September Goals Redux

So, updates.

I finally turned in  the cable box.  My monthly bill will now go from about $110 to $45.  Still higher than I’d like, but at this point it is a necessary expense.  If I stay in Astoria after Dec I will definitely shop around for a lower price.  In the meeantime, I can certainly use that extra $55 a month.

As for my goals:

1. Stick to a weekly budget. The weekly budge thing did not go so well.  I am trying to compensate this week because I don’t have a lot of expenses, but I am almost an entire week’s budget over budget for the month.  Well, I tried.  Next month, I am trying a variable week system as suggested by Ali.  If that doesn’t work, I will try something else.

To be fair, when I say it didn’t work I mean I couldn’t stick to it.  I still think it was pretty effective in helping keep my costs down overall.  It just made me feel too down on myself, and that’s not fun or healthy, so I won’t budget that way in the future.  Also, I know I’m not going to stick to something long-term that makes me unhappy.

2. Update on a regular schedule. I feel pretty content with this. I wrote here a lot more, even if I didn’t do it on a strict schedule. I also feel like I only wrote where I actually had something to say.

3. Find some extra income. I did some freelance work, although it went less well than I could have hoped at least I worked on that. So that was some. And while reducing a bill is not exactly income, it helps, and I am going to count that. Still, I think this a goal I could definitely continue to work on harder.

4. Use what I have. This went great! Through swapping things I already had for new things, reading books I’d been meaning to read, watching movies I’d been meaning to watch, and using my computer for tv I got tons of use out of things I had and did not feel sad in not having new things. I also saved a lot of money on food by being much better than I’ve been in the past about using up both leftover meals in news and using ingredients I already have.

So that was September. Next up, October, and a new year for us Jews. New goals should go up Wed. I think you guys should also post goals! Consider yourself tagged, Adiel, Ali, Cris, and Bluemilker

Our Swap Items

I’m a packrat, a hoarder. I get in honestly, from my mother.

Hoarding is not the way to save. I’ve talked about it a little before but holding on to lots of stuff doesn’t mean you buy less. It means you buy more, because you forget what you have, or you need more shelves, more hangers, bigger dressers, bigger closets, a bigger home, a storage space.

This isn’t to say I’m against stuff. I love stuff. I just need to fight my natural inclination to keep everything, and just try to keep things I really want. And since I’ve gotten better at that, I’m helping my mom to do the same.

With that in mind, yesterday she and I got ready for the clothing swap together. I am a terrible photographer and do not have beautiful photos with tons of details like some posts.

Everything is from a home with a cat, and most of it is from a home with a small amount of smoke, so if you have allergies be prepared to clean things. Shipping is going to be cheaper on combined shipping than if you just added the shipping prices for the items together. Items ship from around 10027, New York, NY. You can calculate shipping here at USPS.

To claim, please comment below with the following information:
–Email (Paypal email if you want your stuff shipped)
–Whether you want to pick your clothes up in person or have them shipped
–Items claimed

All numbering is left to right and top then bottom. If you want more detail about anything ask for it.

1. Escapades, red velvet, L – CLAIMED
2. Guilty, spandex nylon, L – CLAIMED
3. DKNY, bratop, needs washing, M
4. Brioche, lace, spandex, lycra, nylon, 9-10
5. DKNY, bratop, M – CLAIMED

6. MODA , bratop, 5
7. Ambiance, L
8. Ambiance, L
9. Kaspar, M
10. Small spot, L

11. Lululemon, 6
12. Cha Cha Vente, M – CLAIMED
13. M
14. Ann Taylor, M – CLAIMED

(sorry for the blurry)
15. Tag still on, 11
16. Silk, 8
17. Limited, L -CLAIMED

18. H & M , 10 – CLAIMED
19. M
20. L
21. Mandees hip-hugger, runs small, 11 – CLAIMED

22. Top & pants set ,12 petite – Pants CLAIMED (Top still available)
23.Victoria’s Secret velor pajamas,run small,L – CLAIMED

24. M
25. boucle texture, M
26. Wrap pants, brought back from India, one size – CLAIMED
27. Cotton/spandex,L L

28.Fang,L – CLAIMED
29. L
30.GAP,L
31.Victoria’s Secret,S – CLAIMED

32.L
33.Embroidered,no size
34.Angora, spandex, etc.,M
35.M – CLAIMED
36.Danish,second-hand,L

37. Tristan & Iseute, some spots, extra L
38. Victoria’s Secret, S – CLAIMED
39. Alloy,polyester with hood, M
40. Tristan & Iseute, L -CLAIMED

41. Tweeds, S
42. Aeropostale, has a tiny hole, S – CLAIMED
43. L
44. Jones NY, 2 small stains in front, M

45. Stain, L
46. unravellled strap (still functions fine, just not neat edge), extra L
47. Spandex, teen M
48. Banana Republic, XS
49. Tweeds, 100% cotton, washable spot on the front, S

51. Needs straps teen L
52. 7
53. Tripp needs button 7
54. Tommy jeans 7 – CLAIMED
55. K-Mart shorts L

56. Fleece (puffier than newer ones boucle-ish), L
57. Made in Thailand, no size L?
58. Sweatshirt fuzzy outside (reverse look), zipper broken, M
59. 4

61. 6 ½ – CLAIMED
62. David Aaron 6 ½ – CLAIMED
63. Italian leather 37 European (6 ½ ? 7?) – CLAIMED
64. 7?
65. Handsewn hat with artificial flower decoration
66. Acrylic winter scarf
67. Velor leopard scarf
68. Organic socks one size fits all – CLAIMED
69. Bra top adjustable 34C cut small
ETA:

70. 8
71. Limited, velor, M
72. H & M , with tags, L
73. H & M, with tags, M – CLAIMED
(same red halter dress in two sizes)
74. M, says “Happy Bug”

75. Polyester
76. 100% silk
77. 3 in 1 headwrap sash scarf, polyester, tags still on
78. Shawl, polyester
79. 100% silk – CLAIMED

80. Tinkerbell shirt, says “ready to fly” – CLAIMED
I love this shirt so much, but it is just too tight. Arms are pretty small.

OK, that’s everything!

I Knead More Dough

Getting ready for the clothing swap (expect a post tomorrow about that) catching up on work at the day job, and starting to feel like one day soon I might actually not be behind on everything. It’s a good feeling.

I made this

Still behind on budget, though, and still looking for new ways to save. Could I eat on $10 a week? Maybe. I learned to make bread this week, thanks to a friend. I had an irrational fear of baking with yeast, and now I’ve done it and it worked and at the end there was tasty bread. Even though I’ve complained recently that some of my scratch-cooking efforts have ended up costing more than buying pre-made things, as far as I can tell scratch bread is still much cheaper. Especially if I do it on a regular basis. And since I eat sandwiches just about every weekday for lunch, cheaper bread should help.

I’ve also been good about using up ingredients for dinner. I had some eggs and milk that were past due but not gross, so I made quiche. I had leftover cheese from making casserole so all I had to get was spinach. I’ve also been good about using up leftovers instead of getting something new for dinner. I try to be good and mix it up with different side dishes so I’m not just eating the exact same thing every night, but I am about out. I think I’m going to see what fresh and frozen veggies are cheap or on sale.

The real problem is eating out. I need to work on doing it cheaper. I don’t want to never go out with friends, but I need to be better about plannign when I am going to do it and spend less when I do. I know all the tricks. I almost never order drinks or dessert. If I get an appetizer it is usually because it is my main dish-sometimes it’s because I am sharing one with people. That’s fine, when I do that I eat less of my main dish and have leftovers, and then I’ve gotten two meals for the price. Sometimes I snack before going out. But still, I find myself spending way more than I want to, and a couple times recently have felt like I spent too much for what I got. And even knowing all the rules, I mess up.

I just need to think about my goals when I look at a menu or make a plan, and remind myself what matters more in the long run. And when I do go out, it should be a budgeted for decision so I can just enjoy it-because when I have budgeted for it, I am happier. It’s so crazy to think how often I used to eat out or order in as a matter of course and not appreciate it.

Not that kind of money blog

There’s a lot of financial stuff going on right now. I’m not going to talk about any of it. This isn’t that kind of money blog. Sure, the big stuff relates to the little stuff, and that may come up a bit. I am not an economics person, though, and I don’t pretend to be. I am just a gal trying to save some money.

*

I’m having some trouble on that saving money bit right now. I think the weekly budget I gave myself was overly ambitious. It works fine for a standard week-it gives me money to spend on food and necessities and leaves room for a little fun. It does not work well for anythign else. For example, this weekend I went to New Hampshire, and at the end of the weekend I am left with $2 for the rest of the week. There were a couple places I could have saved a few dollars-I get nervous about getting hungry on buses and didn’t plan and ended up wasting about $4 on food. Also, it was colder than I expected on Friday because I am an idiot who doesn’t check weather reports, so I had to spend a couple dollars on some stockings so I wouldn’t freeze my legs off.

The point of the budget was to push myself, so I am going to see how close I can keep it to $2 for the rest of the week. I have leftover quiche for dinner for a couple nights, and some fruit and ice cream and such to go with it, as well as some pasta and broccoli in the house so I should be fine there. I am planning on playing Dance Dance Revolution this week and don’t want to skimp on that, so that’s $5. I am learning to make bread tonight and will want to pay for ingredients for that, no idea how much that will be. And I don’t want to skimp on either of those things.

I’ve run the numbers, and it looks like I could still be saving a lot if I upped my weekly budget a bit. I was about $20 over last week, and it looks like it will be about $15 this week. Since I committed to it, I am going to keep this weekly budget for the rest of September, but I think next month I will up it a bit. After all, there’s nothing saying I can’t go under budget on slower weeks.

I also want to cut more though, to have a bit more breathing room and maybe be able to save a bit more. Buying snack food is definitely hurting my trip budgets. I also could try and get cheaper bus tickets. I already have my tickets for my next two trips, and the second bus I take always costs the same amount. On the first bus though, I could definitely spend less (and in fact have, some of my later trips cost about half as much as this one did.) I know Lucky Star, Megabus, and Bolt Bus are all offering $1 fares these days if you can snag one. But I still need other little places to cut money. It’s hard, because for the most part I’ve cut almost everything. I am not willing to never eat out, never travel (and thus never see my boyfriend), or not play DDR with my friends.

Last week we played DDR at home, but it’s a long trip for 2/3rds of us and the pads and music selection aren’t as good. If I got metal DDR pads, it might be worth it, but then I wouldn’t be saving money.

I guess eating out is the easiest place to cut though. I should work more on cooking with friends (Jesse and Ali have been very helpful by coming over and eating with me, because they are awesome.) I could plan my eating out better, and have it work better with my budget. I have nothing expensive planned for next week, so maybe I can make up some of my going over then, and work more on cutting extras. Suggestions welcome, as always.

Tool

I have been planning on getting rid of cable TV. Most of the shows I watch are available online, I have a ton of new DVD’s thanks to swaptree (stuff I’ve already seen, but bonus features! commentary tracks! re-watching!) and new books to read thanks to the book swap and work. It’s too expensive to justify right now.

I say planning to, because I haven’t. First it took me a while to call them. then I called and they said I am going to have to bring it in. Then I tried to unhook and, um, I can’t. I think it requires tools, which I don’t have. The only tools I own are allen wrenches. SO it’s now been about two weeks, and at this rate I am going to have to pay for another month of service that I can’t afford and don’t need. As soon as I get back from being away for the weekend, I have to tackle this.

Made it through the wrest of the week without spending much more money, but I also didn’t get anywhere on most of my other goals. Still updating regularly-I bet you’re thrilled

Clothing Swap

I’ve mentioned before how much I am a fan of clothing swaps. Ali over at tatteredtaggedtreasured.com is planning one, and I figured I’d post the info in case anyone is reading this and not that:

The post is here. If you are interested, you can go there, read the rules, and sign up. I personally am very excited to get some free clothing and make some more room. My dresser is full, which is weird, because before it had another person’s stuff in it, and I still have huge laundry bags of stuff to wash, so I could definitely get rid of some stuff. Part of my problem is that when the boy left he took his hangers, and some how I don’t seem to own any, or, only about ten. Hmmmm.

I think after this is figured out, we should try to plan a food swap since the book and clothing ones are so great, and those are the areas I spend the most money.

It could work either more as a traditional potluck, or something like grabbing all the non-perishables you don’t want and trading them for ones you do, like getting rid of cans of peas and getting some baking ingredients or some other combination. Does these seem reasonable? Any suggestions on how to improve on this idea are welcome.

If all goes well, the next thing should actually be a yard sale. We are planning on getting rid of the dresser, desk, and bookshelf I grew up with as well as a bunch of other stuff at my mom’s place.

Goals Update

Well, last week was fantastic for my goals! I stayed so far under budget that I managed to “replace”* the $11 I’d gone over the week before. I made M/W/F updates and I felt like I actually had things to say each time. For goal #3, I didn’t get any extra income but I did update a resume and it’s almost ready to send out, so I accomplished something. For goal #4, I got ready for a book swap, and in doing so I enjoyed what I already had. I realized in sorting through books how many books I had that I hadn’t actually read yet. I piled them up and started getting through as many as I could, and managed to get almost the whole way through the stack before the swap.

This week I am already over budget and it’s only Tuesday-I still have two days to get through, and I know I need to buy food in there. Actually, in writing that now I just figured out a way to put off buying food-go me.

I have a freelance job to do this week, so I just have to find the time to do it. Fortunately, it’s one I am actually kind of looking forward to doing.

The book swap was great-I got about six books and managed to get rid of about two suitcases worth of books. It was also a really good time, with great company and food. We went out to dinner after, and that was also fine for my budget. The only problem was the amount of money I spent on things to make a cake for the gathering. Lately I seem to spend a lot more when I cook something then when I buy something pre-made. This is partially because I’ve run out of a lot of ingredients, so it should balance out again soon, but it is kind of silly.

I also failed to post an update on my goals on Friday, but I’m not that stressed about that.

How did your week go?

*apologies to my old writing prof for the use of the quotation marks.

In which I get a bit philosophical

This may come across as kind of preachy. If that’s going to rub you the wrong way, feel free to skip it, or just read the parts outside the stars.

I used to be a really bad student. I would miss classes, skip assignments, turn things in late, etc. I took some time off school, and when I came back I decided to be better. I knew I was never going to be one of those students who did assignments early, took neat notes in class, used colored tabs to mark up readings and read the optional additional readings. But I decided to pretend that I was. I stopped using random scraps of loose leaf or mini notebooks. Instead, I bought full-sized folders and notebooks. I bought colored tabs. I took notes all through class, even when those notes said things like, “This makes no sense,” or “I’m SO HUNGRY!”

You’ve probably figured this out by now, but it took me a while. There was no real difference between pretending to be a good student and being one. I was never going to be as much of an overachiever academic superstar as people like my old roommate, but I was a good student.

*

I often hear people say things about how they wish they could do something. I’ve said it myself. “I wish I could get up and run every morning like you.” [Note: not like me, I am lazy.] “I wish I could go back to school.” Or give up soda, or learn French, or whatever. A lot of times I see this lately with money things, either in terms of wishing to afford to do something or wishing to pay off debt or save. And the thing is, you usually can do these things.

Sometimes you can’t. Someone with physical limitations may actually not be able to get up every day, for example, and there are some things you will just never be able to afford in certain circumstances. But mostly people mean that they wish they were the kind of people who did these things. They wish they were someone who saved, or had credit card discipline, or went back to school, or ran or whatever. All it takes to be that kind of person is to actually do it. It might mean giving other things up, and it might not be enough of a priority for you that it is worth giving those things up. If you want to run every morning, you might have to not go out with friends every night so you can get to bed earlier. And that might not be worth it. But then you can recognize that you’ve made that choice and are choosing what is more important to you.

This seems really obvious in budgeting. If you want money for a trip to Europe, or retirement, or a Wii or whatever, you might have to say no to there things you enjoy that cost money. The thing is that most people make this decision without thinking about it. I know people who say they can’t afford to travel but spend tons of money on new gadgets, or people who say they wish they had the money to go out to dinner more but are always buying new clothing.

There’s nothing wrong with those choices, but you need to recognize that you are making them. All it takes to be someone with the money to travel is to decide to be that person. If that were really the highest priority for you, you could be homeless, or work three jobs, or eat rice and beans for every meal (with some vegetables and fruit please) to get there.

*

Before I started saving I wished could save, but I just didn’t make enough money. I only started saving when I became concerned that I wouldn’t be able to pay my rent if I didn’t save up some extra. Now that I’ve started saving I am managing to pay my new high rent without using up my savings, so far at least. I go out to dinner less, I don’t buy new clothing, and every once in a while I’ve said no to something because while I had the money, I had bigger plans for it. I was able to save because I decided to.

Of course, writing out a budget or tracking expenses really helps with the reality of this.

Sunshine & Snowflakes

Fall was here, but then it changed it’s mind. That’s East Coast weather for you. Today at lunch it was too hot sitting in the sun.

I’ve loved eating outside. It has definitely made it a lot easier to be a saver. If I want to meet people for lunch (or even, as I did the other day, dinner) I don’t need to spend extra money eating out. There’s a lovely little park right across the street from where I work and I eat most of my lunches there. Everyone can bring a bag lunch or get food from a nearby deli or cafe or whatever. I’m going to miss this when it gets too cold or wet to eat outside, and I’m going to have to come up with some other ways to see people without spending all my money. So far I’ve got inviting people over for dinner or to watch movies, but it is a hassle for some of my friends to get to my house and doesn’t help for people I am seeing at lunch time. Suggestions are very welcome.

***

A discussion of winter at lunch and a blog post I saw today reminded me of something I left out when I was talking about things I learned that helped me get started and that I consider invaluable. I haven’t talked about snowflaking.

snowflake

Usually I see this discussed in terms of the debt snowball, which doesn’t apply to me. The debt snowball is where you pay off your smallest debt first while making minimum payments on the others, and then when that is paid off, take that payment and apply it to the next smallest debt and so on. It’s really motivating and makes it easier to find the money in your budget to pay off all your debt.

Part of how you make the extra payments for the debt you are paying off is called “snowflaking” and that is definitely something I’ve used. Snowflakes are small amounts of extra money, or larger ones maybe. They are the extras-a birthday check, a graduation present, an economic stimulus check. They can also be from small things like the extra change you save in a jar. Some people set aside money saved-if the shirt you bought was 50% off you take the other 50% of the price if you had planned to pay full price. If you save up for something and it costs less than you expected, that’s a snowflake. Money earned outside your normal job can be a snowflake, as can a bonus or overtime pay.

This technique can obviously be used for saving as well as paying off debt. I don’t like dealing with banking, so I am not good at putting in little amounts as I get them. However, I try to mental earmark the amount, or write it down somewhere, and then deposit it at the end of the month. I also will take any amount I went under-budget at the end of the month (for the past two months, $0, but I am trying) and consider that a snowflake. Since it’s money you wouldn’t normally have, you don’t miss it, and all those little snowflakes add up, and snowball. They can help eliminate your debt or get you much closer to your savings goal.

Where Does It Go?

I am meeting up with a friend for dinner today, and I am going to bring food from home since we are just meeting in the park. This will help me save some money and help me with my goal of using up what I have. If I don’t eat these leftovers tonight they will probably go bad, and I still have Thai food leftovers from last week to finish as well.

I need to save money, because I’ve already almost completely spent my money for the week. If I am subtracting the $11 I went over budget last week then I have only $3 to make it through the rest of this week. Therefore, I think I am probably just going to consider the budget to reset every week so that I don’t get too discouraged. I could make it on only three dollars. I have food in the house and at work. I’m hoping to play DDR with my friends on Wednesday though, and I usually spend at least $5 on that. I don’t want to cut out all fun or be too hard on myself, or I won’t stick with this.

Where did all the money go already? As I predicted, going away was expensive. I messed up and failed to bring a sandwich with me for the road, so that made it worse. It really ended up being a fairly cheap weekend though, and it was worth every penny. The predicted terrible weather stayed away most of Friday and I got to go out on the lake in a boat, and swim a teensy bit (really just hung out in the lake. I did not kayak or water ski like my friends did, because I am a wimp. Still, as I mentioned, I think the weekend was worth it, especially if I keep my spending in check for the rest of the week to make up for it.

Where does your money tend to go? Do you spend more on the weekends or throughout the week? I think before I ate sandwiches all the time and brought lunch I would end up spending more during the week even if I didn’t have any big single expenses.