The spending in the Lunday household is roughly allocated in the following order: Daycare, mortgage, groceries, everything else. The first three are not insignificant budget lines, so the things in the fourth category – which includes the ever-growing BGE bill, repairs on two 7-year-old cars and clothing for two kids who are happily healthy and growing – are always jockeying for anything leftover in our paychecks. Our “fun money” allotments (or “stipends” if you prefer my husband’s more serious term) are modest, and with so many people out of work right now, believe me when I say I am not complaining about their size.
But I will say that more than ever, every penny counts for working parents. If you are like me, you still want to feel like you are getting to live your life and have a little fun with your meager “stipend” once in a while. And I confess that I have found a new cheap thrill: a 99 cent refill on a Super Big Gulp at the 7-Eleven that is steps from the front door of my office building in Fells Point.
My initial investment in the cup was $1.59 plus tax, but a savvy co-worker told me that if you save your sturdy plastic cup from that first round, refills are much cheaper. I know, Diet Coke in massive quantities surely isn’t good for me. They say drinking diet soda makes you fatter, and all those $1.05 (when factoring in sales tax) drinks would add up to some serious savings if I held onto the money and instead brought in cans from a 12 pack of Diet Coke at home.
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But there is something rejuvenating about taking five minutes to leave my cubicle for a moment of fresh air and bubbly caffeine. Making time for that short stroll is like hitting “ctrl alt delete” and rebooting my brain before returning to my desk to finish the afternoon’s work. I’ve always been a little jealous of the smokers who congregate outside several times a day. Even though they are filling their lungs with nicotine and tar, they get more fresh air and see more sunlight in a day than I do, so it’s like this soda habit is my healthier version of a cigarette break.
So yes, the roughly three times a week I go to 7-Eleven for my fix adds up to around $13 a month that I could be putting in a 529 savings account for my kids’ college education, or toward my credit card bill or children’s clothes at Hanna Andersson or Tea. But I guess I just added a new line item to my fun money budget: the soda sanity account.
