00:00I'm Lucy Fink. This is 5 Days of Saving Money.
00:04So every week, somehow, I find myself spending $40 on pancakes, mostly short snacks.
00:10To date, I've done about a dozen 5-day challenges.
00:14I've challenged myself with food, with sleep, with technology.
00:17I was very inspired by my $50 budget video because you guys really responded to that.
00:22For me, 5 Days of Saving Money is a little different.
00:25I'm not restricting myself to the exact amount that I can spend this week.
00:29Rather, I'm just trying to find ways to save money across all aspects of life.
00:33Clearly, there's lots to talk about when it comes to money.
00:36This is a very, very rich territory.
00:38See what I did there?
00:39I thought this episode was very timely, as some of my co-workers at Refinery29 are currently
00:44doing something called the Takeout Takeout, and they're keeping money diaries to track
00:48their spending.
00:48So I thought, perfect.
00:50In my 5 Days of Saving Money, I'm going to kick off Monday, focusing on food.
00:54But before I know what to buy, I'm going to sit down with some of the food editors at
00:58Refinery29, and I'm going to hear their tips on grocery shopping in bulk when trying to
01:02save money.
01:03So my favorite thing to do is to go to the grocery store and kind of buy a bunch of
01:07stuff
01:07that I can make big batch meals out of.
01:10It's better if you already have meals in the fridge that you can just heat up.
01:13If you're making more than one thing that's sort of still easy to make, that way you'll
01:17have more variety.
01:18Try not to cook too many of the same things, just because you'll get bored and then you'll
01:23be tempted to put the finger on Seamless.
01:26Right.
01:26I'm sure you'll be great.
01:27I'm going to save so much money.
01:28Takeout, takeout.
01:29Thanks, girl.
01:29So a big part of social life at work is going out to lunch with friends, so whenever you
01:33pack your lunch, you don't really get to do that, which kind of sucks, but you do save
01:36money.
01:36You end up in the break room by yourself, eating out of your lunch box.
01:41Go, go, Power Rangers.
01:44Now that I'm already doing the takeout, takeout, and I'm saving on food, I decided that I want
01:49to start saving on my social life.
01:51It honestly doesn't matter where you live.
01:53Going out can get very expensive.
01:55Whether you're paying cover at a bar or you're just going to a concert, maybe you're just getting
02:00brunch with friends, these things add up.
02:02Pretty soon, in a day that's meant to be all fun and games, you wind up blowing $50.
02:07So tonight, I've asked a bunch of my friends to come over to my apartment, everyone's chipping
02:11in $15, we're getting a cheap bottle one, half homemade, half potluck, all savings, all
02:18fun.
02:19It's going to be great.
02:20I found this amazing deal on Groupon that was only $30 for a bikini wax.
02:24A chocolate bikini wax.
02:26My bikini was covered in chocolate.
02:29Never before had such a fun night with my friends cost me just shy of $14.
02:36I'm not just saying this, I honestly think that the time we spent together was a lot
02:40more valuable than time we would have spent at a restaurant or bar.
02:43Because honestly, we weren't on anyone else's time, we weren't being rushed out, we weren't
02:48in a loud room where we couldn't hear each other.
02:50It was just really time well spent.
02:52I woke up this morning and I was like, what am I going to do to save money today?
02:56I've already saved on food, I've already saved on my social life.
02:59And then it hit me and I decided I'm going to walk to work today.
03:02Do I really need to take the subway every day?
03:05I mean, my monthly pass cost me $116.50.
03:09Typically, I go from my apartment to the office from point A to point B and I'm underground
03:13and I don't even see what's over me.
03:15But today when I walked, I came across new restaurants that I wanted to try, some new coffee shops
03:21that I had never seen before.
03:22I wrote everything down, walking to work is definitely something that I'm going to do
03:25for the rest of the week.
03:26But I also think that it's something I'm going to take with me after these five days are up.
03:31And maybe pick one day a week if it's not too cold outside, save some money and walk.
03:36I love this city.
03:37So I bought this piggy bank, it was one of those pig shaped piggy banks that you had
03:42to smash to get the money inside.
03:43So after months and months of saving, I finally smashed it open and counted all the money.
03:49The piggy bank ended up costing more than the money in it.
03:54Thursday night is date night.
03:57Just because I'm saving money this week, though, doesn't mean that I want to compromise the
04:01romance of it all.
04:02So, I put on my lipstick and my boyfriend and I walked to Lincoln Center where we sat
04:08down on the edge of the fountain, laid back, and stargazed in the city.
04:13So romantic.
04:14Despite what you might think, the stars are visible from the middle of Manhattan.
04:19Take a look around Groupon, Living Social, these places have amazing date ideas that are
04:25half or even a third of the price and also don't underestimate the power of free dates.
04:29Are you going to take me on more free dates from now on?
04:32Definitely.
04:32That's the plan.
04:33Any way I can get a free date out of you.
04:35Aww.
04:36Oh my god, do I use coupons?
04:39Coupons?
04:39I love coupons.
04:41It's like free money in your hand.
04:42I wish I was the coupon lady on Extreme Couponers.
04:45I feel like a millionaire.
04:47Oh, this is very dangerous.
04:49My goal during this five day experiment was to try to figure out ways that I could tangibly
04:54impact my life once these five days are up.
04:56And I think that's exactly what I did.
04:57Maybe one date every week will be a free date.
05:00Free things can be fun.
05:02I'm hoping that you guys can take something away from this week and apply it to your lives
05:05and hopefully save a little bit of money yourselves.
05:08Because as my mom says, it all adds up.
05:11If he was my dad, no it was my mom.
