Fiscal Fridays: Accountability for the week 10/4 - 10/10

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 the past week wasn't the worst in terms of my spending habits, but it wasn't the best either. I've been using the Notes app on my phone to journal my progress. Here's what I wrote over the last seven days:

Friday, Oct. 4, 12:42 pm
In my rush to get out the door this morning, I didn't pack enough food for lunch. Thought it would be enough, but I was wrong. Bought a small order of wings from the cafeteria--nothing else. $4.50. Realized halfway through that I wasn't that hungry after all. New goal: Wait 20 minutes after eating to buy more food, to give my stomach time to realize whether it's actually hungry.

Sunday, Oct. 6, noonish
Didn't get a chance to eat before running some time-sensitive errands. Wanted Panera for lunch, but settled for a $1.06 bagel (free butter, not cream cheese) and ate lunch for real when I got home.

Tuesday, Oct. 8, 10:30 am
So my biggest foe seems to be breakfast. The thought of eating within the first hour or two of waking up makes me physically nauseous, so I usually skip breakfast in favor of a cup or two of coffee. And of course by this time, I'm starving. This morning I tried Sydney's trick of making a breakfast smoothie, downing it pre-coffee as I packed my lunch and wiped down the kitchen. My stomach still is making the loudest grumbles you've ever heard. I'll give the smoothies a few more days (made a big batch of pre-mix), and maybe see how the Noble Pig's suggestion of adding quinoa works out, then I'll try my backup: packing breakfast.

Wednesday, Oct. 9, 10:24 am
Running errands on my morning break and I'm starving. Pop my head into Starbucks for a breakfast sandwich, but the line is a dozen people long. Take it as a sign and leave. There's a granola bar in my desk.

Same day, 10:30 am
Granola bars make me sad.

Thursday, Oct. 10, 10:25 am
Didn't have time for a smoothie this morning. I'm grumpy, tired, and hungry. Whatever, I'm getting cheese fries. (JK, I just couldn't resist the Mean Girls quote. I got bacon and eggs from the cafeteria--$3.30. They were completely unsatisfying, as I got the leftover bacon crumbles from breakfast service. Part of me feels like I deserve this for cheating. Womp womp.)

Total for the week: $8.85. Not bad. I managed to pack my lunch every day. Considering that the average cost for lunch downtown is anywhere between $8 and $10, I've actually done very well compared to the buy-lunch-two-or-three-times-a-week habit I was in last month.