Every weekend, I will detail my activities and expenses to provide an example of how to implement a frugal mindset while still having a fun and active life.

Friday

I’m just going to warn you now, this was the most non-frugal weekend ever! Fortunately, all of the extra spending was budgeted. Friday night started out cheap. We stayed in, ordered Thai food ($7) and watched Shutter Island.

Friday Total Cost:$7

Saturday

I knew that Saturday would be an expensive day. I spent the morning getting highlights ($115) then stocked up on a prescription ($80). I came home in time to watch the World Cup game then headed out again to eat yummy Mexican for dinner ($6). After dinner, I played poker at a friend’s house and lost a buck.

Saturday Total Cost:$201

Sunday

I have been “window shopping” online for a dress to wear to two upcoming weddings for the past month but am wary to make such a purchase online without being able to try it on. It is getting close enough to the July wedding that I might not have enough time to return a wrong size, so I decided to take a quick stop at the mall and just see if anything caught my eye. After a disappointing run through several stores, I tried on two dresses at Bloomingdales. With the help of Twitter fashion gurus, I picked a Lipsy dress ($295…eeeek). I have never spent that much on clothing before but I budgeted the dress expense into this month, I do not have any special occasion clothes, and I know I will wear it twice at the very least. However, I am keeping the receipt and staying on the look out. If I fall in love with something cheaper, I will return it. It is times like these that I am glad New Jersey does not have sales tax on clothing!

Sunday Total Cost: $295

Total Weekend Cost: $496 (ugh!)

Every weekend, I will detail my activities and expenses to provide an example of how to implement a frugal mindset while still having a fun and active life.

Friday

A group of friends and I went out to dinner to treat a friend for his birthday. The six of us split the bill for $17/each; that way everyone was paying a bit of the birthday boy’s meal as well. It was far more than I normally spend on eating out, but was a special occasion.

After dinner, we went back to my house and just hung out for the rest of the night. I did not go out and buy any special food; I was already prepared to make cookies!

Friday Total Cost:$17

Saturday

I spent Saturday playing the Mod Nation Racers demo which is fabulous! I also bought some supplies and plants for my first-ever vegetable container garden (wish me luck!).

For dinner, we went to a local hotdog shack for 3 with everything and a thick shake, that was all $6.

After dinner, we all went over to a friend’s house to play a casual game of poker. It was a $5 buy-in. I was just playing for fun and did not consider the five dollars to be a big loss. However, in the end, I broke even! (Total luck, I have no poker skills whatsoever).

Saturday Total Cost:$63

Sunday

Sunday was a cloudy day so I decided to be productive and went for a run, planted my vegetables and did some laundry. I watched a Netflix Instant Movie and just hung out the rest of the day. Since I was social both Friday and Saturday, it was nice to just have a day to lounge around.

Sunday Total Cost: $0

Total Weekend Cost: $80

Every weekend, I will detail my activities and expenses to provide an example of how to implement a frugal mindset while still having a fun and active life.

Friday

I started the night with some yummy home-made mac n cheese. Then some friends called so I met them at Chipotle (but didn’t eat anything) and ended up going out to a bar after. One beer was bought for me and I did not drink anything else. It was a nice low key night with friends.

Friday Total Cost:$0

Saturday

I spent Saturday at the New York Auto Show. My boyfriend covered the Ferry tickets and I paid for admission ($28 for both). We spent the next three hours walking around looking at all the neat cars, while I asked a million questions about engines. It was a great time! We ate a hotdog and shared a drink on the way out. Once home, we made a quick marinara sauce (since we had already spent enough money for the day) and watched a movie on Instant Watch.

Saturday Total Cost:$28

Sunday

Sunday was a gorgeous day! I made pancakes for breakfast, spent the rest of the morning lounging around, then went for a run in the afternoon. I had leftover pasta for dinner and watched another Instant Watch movie.

Sunday Total Cost: $0

Total Weekend Cost: $28

Every weekend, I will detail my activities and expenses to provide an example of how to implement a frugal mindset while still having a fun and active life.

Friday

I had Friday off and I splurged! I treated myself to $40 worth of cake supplies at Candyland Crafts with the thought to attempt making a cake for an Easter dinner on Sunday. After my shopping spree, I went for an evening run (which was wonderful) then spent the rest of the night playing Heavy Rain on the PS3 that my friend is letting me borrow over the weekend. I had a get together planned for Saturday so I did not mind having Friday just being a loungy evening.

Friday Total Cost:$42 (excluding the groceries)

Saturday

Saturday was a gorgeous day! I spent the morning running on the Columbia Trail. Then I cleaned the house because I planned on having people over. In the evening, I had some friends over to watch the sad sad sad MSU game. It was still a fun time. We played some games, ate some pizza and I made soft baked pretzels. I footed the bill for the pizza. It was only two pizza’s and not everyone was eating so it was just easier than collecting money. I had already planned on that ahead of time so it was not an issue. I have learned from experience, that if you do intend to collect money from everyone for a pick-up meal, get the money ahead of time.

Saturday Total Cost:$29.85

Sunday

Sunday was Easter! I spent the morning trying to make a cake. I am a terrible cake maker. This attempt was supposed to be a layer cake, but one layer fell apart so I turned it into a single-layer cake. I still managed to decorate it and it, somehow, turned out quite cute! I took it to a friend’s family’s Easter dinner where it was a hit. I had a great time with my friend and her family and ate a ton of food! Since that took up the whole day, I didn’t spend a dime.

Sunday Total Cost: $0

Total Weekend Cost: $71.85 (aye carumba!)

Every weekend, I will detail my activities and expenses to provide an example of how to implement a frugal mindset while still having a fun and active life.

Friday

Friday was another crazy day on the job front so I let loose on my budget a little and celebrated throughout the weekend. Friday evening, however, I just wanted to relax. I played some more Kingdom Hearts, watched the Olympic opening ceremony and had a relaxing night at home.

Friday Total Cost:$0

Saturday

I already had plans on Saturday night to go out to dinner to celebrate a friend’s birthday. I bought a six pack of Yeungling ($5.99) to bring to the restaurant (it was BYOB) and planned to use one bottle to make beer bread. Once at the liquor store, I got a little greedy and felt I deserved a six pack of Smithwick’s ($6.99) as well since the job hunt is going so well. I probably could have done without it, especially since I’ve only had one bottle but I know it will definitely get used up!

Dinner was great. We went to a cheap local place where my humongous burrito was only $4.50. I took 1/4 of it home to eat for lunch the next day. After dinner, I went to a bar with some friends. Again, I splurged and spent $4.50 on a beer just to be social. This doesn’t cause me to be over budget at all but I can’t help but know that it was a silly and unnecessary purchase. The evening overall was fun and I had a great time hanging out with friends.

Saturday Total Cost:$24

Sunday

On Sunday, I did chores around the house and went for a good run. I spent the evening watching the Olympics (what a great money-saver!).

Sunday Total Cost: $0

Total Weekend Cost: $24.00

Every weekend, I will detail my activities and expenses to provide an example of how to implement a frugal mindset while still having a fun and active life.

Friday

Friday was great day. I scored two job interviews and was given a KitchenAid mixer as a gift from my boyfriend! To celebrate, we went out to a local bar with some friends in the evening. One drink was bought for me but really the evening was just spent socializing. After the bar, we walked across the street to a pizza place where some people ordered food but I declined the cheap grease and made myself a snack at home.

Friday Total Cost:$0

Saturday

We were invited to a friend’s house for dinner Saturday night. The spinach pie she made was fantastic and I brought some home-made chocolate chip cookies for dessert. We went out to another local bar by their house after dinner. I didn’t spend any money there and had a great time chatting with my friend.

Saturday Total Cost:$0

Sunday

Sunday was spent lounging around the house until the Super Bowl. I was invited to another friend’s house for a small Super Bowl party so that is where I spent the evening and had my dinner (mmmmm chicken wings!). I brought a cheesecake that I had made earlier in the day and had a fun time.

Sunday Total Cost: $0

Total Weekend Cost: $0!

Every weekend, I will detail my activities and expenses to provide an example of how to implement a frugal mindset while still having a fun and active life.

Friday

On Wednesday, I went out for drinks with friends and spent $9. I considered that my “weekend money” so I really wanted to lay low over the weekend. Friday night, I did just that. I watched a movie, made myself dinner and just relaxed at home.

Friday Total Cost:$0

Saturday

Saturday was another loungy day. In the evening, some friends came over to play a game of scrabble and chat for a bit. That was more enjoyable than going out to a bar again. Plus, it was cheap!

Saturday Total Cost:$0

Sunday

I made plans earlier in the weekend to go bowling with some friends Sunday evening. Since I hadn’t spent money the prior two days, I felt that this spending was justified. We played two games of bowling which cost $13.75/person (including shoe rental). I didn’t buy anything else there and spent the rest of the night relaxing in front of the roku.

Sunday Total Cost: $13.75

Total Weekend Cost: $13.75 (yay!)

Every weekend, I will detail my activities and expenses to provide an example of how to implement a frugal mindset while still having a fun and active life.

Friday

I knew all week that a cover band I liked was playing nearby on Friday and decided that it was worth $10 to me. So I got some friends together and had a good time there. I didn’t buy any drinks and just enjoyed the band instead. Prior to going out, I made my own marinara sauce served with some gnocchi. Those lil’ gnocchi are so filling!

Friday Total Cost:$10

Saturday

In the morning, I went to Target to buy lightbulbs ($0.77) and to Lowe’s to buy a toilet flapper ($3.58). Then I went to work fixing the toilet and, can you believe it, it actually works! Oh, just so you know, there is a whole world of toilet flappers. I swear there are about 500 different types of those things. I just bought one that said “universal” and it seemed to do the trick. Who knew the toilet flapper was so complex?

After the plumbing business, I watched an awesome basketball game between Michigan State and Minnesota. Then I lounged around reading some more of Polgara, playing Kingdom Hearts and had some of my super yummy leftover chicken noodle soup for dinner.

Saturday Total Cost:$4.35

Sunday

Sunday was a dreary day, lazy day. I cleaned up around the house, ran four miles, ate leftover marinara sauce and just general lounging around stuff.

Sunday Total Cost: $0

Total Weekend Cost: $14.35

Every weekend, I will detail my activities and expenses to provide an example of how to implement a frugal mindset while still having a fun and active life.

Since this was a long weekend, I’ll start by detailing Wednesday night (the 23rd) through Sunday (the 27th).

Wednesday

I went out to a local bar with some friends and spent $3 on an infamous chocolate cake shot (no chocolate involved, I swear!). I spent the rest of the evening chatting with my friends and had a great time. I only brought five dollars with me so I wouldn’t be tempted to spend more. The plan worked. I passed on a second drink and still had an enjoyable evening.

Wednesday Total Cost: $3.00

Thursday

Thursday was actually a half work day for me. After relaxing for the afternoon, I spent the evening at a friend’s Christmas Eve party with their family. The food was all home-made and absolutely delicious. I ate so much! We walked around my friend’s subdivision caroling (and freezing) then came back inside and warmed up with some hot cocoa. I finally watched A Christmas Story in it’s entirety and wasn’t impressed. Regardless, I had a great time visiting with my friend and felt very welcomed by her family.

Thursday Total Cost: $0

Friday

I spent Friday morning at my boyfriend’s house then the afternoon back at my house. This was a unique Christmas in that I didn’t travel to visit family. I’m really trying to save everything I can this month and they understood the circumstances. I spent Friday night enjoying the quiet and watching Christmas movie classics. I made an easy pork chop dinner with a home-made BBQ sauce broiled in the oven.

Friday Total Cost: $0

Saturday

I expected Saturday to be a more expensive day. Before leaving the house, I took $20 out from my cash tin. This is half of the money that I was given a few weeks ago for grading tests for a friend. I knew that I didn’t want to spend any more than that. I had plans to go to a friend’s party that evening and initiated dinner plans before the party. I knew that it was unnecessary but there is a fabulous Mexican restaurant right next to my friend’s house and I rarely get over that way. Since I knew the food was good and cheap, I justified the cost. Also, this is the first time I’ve eaten out all month. Before heading to the party, I picked up some egg nog to bring.

Saturday Total Cost: $15

Sunday

I spent Sunday cleaning the house and being productive in general.

Sunday Total Cost: $0

Total Christmas Break Cost: $18

Every weekend, I will detail my activities and expenses to provide an example of how to implement a frugal mindset while still having a fun and active life.

Friday

The entire weekend was plagued with a threat of a giant blizzard. So starting Friday, I didn’t do much other than relaxing inside and working on some personal projects. I made dinner out of some pasta I found buried in the back of the cupboard and my home-made marinara that I had already thawed. It was quick and filling.

Friday Total Cost:$0

Saturday

I made beer pancakes then just hung around the house for the rest of the day waiting for it to snow. For dinner I sauteed sliced kielbasa in ginger ale then coated them with brown sugar and broiled everything for a few minutes. It was very good for a lazy meal!

Saturday Total Cost:$0

Sunday

I went to an ex-coworker’s house to make cookies with her family. We spent six hours making seven different types of candies! It was exhausting but a lot of fun. We do this every year and I actually look forward to the kids yelling and dog barking and all the loud family stuff that I don’t get to experience anymore. I brought half of the goodies home with me so these will make great Christmas gifts.

Sunday Total Cost: $0

Total Weekend Cost: $0 (that’s right, zero! Zip! Zulch! Whoo!)