Once again, I had another lazy day on the couch and I don’t really regret it. As I sit here, still on my couch, at midnight I look around and realize there is so much I could have done this weekend. Organizing my art supplies, cleaning up my art table, doing literally anything to the pile of clothes on the floor in my closet waiting to be separated into keep or giveaway.
I needed this weekend to just be void of responsibility and especially output. A few hours ago I realized my battery was on empty. To be honest, this weekend was not enough of a charge and I’m starting the week (once again) at a low percentage. We don’t get tomorrow off for Memorial Day. To be honest, the company should have taken advantage of this holiday and given the entire staff a day off. A three day weekend recharges everyone. That extra day is always magic.
Alas, I will be going to work tomorrow. The weeks have been flying by because I am so focused on each weekend and how much I’m loving my weekends just hanging out at home. Since I don’t have a lot of friends here in Dallas yet, the best thing this virus has shown me was how much I do not need to spend money.
Art supplies are expensive and they are a little addicting too, but that’s pretty much most of the money I’ve spent over the last two months. I haven’t blown it on random shopping and useless clearance buys. The art supplies at least are constructive and make me feel good when I use them.
Things are starting to get real for my budget. I took the writing assessment today for my college admission requirement – I passed. I got a 6/8 on the essay which is great because 4 is passing. I registered for my first 4 classes tonight too. It was nagging at me that I hadn’t sat down to plan, at least the first semester. Because my first semester I will be paying “out of state” tuition, I could only afford 4 classes. It cost $2400 for 4 classes at community college.
Overall that may not seem like a lot after all, it’s a semester of college. Imagine paying it out of pocket though. It’s a tough pill to swallow, but it amazes me that I will be able to do it. I’m already on a college kid’s budget while I save for this. I’m hoping that I won’t have to eat ramen at any point.
I’ve been frivolous with my money for food this month on the challenge. Anytime I wanted something I just went to the store and got it. I’m curious to see how much money I’ve spent on food. My last day of the challenge, I will add up all grocery and fast food costs in May and compare them to April, if I have time I’ll see how much I spent in March, too.
To be honest, I don’t even want to know. It seems like so much money gets wasted on food. I’m going to try really hard to learn to budget my food money and food better, so that I don’t have to waste any actual food either.
For instance, I finally realized that I can freeze bacon. I have been having bacon and eggs on the weekend and really enjoying it, since I would never spend the time on weekdays to cook bacon fresh. So I made bacon yesterday and today and I put the rest in the freezer, then next Friday will put it in the fridge and that $5 bacon gets split into two weekends. When I buy bacon again, I’ll pre-separate it before freezing and get 3 weekends or 6 servings out of it. I feel like if I were to sit down right down and plan my meals I could budget to the closest dollar.
Maybe I’ll spend some time tomorrow at work making a good budget that I can stick to for the next 3 months. I always try to have personal things to work on while at work, so I get a break from thinking about work but also it helps me stay in control when I plan as much as possible. I have a calendar month under my keyboard that has all my bill due dates on them. It helps me keep track of my money. I’m obsessive over it because I hate being poor and I like to know how much I have in every account.
People that find money in their pockets are so lucky! I keep track of every dollar I have. I’m trying really hard not to get a second job. Mostly because I already feel like I don’t have enough free time. I just hate feeling stressed about money. It’s a hard stress to get over because I don’t feel like I live lavishly by any means.
I don’t like feeling restrained either by money. I’ve been wanting a keyboard forever so that I can learn to play piano again and work on a musical that I’ve been writing. I want to take a crack at writing some of the music in addition to the lyrics so that I don’t have to share the stage when accepting my Tony award in a few years.
I’m excited for the next few years of school. I’m also really nervous and a bit scared. I know it’s going to be hard and I know there are going to be times that I will want to quit or think it’s pointless and that I am wasting money. I just hope I can stay focused over the next years. I keep visualizing walking across the stage to get my diploma and feeling the pride of all my hard work and dedication.
Now it’s almost 1 and I must go…
Adventures of the untoward 
So proud of you going back to school. It’s not easy to go back once you’ve been out and earning money and having an adult life. But education is something that you’ll never regret. And trust me, you will blow those traditionally aged student out of the water.
When I first got diabetes, the only no-carb foods I ate were meat and eggs and cheese and salads. A couple years of that, realized how bad that diet was, healthily, spiritually, ethically. That bacon, girl, it’ll kill ya.Do you save the grease?