My first FAIL!

Well, I almost made it. I didn’t spend any money until Saturday at 7:30pm, when I donated $20 at a fundraiser dinner. Sabotaged my week without spending, but it was for a worthy cause.

Friday and Saturday were significantly more difficult than the rest of the week. Since I played in a kayak polo tournament in Omaha both days (and stayed the night in between), I needed to pack my own meals. FAIL! Ben bailed me out and gave me the peanut butter sandwich and Triscuits he’d packed for his day in Omaha. (He went to Burger King instead) Phew! Plus, my teammates are the nicest people ever and kept giving me food to snack on between games. (Thanks, Honey Badgers!) No hotel cost, because my friend Jessica lent us her guest room! Here’s where it gets a little iffy: Ben & I BOTH used my car to get up to Omaha, because we both had events there. We’ve also both been using my car this week. I don’t know for sure if the remaining gas in my tank would’ve lasted. In any case, Ben put some gas in my car. He also bought me dinner on Friday & beef jerky/Sun chips for my Saturday snacks during games. It’s fair to say that even though I didn’t technically spend money, Ben bailed me out.

This challenge definitely made me think twice about how much I spend & how much I need. I didn’t think that my standard of living had changed that much in 10 years, but I go out to eat way more and spend money on things I didn’t used to – like getting my nails done and buying things for the house. This week made me look into the back corners of my kitchen cabinets to really inventory what I had – I had to get creative with a couple meals. I hope I continue to do that & waste less.

This week I’m giving up TV at home. Forewarning: I’ve already failed. I turned on the CBS Early show while ironing my dress for work this morning. It’s ingrained in me. Since I can’t “block” TV like I did Facebook, I may have to unplug our TVs or hide the remote controls this week. Yeah, it’s that bad. Due to the nature of my job, I’ll still have TV at work, but I don’t really consider that cheating. “Watching TV” at work is more like “having Ch. 10/11 programming on in the background while I may or may not be at my desk, and intermittently monitoring promos & PSAs which air during the commercial breaks”. Trust me, it’s a far cry from kicking back and watching Simpsons on the couch. Here goes…

I rule!

Last night, I made up a cheesy chicken/broccoli/rice casserole in the crockpot which turned out to be one of the best things I’ve ever made in there! (probably cuz it had fatty cream soup in it – ha!). No dessert? No problem. Things tend to show up around the office. Too many things! Today there were banana bars from a birthday, homemade black bean brownies from a reporter, and the guest dietitian on the noon news even brought frozen banana "ice cream" down to our lunch table! I’m starting to think I could go a week without bringing my lunch at ALL and still scrape a meal together.

Tomorrow, we have a birthday in our department, so I was a little worried about what I could make & share. Found a red velvet cake mix in the pantry – bingo! So I made some cupcakes but had to make frosting. Most recipes I found called for milk. Ben was sweet.

Me: All of these call for milk, but we don’t have any!

Ben: Do you need me to go get some?

Me: No, I can’t buy anything.

Ben: But *I* could buy it so you could make it.

Me: No, I can’t ask you to buy stuff for me.

Ben: Ok. (pause) If you want milk, just give me the signal (taps nose)

A tempting offer, but I didn’t cheat! Found a frosting recipe that worked out great. A little bittersweet, but no one turns down free food at the office, so I’m not too worried. Treat made, no money spent. I rule!

Cheapskate

I’m a pretty good cheapskate!

Gripe: No Coke Zero

Solution: “borrowed” some of Ben’s regular Coke from the mini fridge

Gripe: No grocery shopping

Solution: Fresh tomatoes from mother-in-law’s garden. Who’s got an onion?

Gripe: No fast food

Solution: Producers brought back free food from the Burrito Shack shoot

Gripe: No eating out

Solution: I found a gold mine! Gift cards to the Olive Garden! I’m hangin’ on to these in case I’m desperate for a dinner date later this week. In the meantime, I’m getting creative with my crock pot.

Gripe: Couldn’t buy an ice wrap bandage at Walgreens

Solution: Used freezer packs on my leg & ankle. I’ve used duct tape with them before, & I’ll do it again. Yay for ghetto remedies!

…most of my gripes are food-related (and very minor) so far, but I’m sure I’ll run into some other obstacles. Honestly, I don't need fast food or restaurants, but I'm just excited to have found work-arounds. Fortunately, unless I’m overlooking an event on my calendar, I don’t foresee any gifts I have to buy this week. I don’t really shop for fun, so I’m not missing clothes shopping, etc. I’ll be in Omaha this weekend for a kayak polo tournament (paid for last week), so I’m wondering if I’ll run into some miscellaneous expenditures: rentals, fees, beer? J

I'm spent.

I think I could become a permanent vegetarian pretty easily. When I started this week, I thought I would miss meat a lot. I don’t. A lot of times, it’s just convenient.

Saturday, I went to the Huskers’ season opener against Chattanooga. Although there weren’t really any vegetarian options at the tailgate, I took the turkey off of a turkey sandwich and ate a couple cookies. Plus, there’s no meat in beer – which really worked out in my favor this week. After the game, we went to BisonWitches, and I had no problem finding vegetarian options for a soup/sandwich meal. +1 for artichokes on the veggie sandwich!

Yesterday, I used fake meat crumbles for the first time. I made a breakfast scramble-thingy with potatoes, mushrooms, and soy crumbles. Soooo gooood. I also went to a wedding, which had surprisingly nice options for vegetarians! I had a green salad, a really good pasta salad, green beans, & a roll. So, even in some tricky situations, it really wasn’t difficult to avoid meat.

Overall, I think my week without meat helped me get more fruits & veggies into my diet, made me read menus more carefully, and made me more conscious of what I eat.

This week, I’m going A Week Without…spending. I already pulled into the Walgreens parking lot this afternoon and had to pull away. This could be rough. I didn’t prepare, so I’m thankful I have a full tank of gas. I’m also regretting not buying Coke Zero. As it turns out, I’ll be giving that up for another week. Ha! I’m not counting things that are on auto-pay (I’m not going to rearrange a gym payment around this), and I’m going to try my darndest not to rely on Ben and ask him to buy things. I guess I’ll be cooking a lot this week!