Weekend Spending

Despite shopping being the main act of the weekend, I managed to reel in the spending.

Friday: $48

Date night! I hadn't seen the BF in a few days because of our mutually busy schedules, so Friday night was eagerly anticipated. I even went to the gym in the morning so that I would be freed up after work! The market was so slow that I got to leave around 4:45, a beautiful exception from the usual 5-6pm exit.

We had salivated over the thought of Italian food all week (and as a reward for my stellar gym performance- the weight loss tally has reached 5 pounds!) and had our eye on a particular place famous for its lasagna. As a last minute money-saving decision, we decided that rather than pay $40+ for a bottle of marked-up wine at the restaurant, why not pick up a bottle from the liquor store down the street and just order the food as take-out? We do enjoy the ambiance and experience of eating out, but for our lazy Friday night, this fit the bill perfectly. We ordered a caprese salad, the famous lasagna (worth the hype!), and some gnocchi for $40 total including a small tip to the hostess. We saved about $8 by not having to tip a waitress, and the wine we purchased was a delicious malbec for only $8, so all in it was a relatively thrifty way of having a delicious meal. And the leftovers tasted great on Saturday night!

As for the rest of our date night, we watched some Office re-runs, played Scrabble, and went to bed early so that B could leave at 8am for a bachelor party in Philly. I know, we're so exciting.

Saturday: $24

Since B was in Philly, I took the opportunity to have half-priced Indian food with a friend from college, as B hates Indian. When a restaurant offers the menu at half-price for lunch every day, what is the incentive of ever going there for dinner? Total cost for 2: $19.20 for an appetizer, two entrees, rice, and naan!

After lunch I strolled up 5th avenue to do some shopping but luckily I didn't find anything that I loved, or what I loved wasn't available in my size (online shopping, anyone?). After my strike-out shopping experience, I went to the gym and then got some Pinkberry frozen yogurt-ish stuff on the way home as a reward ($5). I also rented two movies, but I pre-paid for a bunch of them earlier this year so that I could rent them at a discount, so I essentially rented the two movies for the price of one. Lastly, I purchased some english muffins and a yogurt to eat for breakfast, as my apartment is devoid of all breakfast foods, and that drives me NUTS when I wake up starving.

Dinner was comprised of leftovers from Friday, along with some fresh pasta I bought in Seattle a few months ago (sweet potato papardelle!), including an attempt at making the suggested sauce (a garlic, walnut, cream cheese mixture that ended up as a big blob). Since B was out of town, and I have been out of town almost every weekend this summer, I relished the opportunity to turn down all invitations to go out and just lie in bed watching movies.

Sunday: $61

First purchase of the day, a $4 sausage from a street-vendor to fuel up before another shopping trip with a friend from work. I was a little surprised at how 'expensive' it was, ha. I met my friend at a salon to have our nails done first: manicure was $8, and then I decided to splurge on a back rub for $10 because my shoulders and upper back have been super tense, and I can't even pay my BF to rub my shoulders for me :( So I will pay someone else to do it!! I love how the ladies at the nail salons give the perfect back rub, but if you go to a massage parlor, they try to get deep into the tissue and it ends up hurting, not what I like at all.

I purchased two shirts on sale at Club Monaco for $42, one for me and one for the BF since he has given me a little bit of leeway in overhauling his wardrobe. He's supposed to pay me weekly installments of $30 so that I can be his personal shopper, but I haven't received any cash in a few months... hmm....

For dinner I had a bowl of soup, compliments of the supply I purchased at Costco a few weeks ago. Healthy and free.

Hope you all had a great weekend.