How to live off of $25/week

How do you survive off an entry-level salary in an executive-level world?

It was 2004, and I had just graduated from college.  The place that I had been working for offered me a full-time job as Banquet Manager, which I quickly found meant that I was a waitress who wore a suit.  The original agreement had me making an hourly wage that should've put me at $30,000, but in the end it was approximately $25,000.  Throw in student loans totalling over $400, a car payment, rent, and all of the other costs associated with being an adult, and I was living off of $20/week for food and other household expenses.  And people wonder why I have credit card debt.

Today, due to the many birthday parties, times when I can't get home for dinner (I work in Charlotte and live in Rock Hill, so there are some nights when I'm not home until about 9 or so), and other unexpected frivoloties, I find that spending $75/week is a low number.  I can often be seen the week before my paycheck comes, head in my hands, wondering, "where did all of my money go?"

Many of you out there reading who are either unemployed or just entering the workforce understand exactly what I'm talking about.  You're trying to figure out how to pay all the bills and still eat at the end of the day.

So this week, here's the challenge. I will live off of $25 for the entire week and report back on Friday.  I won't make myself miserable or live off of rice and beans or ramen noodles (although I might resort to that one day).  I will find cheap ways to eat and get through the week spending as little money as possible.  Yesterday's grand total=$0 spent  (I will admit that this is partially cheating b/c I have bread, eggs, pasta, and sauce in my house right now.) 

In the meantime, here are some tricks I learned from my past life:

• Baked potatoes=cheap and delicious
• Pasta+canned sauce=4 or 5 meals for $4
• Frozen meat is our friend
• Peanut Butter & Jelly-Not just for kids anymore

Other cost-savings tips specific to Charlotte:

• Do weekday movies with friends.  AMC theatres offer $5 movies during the week, and the Ayrsley cinema has $5 movies before 2 any day of the week
• Dinner A'Fare in South Park offers gourmet meals that come out to being approximately $6-$7 per person.  Next time you want to impress your date, pull out one of these meals and head over to Total Wine and she'll think you spent $40 on dinner (we won't tell, promise!)  If the up-front cost is too much (about $100), then find a friend to split the package with (pick me, pick me!)
• Check out Charlotte Happy Hour to find the best specials around
• Find a restaurant you love, and follow them on Twitter.  Look to @cltdining for more help.  Restaurants offer specials to their followers only.  You aren't following, you miss out.

For more on how to get your finances straight, check out my friend Nick's Examiner page.