Editor Cara Newman is following the advice and tips of various articles posted on Young Money to show how well they really work. These first posts follow the techniques presented in Save $1000 by Black Friday. Follow along to see how much she saves, and what impact it has on her life.

Today was a bad week for me, financially. On Wednesday I had to miss work to go to the doctor. He sent me to another doctor, who sent me to another one. I paid $105 in co-pays in one day (3 specialists at $35 a piece). As if I wasn’t feeling sick enough all ready.

And I had to eat lunch at the hospital. I spent $9 just trying to eat something remotely healthy—at a hospital! Why does the crappiest food cost the least amount of money?

That was Wednesday. On Thursday, my radiator blew. Leaving me without a car and with about $1000 in car repairs (I haven’t gotten the total bill.) I rented a car to go to work. At $25 per day it’s not that bad—much less than taking a cab. So I reserved a compact car, something small to scoot around the city. But when I got to the car rental place all they had was a Dodge Caravan. I could house a small family in that thing. Not optimum for city driving—especially not with my lousy parking skills. I did get her to waive the early return penalty. That saved me $15. I know I’m supposed to be saving money, but I would have gladly paid the $15 for a different car.

Luckily, I put money aside for car repairs. I figure with an old car you are going to spend an average of $125 a month on repairs. So, I put it aside. This is still cheaper than buying a new car (besides the cost of the car, insurance goes up, taxes, registration, etc, etc, and cars depreciate as soon as you drive them home). So, I save money and when my car is blowing smoke out of its hood, I know that even if I don’t have a ride home, I have the money to deal with it.

I don’t have to dip into my Holiday shopping savings either.

So, savings this week? $0

Total Savings: $403.28
Impact on my life: Saving money hasn’t affected my life. I expected to feel the sting of cutbacks, but I really haven’t.