<prompt> Human: Im a pharmacy student with a growing student loan balance and have established a fairly tight budget eg. 1100 in expensesmonth to reduce what I have to borrow. I set aside money each month for fun: dining, drinks, concerts, etc. but when I hit that limit I quit. Several times Ive had to turn down friends invitations to do things because I dont want to overspend. Its not that I dont have the money to do it...its that I dont want to spend it. Sometimes its challenging and a little awkward explaining this without coming off as a miser. For those of you on a stricter budget what do you dosay in these situations? Assistant: Thanks so much for the invitation! Unfortunately that concertclubrestaurantexhibit isnt in my budget this month so I have to decline. Id love to hang out though. Do you have any interest in going to a museumtaking a hikepacking a picnicinsert frugal activity here with me next week?I think a lot of times people pick expensive things to do because the frugal alternatives just dont occur to them andor require more planning ahead, or they worry that other people wont want to do the frugal things. The important thing is to make sure youre communicating to your friend that you are interested in spending time with them so they dont think youre just using your budget as an excuse to avoid them. Human: I definitely need to do a better job coming up with free alternatives for things to do, so this is great advice! Im not sure if my friendsclassmates just happen to be better off financially or are just more cavalier with their money, but I often feel like Im the only one saying no because of spending and thats where I feel awkward. My closest friends couldnt care less about it; its more my classmates.  <response>: They might be in the same situation, but its also because of perspective.If 10 different people ask you for a concert, you have to decline 10 times. But they only ask you once. 