Dawn's Evolution

Part of the Carnival of personal finance
I had the rudest awakening this weekend.
Nothing is certain, I could lose my job just as easily as everyone else.
I always felt like I was on the outside looking in, not really feeling the crisis, just waiting for it to blow over.
And then I woke up.
The crisis is here and it affects me as well.
So I am making my emergence fund my priority and pushing paying back my debt back a bit.
I can do this because I don't have to pay interest on my debt.
I'm not sure how much my E-fund needs but I will be feeding it cash every month from now on and not set a limit.

For February I put 500 in savings and 500 in the E-fund.
For March I will put 900 in my school account and 300 in my E-fund account.
I don't have any more books to buy so I expect it to be a frugal month for me. The only thing that could set me back would be my sisters birthday, I have a set amount that I am willing to spend on her gift and am now on the lookout for that special something.

At the end of the month I will placing all my extra cash into my extra account, the one I keep forgetting to feed even though I absolutely have to.

That is the plan for now.
If I lose my job now I am in deep trouble, loosing my job would mean no more school tuition, books or anything. My schoolfund is way too small right now.
But my E-fund will be my priority, while I plan on continuing my set saving plan for my tuition.

Entered in the 164th Festival of Frugality
I broke my foot in December, December 31st to be exact. Yep I rang in the New Year with a painfully swollen foot. I got a fiberglass a few days later and suffered the teasing of my classmates, family members and coworkers, who thought the way I walked was ultra funny. Yep, I need new friends, humpf!

And of course when they heard how exactly I had broken my foot, I never heard the end of it.
I really need new friends, any offers?

Well with my foot in a cast and in pain I was forced to spend 4+ weeks off my feet. I went to work in my car, sat in my office all day, got home and sat or lay on my bed all day.
This meant: no shopping! Yep I was on an unexpected and hated shopping strike!
So, no visiting the city, no new clothes, no new shoes and no getting pampered. Yep very, very boring.

But also very frugal. I saved a whole lot of money in those four weeks.
It was nice staying well within my set budget, and made me fully aware of my addiction too (window) shopping.
But those 4 weeks were frustrating because I felt so trapped, I could not go where I wanted to, walk freely and when I had my cravings for sweets (which I often do) I could not go out and buy them.
So I was on a forced and unnecessary diet as well.

What did I spend money on?
Well if you must know (hehe) : my mobile phone (I needed minutes so I could whine to my friends about my pain), getting my crutches (hate them, they hurt my arms), occasional food and some small miscellaneous stuff that I needed.

All in all this experience taught me that I NEED to at least window shop to keep from going crazy(or crazier).
What about you, how long could you last on a shopping strike?