Saturday was the final day of my challenge to hold on to as much of my extra “spend” money that I could. I did not spend anything on day 9 which was Friday.
On Saturday morning I skipped my usual morning coffee that I have after coaching soccer. At this point I was feeling pretty confident that my savings would be close to $10.00.
Then it happened. The “family”, not me wanted a treat from Steak ‘N’ Shake. I was the only one in the car to possess any money because my husband left his wallet at home.
As a result I was asked to buy the treats.
Quickly in my mind I began to think of the best way to save any money from this purchase.
Convincing each person to share would cut down on the actual amount of the order. I thought this was a great idea and would save some money. In fact, it did not. The items resulted in a purchase of about $8.50. I For 3 drinks!
We bought a milkshake for my husband because he works hard all week for me to stay home, a junior milkshake for the baby because he let daddy watch the game and played in the dirt quietly, and finally a sprite for the soccer player. Yep, $8.50 for 3 drinks. Ridiculous I know. I should have went ahead and splurged, but I remained strong!
In the end, I was able to save $1.00. The extra .50 cents went to the kids for doing their chores for the week.
In 10 days I spent $19.00 on fast food basically. For the future I hope to have better success in my spending habits. But, for this time around the goal of just holding onto it longer was pretty satisfying. Now, I need to face the reality that the $20.00 could have went toward the new pair of shoes that I not only want, but need.
The lesson that I have learned from taking this challenge is wasting money leaves a guilty feeling in the pit of your stomach, and the realization that now my shoe money will have to reveal itself with a sale on Craigslist.
Next time, I think I will just buy the shoes first then I can scrape for my fast food money!
The best part about this is tracking what you spent. That is what I desperately need to do. I use cash only so I don’t spend beyond my means but sometimes I wonder where it all went and why it didn’t last longer. Okay, starting this week I’m going to record everything I spend on. Thanks for the idea!
Steak-n-Shake can get very expensive. We got free milkshakes from there the last time we went because we had to wait so long for our food.
Then a couple weeks ago someone actually slammed their car into our local Steak-n-Shake and half of he car was in the dining area. It knocked out windows and everything. I was driving past and couldn’t believe it! It looked like a movie set.
I’ve learned the hard way at how easily it is to waste money on fast food, treats,etc. I could be so cheap at the store for groceries and yet I could easily spend money on fast food.
I’m now doing much better but it took some time for me to get over my fast food love. Hope you have a great day~