New Job Hunt

I did something new and different last week when I decided to get a "grown up job." I hunted in the same way I pursue customer-service jobs. For anyone looking for a job at a restaurant, coffee shop, grocery store, or whatever, the key is going in and talking to people and filling out the application and basically refusing to leave until someone quits in annoyance and you can take their job. I don't know how people in office buildings get jobs, so I've always gone the online application route. Which might be wrong, as this has never worked for Darling or me.

Anyway, I rode a bike to an office I'd really, really like to work at and, scared stiff, asked the security guard where I might find...um, job applications? If any are available? Please?

To my surprise he very helpfully pointed me to a small busy office right by the door, informing me that the open positions are posted on the wall. There were applications and pens on a table in that room. I couldn't believe it.

I was so not expecting this that I was wearing jeans and one of my normal t-shirts, and don't even ask out my hair. My hair is a wreck. I have that shaggy mullet going on, kind of like Sam from True Blood when he's a sheltie. My hair color right now is actually calico, which would be cool if I was fourteen or a True Blood character. I could play Merlotte's new butch waitress from Texas. That would be hot...wow, digress much, Tread?

This office was not Trueblood related, but they let me sit and fill out an application for a job I was probably more qualified for in college than now. I was feeling vaguely confident until a really pretty, younger girl sat down across from me filling out her own application, all pressed in a sweet little suit and wearing make-up and all that. When I turned in my application, the receptionist started to say something, answered her ringing phone instead, and waved me away. I left feeling as though that could have gone worse, waited semi-hopefully for a call before Thanksgiving, and decided not to keep my hopes up afterwards. I could cope with that experience.

Anyway, after a really stressful day at the restaurant today I came home from work at 4:30, an hour later than usual. At 4:06 that office had called wanting to talk to me about my resume. I called back to no avail, even though the message told me someone would be in the office all evening. I left a message at 4:45, called back at 5:15, and called again at 6:00 p.m. The time has come to quit before receiving a restraining order. I am so frustrated and annoyed. I have had this happen before, only with jobs I really, really wanted. I missed the call, and I will never get a chance to talk to anyone who has seen my application again. When I call tomorrow and ask for Ms. Human Resources, I will learn that she hasn't worked for the company since 1969, if I wander back to that office it will have moved across town and replaced with a Dennys. I missed the phone call, which would have led to my dream job, and now I will be a waitress FOREVER.

I am perhaps over-reacting. Having just missed that call is hardly the biggest deal in the world. I was told to call back in the morning if I didn't get home before seven in the evening. So that will happen, and I'll get an interview.

In reality, an interview for this job is kind of the last thing in the world I need. Do you know how much I would have to spend for this job? I would need a haircut and probably some sort of color adjustment. I would need pants that weren't jeans, or at the very least not ripped jeans. I could probably keep my current "nice" shoes, but I'd have find out what women who wear nice shoes wear instead of socks. Surely women don't wear tights under their nice pants every day? Hose? Do people still buy hose? I've never had hose in my life, I'm not totally sure what this/that/they is/are. I'd need at least five "blouses." I'm not sure what the difference between a blouse and a shirt is, but I suspect it involves buttons and maybe sleeves. And make-up. If I'm actually expected to wear makeup I would need proffessional help. That might be fun. There are businesses that do that, right, give you a little facial makeover and sell you their incredibly expensive pore-clogging chemicals? Soon I'll be agonizing about turning thirty, might as well figure out foundation before needing to consider moisturizers. Unless those are the same things.

So, yeah. I'll either schedule an interview tomorrow and possibly get a shiny new job that will require a mad holiday thrift-store shopping spree, or I'll keep my boring old waitress job, and barista job, and data-entry work, and housecleaning gigs...Or I'll be offered a part-time position, and won't juggling five jobs be fun :)

Thanksgiving and Consciousness

I hope everyone had an excellent holiday. I stuffed myself silly with tofurkey and potatos and creamed corn and so many desserts! My grown-up-but-still-my-baby-sister announced that she married her fiancee (apparently the ladies in my family avoid ceremony like the plague), and Darling and I were house-sitting and watched television until our eyes fell out. Good times. I also had a really good time riding the bike I borrowed.

I worked on Buy Nothing Day, and in fact totally forgot to buy nothing because I needed contact lens solution something awful. Then it occured to me that I have to buy a $7-$12 bottle of the stuff every month. When figuring out the price difference between contacts and glasses, I never thought about the price of solution, much less the environmental effect. Keep in mind that I also simply can't see as well with glasses than with contacts. My vision is so bad - and steadily worsening - that doctors have begun to warn me that lasik surgery is an eventuality for me if I don't want to have to learn to read brail. Which is neither here nor there, but I'll be getting an eye exam in the next few weeks and need to know whether or not I want to give my eyes a break from the little plastic buggers in 2011.

Anyways, last week I took Consciously Frugal's advice and started reading Your Money or Your Life. This is possibly the best financial book I have ever read, and I've been through a lot of that section of the library. One of the first steps is to tally up all the money you have ever had hold of in your entire life. For reals.

So I started with the first money I ever had, a small coin collection, and moved from there. Added the $5-$20 bills in birthday cards, the first odd jobs, the big birthday presents, a small squandered inheritence, graduation presents, several loans, jobs, bonuses, tips...obviously I had to guess at a lot of this, and really had to rack my brain for every single job ($200 for house sitting in 2004...$40 for teaching someone Microsoft Word...) but I think I got most of it pretty accurately.

And you know what? I have been through a lot of money. Like, way a lot. Twice what I would have expected. It's embarassing to admit, but in 25 years and 7 months I have gone through a little over $100,000. I mean, sure I've worked steadily since getting my first "real" job at 13, but six freaking figures? And I'm still this deep in debt? Happy as I am not to own a car, it seems like having spent $100,000 I should have a dealership. And there's money I forgot; I'm just now remembering that $20 bill I found on the road Christmas of 2003.

Do you guys hate me? I shouldn't have mentioned my secret wealth. Now you all hate me. In your minds I have been transformed from the matchstick girl to the welfare queen. Though I am not on welfare.

Whether or not you hate me, I can't help feeling a little betrayed by myself.

Isn't that weird? This aspect of myself, the woman who was able to accumulate and dismiss that much money and not even notice it? I'm horrified. Not about the money so much as by the attitude, the carelessness. Who am I, to have lived such a way?

Which brings me to the point that this is probably not a healhty perspective, and it might have a tiny bit to do with my feelings about material wealth to begin with. Which might have to do with the way in which I was raised. Which might be affecting my current financial decisioin making process in a negative way.

I don't want to get all touchy feely on you guys, but I am considering writing a series of posts on my financial history. Put my background down, all those details I haven't shared with my best friends but might as well be read by lovely ladies in New Zealand. It might just be one post, it might come to a dozen, I'm not sure where it will lead. Hopefully it won't bore you to death. Maybe it will give me insight, and help me move forward, so the next $100,000 isn't so terribly wasted.

Thankful!

How sweet is Catherine? Very, very sweet. She sent me money to buy tofurkey. More than one tofurkey, in fact, as well as the trimmings! I can't believe my good fortune. Thanks so much!!!

When I first dreamed up this blog, it was my hope to make an impact. No, not even an impact. I wanted to make a point, as clearly and honestly as I could, about the merits of financial and social integrity. I wanted to prove that anyone can make a living on almost any wage, that environmentalism and compassion are free, and that contentment can not be bought.

I had all these ideas of what I would give and do for others with this blog. It never occurred to me that I would be the one receiving so much! Whether it's a digital camera from the Lost Goat from a state over (someday Darling will figure the memory card issue out), or a care package from Mel on the other side of the world, not to mention the near-daily supportive comments and advice, I'm blown away by how much you all have done for me. And I don't know how to thank you.

Ramble

There is a very good reason why I hate hunting for jobs. It is the online application form. After working on one for an hour yesterday, something wonked and I lost all of the information. All of the boring, boring information.

Do you like the phrase "something wonked?" You know exactly what it means from the context, no? You can tell that I still hulu episodes of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, right?

On a completely different note, my older brother had his palm read when he was fifteen. The palmist was very concerned by the feminine forces that seemed to be set on destroying Ob's life. Ob was not at all surprised by this, as he had already been perfectly aware of my Mom and Stepmom for most of his life. I am amazed that I have had far more people look at my palms (well, maybe two more), and also had tarot spreads, and no one has given me the same warning. No one has ever said, "your Mom and Stepmom will join forces and make you wish you were dead." And in the event that you think I am exaggerating, my Mom has, in public, thrown back her head and shouted, "I'll make you all wish you were dead." It was the highlight of my 2007 Christmas party.

Do you ever wonder what it would be like if Tread ever sat down with less than 15 minutes to make a post and decided to let the words fall where they may? Well, here you go. I'm spending a lot of time online right now, but am honestly too busy job hunting (for myself and Darling) and doing freelance data entry to spend a lot of time blogging. I will address comments and make more sense in the next couple of days. But what are you doing reading this anyway? Go spend time with your families. Are you seriously reading this before making...um...Thanksgiving-themed centerpieces? Is your tofurkey defrosted yet? Don't worry if you forget, I forget ever.freaking.year. Just soak it in hot water for as long as you can get away with. I haven't even bought mine yet, or admitted to my brother that I have no intention of doing so. Can you make a tofurkey from scratch? And send it to me?

Tread Tries To Sell Out

I will now confess to an exceptional moment of weakness: I applied for a credit card today.

I was half-panicked. Our medical situation is getting out of control. Darling was awake all night with pain from a lost-filling-turned-cracked-tooth-turned-infected-nerve. He's working to get us medical assistance for some time now to no avail. We earn slightly too much money for many programs, slightly too little for the rest. At this point I am willing to do darn near anything to ease his pain: I'll get a job at bloody Starbucks if absolutely necessary, even though that is the most depressing job in the world I can think of, because their health insurance is available to part-time emplyees and apparently quite good.

In the meantime, I did a search of dentists who accept Care Credit, a credit card designed for health emergencies. And then I applied.

And was instantly denied.

What was I thinking? Of course I was denied. My credit, after years of refusing to play the credit game, paired with our ridiculously low single income? It was a definite blow to sell out and discover no one was buying.

The good news ... cause I really need there to be good news ... is that we almost definitely qualify for Austin's Medical Assistance Program. And when I shared my frustration (there were definitely tears this morning) a friend offered to loan us the money for at least temporary assistance, reminding me that as desperate as things seem right now, Darling and I are still surrounded by really loving and awesome folks.

There is also good news in that we are actually receiving hopeful sounding responses from some of the places Darling has applied for. And the other good news is that I have decided to start applying for grown up jobs and get out of this customer service funk before it kills me.

(I will note that we have looked at dental schools, and the nearest one is several hours away and requires a huge time commitment. I have also looked into paid test studies, and we do have a dental plan which has saved us quite a bit of money but still leaves us unable to afford the discounted care at this time. I have spoken to everyone I know, and received numerous leads on dentists who will barter or offer payment plans, but none of these leads has resulted in actual care).

Yeast Discovery

Today Darling and I slept in because last night we used my new lap top to watch hulu episodes of American Dad. He was barely in time to attend a house finance meeting and then had a Quickbooks tutorial. I made us a breakfast smoothie with bananas, grapes, frozen blueberries, and strawberries, then proceeded to bake a loaf of bread.

In Virginia I bought yeast from the Menonite bulk store. I brought home the vacuum-sealed packet and transferred it to a jar in the freezer after opening. One $3 package lasted well over a year, we brought that jar to Texas. In fact, we never finished that jar, because when we moved to the co-op I left it in an unopened box and it didn't survive the Summer :( Considering that before we moved into the co-op I baked bread two or three times a week, that's really saying something.

Wheatsville used to sell small packages of yeast in the refrigerated section for a couple of bucks that would get us through a month of bread baking. Later they had yeast in small opaque jars located in the baking area that would last me about a year. Now they have the little paper packages, roughly three for a $2. Which does not a happy baking Tread make.

Granted I don't bake so often since, as I previously mentioned, doing so doesn't make a dent in our budget. I keep a small supply of the yeast packets on hand for when the baking bug bites, though and through trial and error discovered something unexpected. Even though many recipes call for one or even two of these packages for a couple of loaves of bread, I could get a lot more bang for my buck. A single package can easily produce enough action for at least three loaves of bread.

Today I staged my first deliberate experiment to see how many loaves I could wrestle out of a single packet. I filled our largest mixing bowl with eight cups of warm water, two spoons of sugar, and a packet of yeast. I used a large jar of high-gluten bread flour, and then kneaded in half a large jar of whole wheat flour. I added a little salt, sunflower seeds, and sesame seeds, then let it rise for an hour.

I ended up with enough dough for three bread pan loaves and two Italian-style topped in seeds. they look as good as anything I've ever baked. I'm waiting for them to cool, but a nibble informs me that they could have done with more salt. Still, they'll be enjoyed today by my housemates and I'll stick one of the Italian loaves into the freezer to take to Thanksgiving. And it's a relief to know that the yeast isn't quite as expensive as previously imagined.

The Finish Line

Yesterday I downloaded the most recent copy of the ACC Renewable Energy Degree Plan,which shows the requirements for both the certificate and the Associates. Darling and I marked off the classes he has taken and were pleasantly surprised to discover that, not including his coming spring semester, he is only 13 credits away from the certificate and 28 away from the degree!

He might be able to earn the certificate this Summer, and there is a really, really good chance that he will finish the degree next Fall! By this time next year!

We're so close to being done with this, I can't wait!

Sweet Dreams

When Darling and I moved into the co-op, we had to choose between our bed and our futon. The bed originally belonged to my brother. Now, I can't be sure, but Ob probably didn't buy that mattress new. In the past few years I have seen, to my great surprise, my brother open a bank account, purchase a house, lease a car, and buy some sort of fancy phone. Yet I still can't imagine him, five or six years younger, shuffling thoughtfully through mattressmart comparing prices. No, Ob did not buy that mattress new and there is a very good chance that neither did whomever he got it from. It was probably passed through several generations of stoners and slackers, heck, my parents probably owned it in the seventies.

The futon, on the other hand, was purchased new from Ikea in 2007. As it is the only piece of furniture we have ever paid for, Darling and I decided to hold onto it. The bed went to my Mom's house, where all good furniture goes to die.

The futon was comfortable enough and we spent many happy nights on it. For a very long time the only downside to the futon was Darling's incredibly frustrating habit of WALKING on it. I threw about seven hissy fits about this, but even after he broke a slat in the bed he couldn't be bothered to not STEP on the freaking bed.

The broken slat drove me crazy and couldn't be easily mended. I mean, someone could have easily mended it, but not me. Being from Ikea, the futon didn't exactly lend itself to repair, especially by a frustrated blind woman in the dark right before bed, which was the only state I ever really thought about the dumb thing.

Eventually, the house decided to replace one of the futons in our den with a hideous couch. Darling and I happily volunteered to take in the outcast. Bye bye, broken futon! Hello "new", raised futon!

Not until it was too late did I realize that this futon was the most uncomfortable futon in the world. It feels like a dozen broken slats held together by a much larger broken slat going down the middle. It's like sleeping on the roof of a house. I finally told Darling that we had to get a new bed, even though I don't know how we could ever afford one.

A couple of nights ago, we had a serendipitous offer: one a housemate offered us a couple of pillows she had bought and never used. Her explanation? She has too many pillows. How does that even happen?

Granted, many of you are out there thinking "jeezuz, Tread, people buy this stuff." I have never bought a pillow ever. When there were no pillows to be had, I used my arm. There was a brief period of my life when I was happy to have a carpeted floor to crash on. Sob stories aside, I just never got into the habit of buying pillows, towels, or socks. Darling is no better. Yet somehow we inexplicably own several towels, pairs of socks, and now two really comfortable pillows. Weird.

I was consoled by the new pillows for a few days, then another housemate announced last night that he is giving us his bed. Okay, I'll admit this wasn't completely serendipitous. He's moving home to India and has been talking about selling his stuff for ages, and I had asked a fairly pointed question about his bed last week. But I didn't know until he showed it to me last night that it's a really, really nice set. And, it is practically new, by our standards, having been owned by only one person before us. We'll have it by Christmas :)

I definitely have a lot of blessings to count this week.

Financial Freedom vs. Material Comfort

Yesterday I was on a walk with my brother and an old friend. We passed a cute, slightly dilapidated house in north Austin which is for sale, and he suggested I buy it. For the briefest of moments I wanted to explain to him how I feel about the banking industry, mortgages, the dangers of being hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. Instead I pointed out the many reasons Darling and I wouldn't qualify for a mortgage: Darling has no credit, mine isn't awesome, neither of us have very regular work histories, or even much income. It was idle conversation, of course, he was just trying to plant the tricky seed of desire so my husband and I will settle down and be normal. But it got me thinking about my communication tactics instead.

There are a lot of reasons Darling and I live the lifestyle we do, and it's not to get rich. It's not that we don't want to be rich, per se, but other priorities win out. And these are priorities that may not make a lot of sense to most people. I envision a lifestyle not of material comfort but of financial freedom, and a lot of people confuse the two. Few people would argue that riding bikes is an excellent way of saving cash to buy a car without a loan. Which is all fine and dandy, but misses the point that riding a bike produces financial freedom - freedom from buying gas and insurance, registering licenses, making expensive repairs. The act of buying a car trades financial freedom for material comfort. It is ultimately a step backwards.

So would taking out a mortgage on a cute-but-dilapidated house and moving out of our co-op, even if payments were cheaper than our rent. As cooperative members, we legally own our share of the house. We're in the best part of town, near my workplace, and surrounded by supportive friends. We have a degree of financial stability and freedom that a mortgage could never offer. Why would I trade that for more space in my name?

Ultimately, credit is the big bad. But it's not the only flaw of a capitalist system. Abstaining from credit is like bandaging a bad wound: The bleeding may have stopped, but healing has yet to come. We haven't healed until we can survive with as little financial dabbling as possible. We won't thrive as a culture until we cultivate sustainable individual lifestyles. Which does not mean, as the telly would like us to think, buying "green." It means buying almost nothing, it means growing, crafting, recycling, making, and bartering. That's pretty hardcore, and obviously such actions on a national scale would result in economic collapse. But so far as I can see, such a collapse is inevitable, and it is in my favor to be an early adapter.

New Toy

Lately days off are spent with family. I had a rough start this morning: failed my first attempt at breakfast, traveled a certain distance by foot only to realize I didn't have my bus ticket handy, played phone tag and got caught up in distracting conversations. Finally made it to my brother's house where I hung out until a few minutes ago, and was happy to get a ride home.

I shouldn't complain, though, as I was also very happy to receive an early Christmas present from my Mom: a brand new lap top computer!

I haven't had my own pc since my sophomore year of college (2004). My husband and I have had many, many computers since then, as we hang out with the sort of techie geeks who are constantly giving away their old systems. Darling even built a computer a couple of years ago. I've never felt comfortable with his system, however. We have very, very different ideas of data management. Darling's desktop reminds me of a filthy teenager's room; I can barely force myself to spend time on it. At first we were able to agree to disagree and share territory on old machines, but since he downloaded Ubuntu on his beloved machine, I've felt totally displaced. When we moved into the co-op I took up residence on the house computer while he remodeled our personal hall closet into his tiny man-cave.

I love cooperatively sharing a computer, but it can get old. Located in a small office next to the kitchen, it's primary function is to burn time while people wait for water to boil for tea. As I can spend several hours on a post, and most like to blog in the morning, it's not unusual to be interrupted seven or eight times by people "just checking in." If I write in the evenings, when people are up for late-night chats about their day, writing is nearly impossible. And that's just for the blog. My creative writing has taken place in shoddy notebooks and loose scraps of paper.

My Mom bought this laptop for herself before remembering that she still doesn't know how to operate her CD player (she still refers to DVDs as "tapes"). Darling and I argued with her for a bit, insisting that she can figure it out, but she drove it up to Austin today and threatened to keep it in her car until someone took it off her. So I did, and am extremely grateful for the treat :) I can't wait to take it to the library a few hours a day for some peaceful creativity.

No Spend Month Update

Darling and I are roughly half way through our no spend month, and I'm not feeling too optimistic about our progress.

Oh, our spending has been kept on the minimum. So far we've spent only $123. That got us two monthly bus passes, $20 worth of booze shared with our house on a special occasion, one $2 root beer (a moment of weakness on my part, no excuse), and Darling's new $45 bike. We've put $68.50 into our savings account and sent the same amount to my student loan company. Although we could have spent less by buying those needed bus passes last month, buying the bike next month, and abstaining from brewskies, I defy you to tell me that $123 is such a horrible tally at this point in the month.

No, our spending hasn't been the problem. It's our earnings, or rather lack thereof. I've only brought home $640, excluding change (of which I have about $30 collected in a jar that will be going to the bank soon enough). This is a little more detail than I usually go into, having stopped just short of telling you exactly where my $30 in change is just in case you wish to rob me, but the devil is most certainly in these particular details. 640 is a scary enough number to see this late in the month. But when I subtract Mom's inevitable phone bill, the rest of my monthly payment to the phone company, and the other bits and pieces that make up my savings/debt servicing/charity formula, I have pretty much no money set aside for rent.

Oh, screw it, details: I have $88 set aside for rent. Not including the change.

I have some paychecks coming, of course, and can pick up shifts from both jobs in the coming weeks. We'll make rent happen, I'm sure, because it pretty much has to. Friday is my orientation for my new cleaning gig, and that will help. Darling, obviously, is applying for jobs like crazy. We'll make these pieces fit together somehow.

What frustrates me isn't that we might not make ends meet, but the sometimes overwhelming feeling that Darling and I aren't moving forward. No-Spend Months are often a way of jump-starting our finances when our incomes flag or our spending gets out of control. This month, so far at least, not spending hasn't felt so much like a revolutionary choice.

Disappointing Shifts

One would think that having two jobs would ultimately result in the benefit of working more regularly than I have been. One would be wrong. Actually, that would make at least two of us.

BOTH of my jobs basically blew me off this week, and for much of the month so far. It's a good thing I was planning on limiting my spending anyway, because ends simply aren't meeting here in the Softly household. It's enough to make me a little panicky, especially on days like today when I earn only $22 in tips. My beloved Capoeira is off for the foreseeable future, I'll have to tell my brother that Darling and I can't possibly afford to bring a tofurkey to his Thanksgiving celebration - and certainly not the three or four needed to feed the other five vegetarians and inevitable curious meat eaters who will be attending, and I can not, under any circumstances, give in to my desperate craving for ice cream.

Really hope things pick up in the coming weeks. At least December should be profitable, between to jobs and a cleaning gig.

Biking? Amazing!

A few days ago Darling dragged one of our beat up old bikes - which spent more than one winter out in the cold and rain - and donated it to the yellow bike project. He also purchased a "new" bike for $45. I know I said we were going to repair both of our crappy bikes for about that much money, but...well, we changed our minds.

Since we spent about twice as was expected for the one bike, I decided to put off purchasing one for myself in lieu of borrowing for the time being. Both my brother and sister have offered me the long-term loan of theirs, and my housemate M has loaned me hers more than a few times. It's not a perfect solution, but the house really does have enough bikes to go around...

So today, for the first time, my husband and I pedaled to North Austin to hang out with friends. We took a very roundabout route, too, because we decided to swing by the kids capoeira class in East Austin.

We rode for about 2 1/2 hours, and it was an absolute revelation. I never realized how bike friendly the city is. There are so many trails and bike lanes that I'd never noticed before. And this is going to sound dumb, but bikes are really fast. Suddenly, areas of Austin that would take forever to reach are only a pleasant ride away.

I can't believe it took me so long to figure this out! I have so many bike activist friends who were dumbfounded by my obstinate refusal to give up the bus and my walking shoes for what I saw as a big heavy liability that would put me in harms way. I can now definitely understand their confusion.

I can't wait to get used to this mode of transportation so we can travel all over (and beyond) Austin.

I was so proud of us that I tried to trick Darling into having a meal out to celebrate. But he very patiently and repeatedly reminded me that we're not spending this month. We did take a bus home (with our monthly bus passes), since we were exhausted. There were a lot of people at our house when we got home, including an acquaintance who admired Darling's sweater.

Oh, the stories that sweater could tell. My brother owned this hideous bulky wad of yarn for years until my sister-in-law made him put it in a charity bag several years ago. You can imagine my horror when Darling, who weighs about a hundred pounds less than my brother, took it home. So many domestic battles have been fought over that garment. It amazed me to hear someone compliment the hideous thing, and mention she was hoping to find a similar item in green.

The next thing any of us knew, Darling had pulled the sweater off his back (being English, he had no fewer than three shirts on under it) and handed it to the admirer. She immediately pulled it over her head and exclaimed with pleasure at the texture of the fabric. Somehow the sweater seemed to fit this short, voluptuous woman as well as it fit my large stocky brother and tall skinny husband. I told her that the sweater had a beloved albeit stormy history, and to please make sure it had a good home.

My Darling is so...well, you know.

More Pepper Fun

I've been promising since last year to harvest and preserve this one type of pepper from our garden that I now totally despise. The peppers are itty bitty, but incredibly hot and ridiculously productive. I picked a bowl full and spent several hours trimming and threading up hundreds of the little buggers. Now my fingers are on fire, my face is burning, and it seems like I'll have to sleep with my contacts in.

Hopefully they will dry without incident and I can grind them into chilli flakes or paprika. According to what little research I've done, though, this won't be easy. Texas is a fairly humid state, particularly hereabouts, though our winters are fairly dry. Also, it seems that thin-skinned peppers, like paprika, are better for grinding. Definitely asking the gardeners to plant paprika next spring.

Surplus Income

Although I'm doing a lot of thinking about savings, I'm not completely forgetting that earnings play a part in financial freedom. This month I started a second job at a cafe, which I kind of regretted immediately. There's nothing really wrong with this business, and I haven't exactly been overwhelmed as of yet, but for some reason juggling jobs feels like a big step back for me. I even tried to turn in my two-week notice yesterday, but my (really pleasant) boss convinced me to stay on for a few weeks more with only one shift a week - a shift of my choosing no less. This should earn me roughly $175 a month.

At the same time, I've been offered a slightly better deal. A friend of mine has a small green cleaning business, and has some nearby clients she can no longer work for. Apparently the work is within easy walking distance and pays $20 an hour. She's offering me 10 hours a month. How can I say no to easy money?

At this point I kind of have to say "yes" to any and all income. After all, Darling and I owe ACC $638, I'm hoping to make the final debt payment of $200 to my brother and sister in law before Christmas, and of course there is that big pile of debt owed for my student loans. That's not even considering the money I'd like to have for my yoga teacher certification course next September. An extra $300 a month is exactly what I need.

Even if I don't actually want it.

Snowball Fight

In The Tightwad Gazette, Amy Dacyczyn describes her snowball principle with the Smuckster and Albright families. Both families live next door to each other and have roughly the same income and expenses. At the end of the year, both families have each saved $100.

The Smucksters believe they deserve a treat - and who can blame them, having presumably survived the year without the help of credit, which would make this analogy far too messy even for Dacyczyn's mathematical leanings - and spend their cash on dinners out and treats. The Albrights, who want to make a down-payment on a house in five years, carefully cultivate and invest their small savings in order to make this dream a metaphorical reality.

I'm torn by whether or not this savings snowball is a rational plan of action. After all, how many people can expect five years of steady income and expenses over the course of five years? Obviously frugality and savings are a good thing, but are the benefits so clean cut? Can such small savings as buying in bulk be adequately measured and in fact invested in such a beneficial way? Could saving $50 by using cloth diapers really result in tens of thousands of dollars in savings five years later?

...You guys do know I like a challenge, right?

As I seek a new style of facing finances and pushing my frugal boundaries, I also wonder how to measure our success to best make a point. What if Darling and I could create a snowball savings account and watch it grow for five years or so? Could we put Dacyzcyn's theory to the test and prove her right?

I pitched my idea to Darling yesterday as we waited for the bus. Having described my plan to fix our bikes and spend less money on bus fares, I suggested we open a snowball account to capture the resulting savings.

After the bike repairs are paid for, we will watch the automatic savings grow painlessly with the help of automatic deductions from our bank account. In the meantime, we will discuss other investments to be made with these savings that build to the snowball. For example, we might use the savings to purchase supplies that will save us money in other areas of life (and of course invest the resulting savings), pay for classes in skills that will result in surplus income (though not Darling's college classes as that would complicate the matter), or invest in traditional savings vehicles to earn interest.

This account will require a lot of attention to do it's job, but must also remain "outside" our regular budget. We can't use it for emergencies or even fund it by means unrelated to the snowball. After all, there are plenty of articles about people who saved X amount of dollars by pinching every penny. I'd like to know how much a young couple can save by simply deciding to ride their bikes instead of taking the bus.

I'd like to start rolling on the first of next month, and will make a goal of "feeding it" on a regular basis. I'm really excited to start 2011 with such a positive game. And if anyone else is interested in a snowball experiment, it would be great to have some moral support and brainstorm partners :) All you need is a bank account and a frugal savings idea. I'll throw in a few ideas for free:

* Give up soda and bottled water

* Stop eating out, or even eat out one less time a month

* Cancel your cable

* Google "how to save money," and find a much more comprehensive list

Perfect Co-op Day

Yesterday was such a lovely day!

For months (nearly a year) the entire co-op has been preparing for the Annual General Meeting, to which everyone who has ever lived at the house is invited. Last year's meeting went horribly, horribly wrong, creating a huge amount of clean-up work and stress for residents and non-residents alike. So there was a certain amount of trepidation as we approached this one. Would there be arguments? Legal threats? Lawyers?!

Because the meeting was also a potluck, everyone in the house participated in cooking and/or clean-up. Darling made a delicious potato and leek soup the previous evening, I baked two loaves of rye bread, one housemate was up at 6:30 a.m. prepping an elaborate seasonal lasagna, another roasted root veggies. Other housemates ran to and from the store for last minute ingredients, washed our constant stream of dishes and cleaned the kitchen around the cooks, beautified the dining space, and otherwise prepared the house.

And, amazingly, the meal was absolutely perfect. We had a house full of early members, including one of the founders (who dreamed this place into existence thirty years ago). The meal and conversation went on for ages, we finally started our meeting and had an excellent facilitator who managed - against all odds - to keep the mood light and positive and conversation on track. We voted in a new board and very gently managed to nominate only people who would get unanimous approval.

After the meeting it was absolutely unthinkable that the house would not decompress with adult beverages. That was the inevitable result of months and months of stress and anxiety being diffused in such a gloriously pleasant manner. Our strange little family is safe! I collected cash and requests, and someone gave me a ride to the nearest liquor store to purchase a couple of bottles of wine, a tenth of whiskey, and a case of beer. We spent the rest of the afternoon simply talking in the garden, and as it grew dark and chilly, moved round the fire pit to chat late into the evening, and even later we enjoyed herbal tea in the kitchen. Definitely one of the days that I will always remember, absolutely perfect. Living in a co-op is not always easy, this year in particular tested our perseverance far beyond our expectations, but it days like yesterday made it so totally worthwhile!

...

It would be wrong not to note that we did spend an unexpected $20 pitching in on adult beverages during our no-spend month. That little indiscretion will hopefully be the last, but I'm not going to beat myself up about it!

In fact, I will take this as a lesson. Brewing our own alcohol may be one of those sustainable urban hobbies I've been considering. Darling and I probably couldn't save much money brewing our own, but there would be other benefits. Environmentally speaking, we'd reduce waste and consumption: we wouldn't have to worry about the petroleum used in transport, and we'd invest in good bottles to for repeated re-use. We'd also know where all of our ingredients come from, whether or not they are organic or fair-trade and what not. And of course home-crafted beers will be lovely gifts for friends and family!

Embracing Urban Frugality

I've been doing a lot of thinking on thrift, lifestyle, and penny-pinching from an urban perspective. Like I mentioned before, short of moving away from the co-op (and all the excellent benefits of living here), we're not going to save money on rent or groceries, regardless of how many loaves of bread I bake. But that doesn't mean Darling and I are stuck in a rut. Just the opposite: we have many opportunities that are totally out of the rural homesteaders reach! We might not own goats, but we don't need a truck either. One lifestyle isn't necessarily better than the other, but there is a trade-off to be appreciated, and more important, taken advantage of.

For example, Darling and I are quite proud that we live a car-free life. Even when calculating money lost by not owning a car, including diminished time and fewer earning opportunities, I'm sure living car-free saves us thousands of dollars a year. However, when the transportation choices we make are measured against those offered by our environment, it is obvious that we could be saving more money and time! If we fixed our bikes (one from the Salvation Army, the other donated by a friend who yanked it out of a dumpster), it would cost a maximum of $50 with the help of the The Yellow Bike Project.

Darling and I use the bus at least three times a week, costing us a at least $48 a month. According to Google Maps, biking to our usual destinations is about 10 minutes faster than using public transport, which would save us 20 minutes round trip. The savings of an hour a week isn't incredibly significant, since that hour on the bus is spent reading, studying, napping, and chatting, but the addition of an hour of exercise - which is so hard to squeeze into our schedules- is. Therefore, a few hours and $25-$50 can save us $576 a year and help us lose weight and remain fit.

Amazing what a small shift in perspective can do for a lady, huh?

We're looking at cutting back other expenses as well, those incremental ones that seem so minimal but surely add up, and also the big ones that hit us hard once a year (have I prepared for Christmas yet? Of course not). There are a lot of crafts that have always seemed too big a hassle for just Darling and me. It might be time to learn to make soap, and give the excess bars out for Christmas. We're going to take a glass blowing class next week, and might start looking to create income selling crafts. Darling and I could be brewing more beer since we didn't stop drinking it after all. And if I actually started working on quilts once in a while, maybe I could actually sell one or two to cover the costs of my thrift store wardrobe.

Anyone else out there roughing it in the city? I know about all you awesome kids with apiaries and worm bins, but how many readers are taking an urban approach towards sustainability?

New Job Thoughts

A couple of weeks ago I needed some quiet time with a book and just couldn't manage it at the house. The library was closed so I popped into a nearby coffee shop, which was advertising for baristas.

Having fond memories of my last coffee shop job, I made an off-handed request for an application, which I filled in with little thought and handed back in before continuing with my book. Not long after that the owner happened in, interviewed me, and offered me a job.

I have very mixed feelings about working two jobs right now. On the one hand, I like my job. At my current schedule and rate of pay, I am able to support us reasonably well. If I opened myself up for more evening shifts, there would be slightly more money in it for me. My concern is that "slightly" more income might not be enough to accomplish next year's goals. There is also the fear that I'll earn slightly less money one month or another and not be able to make rent or meet our other obligations, since tip income is scary and there is a lot of competition for the good nights.

This other job has a decent hourly pay and small tip income. So I won't have to worry about not making rent due to a slow night. There is also a nicer social element to it, which is hard to explain but very tangible. Will I earn as much as making drinks as waiting tables? Hard to say. I actually feel very good about both jobs, but I don't want to keep both. If it weren't for my plan for yoga certification next year, I'd stick with my original job just for the history. There is a very, very small chance that I'll juggle both jobs for six months or less: We must stock up a savings account.

November will be a my probationary period with both. Whatever happens, the extra income paired with Not Spending might just get our net worth back on track by December.

November Net Worth

So, our total assets for November 2010 chime in at $1,832.24, which is $56 more than last month! Not bad considering we paid the first of three payments for Darling's Spring semester, purchased shoes, entertained guests, splurged on beer last night, and did in fact eat out a total of three times this month.

Our debt, however, is on the rise. It would have decreased by $14 this month, but in fact increased by $463.60 to $11866.27 thanks to the payment plan we set up to pay Darling's tuition. Bleh.

Which does what? Knocks our net worth back down to -$10,034.03, $407.36 less than last month. This is also the fourth month in a row that my net worth has sunk.

Which makes this as good a time as any to announce my November 2010 No Spend Month. Obviously my spending has gotten at least a little out of hand. Sure, I'm not hanging out at the mall or slurping lattes on a daily basis, but I've definitely let myself be thoughtless with my cash flow lately. Capitalism isn't all bad (one could argue), but mindless consumption is deadly. Especially now that Darling is a professional job-hunter again.

Darling and I discussed spending priorities last night and agreed that although we can forgo many luxuries and activities this month, Capoeira is a must. We're going to purchase two month passes, which will get us 8 classes each, for a total of $120. We'll also purchase two monthly bus passes for $40. Along with rent, our total expenses shouldn't amount to more than $1240 this month.

My hope is that by not spending (beyond the aforementioned exceptions), and by my working two jobs for this month, Darling and I can bump our net worth back to where it was last May.

Canning Hot Stuff

Just in case you're worried I'm forsaking the kitchen altogether, yesterday was mostly devoted to pickling and canning this year's massive jalapeño crop. The house has about five plants, two of which could look me in the eye (for some reason plants get really, really tall in our garden) and were way too productive to be kept up with.

This was my first time pickling, and I did so without my canning supplies since those are still at my Mom's. I filled our biggest pot with boiling water, set an inverted veggie steamer at the bottom to support the jars, and Darling bent a clothes hanger so as to offer some support to the jars. I used tongs to move the jars in and out of the boiling water. A couple of housemates helped harvest and slice, and now we have about six and a half pints! Hope they turn out alright :)

Even though this won't affect our grocery bill, it will knock one favorite luxury item off our grocery list for the rest of the year. And I know the gardners appreciate their hard work not going to waste.