-bread-cheap-delicious-healthy-and-easier-than-you-think/





This is the picture from the site (I'm too lazy to take my own right now) but it looks exactly the same and it ROCKS!!!

I spent two dollars today on the bus, and that's it!

$6.52
+$5.00
______
$11.52

-$2.00 - bus

=

$9.52, not including the 5 tomorrow. Eeee! :D

June 23rd, 2010

I ate a tuna sandwich this morning, and the last of my granola bars. Bye food! I ended up spending two dollars on the bus today, because I would have been late if I didn't take it. I almost missed the bus too, and then I would have had to spend the 10-odd dollars I've saved up on a cab ride. I'm finding that I'm a VERY disorganized person, and that I am going to have to seriously shape up if I plan on not screwing this up!

Anyway, I got my tea and an apple from home and I brought it to work. I walked to McDonalds, and got a McDouble off of their dollar menu. It came to $1.10 (with tax). Saving money isn't always about avoiding eating out; you can also mix food from home with fast food. I had a burger, sweet tea and an apple and it only cost me a dollar. If I had gotten the meal, it would have cost me somewhere around eight dollars. Amazing!

I survived lunch without killing my budget, but I knew that I was out of a lot of stuff at home. I ate my tuna, apple, and two granola bars. The Jambalaya was history. It was time to go to SAFEWAY!!!!!!!

Safeway rules because they have a club card. You can actually save a great amount of money if you look for the deals. I knew exactly what I wanted to buy tonight: Eggs and Peanut butter. I ended up saving 47% on the final price of my total cost because of that club card. Rockin'! These are great sources of protein and calories for their price. My work doesn't have a fridge so anything with peanut butter will keep in it, and I can use eggs to make ALL SORTS of things!

I took pictures with my camera phone at the store, and when I came home I took a picture of my camera phone picture (I'm too dumb to download image off of my phone at the moment). Then I took a picture of what I bought and brought the picture of the picture of the phone picture into it. It's like a turducken of tech shame.

Remember, we've been saving up for the last two days...


There were three options for my eggs. $1.49 for a half dozen, $1.99 for one dozen, and $4.99 for 18, but it was buy one get one free! THOSE ARE RELEVANT TO OUR INTEREST! It is wise to get a good bargain on a basic food like flour or eggs, because you can use them to make many different things. 1.49/6 =25 cents. 1.99/12 = 17 cents. 4.99/36 = 14 cents. Would you like to spend fourteen cents per egg, or a quarter? THOUGHT SO! I bought the 4.99 2-pack.


Now to my Peanut butter. Peanut butter rules because you don't have to refrigerate it, it lasts a long time, it's good for you and you can put it on a lot of fruits and vegetables to make them more substantial. This goes a long way. I got lucky and saw a sale for Peanut butter for $2.99, slashed to $2.29, and slashed again for $1.49. It was like a third of the price of most of the other peanut butters, and it was just as good.

So guys, we spent more than five dollars today. We saved up for our little shopping trip from our previous $5 days, but it will stretch us for quite some time. For instance, Let's consider that I would eat two eggs a day in either deviled form (4 egg halves), scrambled for breakfast or lunch or better yet, made into some bread. You can also "health up" ramen very well with eggs. Two a day will be a significant portion of a meal for about eighteen days - roughly a half a month's worth of eggs. I'll probably eat it faster though. :D





By the way, one of my roommates Don is diabetic so he gave me his canned fruit. Added to the pantry is Spaghetti sauce, two cans of pear slices, and pineapple topping. SCORE! (the cartoon is a happy stomach, fyi.) Also, he has cereal called "Crispy Hexagons." LOL.



rofl

+$5.00
$11.60
_____
$16.60

bus- $2.00
McDonalds - $1.10
eggs - $4.99
peanut butter - $1.99
=
$10.08

$16.60
-$10.08
_______

$6.52

One more thing...shoutout to the lady at the store who I wrote my blog down for! You know who you are! <3

June 22nd, 2010

Hello People!

I got something in the mail today that said that I had a court date with unemployment. Apparently they thought my last job that I contracted with was full time. Whoops! I have no idea how it will turn out, but I'm a little freaked out to say the least. I'm going to call the lady tomorrow and see if I can get it straightened out through the phone, especially since I'm not on unemployment anymore. Scary! :( It seems like when it financially rains, it pours doesn't it?

That aside, I decided to make a list of what is already in my house, food-wise:


sugar (brown and white)
chocolate
cocoa powder
nuts
food coloring
spices (a bunch)
tea ( a bunch)
hot cocoa
1 can tuna
1 box Cream of Wheat
milk
1 lemon
raspberry jam
lettuce
flour
yeast
dried mushrooms
1 orange
1 apple
butter
mayonnaise
hot sauce
waffles
frozen peas
1 frozen sausage
4 pieces of bread
a few granola bars
coffee

This is my inventory that I have to work with. If it goes bad or I eat it, it's gone. Other than what's on this list, I have five dollars a day to spend. I found a really cool website that allows you to list the things that you own, and it will figure out what you can make! It's called cooking by numbers. http://www.cookingbynumbers.com/ If you're ever confused about what you can make with the stuff you have, try this. It's clever! Apparently I only need three more apples to make apple crisp, for instance.




I decided to make my own pitcher of tea, and put it in a glass Arizona iced tea bottle. Somehow when you make your own tea and put it in an Arizona glass, it's much cooler than other containers. It's like you bought a new one, only it tastes better! :D

I went out with a friend today and he bought me coffee. I made my own tea, and ate three jambalaya servings and a granola bar. I spent $0.00 today!!


$6.60
+
$5.00
_____
$11.60

Now I have $11.60 to spend. Awesome! :D

June 21st, 2010 #2

Hi again! I told you that I would see you again tonight, and I meant it!

I did something stupid a few days ago, and accidently threw my phone in a dumpster (I think). I knew this, and gave myself 100 dollars out of my budget to buy a new one. I got another phone and it came to about 74 dollars which was below my budget. Yay! After this necessary purchase, there will be no more spending on that kind of scale unless it's for a bill.

I took out 20 dollars from an ATM machine at my bank, as to avoid an ATM fee. This is going to last me four days.

I started my day with $5.oo on the books. I have decided to carry a small notebook with me to track how much money I spend on things. Just this small habit has opened my eyes to the fact that debit cards allow us to spend a lot of frivolous money without guilt, because we never have to face it on paper. I think that if a lot of people wrote down what they bought and how much it cost them (like in the old days of balancing your checkbook by hand), they would be more aware of their habits.

I live on the border of Chinatown, so I know that Dim Sum is really good and cheap. I know of a few good places, one of which is called Good Mang Kok Bakery. It is known for its slogan in the window, "Dim Sum Nice Food." Hahaha! (This picture is from www.lthforum.com...I would have taken one myself but didn't have my camera phone on me yet)

I got the steamed pork bun and a Coke, and it came to $1.40. This is an excellent price for lunch! I imagine that the Coke was probably the most expensive thing. I ate my lunch in grassy, sunny Washington Square.

Next, I headed (on foot; the bus fare is $2.00) to the metro store on Van Ness to get my phone. After that, I went to a place called Quetzal on Polk. I wanted to get a small coffee, and it was $1.65. I tipped the 35 cents that I got in change. I took a cool picture of the coffee but I still need to figure out how to email myself my phone pictures. lol! :D

I am just starting out, so I still have some stuff in my fridge from before my $5.00 pledge. Making stuff from this stock will not cost me anything, of course. I had some chicken stock, a package of sausages, an onion, two bell peppers, a garlic clove and some brown rice. I made a big pot of Jambalaya - about five decent servings worth. I have some tupperware, so maybe I can save some portions and freeze them. I'd take them to my job on Wednesday, but there is no fridge or microwave there so I might have to figure out something else to brown-bag to work. Maybe I'll get bananas and peanut butter tomorrow - and some eggs if I can!


$5.00

Lunch -1.40
Coffee -2.00
__________
Spent: $3.40
Left: $1.60

Tomorrow I will have $6.60 to spend. I have a feeling it will be easy since I have the day off! Once work starts, it's going to be harder to stay on this budget. Thanks for reading!!

<3
April

So I was thinking about how I'm going to do this. If I can spend five dollars a day, then I can save sixty cents a day. I feel okay about spending money as long as I'm saving SOMETHING, even if it comes out to eighteen dollars a month! :)

Since I'm doing this for 30 days, that is going to be a total of 150 dollars. If I want something that's more than five dollars, I'm going to have to save from previous days to get it (kind of like rollover minutes on a phone.) I will allow myself to spend more money if I make more by selling a painting or doing something little on the side, but the money I make from my job doesn't count.

I'm going to keep track of the money I spend by carrying a notebook with me and keeping my receipts. I just realized that this bag of chocolate I'm currently munching on costs about five dollars, which would be a day's worth of money. I'm going to have to reorient myself financially!

See you tonight!
<3
April

June 21st, 2010

After reviewing my finances, I have realized that I spend more money than I make. I take cab rides to work, eat out for lunch, and do other things that I had no idea squandered so much of my money! I work hard downtown, but my pay is minimal.

I have calculated that (not including rent and bills) if I spend five dollars a day for a month, I will be out of the red zone. This is actually quite a feat to accomplish, since I live in an expensive city. I am going to document my adventures on this blog, and hopefully gain some good organizational habits while I'm at it! I'm kind of excited.

Have a great day, and thanks for reading!
April