I am doing some committee work for University B this week that is eating into my evenings. While yesterday wasn’t too bad, today made for a late night. I will return to writing a bit more substantively tomorrow…

Lunar Do-Over Day 8: February 8th

1. How much did I spend today? – $5.00 – In my city, it is fairly common for young boys to sell water and other drinks at busy intersections for money. Almost like urban lemonade stands. While I rarely buy anything to drink, depending on how well they’ve honed their pitch, I sometimes make a donation. Today he was well-rehearsed and polite so I parted with five dollars. To approach busy, annoyed, city drivers and attempt to sell them something would seem to hone skills necessary to be successful at other entrepreneurial endeavors. While I am often concerned about their safety, given that idling cars can move at any moment in response to the changing traffic lights, I certainly respect the hustle.

Other than this small donation, I didn’t “need” anything. I have two social engagements planned for this weekend, and I am slowly running out of fruit, so I expect a slight uptick in spending later this week.

February Variable (food, gas, misc.) Budget Initial Balance: $463.77
February Variable (food, gas, misc.) Budget Remaining Balance: $334.37

2. What financial information have I learned to help me when I’m debt-free? – Not a damn thing. I have been binge-watching “Till Debt Do Us Part” on Amazon Prime (US). It’s an older, Canadian reality TV show that focuses on the marital fracas between couples that results from financial stress. The financial stress is usually a lack of communication that is exacerbated by overspending. The host’s solution is always to move the couple to a cash-only, envelope (jar) based budget for a month, paired with other activities and challenges that are designed to get them to communicate more. While the show is fairly formulaic, it is always interesting to get to peer into other people’s finances. But you all get that 😉

3. How have I lived abundantly? – I went for a midday workout so that I could take a class with my favorite trainer. At first, I felt a bit guilty about stepping away from work in the middle of the day. However, I later accepted that this is one of the benefits of remote work, and as long as I put in an eight-hour day, it doesn’t really matter when I do the work unless I have meetings.