• $35 – Internet Access for Month
• $30 – PX store (beef jerky and face lotion)

Total: $65

Weird.

I think it is because I feel more isolated in Kuwait and I really don’t need to spend money here. No large weekend spending sprees. No unplanned emergency costs. I don’t even need to spend money at all if I didn’t go off base (or care about my looks I suppose). Everything from housing to food is covered. Guess when you take money out of the daily equation, it just loses significance.

I’ll admit that previously money encompassed a lot of my time, from reading about world business news to various personal finance blogs. But now it’s just kinda “eh” for me. Instead I am more focused on eating healthy and working out. I want to get in shape before I head back to Los Angeles.

It is an odd sensation, especially since money was such a focus for me before I landed in Kuwait. In a way it is kind of nice…feels like there is less stress. I wonder if this is how most people feel. Downside is I’m not motivated to post on anything else other than my weekly expenses and update my personal balance sheet/income statement.

• $30 – Sheraton’s Terrace Cafe (for some stupid chicken kabobs – 8.5 KD)
• $31.5 – The Butcher Shop (for a large beef kabob with rump, sirloin, fillet cuts… this was better than Sheraton’s atleast – 9 KD)
• $37 – Haircut and Eyebrow threading (including tax/tip)

Total: $98.50

• $7 – Eyebrow threading (including tip/tax)
• $12 – Alterations to three cargo pants - too long (including tip/tax)
• $12 – Coworker’s goingaway party contribution
• $3 – Skype monthly cost

Total: $34

I plan on spending money next week for a haircut and eyebrows (again). Maybe new headphones too because my iPod ones are falling apart (the rubber things are peeling off).

• $103 – Bae’s Bday fruit basket
• $2 – KFC small popcorn chicken

Total: $105

• $600 – Toshiba Satellite Model#L505D-S5992 (!!)
• $4 – two boxes of Kleenex tissues
• $4 – Portion for group Kuwaiti dinner

Total: $608

Didn’t spend much money on anything else. Now I just need to maintain this level of spending (ex-Laptop) and I would breakeven on my normal spending level in three more weeks.

There are some biggies and small ones that will be free. They include:

• Lodging – Pretty nice one bedroom type hotel room with full-sized bed, tall cabinet, desk & chair, television w/ cable, three 4-drawer plastic dressers, rugs, mirror, sink, and air conditioner/heater. I have a bathroom that I share with one housing mate.
• Meals – Buffet style food basically throughout the day and at three different locations. Food is damn good compared to home. There is the classic meat and potatoes (sometimes steak and lobster), salad bar (sometimes avocados), soda/juice bar, milkshake bar, cereal post, ice cream section, other desserts section, fruits section (peaches, apples, oranges, etc…). Not only this, we get another $3.50 per diem everyday if we want to get something else to eat. Not a lot but an extra ~$100/month is nice.
• Utilities – Water and electricity at work and at my lodging. No gas since we don’t cook here.
• Transportation/Fuel – Get a leased car that can be gassed up at any free gas station.
• Laundry – Can drop it off with a TCN (third country national) and they will wash and iron for you! Just pick it up two days later. I was amazed by this service.

And there will be some expenses that I accrue:

• Calling Card – So I can call home when I am not available to Skype.
• Skype – So I can call home when I am not at work.
• Internet – Around $35 a month in order to get service in my lodging area.
• Personal Laptop – Sucks that the one I shipped broke down the second day I got here.
• Name Brand Food Stands – I’ll eventually get semi-sick of the meals they provide and get homesick for food back home. In that respect, I might spend some money on the Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Carl’s Jr., etc… stands they have sprinkled throughout the area I am staying.
• Misc. Junk and Useful Stuff – Though I try to save money I will more than likely spend some money on things that range from useful stuff (shampoo, power converter, tissue boxes) to misc. junk I might not even send home (mink rugs, iffy jewelry, shiny new things).

So far it looks pretty good. This TDY seems to agree with my checkbook. And making loads of money from overtime doesn’t hurt either.

I know that I will go stir-crazy if I don’t have access to the Internet or can’t use my computer to play videos/music while I am here. Think about it — work 10+ hour days for thirteen days straight (just one day off every pay period) and when I come back to my lodgings I can’t even unwind on my computer??!! No. No way. I need to have a computer. And besides, I already spent $35 to buy one month of Internet service.

Thus, I started looking online to see if I could buy a replacement computer. Unfortunately, even websites such as Dell, Walmart, etc… state that shipment to APO locations would also take up to 30 to 45 days. Hence, my last recourse was to buy a laptop here at one of our onsite APO stores (basically like a very tiny itty bitty Walmart). So I went and browsed through the selection of laptops they sell (very limited quantity). Fortunately, their prices are comparable to online prices and the big plus is no sales tax!

I chose one of the cheapest laptops they had (I stayed away from the netbooks cause a ten inch screen is too small for me to watch movies on for the next six months) and got a Toshiba Satellite Model#L505D-S5992 for $600. Sucks to spend $600 all at once but it is a necessary expense to keep myself sane here. I’ll try to limit my spending for the next four weeks in order to minimize the impact of my spending in this week.

• $43 – Skype (unlimited calling to/from USA for 1 month; $10 credit; assigned phone number for 1 year)
• $37 – Groome Shuttle to Fort Benning (reimburseable from company)
• $16 – PX on Fort Benning, GA (Halls cough drops, cold medicine, Master Padlock, Vick’s VapoRub, tissue paper)
• $4 – PX (more Halls cough drops and tissue paper)
• $6 – Roach Coach (pizza and a bottle of water)
• $4 – Roach Coach (burrito)
• $11 – PX (ID card holder and more cold medicine)
• $3 – PX (more Halls cough drops and tissue paper)
• $2 – Starbucks (cheese croissant)
• $35 – Internet Access for one month

Total: $161 (but $37 is reimburseable so the money I spent personally is $124)

I did spend quite a bit of money this week mainly due to the Skype and internet access charges. However, on the upside I didn’t really spend money elsewhere because I was mostly eating @ the free cafeteria and staying at the free living quarters. Looking at this I can safely say I probably popped more than 100 Halls cough drops within one week. Might have been high on menthol for half the time I was at Fort Benning.

• $6 – Work Cafeteria (Pork Enchiladas w/ rice & beans)
• $10 – Windows Professional Office 2007 (got subsidized rate through work)
• $6 – Work Cafeteria (Chicken Tostada)
• $53 – Michael’s Cajun Seafood (took Bae out for dinner)
• $4 – Airport Cart

Total: $79

Before I arrive at Kuwait on January 16, I am first going to be staying at Fort Bennings, Georgia for a week for predeployment stuff. So far it has been kind of boring in Fort Bennings, nothing much to do but paperwork. However, one thing that caught me off guard was the frigid 28 degree weather we are having here. Dude, I thought 55 degrees in Socal was bad… that is nothing compared to the frostbitten 28 degrees (which feels like 13 degrees per Weather.com) here in the boonies. My nose and ears felt like they were about to fall off.

On the upside, at least I am getting paid overtime to chill out in my room right? Too bad, the heater blowing inside the room and cold weather outside has conspired to simultaneously cause me to catch a cold and get a sore throat. I am currently nursing myself back to health on cafeteria chicken rice soup and bags of Hall cough drops.