Gotham to Gotham

Well folks, I haven't posted at all the past few days because I've been on the road. I traveled to Chicago because two good friends of mine got married. I was there to pay witness to their act of unity. It's a pretty intense thing, marriage.

Anyway, this is the Gotham Frugal and not the Frugal Traveler, so I don't really save any money when I travel. In fact I blew way over my daily budget before 10 AM on Friday. The flight is part of the starting card balance. Which I made my first payment on, hooray. And I managed to stay with friends the first night so I didn't have to pay for lodging.

I'll just give a list of my expenses and let them tell the story.

DAY 1
Breakfast $6
Airport Shuttle $15
2-Day Chicago Metro Pass (used once) $9
Dinner $20
Bar $10

Don't know how I got away with spending that little at a bar, but I did 'morning after math,' which means that you look in your wallet to see how much you spent. This was the number I came up with.

DAY 2
Coffee $3
Breakfast $8
Hotel $25 (I still owe for this, but we split the room 6 ways. Slumber party!)
Shoes $43.50

I left my shoes at my friend's place so I went out and bought a pair at Payless, so I'd look OK at the wedding. I'm going to try and return them tomorrow. If it works out that'll go in the "In" number. The wedding was great and I had five too many Red Bulls and Vodkas. Ah, Temperance where for art thou?

DAY 3
McDonalds $3.25 (I know, I know. A shameful and craven act to put such garbage in the temple that is my body, but I'm calling this a utility stop.)
Shuttle from Midway to O'Hare $15
Airport WiFi $7
Bottled water: $1.50
Airtrain $5
Wendy's $2.50 (Twice in a day, sigh)
Beer $1

So on to the BREAKDOWN:

Starting Balance $28.25

IN: $30 (3 days)

OUT: $175.75

Ending Balance: -$117.50

After I return the shoes it should be closer to $70 in the red. Hmm. This is quite a setback. One I'll have to carefully consider. Do I claim amnesty on behalf of leaving NYC? Do hit the reset button and start again? Or do I gradually work to get this new negative under control? I think it will be the last one for a little bit. Let's see if I crack under the pressure.