Went almost 3 days without spending a penny.

[exranger06]

I just got back from a 3-day business trip/training class in Rhode Island. I have a company credit card which pays for pretty much all expenses. I had to drive my own car up there (about 123 miles each way) but the company reimburses me $0.55 per mile, enough to cover all costs associated with driving. The car stayed parked the entire trip, until it was time to drive back home.

The company paid for the hotel room, parking, training course tuition, and dinners. Breakfast and lunch were provided by the course organizers.

Now, for the most part, this isn't really anything new for me. I go to out of state training courses that are paid for all the time. However, I usually spend the nights hanging out in the hotel bar with my friends/co-workers. (Which the company of course does NOT pay for) So I usually end up spending around $50 of my own money during these trips. This trip however, I was determined to not spend any of my own money. Having none of my friends with me on this particular trip really helped with that. I opted for soda with my dinners instead of beer (Even though the company pays for dinners, using the company card to buy alcohol is forbidden. We always used to get a separate check just for the alcoholic drinks) and stayed away from the bars. (Even though I was really craving a beer really bad one night!)

I didn't quite meet my goal of not spending anything though -  I splurged on two pieces of cake from Cheesecake Factory. It's just so damn good, and we don't have any Cheesecake Factories anywhere around my house. I've only been there once before in my whole life. I brought a piece home for my fiancee and myself.

Overall, I consider it to be a very successful trip spending wise, especially since I saved a lot of money not driving back and forth to work, paying for my own meals, etc that I normally do (The savings more than covered the cost of the cake - gotta justify it somehow LOL!). I also scored some extra bottles of those little hotel shampoo bottles and some free sodas from the hotel. Those shampoos last a surprisingly long time, I bet I have a few months worth!

[hybrid]

Good for you!  Now that I bring lunch to work I'm finding I go most of the work week without purchases, since we tend to use the weekends for our Costco / supermarket runs and I am biking / carpooling a lot more.  It's a good feeling knowing the bank account is essentially on pause for several days a week.   

[sunnymidnight]

Congratulations.  I find that not spending money feels great.  Odd because money used to demand that I spend it.  We try to do this at least one day a week.  Packed lunches and do-it-yourself coffee helps enormously.  I work from home so the no spending days for me involve not turning on the TV or radio for background noise and putting on extra sweaters instead of turning up the heat.  It all adds up.

My husband's work takes him away from home all the time.  He receives a per diem and unlike his co-workers he does not max this out by eating expensive meals with drinks.  He eats well and has the occasional beer just like at home but when he is gone for a week he profits by at least $200.  This is our fun money.

[mostlyeels]

Congratulations!  I've had that great feeling a couple of times of looking in my wallet and still seeing the same notes I pulled out of the ATM a week ago.

[Adventine]

Nice going!

[hybrid]

Congratulations!  I've had that great feeling a couple of times of looking in my wallet and still seeing the same notes I pulled out of the ATM a week ago.

Exactly....  Even though I really am spending money every single day (the food I buy on the weekends that lasts the week, the utilities, etc.) just knowing that when I get to Friday the difference in my account between Monday and Friday changed very little is enormously gratifying.  It's a nice psychological bump.