Out of Town Guests Mean BLANK For Your Budget (What Is, ‘What Budget’)

by Mike Dang and Logan Sachon

Logan: Mike we both had the GREAT PLEASURE of having company this weekend. I thought we could talk about how that influences our SPENDING. If you’d like.

Mike: Totally. Let’s talk about that. So my cousin and her daughter have been visiting this week, and they were on vacation and in an “anything goes” kind of mood. That meant eating out every day, lots of shopping, and spending money on touristy things like a boat ride around Manhattan and going to New Jersey to visit the bakery where they film Cake Boss. I avoided all of the touristy things. I went shopping with them briefly, but bought nothing. And I’ve been out to dinner with them, but my cousin has insisted on paying each time. I want to pay for dinner tonight, but we’ll see. So, basically, I haven’t really spent any money while they’ve been here. You?

Logan: My friend Kim was here for four days. And I basically went on a bender. Not a drug bender. Or a drinking bender. Or any other kind of bender. But a spending bender. Spender bender. Splendid bender. (I’m broke now.) (No regrets.)

Mike: My cousin earns a good amount of money, so we went shopping in SoHo and went into a bunch of boutique stores — the kind of places where they offer you something to drink while you shop and go above and beyond to get you to buy a $500 dress (or something like that. I tried not to look at price tags because I didn’t want to walk around with a shocked look on my face).

And we went to normal-ish places too, like H&M. I don’t go shopping very often (I have my uniform), but it was interesting to go into stores that I normally wouldn’t go into. Okay, for example, there is a store called Brandy Melville, which is an Italian clothing store for women, and there are no clothing sizes. All the clothes are “one size fits most” — which was interesting to me. My cousin told me they’re meant to be worn loose. Honestly, the sizing seemed to be really misleading. Like, sure, one size fits most if you are thin. I mean, come on.

Logan: That’s on purpose. They only want models in their clothes. MEAN. But back to ME and my bender, it felt great. We did a lot of, you get this, I’ll get you next, because we are friends and that’s what friends do (okay, they do other stuff too, but this is what we do). I paid for a $100 bar tab for five, which I haven’t done in ages, because I haven’t had $100 in ages. And I still don’t really, actually, but I did for a moment and that’s how I chose to spend it. I also went out to dinner. Twice. New York is really fun when you spend money, did you know? I’d forgotten. We also split a cab from the UWS to Brooklyn, which I’ve never ever done before and it was amazing! Also only $30. And then we SPLIT IT.

Mike: I mean, I did spend $200 on dinner two weeks ago. So, yes, I know. But I’m making up for that by going back into austerity mode. Are you back in austerity mode?

Logan: Forced. Yes. Quite austere. Zero cash dollars are hanging about now. In fact I spent my last $9 on a cab ride today because it was raining and I didn’t want to get wet. And my last $11 before that on doughnuts and coffee. And my last $11 before that on two beers at happy hour. And my last $7 before that at Pret, on a cheddar and tomato sandwich. Out with a bang. I’ll be in my bed watching Netflix for the next seven days. E tu? Oh P.S. I have paid all my bills and I have groceries and I planned for this bender so, like, “It’s Cool.” I don’t need to borrow money or anything. Responsible irresponsibility.

Mike: I probably would have spent more money if I had someone visiting who didn’t make a lot of money. You just can’t help it because nobody comes to visit you from out of state or from out of the country to sit around your apartment all day. They want to do stuff. Also, this is the first time in many years that I had family come to visit so if I were paying to go out to dinner, I would have gladly done it.

Logan: Where are you going to dinner tonight? I would like to show up and sit across the restaurant and watch you.

Mike: We are going to meet downtown and then walk around until something catches our eye. Which is a fun thing to do sometimes. Oh, and I’m trying to pay for dinner tonight.

Logan: Okay well just don’t forget to like, check in on Foursquare. Facebook. Send me a drop pin. DM me your coordinates. I’ll be waiting.

Mike: I’ll activate my iPhone tracker, so you will always know where I am. Or at least where my iPhone is, anyway.

Logan: Come on, Mike. If I know where your iPhone is, I know where you are. It’s 2013.

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