New Game?

So I was stumbling this morning and came across this article about a new and interesting "game" (http://randymurrayonline.com/2010/02/15/the-spend-nothing-game-%E2%80%93-how-long-can-you-go-without-pending-any-money/). It seems like more a prescription on how to live your life wisely (i.e. keep yourself from drowning in debt) rather than a game, but it reminded me of a "game" I played in high school.

When I was dating one of my now exes he had this weird obsession with not spending single dollar bills, and I don't use the word obsession lightly (some of you remember). He challenged me to do the same, so I did. Basically it worked like this I could spend all the coin, fives, tens, and twenties I wanted, but I couldn't spend singles - I had to save them. Which I did in a Chuckie shoe box in my closet and of course I put them in alpha-numeric order by their serial numbers. I know, that may have been way over the top. The saving was tough at first. I mean, your at the gas station buying a soda for - what did it cost back then? Less than five dollars for sure - the cashier sees that you have a whole mess of singles, but you pull out a twenty? They looked at me like I was nuts sometimes. Especially when I'd get up there, open my wallet with ten singles and I'd say "Oh man, I don't have any money." Anyway. I think I ended up saving something like $1500 in six months - and this is back when I was 16 or 17! It's a good way to be frugal. It also makes you think about what you're spending your money on, because you have to actually think about the money.

Anyway - I think I'm going to try this again. Sixteen years later it'll be an interesting experiment.