Day 22: A Little Extra

Money Spent: $8.75

Total in food eaten: ~$6.50

Breakfast: Yogurt, 1/2 a Luna bar ($0)

Lunch: Bagel with strawberry cream cheese and organic soda ($4.75)

Dinner: Spaghetti and salad ($4)

So obviously, I spent a little more today than usual.  This was for a few reasons - first, I spent a total of $5.75 on food eaten last week.  That's $.75/DAY.  Second, I worked my first of many Monday's at the office, and I spent the evening babysitting, so I made a little extra money.  Lastly, my friend Derrick (or Brother Derrick von Derrick, his stage name) and I are going on a dumpster dive this evening.  Let's hope this time is more successful than the last.

I got my breakfast food for free because it was leftovers from the gig this past weekend, and I needed to kill some time on my way to babysitting so I stopped at Lenny's bagels on 98th and Broadway (they have AMAZING bagels and are NOT part of the chain).   For dinner, Sam and I (the girl I was 'sitting for) ordered some spaghetti and salad from the pizzeria around the corner. 

Today, I set up my payment plan with the IRS (45 minutes on hold...).  My bank account is looking a little better these days, and I'm slowly paying off my credit card debt.

I'm running out of groceries, but I have a lot of food at work and I think I can get through this week with little to no shopping, especially if this dive goes well.  Fingers crossed.

Happy 4/20 Eve!  Hows about we stop this ridiculous drug war, eh?

Day 4: Free Latte!!!

Money spent: $0
Total amount in food eaten: $.50 (or $1.50 including cereal)

Breakfast: Cereal with raisins and bananas

I’ve been kind of lamenting the fact that I have to give up my hot morning drinks (David Bach calls this the “Latte Factor” – giving up expensive specialty drinks in order to save a LOT of money) – I love coffee but I’ve found that brewing it in the mornings isn’t usually in the cards for me since I like to wake up late and I start working right away when I arrive at my office.

I guess I must have been putting this out into the universe, because I woke up this morning to find an e-mail from Crossroads NYC (which is part of an organization called Times Square Alliance that give you a card with deals in the neighborhood if you live in Times Square).  It said Jamba Juice is giving away FREE chai tea lattes at the 47th St. location.

Hell yeah!

Mike lives on 44th St, so I worked from home until 11 (when the latte promo started) and we made our way over there.  The catch was that you had to ride on an exercise bike that is hooked up to a blender attachment and mix your own drink by pedaling.  Well AW-right.  We both grabbed a bike, mixed our drinks, and earned free delicious chai teas.  I went to work feeling good.

mmmm... chai

I had leftover bean salad mixed with rice for lunch. I also snacked on some of my oatmeal bread from last night with peanut butter since I’ve been finding I do better with 2 small meals about 2 hours apart for lunch.

We went out to dinner with Mike’s family for his birthday.  Mike chose Gobo a vegan place downtown. 

I got green tea noodle stir-fry along with a lot of delicious appetizers.  Mike’s family wasn’t thrilled by the restaurant choice at first, but everyone wound up REALLY enjoying their meals. 

It’s been really fun cooking/baking these past few days, but it was also really nice to be cooked for (AND served). 

Best part?  I’ve got leftovers for lunch tomorrow!!!!

On a side note, I’ve noticed that my mood, interest in life, and general happiness level is much higher than it’s been in months.  I expected to be fully depressed during this, the brokest of times.  Not so. 

Things to do: grow my own food – research indoor gardens