Fiscal Fridays: Accountability 10/11-10/18 and falling off the wagon

I blew my budget three ways to Sunday last month, so this month I'm trying really hard not to eat out at all. To help with this goal and hold myself accountable, I'm blogging each week about how I did.

So last week I did really well, coming in at only $8. This week? Yyyyyyeah, not so much. When I set a "no-eating-out" goal for this month, I completely failed to account for two things: Homecoming Weekend at OU last weekend and visits from my best friend and my sister this weekend. I refuse to let "oh I'm trying not to spend money" get in the way of fun times with friends and family. I was that person for a long time, and I hated it. So I'm not going to do it anymore. I fudged a bit last weekend. (And I'm sure I'll fudge this weekend as well.) And even those things aside, this week wasn't the greatest. Here's my little spending diary for the last seven days:

Friday, October 11
Date night with Matt. He got dinner, I had the movie tickets pre-paid via a Groupon purchased last month. Spending averted, woohoo!

Saturday, October 12, 10:30 am
I cave and buy breakfast on the way down to Athens. Getting Panera en route to OU is kind of a tradition for me; $7.57. Then it's lunch with Anna and her bf at Miller's Chicken, aka THE BEST DAMN FRIED CHICKEN PLACE IN THE WHOLE WORLD; $17.17. Dinner is this great guilty-pleasure Chinese place I love while Anna's at work; $6.75. I also buy drinks, but I don't count booze as "eating out." Cheating, perhaps, but hey, we're all human. And it's Athens, so drinks are insanely cheap anyway.

Sunday, October 13, 12:30 pm
Brunch with Anna at Court Street Diner; accidentally forget my real card in her dorm room and use a Visa gift card I had on hand, so technically free.

Tuesday, October 15, 7:21 am
Forgot to pre-mix my quinoa fruit smoothie last night. Womp womp. Think about eating breakfast and immediately feel sick. Good thing I bought some enormous apples yesterday; here's hoping that works.

(later that morning)
It totally does! Score.

7 pm
Finish running post-work errands and I'm literally week with hunger. Panera--my kryptonite--is in the next plaza over, but I resist and head home to heat up leftovers. Equal parts disappointed and proud.

Wednesday, October 16, 10 am
Woke up exhausted and therefore pretty nauseous. Can't even handle coffee. Feeling kind of bummed today, too. (Maybe it's all this rain?) Decide I deserve a treat: Breakfast sammie and a latte from Starbucks. $6.70, but worth every penny. It's not about spending money to cheer myself up--it's about deciding to treat myself in some way and then not beating myself up or feeling guilty about it.

Thursday, October 17, 10:30 am
No smoothie again, thanks to the blender in the dishwasher. Snag a mini cupcake from the next office over and inhale a granola bar...

11:55 am
Thank god, it's late enough to be considered lunchtime! Still, I didn't buy breakfast. Yay!

Total for the week: $38.19. Ehhh...it's not awesome. But it's still less than the $50/week I usually allot myself for food/beverage/entertainment spending, so I guess it's not a total loss.