Four degrees. That's what the sign outside the bank downtown said at 7:30 this morning when I drove to work, and the CR-V's heater didn't catch up until I was already parked behind the pharmacy.
February is a hard month for us. Our electric bill for January usage was $246, the highest we've ever paid in this all-electric duplex. Rent went from $725 to $760 this month with the new lease. My raise to $18.25 an hour just started, and at 28 hours a week, that 75 cents works out to about $90 a month before taxes. It helps, but it hasn't caught up with everything else yet.
So the fun budget is small and the weather is mean. Here's what we've done with the last four weekends, and what each one cost.
Four weekends, four plans
The library weekend. The library in town is warm, quiet and free. We each came home with two books, Tyler grabbed a stack of DVDs, and we spent Saturday night on the couch with a pot of chili made from what was already in the pantry. Sunday we did a jigsaw puzzle my mom passed along to us. Cost: $0.
Basketball in the high school gym. A Friday night varsity doubleheader. Admission was $5 each, and we split a popcorn and two drinks for $6. Neither of us has a kid on the team, and neither do half the people in the stands. In a town this size, the high school gym on a Friday night in February is just where everybody is. We sat behind a couple my parents know from church and caught up on everyone's news between quarters. Cost: $16.
Sledding at my parents' place. Mom and Dad live out in the county on a few acres, and there's a decent hill behind the barn. Dad dug his old wooden toboggan down from the rafters, and for an hour on Valentine's Day afternoon, Tyler and I were twelve years old again. Moose chased the sled down the hill every single time and beat it to the bottom twice. Then we stayed for Sunday dinner. I brought brownies, about $3 of ingredients, and the gas out and back was about $3. Cost: $6.
A chili supper. Tonight there's a chili supper fundraiser at a church hall in town. It's a freewill donation, and we're planning on $8 each. Tomorrow, if it gets above 20 degrees, we'll walk the trails at Long Branch State Park, which are pretty in the snow and nearly empty this time of year. Cost: $16.
What it added up to
| Weekend | What we did | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 31 to Feb 1 | Library, chili, a puzzle | $0 |
| Feb 6 to 8 | High school basketball | $16 |
| Feb 14 to 15 | Sledding and Sunday dinner | $6 |
| Feb 21 to 22 | Chili supper and a trail walk | $16 |
| Total | $38 |
That's $38 for a month of weekends, or $9.50 a weekend. For comparison, one Saturday in Columbia with gas, lunch out and a little shopping usually runs us $60 or more, and that's before we even get to Aldi. One day in the city costs more than this whole month.
What makes it work
A few things I've noticed. In a small town, most winter fun is run by volunteers and the school, so it stays cheap. The ball games, the suppers and the library aren't trying to make money off us. They're just trying to get people out of the house in February.
Seeing people counts as something to do. Gloria taught us gin rummy on a Tuesday night in January and beat us both, badly, and that was free too. Sunday dinner at my parents' place costs us a pan of brownies.
I write things on the paper calendar on our fridge as soon as I hear about them: home games, church suppers, anything posted on the board by the pharmacy counter. If it's on the calendar, we go. If it isn't, we end up driving to Columbia out of boredom.
And not every weekend needs a plan. Some Saturdays I work, and Tyler spends the day on the couch with a library book and a blanket. That counts as a weekend too.
Spring is about a month away. Until then, it's the gym, the library and the sled hill, and the money we didn't spend goes where it was always supposed to go.
