While I am certaintly saving money by not paying rent, I'm not saving nearly as much as I feel I should be considering that I still live at home. The truth is, I eat out way too often and spend more money on alcohol than I need to. I keep telling myself that I want to cut back on these types of frivilous expenses while I'm living in New Jersey, but not much has changed over the last few months. Hence, I've taking a dramatic and ambitious approach for the month of May. A challenge, if you will.
Beginning immediately for the next five week, I'm placing self-imposed restrictions on my spending habits which forbid the purchase of alcoholic drinks at bars, dining out at restaurants, and all frivolous personal expenses; the only costs I want to incur are my routine travel expenses (gas, monthly metrocard, monthly bus ticket), my monthly car payment, my monthly cell phone bill, and occasional one-off expenses.
Or, in simpler terms, I'm going to be cheap as fuck.
I know this seems exteme, especially considering I'm not at all in any sort of financial distress. But part of me wants to see if I'm capable of enduring such drastic spending cuts, and there's no harm in trying to save a lot more this month. I already purchased tickets to a Foxygen concert and a Yankees game that'll occur during May, so it's not like my life will be completely void of social activities. And I still intend to hang out with friends at bars and restaurants as well, even if it means I'll be severely cheap and buy nothing. By the end of this challenge, I'm hoping to develop greater restraint when it comes to making frivilous purchases... without having to keep my checking account under lockdown, that is.
