A weekend away on a budget - sort of

A few weekends ago we were at the US Open and in Manhattan. We had bought tickets to take the boys to their first US Open a few months ago, so it was a trip that we wanted to keep on our schedule. So we planned that last weekend would eat up the majority of our spending money for September. And it did. We ended up spending about $1,000 on the weekend between food, cabs, parking, etc. Could we have done it even cheaper - sure. But for us, compared to how we would have "spent" a weekend in NY formerly, we made some good changes.

I did a lot of research before our trip for inexpensive things we could do in the city, so we didn't really spend money on attractions or shopping. We went to a free museum - the Sony Wonder Technology Lab. It was a bust as 2 of the 3 floors were closed, but the boys had a good time with the few exhibits that were open, so I guess that's all that matters. We window shopped (from the inside) at FAO Schwartz and the huge Toys R Us in Times Square. That's always fun. It was much less crowded than the last time we were there in December of '06. So it was nice to actually be able to walk around and play with some of the toys on display. We allowed the boys to each pick out one small toy as a treat for their trip to NY. It worked out fine. We talked to them a lot about not spending money while we were there and I think that made them appreciate more what they did and the one gift that they got.


I will admit to breaking down and making one purchase myself, of a skirt and top (on sale of course) but this was from my $100 miscellaneous monthly spending money, so no harm done.

Most fortunate for us, we had a place to stay in the city. Jon and Danielle were in CT for the weekend visiting Baby Luke, so they graciously offered us their place as our home base for the weekend. Having a place to just "hang" and relax was so great and with an incredibly rainy day on Saturday, having the Wii as entertainment to fall back on was a godsend.


Bryan and I had talked about wanting to take the boys to see the Statue of Liberty. We were going to do it but it the boys were really tired by Sunday morning (once the rain stopped) and it there is a cost to take the ferry over to the statue, not to mention lots of steps to climb once you get inside. I had also read, during my NY on the cheap research, that you get amazing views of the Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island ferry, which you can ride for free. No stairs to climb, free, and we'd still get to show the kids the Statue. It worked out great. The enjoyed the ferry ride. We'll definitely go back to the Statue on a future trip when their little legs are just a little big longer.

So packed back into the car and heading home, we weren't surrounded by shopping bags filled with fun new purchases. No retail therapy, but we survived it and had a great time. The boys definitely had a very memorable weekend and that is what I wanted to give them.

Am I changing as a person? will it hurt? will it last?

Yesterday I was in a pretty depressed mood. I couldn't figure out how to get out of my funk. I decided to step away from my desk and take a little walk. I was in Boston for the day, so outside my door there were stores and eateries galore. I'd go for a walk and see what tempted me.

Typically, when feeling down, I would turn to shopping or food. I've been so good lately, a little shopping trip couldn't hurt, right? So into TJMaxx I rolled. I browsed shoes, accessories, pants, books and seasonal items. I saw a few things that I liked, I just couldn't pull the trigger. I stood there staring at the pair of shoes in my hand and just knew that purchasing those shoes wasn't going to leave me feeling any better. HOW COULD THIS BE???? Am I no longer a living, breathing female human being??? My inner dialogue went something like this...

I’m feeling depressed today because I’m really overtired. I don’t really want to be in Boston because the effort that takes made me more tired. The thought of carrying these shoes home makes me more tired. Ok, I really mustn’t want these shoes if prospect of owning them makes me tired. Walk out of TJMaxx. You don’t really want to buy anything.

What do I want right now? I want to be home. The comfort of my bed sounds good. A hug from one of the boys would be good. Reading my book would be nice. Wow, all things I don’t have to buy. But wait, there must be something. I must be able to purchase SOMETHING that will improve my mood. Maybe a cookie? Cookies usually make me happy. (Not as happy as a cupcake, but cupcakes are hard to find.) I’m passing places to buy cookies. Ok, I’ll stop into Starbucks. The cookies look nice. Actually the donuts look really nice. But I’m actually not hungry. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME???

Ok, one last chance, the final test…If I could buy anything in the world right now to make myself feel better, what would it be?
Think Jen.
Think hard.
Damnit.
I actually can’t think of anything.

I don't quite understand what happened yesterday. I don't know if it'll happen again, but I experienced a deep awareness that spending money (and eating a cookie) doesn't necessarily make me happy. Don't get me wrong, sometimes it does, but in this instance, I was clearly able to identify that spending money wasn't going to do it for me and stop the process before it happened. I feel pretty happy about that, as does our bank account.

Trying to remedy that bad mood would have typically cost between $40-$100 in retail therapy.

Riding out the mood, getting hugs at home from the most important people in my life, and curling up in my bed for a good night's sleep = FREE.

Saving can still be cool.

I received our electric bill in the mail on Friday. See previous post on trying to conserve electricity.

August 07 - $275
August 08 - $158

It's working. I looked like a freak walking out of BJ's this weekend with enough CFL bulbs to light Time's Square on New Years Eve in the hopes to further increase our electrically charged savings, but hey...all for the Cape. I am willing to look like an idiot sometimes (no comments from the peanut gallery please).

Food and 18MTTC

It's very easy to go the grocery store nowadays and easily drop $150 a week. Feeding 4 people 3 times a day costs $$. And with the rise in food prices it is only going to get worse. And that is a lot cheaper than buying lunch out everyday.

We like to make a "menu" on Sunday's so we know what we are having for the week for dinner. It's our way of trying new recipes, making life less hectic when we get home from work and allows me to practice a hobby of mine. So it works for many reasons. But since 18MTTC, we have been really good about only buying what we need for the week. We have also been trying to use up what we already have in the freezer and cupboards. How old is that bag of basamati rice in the pantry? So the fridge may not look as full as it always did, but none of us have really noticed too much or made the observation that "there isn't enough food". I also want to add here that we went to BJ's and stocked up on bulk items a few weeks ago (juice boxes, pretzels, applesauce, paper towels, etc) so that we always have that stuff on hand. although we don't eat the paper towels. Note to BJ's - explain to me WHY, WHY, WHY can't you carry Brown Sugar Pop Tarts in bulk?

But I tried something new this week. Jen was going to be in Texas for 3 days this week for work. We normally do the grocery shopping on Sunday and the menu plan only goes through Thursday (Friday is usually dinner with friends at their house or ours and gets a special menu we shop for that day). So I decided with Jen away, I wasn't going to go grocery shopping this week. I figured we could get by with what we had and I would essentially save us $150 for the week. Well, we ran out of ice cream for Owen on Tuesday (they each have their fav flavor and get a small scoop before bed every night). He had applesauce instead. See, no worries. And I have to say, that really was the only issue the whole week. Also, I spent $7 on a pizza for the boy's on Monday night.

Last night I stopped at the grocery store to pick up juice boxes, veggies for tonight's dinner at our friend's house (asparagus) , ice cream (B1G1F), hot dogs for the boys dinner and some green onions for a gratin I was making. Cost me $24.

So I think my experiement worked. That doesn't mean I am going to starve my family, but it was a good test to see if grocery shopping b/c we "normally do it on Sunday's" was more habit or necessity. I think it is mostly the latter, but in this particular case it might have been habit. Ultimately, I saved us $119 this week. Not too shabby.

By the way, here is what I ate for dinner this week:

Monday: turkey sandwich with pretzels
Tuesday: wasn't really hungry b/c I had a big lunch, so I made mac and cheese. had a few bites but saved the rest for the kids lunches
Wedneday: zucchini and corn quesadilla's (stuff we had from last week's menu but didn't use)
Thursday: didn't really eat - again big lunch. had some bread left over from lunch

Off the wagon but still going to the Cape.

I am going to make this short and sweet. I spent $300 on a new wireless router/external hard disk for our computers. It's called the Time Capsule and it is pretty cool. One could argue that is wasn't a must have purchase. I could have bought something similar for half the price. But the emotional angle that Apple hopes to tap into with their brand took over and I caved. At the end fo the day, I bought $300 worth of piece of mind knowing that we will never lose our photos/files again like we did a few years ago (we lost all pictures from Owen't first year of life b/c I didn't back up). So I figure that plus my need to buy something cool were put to bed. But I can't help but have some buyers remorse. Note: I did call Jen before I bought it to see if she was ok with it. We both agreed that while not completely necessary, it was ok to buy it.



In other news, we went to NYC last weekend to see the USOpen with the kids. We got 1/2 price tickets back in June so it was a great deal (this was before EMTTC). And we were able to stay at a friend's apartment for free (thanks J&D). What is not free is food and parking. Between all of those things (plus a few small things for the kids), we spent way too much. Upwards of $800. But our rationale was we bought the tickets and this would be the boys first time to see the USOpen and see (and remember) NYC. Jen did a great job keeping our spending to a minimum without diluting the experience. We did try to do as many things free as possible (Sony Technology Museum, Apple Store, Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty). But as I stated, food and parking are not free and don't come cheap. Considering that the weekend easily could have cost $3000, I think we did great.



Lastly, we made our first deposit into our Cape Fund. It was only $200, but if felt really, really good. It was a very happy moment for us. It could have been $1000 had we not spent so much in NYC or decided to back up our computers, but this was not about giving up everything for 18 months. I can't wait to see how much we put away next month.

More free music

More new/free music from Vanity Fair - thanks Pete for the tip that new stuff was posted.

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/culture/hot-tracks/

I'm loving the Black Kids song.