Part 1: Setting Up the Exhibit

Hypothesis

If I perform the action of not spending any money for an entire week, then I will have more money in my bank account and will want to reevaluate my spending habits.

Data Collection

Sunday March 12

Today was an easy day because half of the day was taken up by sleep and by church, which kept me away from spending money. The trickiest part of the day is when I go to Cooper Library to start on/finish homework because there is a Starbucks there. Coffee/staying awake is a necessity, so it is easy to reason my way into getting something for the caffeine rush. However, for the sake of this experiment and my bank account, I refrained from the caffeine rush for today. The first day is the hardest--or, at least, that's what they say. I also ate only at Core today, so my bank account was also spared from unnecessary spending at any restaurants. It also helps that I gave up fast food for Lent, so that means that I can't spend any PawPoints at Raising Canes, Chick-fil-a, Panda Express or any of the other bad-for-your-body but good-for-the-soul places on campus.

Monday, March 13

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday I have Spanish class from 9:05-9:55 and afterwards, I usually get an everything bagel from Starbucks with butter which is SO GOOD and yet SO BAD. Today, I skipped out on it and it honestly felt good because I used that fifteen minutes that I would've spent waiting in line to do something productive for my Anthropology class. Like yesterday, today was an easy day on the wallet: Monday's are my chill days and so I get done at 3 and then spend the rest of the day in the Library and then usually go over to one of my friend's dorms for movie night. Rest easy wallet, you have survived another day.

Tuesday, March 14

Nothing to report today. Another day of not spending money. Now that I think about it, I'm so glad that I chose this week to do this experiment because I don't have any formals or trips that I'm going on this weekend, so I could actually be successful in this experiment. Cooper Library's sushi was calling my name today, though. Next week, I might get some, but now that I think about it, sushi from there is 6-ish dollars and that's a lot for one meal, so maybe I won't. This experiment already has me thinking about what I spend my money on, which is amazing because that is ultimately my goal of the entire thing.

Wednesday, March 15

Another day, another dollar saved. I came close to spending money today, *GASP*. Every Wednesday, I have Campus Outreach meetings, which is an on-campus ministry that I am apart of. After every meeting, all of us always go out to Cookout to talk and spend time together. Tonight, I refrained from going to Cookout altogether because I knew that if I went, I would be likely to get something, defeating the purpose for this experiment. Other than that, I didn't spend any money today.

Thursday, March 16

I'm doing quite well with this experiment. No money spent today, which is such a success. More than halfway through the week and I haven't spent a week. The feeling is amazing and I don't feel guilty for spending money on unnecessary things. Core is also so helpful because it saves me so much money that I would be spending on food and it's so convenient because I live right next to it. My bank account (and my parents) are so happy!

Friday, March 17

There was a slight deviation from the plan today. I promised my friend and future roommate, Maddy, that we would get dinner together last week (so this event was already planned in advance. Her schedule is crazy, so it was a miracle getting even one thing planned. I couldn't reschedule for the sake of saving my wallet because I didn't know when the next time we would be able to do this.) We went downtown and I spent money, which means that the experiment was ultimately not a total success because I spent money. I'll be honest: I'm surprised I made it this far along. I used to be a shopping addict in high school, so the adjustment from high school to college was rough and this experience shows how far I've come, in general, because I wouldn't have been able to do this a year ago.

Saturday, March 18

I spent money again. I'm such a bad scientist; I can't stay loyal to my experiments. Also, I was kind of peer pressured into spending money, so there's that. My friends wanted to go see the newest Wolverine movie together and, originally, I wasn't going to go but I hadn't seen some of them in so long and they were all like, "No, Abby, you should come! We haven't seen you in forever, and you're missing community time!" Spoiler alert: the movie was not worth it. The acting wasn't up to par with the other Wolverine movies and was definitely not worth the $16 I paid for a ticket and popcorn. Overall, I felt the effects of spending unnecessary amounts of money.

Reflection

Using the values flashcard exhibit that we all did in class got me to thinking about the things I value while in college. The main thing at the top of the list is money. Doing the card exercise in class made me realize that I value money more than I should and that I throw it away more than I should. This exercise made me notice the frivolous things I spend my money on and, also, how much time I save from not waiting in lines or walking across campus to grab food, etc . I realize that this exhibit is going to benefit me later in life when I have bills due and I have to limit the amount of money that I can spend. I do not want to be eating ramen for every meal due to the fact that I spent too much money on other things. It's often the small things that eat up your money, I've noticed, like coffee and snacks. They'll definitely get you. I now know from this experiment that I need to watch myself over the weekends but that, overall, I can abstain from spending money and, more than that, I actually like not spending money.