My car read minus nine when I started it at 7:40 this morning. The defroster took twelve minutes to clear a small circle on the windshield, and I sat there in my parents' driveway in two pairs of gloves thinking about how much I'd like to be anywhere warm. Instead, I drove to the office, because that's what January is.
This January is also a tight one on purpose. On New Year's Day I started my move fund, $900 a month, so I can leave my childhood bedroom and rent my own place sometime this year. To make room for it, I cut my student loan payment from $1,100 to $800 a month. Between the two, there's not much left for fun. So I've built a cheap winter routine to get through the coldest weeks without going stir crazy or spending money I said I wouldn't.
Library holds and long baths
The library is the center of it. My mom works the circulation desk at our village library, and she taught me the trick of putting books on hold before I need them, so there's always something waiting. Right now I have six holds in line, including two thrillers and a cookbook about soup. I also borrow movies and a lot of audiobooks for the commute.
On weeknights when it's dark at 4:45, my routine is dinner, an hour of reading, then a long bath. My parents' house was built in the 1950s and has a deep tub that nobody else uses, so I've claimed it. A bath, a library book and a cup of tea is the most relaxing thing I own, and it costs some hot water. My dad has been informed and only mentioned the water heater once.
A free museum day
Several of the big museums downtown have free admission days for Illinois residents in winter, with an ID showing an Illinois address. They're usually weekdays, so I took one of my vacation days for it last Wednesday. Priya was off school for a training day and met me downtown.
I took the Metra UP-North from Wilmette into Ogilvie, which costs a few dollars each way, then walked and caught a bus. We spent four hours at the museum, ate the sandwiches we'd packed on a bench inside and got back on the train before the evening rush. My spending for the day: train fare and a $4 hot chocolate. The museums get crowded on free days, so going on a weekday in January, when most people want to stay home, actually helped.
One $8 bowl of ramen a week
I'm not a total monk. Once a week, usually Friday after work, I get a bowl of ramen at a small place near my office in Skokie. It's $8 with tax, and I tip, so call it $10. It's hot and salty and the windows fog up, and it's the thing I look forward to all week.
I've found that a cheap routine needs one thing that feels like a treat, or I end up blowing the budget all at once out of spite. For me, $40 a month on ramen is cheaper than a single bad weekend.
- Walks when it's above 20 degrees. Gillson Park in winter is gray and empty and beautiful. The lake has ice along the edges and the wind will make your eyes water.
- Sunday dinner with my family. I cook once a week and it gets us all at the same table.
- Board games and puzzles. My parents have a closet full of them from when Nolan and I were kids.
- Pet sitting. January is slow for dog walks, but I have two cats I drop in on for neighbors who go somewhere warm. At $25 a visit, I'm getting paid to be somewhere cozy.
January so far: $40 on ramen, about $15 in train fare and hot chocolate, and $0 on everything else fun. That's it. Everything else goes to the move fund, the loans and the regular bills.
I won't pretend it doesn't get a little dull. There are evenings where I scroll apartment listings in Evanston for an hour, which is not a free activity emotionally. But the cold doesn't last forever. February will be gray and March will bring potholes, and by spring I'll have a few thousand dollars in the move fund.
