Friday Estimate
It’s time to estimate our weekends.
Tonight I have birthday drinks with a friend who just moved into the neighborhood. My goal will be to spend around $30. Since the venue is going to be near my apartment, I may pour myself a scotch before I walk over to the bar, which will help limit how many drinks I’ll order. Yes, I totally condone (responsible!) pre-partying as a savings tactic.
Saturday is going to be a work day for me, because I have a lot of different things on my plate I need to get through. On Sunday, I’m meeting friends for lunch so I can get their housekeys because I’m cat-sitting for them next week, and then heading to a BBQ in the late afternoon. Tack on a grocery store trip, and my weekend estimate is going to be about $130.
One of you guys wrote in to ask about affordable ways to have fun on weekends without holing up at home and watching Netflix or Hulu. In addition to your estimations today, I’d love for us to crowdsource some tips. For me, one of the best things about living in New York is that it makes up for high cost of living by having free events all over the city every day. There are free readings at bookstores like McNally Jackson, or Housing Works, as well as meetups hosted by organizations of every variety. Saturday is Museum Day Live!, where you can get free admission to museums all over the country. New York’s largest street fair is happening on Sunday in Brooklyn. These are all free events, and there are lots of other things you can do that cost less than $10. Sites like NYC GO and TimeOut are great resources for looking up events. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to have a good time.
Edit: I forgot to mention the Awl’s event calendar!
Today is my birthday! I decided to make a trip to my hometown across the state for the weekend to celebrate, so I might be spending more than I should, but HEY it’s my birthday. I estimate gas and tolls to be about $50, but I’m staying with a friend so no hotel costs. Tonight I’m going out with friends, and a lot of them will probably buy me drinks, but I expect to at least spend $20-30. Tomorrow I’m going to The Big E, the largest fair in New England (it is the best thing ever and everyone should go) and will probably spend $75 on admission/food/souvenirs etc. Sunday my friend and I are getting tattooed by an apprentice friend of hers, so the session is free but I’ll be tipping around $50 depending how long it takes. If I can cap the weekend off at $200, I’ll be in good shape.
@highwaysofgold What a good birthday weekend! Doin’ it right.
I’m hoping for around $60 this weekend. No plans tonight, going out for a beer on Saturday, dinner with the boyf’s family on Sunday (this is the one I’m not looking forward to.)
As for the fun, cheap things part of this post….I live in Baltimore and there’s usually a plethora of fun and cheap things buuuuttt you get killed on the parking so I almost never partake.
Baltimore Book Festival is this weekend though.
@Pumpkin Are you going to the book festival? I’m curious to hear how it is!
@Pumpkin I have been wanting to hit up that book festival for years, but something always gets in the way. As it will again this year, since I’ll be in OC. (For a wine festival. Wine > books? Not sure, jury’s still out. Wine + books though, I like that.)
@eagerber I’m not going, but a couple of people I know are super excited about it.
Saturday I am working with a local organization to paint a house/plant a garden, and I am dragging church members along. I plan on buying them some frozen pizzas and sharing my pool for the afternoon as a thank you. $20? Other than that, I plan on spending nothing, because I need to save all my pennies for a plane ticket whose price goes up every time I look at it.
That is a free/cheap thing you can do–spend your Saturday volunteering with a local organization. Sometimes you get a free lunch! It doesn’t count if it is Kiwanis or Rotary though–they charge dues.
Wedding to go to this weekend, in Philadelphia, so I’m not sure what to expect beyond the valet parking fee and gas. Maybe $100 total, including a post-reception drink or two. Rest of the weekend is work for me, so I’ll probably spend another $20 or so in meals/incidentals. I badly need to grocery shop, but don’t think it will happen until Monday night: about another $50.
So, total, including grocery trip Monday: $170.
In terms of free things to do in DC, last weekend was the National Book Festival on the mall, which was amazing! I got to hear Jeffrey Eugenides read for FREE! Among other amazing writers… This weekend is the Fall for the Book festival in northern VA (Alice Walker, Michael Chabon, and Neil Gaiman headlining). Any Baltimore readers? There’s apparently the Baltimore Book festival this weekend, too. Anyone going to either or both?
In terms of other free/cheap activities, I usually check the after hours blog on the Washingtonian. Here’s this weekend’s list:
http://www.washingtonian.com/blogs/afterhours/where-when-picks/what-to-do-this-weekend-september-27-to-30.php
I’m moving on Sunday.
So, firstly, I basically have no food left and I need to finish packing up my kitchen, so I’m going to spend more than I should on food. And I expect my movers to run me about $300, maybe $350. My mom will be coming up to help with the move and run around buying furniture with me, and I have Mon/Tues off work for Jewish holidays. I own no living room furniture, no table to eat at, no bookcases. I need more rugs and curtains because I have more windows now. I anticipate up to another $1000 there.
Also, the couch I’m thinking about buying, which will run me another $600 or so.
Oy vey, expensive weekend.
This should be a low key weekend for me. Dinner/drinks with a friend tonight (~$25), epic farmers market/grocery trip because I won’t be able to use my car for a couple weeks ($85), laundry ($7), sunday brunch ($20). That brings me to $137, so if I stay under $150 I’ll be happy.
@msafiri Whoops, forgot: I’m finally upgrading from my very old, disintegrating Blackberry to an old model iPhone now that the new ones are out. So that’s another $100.
I’m hoping for about $60 on groceries, drinks,and a movie ticket (crazy time travel movies, I’m yours). I’m saving up for next weekend, when I’ll be in la belle ville de Montreal! (Any Billfold-y travel tips much appreciated.)
Possibly going to the movies tomorrow with friends, which will be about $13 for the ticket, plus maybe $5 for popcorn unless we go out for dinner before/after, in which case $20ish for that, and almost certainly $4 for gelato after. Otherwise, nothing else unless I pick up a few groceries (bread! milk! lunch meat!). Call it $50-60 for the weekend.
I’m hoping to spend nothing this weekend. Let’s see how that goes.
Today: Date night dinner (BBQ!) – $0, kindly paid for by my boyfriend as per tradition
Saturday: Chili festival – $0 – my boyfriend’s parents are entering the competition so we get in free as their guests. I plan to eat many free chili and cornbread samples and mooch off boyfriend’s parents’ beer.
Sunday: Apartment hunting (ugh) then volunteering at the animal shelter (yay puppies), both $0. Perhaps preceded by brunch, ~$15.
I might have to buy some groceries (~$20) or do some laundry (~$10) but overall it should be a pretty cheap weekend.
headed to Baton Rouge for an LSU football game. Hoping to not spend more than $300:
$47 on ticket to game
$89 for hotel (my share of a 3 night stay split by 3 people)
$40 for rental care (my share)
$40 gas (my share – not really sure how much gas we’ll use)
which only leaves approx $84 for food and fun, which I’m kind of skeptical about because there is WAY too much good food down there to try (beignets, boudin, poboys, cafe au lait). Hoping my self control will remain intact but idk. Guess we’ll see at Monday’s check-in *crosses fingers*
I’m in tonight and eating leftovers on the couch but tomorrow is all day at the Topsfield Fair, so I’m expecting a spendy weekend. $45 in admission alone for myself and the girls. I took $160 out of the ATM for the day and I’m hoping to not spend beyond that, although who knows.
As such, Sunday will also be spent being a homebody. I’m going to cook a nice meat sauce to eat over spaghetti squash for next week’s dinner, so I’ll need to grab a few groceries on Sunday but it shouldn’t be much.
So I’ll estimate $200 for the weekend.
Yay! Most of my weekend stuff is free, because I am playing two tabletop RPGs and going to some parks that are celebrating National Public Lands Day and maybe also to the Pride festival downtown or the arts festival in NW. I’ll also go to check out a co-work space during its fee free week this weekend, too, on Sunday.
I have leftovers and enough groceries to feed me through the weekend, other than a group meal Saturday for one of my RPG meetings (I’ll kick in $10ish for pizza, covering me and my dude). I should have enough gas to get me through the weekend, too. So… wow, am I really anticipating only spending $10 this weekend? That’s crazy. I’ll also be collecting rent from my lovely boyfriend this weekend, so I’ll actually have a net gain of money between now and Monday. I’m going to use it to pay off that last little bit on my credit card. Awesome.
@ThatJenn Ooh, which tabletop RPG systems? (I’m a huge tabletop nerd and GM myself, so I always love hearing about what other people are playing and why they enjoy it!)
@ThatJenn Tonight is a Pathfinder game (it started as a D&D game a couple of years ago but got an upgrade after a few months), tomorrow is a Star Wars game (it seems to be an out-of-print d20 system? we’ve only played twice and I didn’t do my homework to find out about the system, lazy Jenn), and soon soon soon we are restarting our Rogue Trader game too! We have been on hiatus for all three games as two dear friends who are involved in all three games had a baby in July. But they said, “Hey, when are we going to play again?” just the other day and we all went “NOW, if you’re feeling up to it.” I’m excited.
I was never into RPGs until a couple of years ago. I was lonely and getting divorced [from someone who gave RPGs a bad name and who wouldn't let me play in the ones he ran] and a new friend said, “Hey, I’ve got this friend who just moved back to town and is looking for people to play in his D&D game, why don’t you talk to him?” So I did and then we started dating and moved in together and got a really big dining room table and lived happily ever after with our multiplying RPG commitments.
What do you play/run?
@ThatJenn I’m currently playing in a Pathfinder game (that I need to finish my new character for, the previous one died last weekend to undead Strength drain ;_; ), a Runequest 6 game that just got up off the ground, and I’ve been running a science-fiction game using as system called Nautilus I’ve made myself from d20 Modern and Future, with a splash of Pathfinder thrown in. Fun fact: d20 Modern and Future are woefully incomplete, at least from their SRDs, so if you go out to try and build a system based off of them, know what you’re getting into! But I digress.
How do you like the Star Wars game? I have a friend who was really into one of them, saying it was a fun casual system, but I’ve never gotten a chance to play in one myself. I’ve also only vaguely heard of Rogue Trader. I’ll need to look it up! *RPG nerd excitement*
I got into RPGs by joining the RPG club of my college my 2nd quarter of Freshman year. Then I met two people who would introduce me to 2nd Edition AD&D (in 2009! It was an unusually old-school experience), and it just sort of snowballed from there. Sadly the only other RPG player I started dating did not work out *at all,* but we are still friendly acquaintances so it turned out okay in the end.
We’re going out tonight for Mexican ($25); this weekend, there’s grocery shopping, plus a detour at the wine store ($50), laundry ($20), Himalayan buffet ($25), and drinks out ($12). So, $132 total… and yet I just know we’ll somehow find a way to spend $200. Ha.
Going to buy cupcakes for my roommate tonight (15ish?) and join the gym ($54). drinks with friends tomorrow ($20ish), and farmer’s market tomorrow – $10. $100 sounds about right… We shall see!
I will definitely need gas ($30-40) and groceries (hopefully not more than $60?). Otherwise, I’ve got college football, a book on tape (Mindy Kaling!), a Girl Scout meeting, and a huge (for me) sewing project to undertake, so besides the necessities it should be a spend-free weekend, which I really need.
In terms of things to do to have free fun, I second meet up! I never ended up using it, but there are groups that do just about everything – some might require a small fee to join, like a hiking group I looked into, but if you go frequently enough, the cost per use becomes next to nil.
I also recommend volunteering, especially something that requires SOME weekends but not ALL, so you still have some flexibility to do things spontaneously/with other friends, etc etc.
Not too many plans this weekend other than a free archery lesson tomorrow. So I’m guessing I won’t spend too much. Although it is rent weekend, so… I’ll actually be spending over $700.
I’m also working from home today and Monday, so I get to save a couple of days worth of gas, too!
Going to see Looper tomorrow! And dinner with a friend, so it’s actually going to be a pretty pricey weekend.
But Nuit Blanche is also this weekend and free (though I am not going because the commute home is too long for staying out that late)
Tonight we’re staying in and ordering food ($15). Tomorrow I have a birthday party for my friend. He’ll be providing food and everyone is bringing a six-pack of their favorite craft beer so we can do a makeshift BYO tasting event ($30 for beer and the rest of his gift). Sunday I’ll be with my mom for brunch which she’ll likely pay for and I’ll need to go grocery shopping that night ($50).
$95 again. Let’s hope this weekend stays under budget!
That photo is amazing. My goal for this weekend is to spend no more than $100! That’ll include a birthday dinner tonight (at which I will be contributing to the birthday girl’s meal), visiting my man-friend in Oakland (BART fare + miscellaneous expenses, like boba), and picking up some groceries for the week.
I’m trying to get back on track after an emergency car repair set me back $900 this month. I’ve got a lot planned but all activities are either free or were paid for before hand.
Friday:
Fall Cleaning (same premise as spring cleaning- tonight I will scrub every single inch of my kitchen).
Saturday:
Warrior Dash Obstacle Course Race
Photoshoot for my friend down by the river for her match.com profile and a chance for me to practice portrait photography
Sunday:
Going to the country to shoot rifles and a shotgun with my buddy (he’s supplying all the ammo and even paying for lunch so that’s a win, win)
Urban photoshoot challenge with the new guy I’m dating. He thinks he can take better photos with his iphone in instagram than I can with my DSLR. He’s going down!!!
I hope to spend no more than $20 bucks but I’m gonna challenge myself to a a super exciting no-spend weekend!
Friday:
Chipotle (my share- 10 dollars)
Frozen yogurt (my share- 3 dollars)
Saturday:
Groceries (my share- 35-40 dollars)
Breakfast (6 dollars)
Homework (free :( )
Sunday:
Hiking with my friend (free!)
Ethiopian food (paid for by the friend to use up an old Groupon)
Rent (my share- 570 dollars)
Total (estimate): 629 dollars (minus rent= 59 dollars)
So I’ve been travelling, and there is essentially no food in my house. This is problematic, as there is also very little money in my wallet.
So.
Friday – hopefully scrounge something in freezer, $0
Saturday – laundry, bike ride, and grocery shopping for the week, $10 and $40
Sunday – sleeping all damn day and hopefully doing some crafting, $0
$50 for the weekend, provided that also gets me food for the week, would be good.
Ok, real estimate time:
Tonight: coffee with a friend, maybe a karma hot yoga session and a nice night in – $20
Tomorrow: All-day law school event with free pizza and beer after. 2 parties to go to, so probably $30 in alcohol and $15 for supper?
Sunday: Hopefully will be cheap-ish – $20 for either groceries or brunch and a cafe visit to do some work?
Conservative Estimate: $85
Realistically… may get called to go to karaoke, may go on shopping spree because when i’m stressed about school i shop… hmm. $140.
Friday/Tonight: Going out for dinner with some friends (~$10), then hanging around at one of said friends place.
Saturday: Farmer’s Market ($10 or so, since I’m planning to have recipes in hand and actually know what to buy), coffee and pastry for breakfast ($6.00). Later on my friend’s having a birthday party, and I’ve been assigned to bring drinks (~$20, hopefully no more but may go up depending on what exactly I buy and how much).
Sunday: First half of the day is working out (free!) and Pathfinder (tabletop RPG) session at a friend’s ($0 for the morning, unless I buy some donuts, in which case $4). Then I go to Kyudo practice, which is finally starting up again, for which I should pay my registration fee ($35, but it’s good for ten sessions).
So total is…$85. And if I go grocery shopping that’ll probably be around $125. Damn, expensive weekend for me. Hopefully it’ll turn out lower!
I was hoping to spend less than the $80 I took out this morning – lunch out with office ladies today, fancy brunch tomorrow, one or two trips to the movies, and all of the apples plus some cream to make scones – but I have had yet another pair of shoes self-destruct which means I’m looking at another chunk of change gone. Whoops.
I’m not planning on spending anything this weekend. My budget is $0 until Oct. 1st. It should hopefully be quite easy, as my gas tank is 3/4 full and I work both Saturday and Sunday, but we’ll see!
JC is having a big street fair on Saturday so I may get some empanadas or something, and then there is my usual routine of ice cream and book sale on Sunday. The goal is to not have to get money from the ATM and I think I have $25 or so in my wallet.
There’s also “the skint” (theskint.com) in which free events of NYC are listed in a daily newsletter