Money Smart Week 5.5

Just library stuff--
Brian Dennehy is very intense about his love of schooners

I fell off the blogathon wagon a mere two days from the end of May!  Things got hectic, as things will do, and I didn't want to end the month with two crappy filler posts--I like you guys too much to waste your time like that.  So, I will not be adding the "I did it" badge to my sidebar this year, but I'm still pretty damn proud of myself.  Since I missed my Money Smart Week post, I'm just going to make up for it now.

• Thursday/Friday conference meant two days of free breakfast and lunch!  Plus, since I was presenting on Friday, my registration was free and work paid for Thursday.  I tried not to overeat this year because I have in years past, but I still had three cookies with lunch each day because, damnit, I like cookies!
• Thursday/Friday conference carpooling!  The conference was about 20 minutes away, actually hosted by job #2, but I caught a ride with friends and didn't waste a drop of gas.
• Post-conference BYOB dinner.  I'm actually a bit devastated because after the Friday conference day, a friend and I had plans to eat at my favorite restaurant in Providence, and we found the door locked with a sign that said 'gone fishin.'  Their facebook page confirmed that they have closed, but are planning on sharing their most popular recipes with their fans.  I had a hunch that they probably weren't raking it in, but I was bringing everyone I knew there for dinner in the hopes of keeping them alive.  Friday night, we went out for sushi instead, which is also BYOB.
• Savings!  Thursday was my third paycheck of May, and I was very pleased to sock some money away in savings and my IRA.  I also opened a new bank account with a better interest rate--The Frugal Girl has a short writeup about them--because I want to get the most interest possible (duh), and I honestly think I need to hide my money away from my prying eyes if I want to stop dipping into savings.
• Gym Membership.  I'm going to cancel my gym membership. I'm just not using it and according to my co-worker who goes there several times a week, it has been sold to a new company and it seems like everything is falling apart and the staff don't really care anymore.  The pool has been broken for weeks, and whenever she asks when it will be fixed, they give her a non-committal answer.  My plan now is to just work out outside for the summer, and possibly join a closer gym for the winter.
• Speed!  This has nothing to do with frugality, but I finally ran my first sub 9-minute mile since being injured.  Monday morning was misty and cool, so I decided to push the pace and got back up to my old regular speed!  Problem is, I felt like I was going to puke, so there's still some training to be done there, but nonetheless--yay!

Overall, the month of May felt very long to me.  We ended up buying a mattress (more on that later), we spent a ton of money on food, we bought plane tickets and paid for a hotel--I'm sick of spending.

This week I have free cocktails on Tuesday, free theatre on Wednesday and a kick-ass wedding on Saturday.  Other than that, I'm laying low and getting with my library books.