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.
00:13I'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.
00:28Rather, 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.
00:46Click the link in the description box below for all of the rules.
00:49And they're keeping money diaries to track their spending.
00:52So I thought, perfect.
00:53In my 5 Days of Saving Money, I'm going to kick off Monday, focusing on food.
00:57But before I know what to buy, I'm going to sit down with some of the food editors at
01:01Refinery29, and I'm going to hear their tips on grocery shopping in bulk when trying to
01:06save money.
01:06So my favorite thing to do is to go to the grocery store and kind of buy a bunch of
01:10stuff
01:11that I can make big batch meals out of.
01:13It's better if you already have meals in the fridge that you can just heat up.
01:16If you're making more than one thing that's sort of still easy to make, that way you'll
01:21have more variety.
01:21Try not to cook too many of the same things, just because you'll get bored and then you'll
01:26be like tempted to like, go out, put the finger on Seamless.
01:29Right.
01:29I'm sure you'll be great.
01:30I'm going to save so much money.
01:31Takeout, takeout.
01:32Thanks, girl.
01:33So a big part of social life at work is going out to lunch with friends.
01:36So whenever you pack your lunch, you don't really get to do that, which kind of sucks,
01:39but you do save money.
01:40You end up in the break room by yourself, eating out of your lunch box.
01:45Go, go, Power Ranger.
01:48Now that I'm already doing the takeout, takeout, and I'm saving on food, I decided
01:52that I want to start saving on my social life.
01:55It honestly doesn't matter where you live, going out can get very expensive.
01:58Whether you're paying cover at a bar, or you're just going to a concert, maybe you're
02:02just getting brunch with friends, these things add up.
02:06Pretty soon, in a day that's meant to be all fun and games, you wind up blowing $50.
02:10So tonight I've asked a bunch of my friends to come over to my apartment, everyone's chipping
02:14in $15, we're getting a cheap bottle one, half homemade, half potluck, all savings,
02:21all fun.
02:22It's going to be great.
02:23I found this amazing deal on Groupon that was only $30 for a bikini wax, a chocolate bikini
02:29wax.
02:29My bikini was covered in chocolate.
02:32Never before has such a fun night with my friends cost me just shy of $14.
02:39I'm not just saying this, I honestly think that the time we spent together was a lot more
02:44valuable than time we would have spent at a restaurant or bar.
02:47Because honestly, we weren't on anyone else's time, we weren't being rushed out, we weren't
02:51in a loud room where we couldn't hear each other, it was just really time well spent.
02:55I woke up this morning and I was like, what am I going to do to save money today?
02:59I've already saved on food, I've already saved on my social life, and then it hit me,
03:03and I decided I'm going to walk to work today.
03:05Do I really need to take the subway every day?
03:08I mean, my monthly pass cost me $116.50.
03:12Typically, I go from my apartment to the office, from point A to point B, and I'm underground
03:17and I don't even see what's over me.
03:19But today when I walked, I came across new restaurants that I wanted to try, some new
03:23coffee shops that I had never seen before, I wrote everything down.
03:26Walking to work is definitely something that I'm going to do for the rest of the week,
03:29but I also think that it's something I'm going to take with me after these five days are
03:33up and maybe pick one day a week if it's not too cold outside, save some money and walk.
03:39I love this city.
03:40So I bought this piggy bank, it was one of those pig-shaped piggy banks that you had to
03:45smash to get the money inside.
03:47So after months and months of saving, I finally smashed it open and counted all the money.
03:52The piggy bank ended up costing more than the money in it.
03:58Thursday night is date night.
04:00Just because I'm saving money this week, though, doesn't mean that I want to compromise
04:03the romance of it all.
04:06So I put on my lipstick and my boyfriend and I walked to Lincoln Center where we sat down
04:12on the edge of the fountain, laid back and stargazed in the city.
04:16So romantic.
04:18Despite what you might think, the stars are visible from the middle of Manhattan.
04:22Take a look around Groupon, Living Social, these places have amazing date ideas that are
04:28half or even a third of the price and also don't underestimate the power of free dates.
04:32Are you going to take me on more free dates from now on?
04:35Definitely.
04:35That's the plan.
04:36Any way I can get a free date out of you.
04:38Aww.
04:39Oh my god, do I use coupons?
04:42Coupons!
04:43I love coupons.
04:44It's like free money in your hand.
04:45I wish I was the coupon lady on Extreme Couponers.
04:48I feel like a millionaire.
04:50Oh, this is very dangerous.
04:52My goal during this five-day experiment was to try to figure out ways that I could tangibly
04:57impact my life once these five days are up.
04:59And I think that's exactly what I did.
05:01Maybe one date every week will be a free date.
05:04Free things can be fun.
05:05I'm hoping that you guys can take something away from this week and apply it to your lives
05:09and hopefully save a little bit of money yourselves.
05:11Because, as my mom says, it all adds up.
05:14If he was my dad, no it was my mom.
05:16It was my mom.
05:16So far, these 12 challenges that I've done have been so much fun and I've learned so
05:21much along the way, but we're about to go on hold and start production for the next
05:24cycle of videos, which will be airing in late March.
05:26So be sure to come back to watch those, and in the meantime, comment below and let me know
05:30what you want to see me try.
05:32Bye!
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