Skip to main content

Friday's = Confessionals

So I followed up the best week I've had with the worst (but it wasn't bad).

Spending went off the rails a bit, particularly with alcohol.

1800 Premixed Margaritas - $21.60 - Terrible purchase. L and I enjoy margaritas, and figured we'd have some over the weekend. Not only was it a waste of money, it made me feel like shit.

IPA samplers - $17.20 - This was spread out through the week (but mostly last night), and I blame it on celebrating the fact that our spring work seminars were over. However, alcohol has a special way of making me feel like garbage. Might be time for an alcohol fast from the little I actually drink.

Bowling - $30 - Kids were on vacation, so we had a day midweek that I took a off and we went out to eat, hit up the bowling alley and the arcade. It was a bit surprising to me that shoe rentals and 1 game of bowling was $30 for the four of us. Ouch.

Coffee - $6.36 - I bought L and I coffee on the mid week vacation day I took.

Range bucket - $9 - I hit up the golf range and hit an x-large bucket of balls.

It was a nice day spent with L and the kids. We wanted to get some ice skating in, but the rink we attempted to use was closed. It's amazing how much it costs to do these things; lunch at Five Guys, most covered by L, was $30 (1 sandwich apiece, and a shared regular fry, no drinks). Incredible. Ice skating would have cost $30. $10 in the arcade got them 7 minutes of entertainment. We easily could have evaporated $100 in 4.5 hours.

Minimal fitness - Only got in 43 miles on the bike. We had a family 2 mile walk one evening.

These weeks will happen, and they're worth it. My youngest daughter beat the oldest in bowling by 1 pin. Both of them got a strike and celebrating that with them was a blast. They had a few skee-ball show downs that were fun.

Hope everyone had a great week. To the weekend!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Frugal Dieting

As talked about yesterday, Americans spend a lot of money on food and drink. If you eat outside of your home often, you spend even more. Two weeks in to this 30 day budget cycle, and I'm already at my budgeted amount for food/groceries/house items. After seeing this I need to make two changes. The first change is adding another line item to my budget for household items (think paper towels, toilet paper, cleaning products), because right now it's getting lumped in with my grocery dollars. The second change is an effort to eat more frugally. I've begun to do this, but efforts will be increased. Here is my plan: I need to get to a point where I make a list and shop once a week. I've been known to stop by Hannaford 3-4 times per week and this alone will lead to buying too much. I want to stick to a simple eating plan: Delay my first meal as long as possible in the morning. I think there are benefits to the combination of  intermittent fasting/calorie restriction
2 comments
Read more

Time and Money

The past four years have been a realization that there exists two main commodities in life, time and money. In this post I talked about the fact that when you spend your money, you're mortgaging your time. This was most evident a few weeks after Christmas 2014. The girls reached an age where their Christmas list was quite large; a lists of desired toys influenced by the culture they find themselves growing up in. L and I obliged their many desires that year, leading to a fairly expensive Christmas. A mere two weeks after Christmas those many wants, which were now haves in their very hands, no longer held the same meaning to them. I didn't and don't blame them for this. I feel it's a "luxury" of their generation, and if I'm honest, each generation between theirs and my own. Under that tree that year existed many hours L and I spent at work. I dare say time that would have rather been spent as a family, doing any number of things that cost little to
2 comments
Read more

Find a Tribe

With most goals, I always suggest people find a small accountability group for support. It's often said that our behaviors can be strongly influenced by the 6 closest people in our lives.  According to a survey done by the investment app Acorns, talking about money isn't something that people like to do. I dare say many find it taboo. A statistic shared by Acorns is that 68% of people would rather talk about their weight than talk about their financial situation .  One side benefit of sharing this journal, is I have found others that are on a similar journeys. Having people to discuss things with and hold you accountable (whether directly or passively) can help with motivation. Finding someone who has practiced the behaviors you're working on for a good duration of their life can serve as a great mentor, whether you actually designate that person with such a title or not. Whatever life goals you have, find a tribe of like minded individuals. Guard against people who co
2 comments
Read more