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