I'm about to go get some ice cream with my friend, The Big Dog. It'll probably be around $3.50.

By the way, the reason I haven't been spending money on food since the blog started is that I've been living at home and eating my mom's store-bought or home-grown food. It has been great. Soon, probably this weekend, that will change.

Air Mattress For Visitors

I've been meaning to buy an air mattress for visiting friends to sleep on. My best friend has had me over at his house a lot lately and I'd been using his air mattress there. It was great - it is tall off the floor and actually stays inflated; it's almost like a real bed. So I got something similar. Pretty expensive, but I think it will be worth it to my friends who visit.

Here's the details:
http://www.amazon.com/Insta-Bed-Raised-Mattress-Never-Flat/dp/B00DNWVG2I/ref=pd_sim_sg_3

Item(s) Subtotal: $125.88 Shipping & Handling: $0.00   ----- Total before tax: $125.88 Estimated tax to be collected: $11.01   ----- Grand Total: $136.89

So $136.89 + $46.40 =

$183.29.

Spending is getting up there. Hopefully the fixed costs of moving in (painting, getting new furniture) won't be too extreme. I'd like to keep everything under $1500.

Credit Card Debt

I owe just over $4,000 on my credit card. The bill was coming due, so I had to pay $42 to push it back.

$42 + $4.40 =

$46.40

The first two expenses

Last night my friend T and I decided to hang out. Our typical scheme of hanging out lately is buying beers and maybe some food and driving over to T2's house to drink them and fuck around. This is what we did last night.

However, when we got to the beer store, thing were a little different this time. I said I'm trying to save money, so we were going to be getting really cheap beer. T wasn't in love with the idea, so he offered to buy PBR (which, FYI, is extraordinarily cheap itself - but it's slightly more expensive than the Keystone Light I was eyeing). He bought the PBR. I bought some ice cream, since I was hungry. I got an Its-It . After tax, it was

$1.49

I paid in cash. Tom bought the beer.

That's a thing about saving money, I think. You end up mooching off of other people. When people say to me, "I'm trying to save money," my immediate reaction used to be "oh, I'll pay then." I was pretty generous when it came to buying shit for other people. I think that is a nice trait, but it isn't one I'll be relying on in the coming year. I'm going to try to just pay for myself. I know my original post said it would be okay to "help other people get happy" (or whatever) with my spending, but I think this is an importance place to save, particularly for me. I will have to make up ground in my friendships to make my friends feel comforted and loved WITHOUT buying things for them. I'll have to adapt in that regard if I want to stay a good friend. Even if I explain this to them - or send them to this blog - it would still feel reliant to me. But I guess saving a lot of money, basically, makes you reliant on other people.

So then T and T2 and I played GTA5 while drinking our PBRs. T2 doesn't drink because he's on head-meds, so it was just me and T. T gets hungry when he gets drunk. So, after a while, T2 suggested we go to Taco Bell. Don't make me explain why Taco Bell is gross and sucks, but needless to say, I feel that way. I didn't even like it as a kid - I always wanted McDonalds; my brother was the one who liked Taco Bell. Except, as I discovered in college, the Crunchwrap Supreme is pretty good. I paid with cash:

$2.91.

that's $4.4 so far. By the way, Taco Bell is having a promotion where you can win a Playstation 4:

The Idea

This year, my gross annual income will be $160,000 plus bonuses. According to this website (http://www.adp.com/tools-and-resources/calculators-and-tools/payroll-calculators/salary-paycheck-calculator.aspx), that leaves me just over $99,000 after taxes. In other words, $99,000 will make its way in, and partially out, of my bank account this year. The goal of this blog is to keep as much as possible of it in there.

Our society demands a lot from us. On the one hand, we're encouraged to strive to become "great," to earn as much as we can, and to "succeed" by making tons of money. On the other, we are encouraged to spend that money in the loudest and grandest way possible. As Calvin and Hobbes author Bill Waterson put it, we live "in a culture that relentlessly promotes avarice and excess as the good life." It's our FRIENDS who tell us to buy champagne and stick our heads out of limos. They tell us (really, they show us) to have expensive tastes, to abuse alcohol, and to bulldoze our way through the world.

I want to take a look at it. For the first time in my life, I'm going to keep close tabs on my budget. How much am I spending? Where can I spend less? What can I do to save more? How can I have fun without spending money? I'll still do things that make me feel good - because that is important - but I'll do it in a cost-conscious fashion. A final goal: if I'm spending money, it's to make other people happy; it isn't just for me.

As luck had it, I found a "cheap" apartment in San Francisco, at $1355 a month. My other options were $1800 a month plus $150 in utilities for a room in a 6000 square foot loft, $2000 for a fancy room in a new building, and $1500 for a nice place in a shitty location. I feel like I lucked out. I'm below budget already (though it isn't the $600 East Bay room I could have done) and I feel good about my place.

Next up: looking at my bank accounts to see where my greatest expenses come from.