I’m back from my weekend with the girls. We had a blast – it felt like we were back in college, and we laughed until our sides hurt. We went for a great hike on Saturday, and the town we were in was having an arts and crafts fair while we were there. One of the girls went to a spa for a massage and facial, but the rest of us skipped that part. We only ate out one meal, dinner on the first night we were there. We went to a local budget diner – dinner was about $10each. Here’s the breakdown of my spending for the weekend:
- my share of the condo: $130
- groceries: $40
- dinner out: $9
- bottled oxygen for my husband: $26
- two beers from the brewery for my husband: $9
- two stuffed toys for my pregnant friends’ unborn kids: $18
- coffee and a muffin during a walk around town: $5
Grand total: $237. Awesome – that’s under my budget. I drove, so one of my friends put gas in my car, and we all kicked in for groceries, which was much cheaper than eating out the whole weekend. The oxygen might confuse some people, but it’s something my husband is always looking for. He loves the idea of extra oxygen as a health enhancer, so when I saw that they were selling bottled oxygen in one of the mountain supply stores, I had to get it. It seemed odd to pay $26 for what felt like an empty can, but my husband was thrilled, so it was a good purchase.
When we were at the craft fair, two of my friends bought expensive pottery. One of the girls is in a relationship with a guy who was cleaned out by his ex-wife, and she’s not sure if the relationship is going to work out because of the financial issues. But she spent $150 on a few pieces of pottery. It amazes me how people can manage to forget about their money woes when confronted with something that they’d like to buy. Out of the five of us, only myself and one other girl made it through the weekend without spending at least $100 on “stuff.” I found that I wasn’t even tempted. I used to be, but not anymore. I admired the stuff at the craft fair, but I really didn’t have any desire to buy anything (except for a $1200 painting, but that was more of a whimsical wish than a real desire, considering the price tag). I can remember a weekend my husband and I spent in another mountain town 6 years ago. We spent about $200 on “stuff” at the local art gallery. Ironically, some of that stuff is in a box in my garage right now, waiting to go to the thrift store, because I’ve reached a point where I don’t want stuff cluttering up all my tables. It’s a good place to be – a lot less expensive, and a neater house aswell.
FrugalBabe says
Thanks Karen, and welcome to the personal finance blog world! When I first got seriously interested in finance several years ago, I read everything I could find by Suze Orman. I still really like her stuff, and her no-nonsense style. She doesn’t advocate any tricks or magic – just common sense stuff that works. I also like Andrew Tobias as a pf author. Go to the library and check out the personal finance section (332 in the dewey system) – just browse around and you’ll find all sorts of stuff. Good luck!
ladydoughgirl says
Your observation about how amazing it is that people forget their money woes and buy $100 worth of stuff really resonates with me. Until recently I was that person buying the pottery. I think it is really easy to purchase for fun and allow ourselves to not even think about how it fits into our budget let alone long term goals. People (myself included) always have a way of justifying this to themselves “I deserve it because of x, y, z”, “It’s only $100” or “I want something special to remember this trip. Buying this is worth the money.” Etc..
I wanted to say how much I like the look of your site. I love the brown and green. It is a very nice looking site. I like your font and how you have everything laid out. Much nicer looking than many pf blogs. Thanks!
FrugalBabe says
Thanks LDG!