The Social and Frugal Lolita

We all find ourselves in situations where money is lacking.  You limit your spending, focus on paying bills and yet you still want to be able to find time to spend with friends or meet up with people in your Lolita community.

A lot of the time I find that I cannot go to each and every meet up in my community because I don't have the money.  Money for events can be impacted by more than paying for food or paying an entry fee, depending on where and what kind of meetup it is.  You also have to take in account for traveling expenses.  If the meet up is far away you’re either going to need to drive or get a ride with someone who can drive you (and you should pay them gas money!).  If there are tolls you have to take in account for how many toll booths you will go through and if you are going through them both ways, or if you plan on taking a longer route to avoid them.  A of the time, the original meet up was for tea or dinner, but then everyone decides to go see a movie or play mini golf, which is fine but are you financially ready for that?

So, money is tight but you don't want to sacrifice your social life.  Depending on your community, you might have a number of different events you could go to, or if your community is on the smaller side and you may only have 1 opportunity a month to meet up.

Let’s say your group is fairly large, with regular meet ups each month, usually about 2-3 (just one a week, mostly on the weekends).  Money is lacking, but you want to at least make it to one meet up.  How do you decide which one to go to?

First, determine how much it will cost you to get to each location of the different meetups.  Even if your tank is full, you are still spending money because after you drive and lose a quarter of a tank, you are going to need to put more in your car sooner or later.  The meet up that is closer to you might not be your first choice, but when you want to conserve it just might be the best.

Speaking of transportation, let’s show some examples of how the distance of a meet up can affect your pocket.  The meet up in the beginning of the mouth, the trip to and from will cost you $25.  The second only costs $15, and the third will cost 25, but it includes tolls as well (8 dollars each time you go through them).  Now some people may not drive and would have to ride with someone and split the cost.  Worst case is they may even have to take public transportation (which isn’t bad, but not as convenient).

Next you want to take in account is what you will be doing for each meet up and how much it will cost (if anything).  If it’s a get together at someone’s house, public park, any place without an entry fee then the most you may have to worry about is putting money in for food, or bringing food with you (if it’s a potluck thing).  Events like a convention, concert, theme park, etc you are probably going to spend around 5-100 dollars just to get in.  That’s not even including the stuff you might buy there.

Then it’s the elimination game.  What can you afford vs. what you cannot afford… the worst case scenario is that you won’t be able to hang out with anyone for a little while, and that’s ok.  If that does happen, start putting any extra money off to the side in your room (like if you have a 10 dollar bill and you buy something, you get $2.50 back in change).  The money will eventually build and you can use it for a meet up or maybe something else!

If you have not already guessed, I am currently practicing this.  There are tons of meet ups that I want to go to, but distance is a big issue.  Sometimes I will try to go to a Meet up that is a little but out of the way of my house but it’s closer to my work and I will be at the office that day (That’s right, office.  I have a big person job :P ).  But right now I have enough money on the side to use towards a meet up if I want to.

If you have any tips on being a frugal Lolita, you write your own blog, have a FB/twitter page, or just want to show us some pictures of cats please leave them all in the comments below!