I spent nothing yesterday, and it felt great. Of course, one day is easy to skate through without spreading around money. But first, you have to avoid parking tickets.

The most embarrassing financial confession I make during this project might just be how many parking tickets I've paid in the last year. The lot near the GT office is free for three hours, and most employees here make do with going outside and moving their cars twice a day. It's not exactly what the city intended when it set up this law, I don't think -- that's a lot of unnecessary pollution -- but there you go. My problem is I get into these absent-minded professor zones where I lose track of time, and then four hours pass, and then I go downstairs to find a friendly pink slip in the windshield.

During the past 12 months, I've paid $1,800 in parking fees. I've deserved every ticket I got, and I paid almost every one of them on time. It would be easy to moan about it, but in the end, it's my fault. I just really, really hope the city is doing something awesome with my $1,800. Like building a water slide somewhere. Or starting a program to give free cookies to people on the street.

The smart financial decision to make would be to get a monthly pass at one of the city garages, but as this very experiment proves, smart financial decisions are not my style. 

Since I can't afford gas this month, I'm riding my bike to work (something I do about 60% of the time anyway), which also has the benefit of  helping me avoid any more $25 mistakes. But last night, I needed the car at the hash because of some party equipment too large to carry in a backpack, and I was running late. The only parking space I could find was a meter, and it was expired. I parked there, intending to run indoors to get change for my $2 bill and use some of it to pay for space until the 8 p.m. cutoff.

Maybe it was the fact that I was wearing a dress, or maybe it was the unholy crowd of people inside also wearing dresses, but I, um, forgot.

When I came back to my car three hours later, there was no ticket. It's scary how close I came to losing 13 days of income. Just another reason to leave the Grandmamobile at home. 

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