I double-checked my schedule, and getting sick repeatedly was definitely not in my plans. While I haven't been feeling very well, I have been pushing on in things. The worst of feeling bad, for me, was that I just didn't have brain energy to write anything.
There have been some moments of fun this past week, however. A girlfriend came over, one morning, with a big sack of apples from her neighbor's tree. The neighbor didn't want the apples, I think because they were basically flavorless. My friend and I turned those bland apples into some very delicious applesauce, adding lemon juice, cinnamon and a bit of sugar.
Another fun moment came about when my daughter announced that as a theater student at the university, she was obligated to usher some performances on campus. Universities put on a wide variety of productions, many of which are absolutely free to anyone willing to come. Some of the free offerings are recitals put on by faculty or students. This past Friday, there was a piano concert performed by a well-known faculty member.
The one hitch, we discovered with these obligations, is transportation for my daughter. These ushering requirements are fulfilled after hours that commuter buses operate. So, it meant that I'd have to drive downtown to pick her up, after the concert. It's not a huge deal, but the roundtrip drive takes about 1 & 1/2 hours, in the dark (when I can't see to read the signs in unfamiliar neighborhoods).
So, what to do, what to do? We decided to just make the best of the situation. If I'm going to have to drive down to get my daughter, I might as well go down early and enjoy the concert myself.
That's what I did. I met up with both of my daughters in the late afternoon. We had a bite to eat, then went and enjoyed a lovely piano concert.
About that bite to eat -- we had origainally planned for it to just be a very small bite, then we'd eat something more substantial once home. But when we went over to the student union building, to check out the quick service places, we discovered that all perishable foods were 50% off after 5 PM. Well, lucky us! It was probably 5:02 when we walked in. If my drive to the campus had gone any faster, we'd have paid the full price! For $11, I had a large chipotle chicken salad, one daughter had a fruit salad, and the other daughter had a very large ham club sandwich. Not a bad deal at all!
In our budget, I leave a small amount of money for fun outings. Right now, that amount is $10 per month. (In the past, that amount has been as low as $4.) With our budget feeling so squeezed these days, it really helps morale to keep just a small amount for something out of our ordinary frugal pattern. We can look back and say to ourselves, "wasn't that fun the evening we went to the piano concert and had dinner in the SUB?" or, "getting ice cream cones at the $1 cone place really made that day feel special".
I know, $10 per month adds up to $120 per year, which does sound like a lot to us right now. If our budget begins to feel any tighter, then I could see us reducing that amount again. For now, we're willing to make concessions in other areas of the budget, to afford a very inexpensive outing or two per month.
What do you think? Do you think leaving a small amount like $10 per month, for fun, is reasonable, given our reduced income? What would you do? Do you budget for fun outings for your family?
