Tripping

So, my budget is looking really good right now for this month -- it's the first time in months that I haven't spent on health care, the car, or any large random things. I've also, so far, stuck close to home, and kept spending on food low. As a result I still have about $175 in my discretionary slush fund, not counting the $150 I'm setting aside in sinking funds for health and repairs/maintenance, the contributions to my e-fund and travel fund, and also not counting the grocery money I still have in cash.

I'm a little worried that all these positive budgetary feelings are going to drain away by the end of the trip I'm taking during the last week of the month though :) It's half a work trip and half to see friends in the area for Thanksgiving. Work is paying for my plane ticket, hotel room, conference fees, and meals during the three days I'm at the conference; I'm paying for...whatever happens during the Tuesday-Friday Thanksgiving portion of the trip.

Luckily, my friends have a toddler, so it's unlikely that there'll be major entertainment expenses -- we won't go out to have drinks, or see a show, or whatever. It's likely to just be a bunch of hanging around and cooking. So I'm hoping I can keep my financial outlay to a contribution to the grocery shopping. In the best of all possible worlds I could even do it from my grocery cash, and not have to go into the slush fund at all! But I have a sinking feeling things are not going to be quite so easy. What I especially want to try to do is plan ahead for travel meals; if I can pack enough food to eat while I'm flying across the country, and not end up buying stuff in airports, that should help a lot, because it's just crazy how much I always end up spending when I have long flights and layovers. (And by crazy I mean, like, $10-20 on a meal or something, but it ticks me off because I always think, you know, if I were at home, this meal would be costing me more like $2.... and it adds up.)