6th
$140 Challenge
I have that much to get through the next two weeks. That’s more than a lot of people, that’s less than a lot of people. It’s definitely less than I’m used to having for a two week span, and it has to cover gas, food, and if there’s anything left over, ”entertainment.”
Hurdle 1 is gas. I work 28 miles from home. I get $30 worth of gas at a time, because filling up halfway seems to help my MPG. At least I like to think that it does. I have no scheduled days off and no holidays, so I have 8.5 trips (4 and a half round trips, my paychecks hit my account Thursday afternoons just before I leave work), plus whatever errands I’ll have to run next weekend. I’m thinking that will end up costing me about $120.
Hurdle 2 - food. Luckily I’m fairly well stocked (I even have an unopened pound of coffee and three frozen chocolate croissants), but I’ll probably be an unintentional vegetarian within 5 days. My generous dad is a prolific gardener, so I’ll be set on herbs and a few veggies. Got a couple of frozen lunches, some chicken fingers, a bag of waffle fries, a pound of bacon, one chicken breast, some potstickers, tortillas, cheese, pasta, assorted odds and ends, plus baking basics. I don’t think that I’ll be needing a TON of stuff, thanks to a pre-challenge trip to Whole Foods yesterday, but I’m going to budget $10, just to be safe.
Hurdle 3 - entertainment. Easily the most expendable category here, as I have free Internet, cable, and a stack of books I have yet to crack. I also have some money in my iTunes account in case I get really hard up.
The worst part is going to be my daily Starbucks excursion. Instead of taking a lunch break where I eat lunch, I eat while I work and then take my break and head out for a coffee and a half hour of clear headedness (or a half hour attempt at it). I have no idea what I’m going to do with that, my Starbucks card is at zero. I might bring running gear to work with me in lieu of being able to leave every day, because with my emergency food $10, there’s $10 left in the budget.
Just to make sure I stay within my $140, I’m going to be taking my AmEx out of my wallet.
So. After this exercise in hefty writing, I’m going to be reporting back on this, just out of my own curiosity at how well I do with this.
