It’s been kind of funny how people have reacted to me being on a Spending Fast.
One time my co-worker came in from being away for awhile and said she was thinking about bringing me a treat since I probably hadn’t had a treat in awhile.
Oh. Awkward. But nice!
Another time another friend said “Oh, do you want to get coffee later?” and then quickly “You, can’t can you? Cause of the fast?”
Awkward again!
And recently, I was out with a friend and we went to the Denver Museum of Contemporary Art. I used to be a member at the MCA but since I didn’t renew my membership I had my fingers crossed that I could get in as her free guest since she is a member. Of course she said I could when I asked and after the museum and going to the 1st Friday Art Walk down in one Denver’s Art Districts we made a plan to get to our favorite ice shop Sweet Action Ice Cream asap. (Sweet Action has vegan and non-vegan ice cream and these crazy good flavors and awesome ice cream sandwiches). My bud knows all about the fast and said I could draw her a picture on a napkin in exchange for a scoop.
Oh. I’m a faux-poverty ridden broke chump! Doing caricatures in exchange for ice cream scoops. My parents must be so proud of their little indigent darling.
Luckily, I didn’t have to take her up on it because I’ve had a wee bit of money left on a Visa gift card that I got as a gift for Christmas so I have been able to ween myself from being a spender to a saver a little more gracefully than if I went straight out cold-turkey. It started with $100 bucks on it and I’ve seen that amount slowly dwindling from the card and I’m about to get hit with an ass load of reality here very soon.
Like now.
As of today at this very moment I have $0.00 on it.
I’m nervous about not having that safety net. I’m nervous about doing this as hard-core as I have set it up to be. It has been tough as is but that’s made it a hair easier because at this point I feel like I’ve been in a sort of in-between zone. Plus, it’s made the sometimes awkward friend situations a lot easier deal with.
I have a feeling bartering is going to become a big part of my life and I have a feeling that I will be drawing a lot of napkin caricatures in exchange of things in my very near future. So, take a look at these examples I’ve made of my favorite bearded glass-ed man and maybe we can make a deal in the future.
P.S. Ready to get out of debt ASAP? Check out the Spending Fast Bootcamp!