All over the FI space, I have noticed a trend of “Frugal Friday” posts where you highlight some especially frugal decisions that you made throughout the week that helps keep you on track towards your goal of financial independence.
I think this is a great idea, as it encourages people to stick to their goals, and gives creative ways they may not have thought of to save money.
But I wanted to develop a different take on this.
I find that no matter how much I try to save, and how much I plan … something happens.
These are the things I’m hoping to highlight every week.
Those speed bumps that we all meet that make it hard to keep on track and keep focused, but they happen to all of us.
Of course, I would love to hear any of the fails you’ve had in your life over the past week on your journey in the comments below!
This Week in Fails
This week wasn’t particularly bad for fails, but there were definitely some.
My twin nephews were born this Monday, which, while it is a good reason for it, did cause me to eat out much more than I normally would. Some items include:
- 1 – $20 hospital meal served at 11 pm while waiting for the kids
- 6 – $2 Tim Horton’s coffees, purchased for the family gathered to wait during said 11 pm hospital trip
- 2 – $15 Denny’s breakfasts for myself and the new father the morning after his babies were born
All for a grand total of about $42!
Additionally, I shopped at the grocery store down the street from my house.
This will be kind of confusing but I’ll explain:
I live in a small town of about 3500 people. This means that groceries, on average, are $1 or so more at our local grocery store than at the bigger grocery stores in the city, 12 minutes or so drive away.
Which, since I purchased about 30 items on my shopping trip means I spent about $30[mfn]I’m not including gas since the drive would take maybe $0.05 worth of gas[/mfn] I didn’t need to.
So, while this week was not bad overall for fails, the few that did occur cost me about $72.
Room for improvement indeed!
But I’ll see you next week!
Ryan
P.S. If you’re interested in seeing what fails I have on an as-they-happen basis make sure to follow me on Twitter!
