Falling off the frugal wagon. . .

I mentioned in my post yesterday that I'm not a big drinker. One beer or glass of wine, and I'm good. Two, and I'm looking for the closest place to take a nap. This helps keep my grocery costs down, and stretches my fun budget pretty far: often I can get away with a night out for less than $20.

For example, last night I went out for celebratory drinks with some classmates, after having taken a rather horrible midterm. I started with a peartini, which is already somewhat outside my comfort zone, as I usually just have a beer. The midterm was bad enough that a pear-flavored martini with sugar on the rim sounded heavenly. And it was!

Much chatting and laughter ensued, and before I knew it, we were ordering appetizers---fruit, cheese, and bread. Somewhere between the peartini and the appetizer, I made the muddled decision to order a sangria---after all, it was on the happy hour menu, and only $4! I do like a sale. . . .

By the end of the evening, we each realized that we had various commitments that required us to go our separate ways. Of course, when the bill came, we all reached for our wallets: two of us had our debit cards, the other two had cash. I offered, in a peartini/sangria-induced fog, to use my debit card, and the others could just give me cash. It worked out perfectly!

Except: now I'm walking around with what seems like a giant wad of cash in my wallet, and it's whispering "shoes, you need new shoes . . . . " So, my challenge is to make good use of that money (within my budget) without going completely overboard and falling off the frugal wagon. Next time, I'll overcome my laziness and stop by the ATM for my $20 'allowance' before going out for drinks. . . .