Wednesday and Thursday are officially in the books.
To start the days off, I had only $74 to spend until the following Friday. I managed to go Monday and Tuesday not spending a single dollar and just staying in.
My goal was to make it all the way until Friday without spending a single dollar but one necessity in life came up. Gasoline! I considered siphoning my parents gas out of their cars figuring they probably wouldn’t turn me in but I realized one thing. I don’t know how to do it. Then after reading how to do it, it sounded gross and like a waste of time. Due to my poor money management skills and lack of maintaining my budget, I was only able to get $25 worth of gas that should last me these next 10 days. A third of what I had left, gone, just like that.
Wednesday was Shocker game night. Instead of paying for parking, I had a friend meet me up earlier so we could get a close and free parking spot. On top of that, he purchased my dinner and drinks to make up for paying his tab. Yeah, the money would have been nice but I wasn’t too caught up in it. Lesson: Never argue with friends about money. It never leads to a good thing. Just look at what happened with the whole Mike’s Wine Dive scenario.
Wednesday’s nights end amount: $49.
Thursday was a super chill night. Snacked on oatmeal, peanuts and minor odds and ends during the day and came home to chicken lasagna roll-ups. Even have enough leftover to take to lunch.
Final damage afters Days 21 and 22: Only $25 spend on gasoline. That’s $25 for Monday-Thursday, probably some sort of record for me.
I had a couple reader comments asking what kind of foods I’ve been making during this whole project. Well one of my favorite meals which lasted me for three meals was “Gumbo Burgers”. One of my friends gave me the recipe and it was/is/and always will be delicious. It is super simple.
Gumbo Burgers
1.5 pounds ground beef
2 cans Campbell’s Chicken Gumbo Soup
Mustard
Pepper jack cheese singles
Hamburger bunsBrown ground beef and drain the fat. Bring browned beef back to heat, and add both cans of soup. Stir. On top of mixture, make a swirl shape with mustard. Stir.
Stir occasionally over medium to medium-high heat. It will simmer which is fine, just stir it every so often. Want to make sure the sauce gets thick enough, which will take 15 minutes or so.
Put a slice of cheese on each bun, pack gumbo burger mixture on top.
That’s it! I didn’t put any cheese on mine, but you may like it. If you really want to save money, go grab some mustard packets somewhere! (I didn’t do that though). It ends up being like a Gumbo Sloppy Joe but doesn’t have that distinct gumbo taste.
So moving on, I’m down to 8 days left of this project. I have my fourth weekend coming up and those have been known to really break the bank for me. I’d really love to have some money left over to see if I could have accumulated any “savings” but it’s going to be a close call.
$49. 8 days. One Person.
Stay tuned!
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Holla for some gumbo burgers!
You can finish this challenge out. I got faith.
Self control will get you through these next 10 days!
You have done well Grasshopper.
Hard to imagine how a single mom can raise a family on a minimum wage isn't it?
Really admire your persistence! It's hard to walk a mile in someone else's shoes voluntarily, but I really think you are going to benefit from this in a lot of ways. looking forward to your next installments and your final thoughts at the end of it all!
Shelly
Just dropping in to see how the project is going. Wow.
And Yay for Gumbo burgers!