Day 1: Hitting a Wall

Yesterday I hit a wall.

Today, true to Stage-Manager-Straight-A-Student-(well, sort of)-Idealistic-Go-Getter -style, I’m embarking on a journey to start over.

I’m a bit of an enigma, sometimes. A recent graduate of a humanities-heavy college with a degree in technical theater, I’m a perfectionist and a hippie. I like to organize things and I like to party, go out, explore, and sit on my computer and Stumble. I’m worried about consumerism, mercury in fish, big business, empty calories, and ever-growing trash heaps. I eat as sustainably as I can. I make spreadsheets. I live for the moment. I work by day in the children’s music industry, and I love it and am good at it.

Yesterday, I realized that in all my planning and dreaming and “being aware” of my environment, I’d missed out on a few very basic pieces of information regarding paying taxes. I realized that on my already-meager budget, I need to now come up with $3500 with which to pay the government so I can keep enjoying my civil liberties.

I cried for an hour, and then spent the last 35 hours brainstorming.

“How am I going to eat?” “What am I going to need to give up?” “Where am I going to find another job?” “Will I be able to be happy?” “How can I make passive income?” “Can I still be creative?” “Will I drive my boyfriend nuts?” “Is it even possible to pay my bills and student loans and pay rent and eat?????”

I will surely go farther into the trepidation, fear, and strangeness that suddenly finding myself in debt (beyond my student loans) conjured, but for now, I’m going to focus on an idea that struck me around hour 27.

I realized that a LOT of people are probably finding themselves in the same boat right now. And a LOT of people, being raised in consumerism America, will turn to a McDiet to get through the tough times. We’re raised to believe that only the fortunate can afford to choose an all-organic, healthy, sustainable diet. I decided to embark on a journey to show that this simply isn’t true.

How this blog functions:

The goal is to both eat and be entertained for $5 a day or less on average. This does not include rent and bills (though I DO hope to get to that point someday – ha!) .

Each day, I will break down how much money I spent (including groceries and other items), what meals I ate, what I did for entertainment, and how much money was spent on my meals and entertainment CONSUMED that day (i.e- If I buy groceries but only eat a sandwich, I will list the groceries under “$$$ spent” and the sandwich under “total amount in food eaten”. Hopefully, the total of the latter number each day will be equal to or less than the former by the time I need more groceries!

I will also post RECIPES, shopping tips, money-saving ideas, entertainment ideas, and lots of other goodies to get you through being broke in style.

I will tally my weekly expenses at the end of the week to be sure that the average comes out to less than $5 a day. I don’t know if I can do it – but it’s definitely worth a try.