The Financial Fasting Holiday – small dead animals

2 weeks of financial fasting.
No more than $75 can be spent in 14 days.
Followed up by French Maid outfits.

14 Replies to “The Financial Fasting Holiday”

Dear Captain, as you were walking to and fro to school as a young lad up hill both ways, barefoot,
in sub sub zero weather. Your faithful companion Dexter the pony trudging behind, whom your compassion wouldn’t allow you to ride. Was Dexter finally put out to pasture or alas was he consigned to the glue factory to help subsidize you vast post high school education?

Jeff — the glue factory and, at the top price!

Interesting exercise – although I’m sure that many of us who have worked hard for what we have, and came from not very much, still are not very extravagant, and tend not to indulge ourselves or waste money

we were so poor at christmas our parents wanted to give us something to play with and something to wear so they gave us a pair of pants and cut the pockets out them.
and some contrast.
http://captaincapitalism.blogspot.com/2008/10/what-percent-of-lake-minnetonka.html

Talk about a trip back in time. Back in the before time when I was a student at SAIT, I allowed myself the princely sum of $25.00 per week. This bought gas, car insurance, coffee at the cafeteria, smokes (when they hit a buck a pack I’ll quit), one or two movies per week at the SAIT cinema,the weekly pub night with 3 beer for a dollar. My handle is Olde Spice after all. Worked as a janitor in the evenings while in school.
To spend $5.00 a day on the frivolous I would need to increase my spending. We have forgotten to treat a meal out with the family as just that, a TREAT. So much of what we looked forward to in our younger days is now routine and taken for granted. Captain, I salute you. Your fast would give us an appreciation for the simpler things.

Ah yes, paying for college. I HAD to work pumping gas 5 days a week and sold tire coupons door to door to local businesses employees on Saturday’s. In Calgary, often 30 below.
My defining poor student moment occurred when I lost $1.47 in a double guts poker game….. all the money I had. What a dummy, for 3 days I didn’t have a cent. Didn’t starve though, as the black family’s basement I lived in (single black mom with 3 little ones) kept me filled up with mashed potatoes, bologna and frozen peas. Good thing it was part of the deal hahaha.

Rules please: can I use food I already have on hand, or anything else prepaid (like my Zip membership)? Is this per person? If the latter, no problem – I’d end up with money left over at the end of the two weeks.
I already don’t buy anything new except food and medical supplies. And I have no foreseeable needs between now and Nov. 14. So I’m looking at half a tank of gas and maybe $50 in groceries.
Of course, I still haven’t turned on my furnace yet and despite the winter storm warning for tomorrow I have no intention on doing so since the weather is to turn warm again by Friday.

First real job when 16 yrs old – cutting and piling riprap for laying pipeline in muskeg 300 miles from home.
For $1.65.hr and 13 hrs a day, 7 days a week.
Big money.
Decades later, same pay and same hrs – damn farming. heh

Since you are saving the money and deserve it, go ahead Cappy, but, I think you will look ridiculous in a French Maids uniform.

$1.65 an hour? Cripes man you are OLD! I made $8 an hour during the terror years of the NEP as an oilfield labourer. Now the farmin’ thing, sorry to hear of your affliction, but thanks to you at least we can eat.

Well, when I was a lad… the barefoot snow thing like Jeff and we also had to fight off wolves 😉
In all honesty, the times they are a changing. What is a hardship now to many didn’t even exist back when.Out of free call anywhere minutes on your cell phone? Try standing in line outside a pay phone with a roll of quarters so you could call your girl back home. I can remember making $325 per month (gross) Air Force pay that had to cover everything. No overtime in the military, you were theirs for 24/7/365. I pumped gas to bring in extra money while the wife waited tables.
So, while I applaude the Captn’s Fasting Holiday, I’ll save my fasting as a memory. It was called “Waiting for Payday”.

Texax, better keep the cellphone charged up. They’re starting to pull payphones. Thier won’t be any left to look at soon.
Now what’s superman gonna do?

You silly people! You need to plan in advance! I worked as a waitress from the time I was 17 (and 2 weeks) until I was 21, and applied on every job available in the summer, landing two internships with the government of alberta, and by the time I started university, I was loaded! I had a whole 20k saved in an investment account to pay for university. I also worked 35 hours a week as a salesgirl at a clothing store which kept me living large, I had all of $50-60 to spend every week just thanks to all that work I put in while I was still a high schooler.
I definately applaud the financial fast, and I’ll definately participate, but I’m not wearing a french maid outfit.

Irene, you have just broken hundreds of virtual hearts here.
I applaude your work ethic, btw.

14 Replies to “The Financial Fasting Holiday”

Navigation