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On Tuesday night, Lila and I got to talking and decided that this weekend we were going to do a staycation and see a side of Chicago that we don’t normally check out.
I’ll be honest, I am notoriously terrible at keeping track of what I spend money on, especially on the weekends. So when I saw the request from Will to analyze my finances this past weekend, I thought to myself, “You know, this might actually be pretty helpful.”
It wasn’t. It just made me rethink my spending habits and left me dried up with some of the worst Sunday Scaries of my life. Let me break it down.
Friday
What I Spent:
– Uber to the gym: $11
– Southwest Salad from Public House on UberEATS: $19
– Paying a coworker back from a previous night out: $80
– 3 Tito’s and soda: $15
– 5 PBR: $15
– 1 Shot of Jim Beam: $7
– Split the Bill: $10 additional
– Uber to Lila’s: $11
This is a bad look. I know that. We don’t need to dwell on it. Honestly, though, I think the kick to the nads on this night was paying my coworker back. If not for that, I wouldn’t have made that big of a dent. Plus, I’ve noticed that when my coworkers and I go out for drinks, we start out at happy hour and then end up posting up for, like, five hours. It’s a fun habit, but it drains my bank account.
How I Saved
I didn’t. I balled the fuck out on Friday night and it bit me in the ass.
Where I Should Have Saved
Across the board. I could have driven to work (my office is around the corner from my gym). My office also caters lunch every day, and I get it for free. But for some reason, I was REALLY craving a Southwest Salad from Public House. I could have paid my coworker back two weeks ago. I could have asked for a separate check at the bar so that I didn’t have to pay an extra $10. I’ll be honest, I dropped the ball on this one.
Saturday
What I Spent
– Country Skillet from Golden Apple: $18 (includes tip)
– Uber to my apartment: $7
– Uber to Ambassador Hotel: $11
– Hotel room at the Ambassador Hotel: $115 (actually $230, went halfsies with Lila)
– Bottle of champagne: $6
– Dinner and drinks at Hopsmith: $65
– Walgreens run: $9
I don’t regret any of this. Honestly, Lila and I were planning a spontaneous trip this weekend anyway. It was either Toronto, Michigan, or a staycation — but if we picked staycation, we were going to be bougie about it since we weren’t spending money on flights. And holy shit, did we rock it. For what we got, we actually probably saved at the hotel.
We landed a spot at Hopsmith right between a TV with the Big 10 Championship and one with the ACC Championship. It wasn’t crowded, in our corner, maybe three groups of two or three people, all of us hanging out, drinking, and watching football. Four Green Line fatpours later, we realized that a 30th birthday party was taking over the bar, so we made a quick stop at the Walgreens across the street to pick up a bottle of champagne and can of Pringles each and walked back to the hotel.
By the way, you haven’t lived until you’ve drunkenly walked into a bougie hotel carrying a can of Pringles in one hand and a bottle of cheap champagne in another.
How I Saved
Check this out. Lila called the hotel ahead of time and told them it was our anniversary and that she was surprising me, hoping that we could make it a special weekend. They responded by upgrading our room to a Deluxe King room for free, and leaving bottles of champagne in our room while we were out to dinner. They also left us a note congratulating us on our anniversary. Totally unnecessary, but a nice touch.
Where I Should Have Saved
Honestly, we probably could have saved by just not getting a hotel room, but where’s the fun in that? Maybe we could have gone to a dive bar instead of Hopsmith, but honestly, Hopsmith was more fun and probably had better food.
Sunday
What I Spent
– Brunch at Hash House a Go Go: $29
I would have gotten specific about what I got, but I don’t really know how to describe it. Eggs, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, bacon, tomatoes, and a biscuit. Plus a tequila sunrise because, c’mon. I’m on staycation.
How I Saved
Brunch carried me into dinner pretty well. Lila picked up the Uber back to my place. I cooked dinner from scratch, and spent the rest of the night watching documentaries on conspiracy theories. Realistically, I didn’t have to spend too much money at all on Sunday, which was nice.
Where I Should Have Saved
I guess we could have gone to a cheaper brunch spot, but honestly, I fucking crushed Sunday.
Total: $422.00
Oh, god. I’ll be honest, I didn’t add it up until I wrote this column. This is so much worse than I thought. Looks like I’m going to need to take a few weeks off and make my own Christmas presents from scratch this year. Sorry, mom and dad. .
Respond
Charlie
Using sarcasm as a defense mechanism since 1993. At any given moment I'm either tired, drunk, or stressed out. Get at me at charliepgp@gmail.com or whatever.
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“Walgreens run: $9”
Congrats on the sex.
Respect the transparency here, Charlie. Honestly this is much more in line with what my typical weekend looks like. I’m not sure how some of the other writers of this column manage to do an entire weekend under $150.
In retrospect this is probably why I can’t afford a down payment yet.
Strong food choices. Golden Apple is the tits and I respect you essentially living off breakfast food all weekend.
Friday- $25 on a large pasta from buca. Only I was eating. I learned to do meal-prep properly.
Saturday – $0, stayed in and played PS4 until my head hurt
Sunday – $25, needed a couple groceries/bottle of wine.
Where I could’ve saved – nowhere
What I could’ve spent – way more, but I balled out too hard on cyber monday/I’m about to go ham for the next 2 months.
Doubled down my long bet on Drive Shack and Rite Aid stocks Friday…couldn’t afford much else this weekend until these shake out over the next few days
Should take a gander at CVS.
We’ll see. Antitrust issues could be a problem.
I don’t think that would really be an issue seeing they aren’t competitors and are technically in two different industries.
I have to imagine there’s a good deal of overlap with the Caremark side of CVS. Anyway, they’re bent on world domination. The battle of acquisitions between them and WBA shows no signs of slowing down.
Except it’s the same argument as the ATT and Time Warner deal. Merging content and distribution appears to set off the current justice department so it’ll be interesting to follow the CVS deal
Market’s probably already adjusted to that.
Can this become a recurring series? Not necessarily the same author (would prefer to see others actually). Would love to see how people save (or don’t) on weekend fun.
You must be new here
No need to be rude
Green Line is the SHIT.
You really need to do the flat rate uber deal they offer every few months, you are getting murdered
Would you recommend the Ambassador? My birthday is coming up, and I may want to do a nice hotel with the wife.
Why would you get a hotel room in a city you live in? If I did that I would just be pissed the whole time that I spent money on this shit.
Hotel sex, man. It’s the best.
And room service. Sometimes a man just needs to spoil himself
Nope, I’m way to cheap to do that shit.
Hotel sex is somehow way better than regular sex. Fact of life.
Having a King Size room is obviously ideal, but I never get mad when we have to settle for a double queen room. That way, you get an immaculate sleeping bed and a separate sex bed!
My family and I did it a lot when I was a kid. It’s nice to explore every once in a while.