Happy Halloween

I couldn't think of a decent Halloween costume until yesterday. I knew one was lurking around in my head for weeks, ducking in and out of the shadowy corners of my psyche. I knew it would be easy, relatively cheap, and fairly clever. Finally - at nearly the last minute - it dawned on me: cavewoman.

I picked up some discount fabric at a sale, borrowed a shell necklace from a housemate, and look forward to teasing my hair and going barefoot to my friend's holiday party. I'll glance around the garden for a club and maybe some little sticks with which to do up my hair. The total costume cost $15. Darling had the lab coat and most of his other equipment to be a mad scientist, so I picked up a wig from Goodwill for $7.50 and he's set to go.

Of Bread and Men

A couple of weeks ago I made my first sourdough starter. It's obvious there's a knack to baking with the stuff that I'm just not getting, and it probably has to do with time management. My own procedure barely takes a few hours to produce a loaf, my current sourdough recipe seems to take days...

It's getting the right response, though. When Darling and I first moved here the co-op was buying several loaves a week from the store. Bread I brought from the bakery or baked myself was overlooked and ignored. Everyone was habitually going for the bagged stuff in the fridge. With sourdough my roommates are very aware that I'm working on something for days, so they look froward to it. And the flavor too good to overlook.

After the first loaf of sourdough, people were more open to no-brand bread and they've been eating the free stuff from work. In fact, after days of munching on baguettes, ciabatta, and good rye, they seem to be about breaded-out. That section of the shopping list is blank for the first trip since Darling and I moved here. If this keeps up, it will save us a minimum of $10 a week.

Happy Update

I don't know what it is about this year, but my time on the computer has desperately dwindled. I'm sorry for not reading and commenting on blogs and the rarity of my posts. Hopefully this trend will reverse, because The Challenge is very much a part of me.

Work at the bakery has become quite chill and enjoyable for me. I didn't get that other job, but I don't regret that at all right now. In fact, I'm extremely happy to be in my position. I work only four days a week, know about 80% of my customers on a personal level, and make ridiculously good tips and decent cash.

Darling and I have been spending an absurd amount of time together, which has been awesome. We've picked up a couple of not-so-frugal habits, such as renting movies and eating out once a week. It's not great on the wallet, but when a couple lives with seven other people, leaving the house becomes a necessity. It's a good 45 minute walk to I <3 Video.

The Co-op is made up of the most unexpectedly amazing people ever. At this moment someone is making a huge pot of soup from garden veggies and we are all being serenaded by the accordion player. I can't say all is well, though. Basically, we're going through a transition period that requires us to deal with a man who wants to take our home...but that's an unnecessarily long story and I've just been called to dinner. I don't doubt that situation will work itself out.

Anyway, I shall return with very deep, progressive thoughts on wealth, credit, and the pursuit of happiness.

Little Catch Up

After my brief spending spree last week I indulged in a working binge. A friend had a vendor spot at the Austin convention center and I spent three days helping her out. In those three days I worked 50 hours.

That paid for the baby shower gift, my contacts, and a little discretionary spending while still replacing the money borrowed from Darling's school money. I also sent an extra $27 payment towards my student loan debt (for which the interest has decreased a penny a day since last month!) and put $70 in our 401(k). So it looks like we'll have the money for Darling to pay for his classes after all. He registers today or tomorrow.

Sudden Expenses

Yesterday at work I realized my glasses are no longer functional. The scratch guard had worn away and the lenses had become foggy with millions of tiny scratches. Cleaning the pastry cases and floor was nearly impossible. I went directly to TSO after work and had an examination for contacts.

Today I bought a baby shower present for my brother and sister-in-law. A fairly pricey one. So in the past two days I spent much more money than I'd expected to.

And you know what? I won't worry about it. Not one bit. We had the money. Money saved for Darling's school, granted, but I guess this just confirms our decision to go with a payment plan. Or we'll pull it together. I'm actually feeling really good right now. I've been wanting to spoil my nieces and nephew since becoming an aunt, maybe it's time to get started.

Little Bits and Pieces

The other day I got news that my mom may receive a larger portion of her inheritance sooner than expected. The story behind this is long, twisted, and sordid, making it hard to call this "good news," but despite my much wounded faith in the good of mankind, it is a relief to know that she may be taken care of for at least the net decade. We'll know by the end of the year.

Apparently the office job isn't so much in the bag as I expected, which seems to bother the people around me more than myself. I've picked up the occasional extra shift at the bakery and lazily think of hunting for something else while I'm there, but I'm not so emotionally invested in my employment as I in the past. Thanks to regular paychecks, Darling's contributions, automatic deductions, and only two real "bills" a month, I honestly don't think about money that much.

Darling and I are still unsure on whether or not we want to go with the payment-plan/full-time classes option or the pay-in-full/part-time classes option. I maintain that becoming debt-free requires not taking on more debt, and that earning only enough money to pay for 9 credit hours means taking only 9 credit hours. But it's not just up to me.

Payment Plans

I was really relieved that ACC has a payment plan available to students. Instead of having to scrape together about $800 this week, the total can be broken down into four equal payments to be paid during the semester.

It didn't occur to me until yesterday that having a payment plan is tantamount to having debt. Sure, we don't have to pay a fee or interest on this debt, but it's money owed just the same. That could result in a $600 drop in net worth! In the meantime, Darling is worried that a full-time class schedule will hurt his earning oppurtunities.

Usually Darling takes the spring semester off, but we're really looking foward to his finishing up and he was going to plow ahead in the hopes of graduating next Fall. Now it looks like another baby step might be better: fewer class hours, more time to seek out internships, and a tuition we can afford while saving up for Sumer.

October Net Worth

Yikes, six days late!

The past several weeks I've been nearly too busy to check my e-mail. Like an idiot I created a facebook account. Everyone I told, fans and critics alike, insisted I'd lose hours of time to it. If only I had hours to devote to such a pursuit! I've maybe logged on once a week, on average. I am now more confused than ever by our tech-addicted culture; facebook strikes me as slightly boring.

September was a financial success, generally speaking. Having paid rent on time with funds to spare, I upped my weekly student loan payment to $30. At this moment we are still $13,120.96 in the hole, which is about $62 less than last month. Slow, steady progress anyone?

In the bank we have $983.28, which is $83.81 more than last month.

This leaves us with a net worth of -$12,137.68, which is $145.01 higher than last month :)