Although I have spoke to quite a few friends already about the experiment I wish to perform for the month of August, I figure I would set the rules and explain it in detail in some concrete form. So here goes!
For the entire month of August, I want to see if I can spend no money outside of my given living expenses. We all have to pay rent, cell phone bills, electricity, and so on. These are considered into my standard living expenses. I will set aside enough money to purchase food for me to make my meals throughout the month, but I will not allow myself to eat out at any restaurants or spend any excess money on things not necessary for me to live.
Of course there are some exceptions to this rule though, as I'm not entirely crazy. Any plans that I have made prior to coming up with the Autoless August experiment I will still adhere to. I have a few vacations that I will still take and enjoy myself during, but I won't consider that breaking the experiment. If I like the results of this experiment, I can hold a more legitimate experiment in the future, where I make sure I have no plans for an entire month, and adhere to the rule set strictly.
So the general idea of Autoless August is pretty simple. Follow these basic rules:
1. No driving anywhere
2. No eating out
3. No excess expenditures
Those are essentially the fully encompassing rules of Autoless August. Since the biggest obstacle will be working, I have a rock solid solution for that. Every day, I will pack a lunch to take with me to work in my backpack, and then ride my bike to and from work. This will take care of the majority of the experiment. The other challenge for me is going to be finding out good bike routes throughout the city. I intend on hanging out with friends on the weekends, so i will need to figure out how to get across town on my bike.
I've been considering implementing a weekly bus allowance for the experiment. This would be basically a set amount of money I can spend on the bus per week, in case things get bad on the bike. I haven't decided 100% on if I will implement this, but once the experiment begins i can see if it will be needed. My initial though is that it won't be needed. I suppose we will see though.
The Autoless August experiment starts August 1st and goes until August 31st. Tomorrow is the first of August, so I will be riding to work. I'm going to do all of my grocery shopping for next week's food tonight while I can still use my car.
I'll be interested in seeing how this turns out!
