Spend Report #6: Almost no shopping at all

My husband, who initially was going to stick to his daily routine, has decided to participate by taking his lunch to work at least sometimes instead of always buying it downtown. He says it's partly about the shopping experiment, partly about the money.

Keeping track of our expenditures for this blog has made one thing painfully clear: we spend too much money. We already knew that, but it was easy to push to the back of our minds when we just knew it in the abstract. Writing down every expense and seeing it all on paper, week after week, makes it harder to ignore.

He is even doing his own weekly spend reports for me to incorporate into mine. His first includes every detail, including $1 in lottery winnings and the 25 cents he spent on candy at work. He says he likes writing everything down because it keeps him from spending money.

He also included the days he didn't spend anything. I could read too much into that and take it as a jibe at my own spending habits, but I'm not going to. Besides, this past week, for the first time in a long time, there were several days where I didn't buy anything either. Of course, the long weekend helped. But I've also been feeling a little disoriented. I'm not shopping outside of New West, but I don't have new routines and habits to replace my old ones yet.

From Oct. 8 to 14, I spent about $164.

I spent $53 in New Westminster on:

• Breakfast at the Hide Out Cafe on Carnarvon St. My first time visit. Lots of lawyers and students, so fashions were a mix of rumpled suits and the boho (or is that hobo?) chic I remember so well from my own student days.

• Stuff at Wal-mart. (Dishwasher detergent, milk, salt and vinegar chips)
• Coffee at Starbucks

I also spent about $100 for gas ($75) and food on a trip to Kamloops for Thanksgiving.

I also spent about $11 for groceries at the Price-Smart in Hamilton.