recap: the FF was this financial cleansing thing we read about in the washington post, and was conceived by WP financial columnist michelle singletary. the idea is that for 21 days you only spend money on the essentials-groceries, gas, toiletries, etc.-and cut out frivolous expenses like restaurant meals and clothes.
we started out with pretty good attitudes about this thing, and largely, i think we did well. there were lots of haters, judgers and naysayers, and a few supporters (laura) along the way. the greatest difficulty i encountered was deciding which items to consider a necessity. example: cheese puffs. basically my grocery shopping during the 21DFF was normal. it gets tricky when trying to only select items that are necessities, but i don't usually make extravagant purchases at the grocery store. so i think i did okay. the thing is, how far do you go when drawing the line on necessary items? i mean, if i really wanted to get nasty i could only eat rice and beans for 3 weeks, but that is a different challenge. i just started having to pay back my student loans, so that program might become a reality. anyway, we did a good job of abstaining from luxuries for the 21 days, considering how much we usually eat out. here is a list of definite slip-ups, though:
- delicious subs at jersey mike's
- beer/liquor
- a delicious chick fil-a spicy chicken sandwich
