Didn't spend fifty cents, either!

I saved enough money this week to buy a pair of designer shoes, or a cool piece of jewelry, or, like, a lamp by not buying lunch. I know there are stories running rampant across the internet that espouse the virtues of making breakfast and lunch at home! Bringing it in and getting a real bang for the buck that we are all consistently in pursuit of saving! But the reality is this: sometimes you just want to walk to the salad store with a co-worker, lament about millennial things like cancelled plans that are back on and watch as someone else prepares your lunch for you. It is one of life's small but impactful luxuries.

The reason I was able to save shoe-money this week is on the account of Passover: the once-yearly event that spans a week of unleavened wheat consumption.

If you are not familiar with the Jewish holiday, the summary is this: you cannot eat food that is not explicitly kosher for Passover, which is really limiting given that there are no kosher for Passover restaurants. So, since Monday, I've been wrapping matzah in tinfoil after lathering cream cheese and other toppings onto it and bringing it to work to eat at my desk. I make breakfast at home and bring a cut fruit and Ziploc bag full of nuts to work with me as snacks. I still buy coffee out — I just can't drink almond milk — so I've been pounding whole milk + hazelnut-flavored simple syrup all week. All in, just for the coffees, I've spent $13.50 this week.

I have saved the afternoon cappucino I usually drink ($4.50) because I only like cappucinos with almond milk and almond milk is not kosher for Passover. So that's $22.50 back into my pocket. My lunch cost ranges from $10 to $15, so lets's average that out at $12.50 and say I've saved $62.50. That's $85 all in so far. Where shit gets expensive is really after work at drinks. Figure I'm getting one glass of wine, right? That's like, $12 right there, not including what happens after a jolt of liquid confidence: sometimes guacamole and if it's late enough in the week, a second drink. So figure I've saved about $100 by booking it on home straight from work. That's now almost $200, enough to get me

This

These

This!

Or these.

But if I'm being really honest, the whole thing was pretty underwhelming. One thing I definitely realized is that I often use food as a distraction to stop what I'm doing, or get out of the office, or feel like I'm doing something to make me more comfortable with the fact that I'm not, you know, doing anything. But I didn't have to stop going for walks (they were cheaper because I didn't buy an $8 smoothie) or taking breaks (we're human! Stop when you feel like it). Someone once recommended I get up to do jump-squats when I start to crave ice cream (happens everyday at 4 p.m.). I've never done that before and don't foresee beginning to, but I can see how such a recommendation makes sense.

The other thing, though, is maybe a note on what eating out actually symbolizes in this day and age. Because here I thought this story might actually unlock The Secret to saving money by making a really solid case for actually doing the work at home and bringing the food to work, but the fact of the matter is, I'd much prefer the freedom to socialize on my own terms and eat what I want, when I want if it means forgoing a straw tote. From a personal stand point, this has never been the case, which I think means that I am either growing up and beginning to learn that the best things in life, while not free, are perishable and make for good memories and conversation, or that there is a larger cultural shift in motion. A new sense of preference is being cultivated and it favors the experience, however menial (walking to Sweetgreen with a co-worker) or exciting (margarita date after work!) and therefore rejects, to some degree, the literal, tangible stuff that we were once at risk of letting define us.

Passover ends at sundown tomorrow. I'm going to stuff my face with pizza and pasta even though I eat neither regularly and then I'm going to have ice cream and some sort of liquor that's been aged in a wheat barrel. This will make justifying the purchase of $515 gold sandals by Martiniano even more difficult but who cares.

So worth it.

— By Leandra Medine

Collage by Catherine Kim; follow her on Instagram @catherinejkim.