I was talking to Catherine last night at work.  She lives out in the Newton area by herself, and pays about $1,000 in rent.  She’s looking at moving to a new, bigger apartment for $1,150.  She’s a nurse, so she makes a good salary, and can afford it.  I was thinking about moving out there for my Internship, because I would love to live out in Boston, but Catherin said that it would be about $600 a month to do so, with a roommate.  I’m not sure if I can afford that, especially if I’m interning for an entire year (it’s a 600 hour internship, spread over 9 months), without pay.  I’d need another job, perhaps two.  Would it be worth it to have three jobs just to live out in Boston?  Or would it be something I should wait to look into once I have my degree, and I’m working towards my license? And if I do want to intern out in Boston, that I will commute?  With only 20 hours a week, I’d be looking at only 3 days or so at my internship site.  Or, I could see if I’m able to do 40 hours a week, and I could get my internship done a lot sooner than 9 months.  Then, I could work M-F at my site, and then stay at Destare, or a similar place and make my money on the weekends.

I have a while to think about it, because at the very soonest, my internship won’t start until June.  But I’m not sure what I should do.

Successfully made it to day three (but I haven’t been out yet today, it’s still early).  But I went out to Hooligans on day 1, and didn’t buy anything.  We also went down to Destare and I just got a water.  But I think that’s a problem, because just about a week ago I’ve said that I need to get out more and do more fun things.  Not being able to spend any money is not going to work out with that.  I can do either one or the other.  Sure, there are things I can do for free:  spend some time at Barnes and Noble, go for a walk with someone, a hike, hang out at a cafe and not buy anything…. but really, I’m limited by what I can do.

Pat made a good point with his comment, “the key to life lies not in extremes, but in moderation.”  Not spending anything is absolutely an extreme.  When I was at Destare, we got into talking about this whole challenge.  It seemed as though everyone thought there should be a limit as to what I can spend, say $10 a week.  I’m not allowed to go over that.  That will at least allow me to buy one drink, or a soda, or a matinee movie ticket, or a movie on Tuesday night (which is only $5).  It seems that what Pat is saying, is that I don’t even need to make a limit as to what I can spend, I just need to be more aware about my spending.  I won’t go to the mall, so I won’t be tempted to buy any clothes, but it’s okay for me to go out with friends and grab a drink. I won’t buy a bottle of soda at a gas station or anything like that.  I won’t go out to dinner on my own, or buy lunch at Panera Bread.  If I know I’m going to be on the road for lunch time, I will bring my own.  I pretty much do that anyway, but this way I’ll be sure that I definitely do it.  However, sometimes when I’m out, I’ll stop at the grocery store and buy myself an apple as a snack (the Barnes and Noble plaza has a grocery store in it, so I’m not making an extra trip).  I still think that’s ok, because I’m not buying it at Panera and paying $1 an apple.

I’m still thinking about this whole month, and what I want to do with it. I’m still doing the save my five-dollar bills, and I got about $30 worth of them last night at work.  Last night after work, when I owed Lance money, I gave him six $1 bills, instead of a one and a five, so I could save another $5!