[img]958|left|Alex Campbell||no_popup[/img]Dateline Boston — You know that thing some people do, where they stop buying stuff for a year and then say how much they saved and then get famous for telling their story? I’m gonna do that. It’s not so much a New Year’s resolution as much as the month of January happens to be when my S.O. and I moved into an expensive apartment, and if we don’t cut back, we might be on the street.
It was my idea. When we were deciding on the apartment I knew was right for us, we sat down and sketched out a list of our monthly expenses. We tweaked it a little, and I think I forgot a couple of things, but I wanted that place so bad, I just blurted it out—“We won’t go out to eat for a year!” S.O. took it to heart, and so help me, I’m gonna eat my words. Somehow it was understood that the no-eating-out would start Jan. 1. It’s now Jan. 4, and we haven’t gone out to eat yet. Laugh all you want to, but you try not eating out for even a few days, and find out how many times you’re tempted to.
Last weekend, we were out shopping. It was about 4 o’clock, and I wanted to stop at a store I rarely go into, just to look. It was Williams Sonoma. Bad idea. I loved looking at all the gadgets and fine dishcloths we could get for our new apartment. Never mind that S.O. had just gotten me an index file- style cutting board set with coordinating knives for Christmas. It has four different cutting boards for different types of food to prevent cross-contamination. I saw it in a store and oohed and aahed so much, it got put right on the Christmas list. I love it.
What Could I Do with All of This?
And I would also love a cherry pitter. And ooh, here’s a thing that scoops out half of an avocado in slices! And feel this dishcloth; doesn’t it feel absorbent? Hey, ceramic pie weights! This is what a woman who suddenly had more kitchen storage space than she knows what to do with sounds like in a high-end kitchen store. And this is what a woman who has just left the high-end kitchen store who is suddenly hungry and has forgotten her vow of not eating out sounds like: “Ooh, look, the Mexican place! Let’s just spend ten dollars! Only ten dollars!”
In swooped our superhero, Rational Man. S.O. held firm to my declaration, and gently guided me back to the car. He reminded me that we were saving money and we had food at home. It worked. We had a lovely pasta dinner and saved at least ten bucks, probably more. Which leads me to a few questions. Just how do those people who save all that money know how much money they’ve saved? Sure, you could look at your routine and calculate. If you’re the type of person who gets a latte every day on your way to work and then you stop doing that, you can easily calculate how much you’d save over a year. But what about us? Are we supposed to drop $20 in a piggy bank every time we want to go out, but don’t, and see what we get at the end? If we don’t do that, will we “save” that money, but actually spend it on something else? I don’t get how to do the math. All I know is that I’ve been tempted to go out three times and haven’t ($60 in the piggy bank). I’m down to tuna, jelly, and carrot sticks for dinner, so I’d better get to the supermarket.
Just in case you hear something through the grapevine, taking friends out to lunch to thank you for helping you move into your new apartment doesn’t count as going out to eat. Friends, please don’t ask us to go out to dinner this year. Instead, come over to our house; we’ll cook. And please spread this through the grapevine: all I want for my birthday this year is restaurant gift cards.
Ms. Campbell may be contacted at her new address, snobbyblog@gmail.com
