I finally did it: I spent cash from my weekly allowance.
After I scheduled Friday morning’s post on Thursday evening, I went to the supermarket and bought items with which to make quiche for my dinner guests Friday night. Honestly, as ridiculous as this may sound, it was a huge struggle and an even bigger wake-up call.
The things I had to buy were:
- 1/2 dozen eggs
- cream
- milk
- onion
- Gruyere cheese
- pie crust (or butter and flour to make it myself)
- balsamic vinegar
The milk, onion, eggs, and cream were easy to buy because they’re inexpensive as is, and come in small sizes (I only need 1/2 cup of cream for the recipe, so the tiny carton of cream I bought was only $1.39). The difficult stuff was the cheese, pie crust, and vinegar.
Pretty much every time I do a random trip to the supermarket on my way home from work, I stop in the fancy cheese section. You know… not where they keep Kraft or “Helluva Good” brands! Pshaw! I don’t need that crap, right? I must have some raw, organic, local cheese! Plus, my quiche recipe calls for Gruyere! Well, I stopped in my fancy cheese section and grabbed some Gruyere (imported from France, nonetheless!), tossing it in my cart. As I walked away I realized, “Crap. I didn’t look at the price!” When I did, I saw… staring back at me… $7.99… for barely a quarter pound chunk!
I truly still wanted that cheese, but I knew I couldn’t and shouldn’t spend so much. Are my guests really going to know the difference between this and the stuff from the regular refrigerator section of the supermarket? Doubtful. So, I walked over to the other side of the store, where the word “artisanal” doesn’t exist, and bought the store brand’s “all natural” mild white cheddar which was on sale for 2-for-$5 (though I only bought one). I wasn’t happy about it. I wanted that imported French stuff. Damn.
Speaking of imported stuff, as I had turned away from the fancy cheese, I saw a display of bottles of balsamic vinegar. Perfect! How convenient this store is! I grabbed the bottle and walked to my cart, glancing at the price tag: $19.99! For a tiny bottle! “But it’s from Italy,” my internal voice screamed at me. “You need this.”
Luckily I put it down and walked to the aisle that had the oil and vinegar in it – you know… Heinz, etc. But, what surprised me was this: one lonely bottle of imported Italian balsamic vinegar, all by itself, on sale for less than $3. The bottle is at least twice as big as the $20 one I’d found before, so I quickly snatched it up. I was so noticeably excited about this that it scared me.
Then, the pie crust. While in the inexpensive cheese section, I saw the pie crusts and had a decision: spend $3 on pre-made pie crust, or spend $2 on butter and at least another $2 on flour. I would have future use of the leftover butter and flour if I went with the second option, but I don’t use butter or flour very often, so would I truly need them? I ended up going with the pre-made crusts, also because it’d be much easier for me after work on Friday to make the quiche if one thing was already done for me. (I’m notoriously bad at making pie crust anyway, so I’m glad to have Pillsbury do this!)
I know some folks upon reading this are probably thinking, “Oh, woe is me! You silly little yuppie with ‘only child syndrome’ who was probably raised in an upper-middle-class household! You have to budget when grocery shopping? Suck it up and join the masses!” The point of this whole thing is to change my previous, impulsive, financially damaging ways. The point is for me to grow the hell up. I’m fully aware that people live paycheck to paycheck and always have to buy generics to get by. And, no, I never have had to do that. But now I am. Yes, it’s by choice, but that doesn’t make it less difficult.
Anyway… damage done at the supermarket for my caramelized onion and Gruyere cheddar quiche: $17.90
After I went home and put the groceries away, I went to trivia at a bar with some coworkers. I had an amazing time! Seriously! We came in third place and, thanks to me being the only one suggesting team names, we won the “Best Team Name”! (We were Kim Jung Rodman. Get it? Good. 🙂 )
I was nervous because we went to one of my favorite burger joints in the Boston area. Luckily a friend/coworker of mine wanted to split a burger with me so in the end, my half burger and beer cost just over $5. Fun times + good food + good company + not a lot spent = an amazing night.
On Saturday evening, after my shift at the museum, my fiance and I are going to Costco to get some necessities like meat (now that my meat CSA is done with), canned goods, toilet paper, cereal, etc. that we’re low on and usually buy in bulk. Luckily, my guy buys the groceries when we go on our big trips, so this shouldn’t affect me at all. We’ll also be staying in to watch the Patriots game instead of going out (note: I am not a Patriots fan, but he is!) so that’ll save us some dough. Maybe we’ll buy a ready-to-bake pizza from Costsco for our gameday food! As long as I’m not paying… 😉
Weekly Allowance: $60.00
Weekly Allowance Remaining: $36.65
J
Living in a Money Jar 