Tuesday, February 21, 2012

For Lent



I am giving up cabs and goldfish. I have never participated in Lent before. Every year my coworkers talk about it and people post on facebook what they're giving up and I can never really think of anything I could/should give up, and tell myself as a Mormon I give up enough as it is, so I don't feel too badly about it. However, my goldfish addiction has gotten out of control. I decided this year I would quit during Lent. I'm pretty sure I should lose five pounds.
Additionally, I was just thinking of ways to save money and one of the easiest ways to do that is to quit taking cabs, if you do so regularly. Here's the thing; the easiest way to get from my apartment to my office is to walk. From my experience it's pretty rare to have a destination that is more easily accessable by foot vs subway or bus. There is a subway right by my apartment, but to get close to the office I would have to take it way out of the way, which would not make it time effective. There's a bus, however, I've waited for it. And waited. And waited. After standing around for 5-10 minutes I always give up and walk (or hail a cab.) There was one time I happened to catch it just as it was approaching, however, I still have to walk a bit from the closest stop to my office, and I honestly think I saved myself about two minutes because of traffic. Hands down the fastest way to the office is cab, and second is walking (25 minutes.) Believe it or not, but it's been almost a year at this gig and there hasn't been a day that the weather has been too awful to walk. Wellies, large umbrellas, and warm coats are a must, but they make bad weather totally bearable.
Here's the problem: I have a really hard time getting out of bed in the morning. I have never been that person who gets out of bed without hitting snooze. It doesn't matter how much sleep I get, I hate getting out of bed, so I put it off as long as possible. It's funny how the amount of time I need to get ready changes when the alarm goes off. I always think I can spare an extra 10-15 minutes, but, I never can. And that leaves me hailing a cab and about $8 poorer.
I would say I take a cab about 50% of the mornings (it's not an issue after work.) If an average month has 22 work days, and I take a cab 11 of those days, that's almost $90/month!! That's awful. All for an extra 10-15 minutes of sleep some mornings. So not worth it.
SO. In an attempt to cut down on cost and change the habit, no cabs during Lent.

8 comments:

Michelle said...

Good luck! You can do it! Are you also giving up meat on fridays? One year I gave up fast food. Another year I gave up soda. This year I am giving up laziness in the way of spending at least 30 minutes outside every day, cause that doesn't always happen.

Sean and Becky said...

Dude, I am the same way...I seriously CANNOT get up in the morning. I snooze at least 3 times, sometimes 4-5. Sean wants to murder me every morning. My "cab" is taking the tollway to work, it takes half the time. If I wasn't such a lazy piece, we would have a lot more money a month too!

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Elizabeth Anne said...

I totally have developed the same sleep problem, no matter how long I sleep I want more. And I think I can cut 10 minutes off my prep and I NEVER can, sometimes I even take longer :( Thankfully I drive to work and its only 1.5 miles. But I know that cost savings would definitely motivate me, so good luck!

DebiHope54@gmail.com said...

I don't even know how long Lent lasts? I think it's a good sacrifice to remind us of Christ's sacrifice for us!

elise said...

The "Oh it's only $8 (or $5 or $2)" is my personal killer. I mean, $8?! Really, no biggie. But when you stop and add it up. Um, oops. That happened a couple months ago when we were going to McDonalds like crazy for $0.79 Diet Cokes. "It's just $0.79"...until I added up all the times that Jason & I went in a month...$50!! of diet cokes! I made a pledge right then & there to limit it to once a week.

Kambria said...

Ooo that's a good one. I tried DP and gave up after like a day lol I fail.

JH said...

I am so glad that I am not the only one who takes a cab to save 10 minutes! I always worry that my colleagues are going to see me getting out of the cab knowing that I live a 20 minute walk from work and get all judgy. This is a great idea for Lent, hope it's going well!