7 Day Push - No Spend Week

This was sort of a difficult week for me to participate in this 7 Day Push challenge of spending no money, with it being my first week back at university, with books to buy and other school related things, but I tried to be mindful and keep a mindful eye to spending.

There were definitely areas where I failed in this, and some areas where money really had to be spent, but I tried to shop around and avoid impulse buys.\

Areas where money got spent that possibly could have been avoided:

Coffee at school - I admit it, I got used to the free coffee at work, am a bit addicted and not *quite* used to commuting an hour + a day anymore, and REALLY NEEDED a few coffees during the week at school. Especially after stressful, wanna rip my hair out excursions like fighting my way through the bookstore.

Food- I tried to bring as much food with me as I could, but on the first day, I just didn't have anything prepared for dinner that I could bring, and ended up having to eat out for dinner. This was also a day of me being away from home for like 14 hours, so I didn't feel too badly about it. I got a sub at Subway, and resisted the urge to get the combo. That's something, right?

The Inevitables:

Books and Course Kits--I had to buy these, but tried to get them used where I could (difficult) and also ended up renting some in PDF format online, which actually saved me about $200.

Downside to books online: My repetitive strain in my wrists and arms has been bothering me this week, due to working on my laptop at school during interminably long breaks. My chirpractor recommended getting my home desk set up with correct ergonomic stuff as soon as possible, as well as using the money I saved on the books to buy a Kobo, which is touch screen and will make the reading of stuff a lot easier.

Which leads me to the next area that I spent money--on a chiropractor appointment, a new ergonomic keyboard and an ergonomic wireless mouse. The mouse is wireless, so I should be able to bring it with me to school and use it, and that should help a lot with the mousing arm pain I'm getting. The other purchase was the Kobo Touch E-Reader, which has come down in price, but wasn't really something I wanted to have to spend money on, but if my arms don't fall off because of it, I think it will be worth it.

With the money mindfulness, I've also been thinking where I can trim things out and bring in a bit more money to cover some of this stuff, so I've listed some stuff on Kijiji/Craigslist: a keyboard I'd bought but couldn't get to work with my computer, an antique table and will be following up with a family member who'd wanted to buy my old desktop computer.

Also, I've been applying for jobs, work study, bursaries and scholarships like a crazy person, since I have a bit of a shortfall in cash for the current moment, which is immensely stressing me out. So all in all, this was a great topic for me to think of for this 7 days, as finances, budgets and making do on less is really at the top of mind for me right now, and will likely continue to be for the next little while!

♥ Craftzilla