What, you can eat out without spending a minimum of $12 per meal? (This is my average when I go out, without drinks.)

A jet-setting and brilliant friend of mine was in town for a brief minute in between a Fulbright scholarship in Mongolia and moving to DC for Teach for America. Meet Helen:

When she picked a date for dinner the week before the move, I of course said yes! This is the first meal out since I’ve agreed to Mint.com’s Challenge. We chose pizza.

We originally planned to order 2 separate slices each. However, my brilliant and thrifty friend, Courtney, suggested we split a large pizza three ways to save money.

We all wanted cheese for half, and I sacrificed spinach for mushrooms on the other half.

The $5 I spent (1/3 of pizza + tip) was worth it! (And there’s no price on the time I spent with friends.)

 Cha-ching: $7 in my savings account.