What a long day!

I feel like I haven't updated in days! When...actually.... it's only been about 1 day. Hah.

I didn't update at office-job today because K worked with me all day - I am trying to keep this blog on the down-lo for anyone who knows me, because I am faaaar more honest and open in this blog than in my real life.

Thank you ever so much for filling out and voting on my little poll there. So far the answers seem to be broken up into "Yes!" and "It's alright..." which is good. At least there's no "No!" although, maybe some of you are just being nice. Who knows. For now, I think it'll stay put, but knowing my restlessness with templates, I'm thinking it'll probably change on a monthly basis or so. Even though it's a lot of work!

A quick update on the no-bought-food challenge. All is well! I didn't spend a dime on lunch (or breakfast - since I start work at 7:30 a.m., I don't usually eat at home) at all this week! I am very proud of myself, since I really am the queen of eating out. I am finding sandwiches seem to be the most satifying thing I have brought recently, although my jars of mandarin oranges are pretty awesome, too. You can join in the challenge until the end of next week, or read about how we're all doing right over at Krystal's blog!

I have started an Excel template to keep track of how much I am spending on individual groceries. My problem is, being relatively young and inexperienced, I can't always judge whether the price posted for an item is good or bad. So I am going to start writing down each item I am buying and the price I paid. That way, I can start to learn what is a good price/sale or a bad price and where I bought the items. I'm looking forward to saving even more money!

K and I went shopping again after work - we're such bad influences on each other! It's so bad. We went to the mall (to kill a couple hours before I had to work at fast-food job) and (of course, after spending the day complaining about how broke she is!) she bought a couple items. I bought a Dairy Queen blizzard (yes, that was dinner. I know, it's bad, but it was so tasty!) and a couple packs of Polaroid photos (the company is no longer making the Polaroid photos, so I'm trying to stock up as much as I can before the end of the year. The catch? They are $32.99 for 20 photos...). I also stopped by the photography store and bought a tripod that I had been eyeing for a while. I needed a new tripod to support the weight of the new camera. These are all things that had been "on the list" of eventual things to buy - but somehow I still feel guilty.

I really shouldn't, I have space in my budget for these items, and I'm ahead of the game in all ways, yet there is a nagging voice that just makes me feel like a failure. I need to remind myself that I need to treat myself once in a while, otherwise I risk "binge-spending" and going overboard. In a lot of ways, this whole frugal thing is just like dieting - I need to treat myself once in a while to keep from going stir crazy as I make all these adjustments in my life.

I'm not feeling guilty anymore starting now. (Of course, this doesn't mean I'm going to go shopping again tomorrow!) Hopefully as time progresses, I will adjust more and more to this lifestyle. Again, I think as I get closer and closer to leaving for London, as well as seeing more and more money in my savings accounts, I will feel that all this hard work has paid off.

:)