2016: January 30: Doin’ Stuff for Free
Howdy! Today we are breaking the spending fast by going to a steakhouse for Restaurant Week, though technically we had a couple of little spends this month... getting a glass of celebratory champagne after buying wedding rings!!! that type of thing. I have to say that this becomes easier every year. I had previously figured that last year was an anomaly and it was only easy because I was unemployed, but it turns out this year wasn’t a huge struggle either. Probably helps that I traveled for work, and my job provides free lunch on Fridays (lunch out at work tends to be one of my downfalls, so it’s nice that at least one day is covered). Also, I’m not as hard on myself as I was the first year. I understand that the point is not about perfection and literally spending zero money, but to be more intentional in the spending. In normal life, it’s easy to have a rough day and treat it with happy hour and the spend/food/drink that goes along with that - it’s harder to do that in a spending fast month. And maybe there are some lessons to be learned there for spending months.
Anyway, I’ve made entertainment happen this month - the last couple of weekends we’ve had to go downtown for ring stuff, which can often turn into a festival of bar hopping, eating, walking around, drinking some more, and needing two slices of pizza before passing out on the subway after midnight (not that I’d know). But last weekend, we had a final meeting with the jeweler and then... are you ready for this... walked around to pick out locations for our engagement pictures. No booze at all! I know, I barely recognized myself either, but there you go. Downtown is still exciting enough to me that just being there is fun.
In terms of free stuff you actually care about...
Somehow we heard about this event sponsored by a rum brand called Mount Gay. We got into the event held in a Silver Lake warehouse, which was free. There was an open bar (all rum, of course) and it was technically structured around a panel/talk given by a few prominent “makers” in LA - the owner of Sqirl in Silver Lake, some guys who owned a surf shop, the editor of Eater LA. Can’t say I was paying much attention, to be honest. Because also at this event were upscale Pinks hot dogs, which I haven’t had in forever - and they were amazing with chili, onion strings, mustard, the works. As we were waiting in line for a final drink, I found out that I’d won a contest they’d been running that night for a future food event, plus a subscription to Brooklyn Magazine, whatever the f*ck that is. Pretty nice perk of something we weren’t even sure we wanted to go to!












