Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge

Micro focused again. If want more of the quotidien details of my weekend, click through. The key points:
1) Metro is expensive, but worthwhile if you plan correctly. Don’t miss the last train or else you’ll be screwed.
2) Make friends with whom you can carpool.
3) Keep drinking to a minimum for several reasons, your wallet and car insurance will thank you.
4) Pre-plan your evening a few days in advance for things like guest lists, carpooling, etc. It will save you time and money. You aren’t a goober for being a planner. You may save yourself a hour of freezing out in the cold to get into a club.
5)

Got on guest list and into a club for free. In line, the two nice kids behind me let my friend and her crew cut in line. That was nice of them so I bought them drinks inside. Three drink specials = $15+$2 tip. One of them buys me a drink later. Good times and zero spent on parking.

Next day, slept in, then drove my car to the evening’s final destination and hoofed to the nearest Metro stop for a hockey game downtown, saving myself ridiculous DC cab fare. My old friend picked up dinner and a beer for me, meanwhile we get invited to another party when I see the roommate of a friend at the restaurant. Popular, I know. It’s the season for house parties. I dragged my friend along to a birthday party in a bar after the game. We took the metro over there and each had a drink, plus one for the birthday girl, total was $41 for three drinks. Displeased by this, but pleased by my friend’s clever idea to meet at a really posh lounge at 9pm (EARLY!) when it was empty and have the place to ourselves for 2 hours of good chill music and lots of conversation.

After that, we dropped off my friend at the Metro and some of the other birthday party guests took Metro in the opposite direction and hoofed it to a house party, where I had earlier parked my car. I am sheepish because I seemed to have missed the memo regard the retro Hollywood theme. That’s ok though since I’m too fat to fit into my old costumes at this point and old Hollywood is not my style. (Who wants to walk around in stereotyped 1940’s Asian garb anyway? Yes, I have a chi-pau, but I’m not even CHINESE!) And then I drive home. Well, I saw someone walking to the Metro, asked if he needed a ride and it turns out he lives vaguely where I do. I don’t think he would have caught the last train so he thanks me for saving him from a $50 cab ride. I now have someone with whom I can car pool to stuff around town. This is good. Making connections is important, plus he seems more sober than I, so I may have a new designated driver pal. SCORE!

Sunday, another no spend day for the most part. I bought dinner for two at the local Peruvian Chicken place for $15.07 and my friend got us movie tickets for Superbad at the second run theatre. That’s the best way to do it! (It would have been cheaper, but I made the fatal mistake of not carry all my cash because I was holding some back for lunch money this week.)

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I’m bitter at the cost of drinks at the fancy bar, but oh well. These things happen. I wasn’t the birthday girl and she deserved a drink on her 21st birthday (running joke, she’s more like 31 than 21). Do I categorize my expenses this weekend as Entertainment or Dining when it comes to the bar tab? I spent $4 on a soda at the hockey game, which is clearly dining, but the remaining $58? Do I make the gift beverages from the weekend ‘Gift Given’ category?

Metro got pricey, three trips for $1.35+ each. As I walked with my friends to the last house party, I asked them what they pay for Metro each month. I’m noticing that it’s not actually very cheap and often, when doing the cost benefit analysis, short of the sunken cost of the car, riding Metro costs the same as driving. There are risks however, like speeding tickets, or parking tickets, or paying for parking in general, all of which make Metro less expensive, but you balance that with the risk of missing the Metro and either paying $50 for a cab ride out of the District into VA or paying in time by crashing at a friend’s house. I would have crashed at the party, but with two or three DJ rigs set up, there wasn’t a good spot to curl up. After 30, your interest in sleeping out diminishes as the morning aches and pains make you say ‘oof’ as you get up. (It’s true!)