One bummer about blogging for years on end is how many great writers come and go - go, it seems, more often than come - and often with nary an explanation. I couldn't begin to name a fraction of bloggers I've loved who have long since seemingly evaporated: Meg The Vintage Flapper, Mrs. Hoppes, Merideth from Like Merchant Ships, and Vegan Ruthie come to mind...
Now Beanie says she's shutting down Brown Girl in the Lane the same week that Jane says goodbye on Hard Work Homestead. Two of my absolute favorites gone, presumably, forever.
Not that I'm replacing either of you (nor that you would even notice), but I found Ghost Town Farm in the absolute nick of time. For some mysterious reason urban homesteading has been on my mind, and the book Farm City is the most authentic representation thereof I've seen so far. Novella doesn't just farm on a city lot in a coiffed little neighborhood like the one I left behind in Austin, but she squats on a cleaned up dump next to her second floor flat in Oakland, California. I've never been to Oakland, but it sounds a lot like a temperate Detroit. Here her turkey poults escape to befriend prostitutes, a man living in an abandoned car guards her watermelon seedlings, and she debates putting up a fence to keep people from shooting up in her chard crop.
That and she's a journalist student who studied under Michael Pollan, she co-owns a biodiesel shop, and, well, she's blogged regularly since 2007. Which means that I can get over the fact that she mentions cooking with duck fat in damn near every single post.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Lift Home
I slept properly last night for what seems like the first time in weeks. Trying to find a ride back to Austin - with a time limit and on the smallest budget so far - has been incredibly stressful. Finally I found someone who can give us a lift home mid-January for a very low rate, and he has a bike rack!
I was hoping to get home by the second, at which point I could start working at my non-profit job, but getting there two weeks later means not having to worry where I'm going to live for those fourteen days. I have a house-sitting position as of the 22nd, and lots of friends, so I'm pretty much crossing my fingers for a mostly-rent-free start of 2013.
Leaving later in January also gives Darling a chance to interview at a solar installation company nearby. Located smack between the town we lived in for two years and Darling's sister's house (not to mention a half-hour drive from The Cheese Shop, my personal favorite store in the world), there was absolutely no question that he would apply to work there. He got a cal back two days before they went on Christmas vacation, and we were late getting the message, so we won't get to talk to HR until the 7th.
Whether or not we would actually accept the position if offered (yes, Darling and I have the sort of marriage that it's a "we" that accepts offers - what of it?) is still up in the air. As soon as we confirmed the ride to Austin, I asked if I should start researching rides back to Virginia or Detroit, or if we were going to explore other options. It's just been that sort of year, I guess.
I was hoping to get home by the second, at which point I could start working at my non-profit job, but getting there two weeks later means not having to worry where I'm going to live for those fourteen days. I have a house-sitting position as of the 22nd, and lots of friends, so I'm pretty much crossing my fingers for a mostly-rent-free start of 2013.
Leaving later in January also gives Darling a chance to interview at a solar installation company nearby. Located smack between the town we lived in for two years and Darling's sister's house (not to mention a half-hour drive from The Cheese Shop, my personal favorite store in the world), there was absolutely no question that he would apply to work there. He got a cal back two days before they went on Christmas vacation, and we were late getting the message, so we won't get to talk to HR until the 7th.
Whether or not we would actually accept the position if offered (yes, Darling and I have the sort of marriage that it's a "we" that accepts offers - what of it?) is still up in the air. As soon as we confirmed the ride to Austin, I asked if I should start researching rides back to Virginia or Detroit, or if we were going to explore other options. It's just been that sort of year, I guess.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Merry Christmas
Believe me when I say it very nearly pains me to make such a materialistic post with regards to the holiday...but I absolutely cannot help the situation, because Darling' s family got us the greatest present ever: a Kindle. And not one of the basic, sensible models, but the latest and greatest, the one that lets you Skype and Cloud and all sorts of technology I have so far managed to avoid this century!
I also seem to have a ride most of the way to Texas for this week, which means I will be able to work starting next week. Excepting the fact that I don't have a place to live in Austin, everything is pretty much coming together.
I also seem to have a ride most of the way to Texas for this week, which means I will be able to work starting next week. Excepting the fact that I don't have a place to live in Austin, everything is pretty much coming together.
Friday, December 14, 2012
My Money Or My Life Review
I can't believe that it was a little over two years ago that I first read Your Money Or Your Life. I was inspired to borrow it from the library when Aldra at Consciously Frugal offered free copies on her blog. I read it from cover to cover at least three times before returning it, then proceeded to borrow it every three or four months to read again and again.
I never considered myself a multi-step program kind of gal, but something about YMOYL really appealed to me. Fact is, this is the book I meant my blog to be. The fact that someone wrote it a little bit before I was born notwithstanding. How could I not follow the advice I would hope to have written?
Having read a LOT of financial self-help books, I am pretty much over the "skip your morning latte" advice. YMOYL doesn't waste that sort of time. Step one is surprisingly challenging: Determine how much money you've earned and spent in your life and figure out what you have to show for it. The idea is to do your absolute best to recall every penny you've ever got hold of, from toothfairy to first car. In my opinion, this is ultimately impossible, yet at the same time impossibly revealing. Only then do you go on to account for your net worth.
Step Two invites us to check out where we spend our life energy. This step does so much to expel the myth that sound finances are a matter of earning more and spending less. At this stage we take the time to determine how much time and money we spend making money. This tells us our real hourly wage. Taking into account my commute, work wardrobe, union dues, and investment in tools helped me understand why - despite working overtime and earning $13 an hour - I found myself with significantly less disposable income than when I was working three or four days a week for minimum wage.
Step Three involves tracking all money earned and spent, something I'd already practiced on and off for several years. Step Four poses a series of questions regarding those spending choices that brings them into a daily context. To be honest, however, these questions never affected me the way they should have. Knowing I spent sixty hours a month on rent didn't change the fact that rent took me sixty hours a month to earn. Mostly I just got frustrated with myself and my personal reality, one in which my only indulgence was eating out and drinking with friends and happened to take about eight hours a week to pay for. But maybe a year and a half of frustration led me to where I am today...
I spent an entire year exclusively on step three and four before having enough data to move on to my wall chart. Step Five involves creating a large line graph to chart your income and spending over the course of several years. This was my favorite step of all, but again, the information did NOT have the promised effect. YMOYL suggests that most line charts show a steep decline in spending (because people take a diet-like approach to money that results in a short "starvation" period), then a sharp increase (because of a binge period), and then a steady decrease in spending (as the creator becomes increasingly frugal). The income line, YMOYL assumes, slowly increases over time in the American way.
On my chart, the income line spikes up and down like crazy. One month's income could easily be half or double the previous month. My spending line spikes just as radically, sometimes much more than income, sometimes less. The months I was shown paying less had to do with where I was with rent, not some practiced austerity. At the same time, I was practicing relatively harsh austerity, even when it didn't show on my chart: my spending spikes were the direct result of paying almost every spare penny to debt!
I loved and hated my wall chart for just these reasons. On the one hand, it did nothing to reflect how good I was being - that harsh spending line didn't do much for context. On the other hand, I liked watching my income line when it was high and could imagine just how fantastic the chart would look that precious day I would be debt free.
As with Step Four, I took my sweet time approaching Step Five. This time wasn't a matter of data collection, however. I honestly didn't have any clue how to "minimize spending."
Don't get me wrong. I've spent close to a decade teaching myself frugal skills. That was part of the problem. There didn't seem to be a lot of fat to trim at this stage. The majority of my money went in three directions: debt, rent, and work.
I could choose not to pay as much debt, but why? Eventually we'd get rid of it...
My rent covered food and all of my utilities, which Darling and I shared with seven other people. For a goodly long time I made an honest effort at decreasing our grocery bills - which was already fairly reasonable for an organic diet - and did my best to make repairs and otherwise lower our rent in some way. This was not a successful pursuit, if only because the rent was already so reasonable that any money saved went to other worthy expenses - a hundred year old house will happily absorb any excess cash in the budget.
Working was terribly expensive. One month I worked out that the entirety of my income went to debt, and half of Darling's income went to pay the expenses I incurred working! But how much sense does it make to stop working to save money?
It makes zero sense, but Step Five didn't leave much choice. Heck, hating my job didn't leave much choice. I left in April and started a part-time job at a nonprofit in the hopes of healing my soul. In the meantime, Darling's job was drawing to a close. We still had debt, we still had rent, we still wanted to enjoy a couple of beers on the weekend, but our income line was once again plummeting sharply downward. I won't say we joined the Bicycle Superheroes and launched a five-month trip across the country simply to "minimize spending," but we went from spending an average of $3,400 a month to spending less than $300 a month.
That's a pretty significant drop.
I'm going to give myself a few months to catch up on my tabulations, fill out my wall chart (left behind in Austin), and hopefully pay some debt. To be honest, I'm as apprehensive about Step Six as I was about Step Five. The goal is to maximize income...presumably without maximizing expenses in the process. This time last year I probably would have said that was impossible. I feel more confident now, but can't shake the image of myself dumpster diving in a business suit.
I never considered myself a multi-step program kind of gal, but something about YMOYL really appealed to me. Fact is, this is the book I meant my blog to be. The fact that someone wrote it a little bit before I was born notwithstanding. How could I not follow the advice I would hope to have written?
Having read a LOT of financial self-help books, I am pretty much over the "skip your morning latte" advice. YMOYL doesn't waste that sort of time. Step one is surprisingly challenging: Determine how much money you've earned and spent in your life and figure out what you have to show for it. The idea is to do your absolute best to recall every penny you've ever got hold of, from toothfairy to first car. In my opinion, this is ultimately impossible, yet at the same time impossibly revealing. Only then do you go on to account for your net worth.
Step Two invites us to check out where we spend our life energy. This step does so much to expel the myth that sound finances are a matter of earning more and spending less. At this stage we take the time to determine how much time and money we spend making money. This tells us our real hourly wage. Taking into account my commute, work wardrobe, union dues, and investment in tools helped me understand why - despite working overtime and earning $13 an hour - I found myself with significantly less disposable income than when I was working three or four days a week for minimum wage.
Step Three involves tracking all money earned and spent, something I'd already practiced on and off for several years. Step Four poses a series of questions regarding those spending choices that brings them into a daily context. To be honest, however, these questions never affected me the way they should have. Knowing I spent sixty hours a month on rent didn't change the fact that rent took me sixty hours a month to earn. Mostly I just got frustrated with myself and my personal reality, one in which my only indulgence was eating out and drinking with friends and happened to take about eight hours a week to pay for. But maybe a year and a half of frustration led me to where I am today...
I spent an entire year exclusively on step three and four before having enough data to move on to my wall chart. Step Five involves creating a large line graph to chart your income and spending over the course of several years. This was my favorite step of all, but again, the information did NOT have the promised effect. YMOYL suggests that most line charts show a steep decline in spending (because people take a diet-like approach to money that results in a short "starvation" period), then a sharp increase (because of a binge period), and then a steady decrease in spending (as the creator becomes increasingly frugal). The income line, YMOYL assumes, slowly increases over time in the American way.
On my chart, the income line spikes up and down like crazy. One month's income could easily be half or double the previous month. My spending line spikes just as radically, sometimes much more than income, sometimes less. The months I was shown paying less had to do with where I was with rent, not some practiced austerity. At the same time, I was practicing relatively harsh austerity, even when it didn't show on my chart: my spending spikes were the direct result of paying almost every spare penny to debt!
I loved and hated my wall chart for just these reasons. On the one hand, it did nothing to reflect how good I was being - that harsh spending line didn't do much for context. On the other hand, I liked watching my income line when it was high and could imagine just how fantastic the chart would look that precious day I would be debt free.
As with Step Four, I took my sweet time approaching Step Five. This time wasn't a matter of data collection, however. I honestly didn't have any clue how to "minimize spending."
Don't get me wrong. I've spent close to a decade teaching myself frugal skills. That was part of the problem. There didn't seem to be a lot of fat to trim at this stage. The majority of my money went in three directions: debt, rent, and work.
I could choose not to pay as much debt, but why? Eventually we'd get rid of it...
My rent covered food and all of my utilities, which Darling and I shared with seven other people. For a goodly long time I made an honest effort at decreasing our grocery bills - which was already fairly reasonable for an organic diet - and did my best to make repairs and otherwise lower our rent in some way. This was not a successful pursuit, if only because the rent was already so reasonable that any money saved went to other worthy expenses - a hundred year old house will happily absorb any excess cash in the budget.
Working was terribly expensive. One month I worked out that the entirety of my income went to debt, and half of Darling's income went to pay the expenses I incurred working! But how much sense does it make to stop working to save money?
It makes zero sense, but Step Five didn't leave much choice. Heck, hating my job didn't leave much choice. I left in April and started a part-time job at a nonprofit in the hopes of healing my soul. In the meantime, Darling's job was drawing to a close. We still had debt, we still had rent, we still wanted to enjoy a couple of beers on the weekend, but our income line was once again plummeting sharply downward. I won't say we joined the Bicycle Superheroes and launched a five-month trip across the country simply to "minimize spending," but we went from spending an average of $3,400 a month to spending less than $300 a month.
That's a pretty significant drop.
I'm going to give myself a few months to catch up on my tabulations, fill out my wall chart (left behind in Austin), and hopefully pay some debt. To be honest, I'm as apprehensive about Step Six as I was about Step Five. The goal is to maximize income...presumably without maximizing expenses in the process. This time last year I probably would have said that was impossible. I feel more confident now, but can't shake the image of myself dumpster diving in a business suit.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Thoughts about '13
2012 is ending in such a funny way!
Here at Darling's sister's house we watch quite a bit of television, eat way too much processed food, and stay up half the night reading. About half of the week is spent with friends out of town, where we watch different stuff on television, play board games, and eat a little less processed food. There is no dumpster diving here, it would be too embarrassing for all parties involved if we were to get caught.
My Christmas check from Mom is on it's way in the mail, and I still anxiously await a response to my craigslist advertisement. I think a lot about 2013 and the future beyond. Sometimes all I can think about is getting a haircut and rounding out my wardrobe (a second pair of jeans would be fantastic). Other times I imagine getting a little apartment and rebuilding a normal life. But in reality, Darling and I are only taking the briefest of breaks from traveling. I suspect we'll be back on the road by early April.
Here at Darling's sister's house we watch quite a bit of television, eat way too much processed food, and stay up half the night reading. About half of the week is spent with friends out of town, where we watch different stuff on television, play board games, and eat a little less processed food. There is no dumpster diving here, it would be too embarrassing for all parties involved if we were to get caught.
My Christmas check from Mom is on it's way in the mail, and I still anxiously await a response to my craigslist advertisement. I think a lot about 2013 and the future beyond. Sometimes all I can think about is getting a haircut and rounding out my wardrobe (a second pair of jeans would be fantastic). Other times I imagine getting a little apartment and rebuilding a normal life. But in reality, Darling and I are only taking the briefest of breaks from traveling. I suspect we'll be back on the road by early April.
Monday, December 10, 2012
Upcoming!
I'm getting very excited to get back home to Austin! We've arranged to stay with friends, so rent shouldn't be an issue before Darling and I have a steady income again. These friends are super-adept at crafts: they make and sell soap and musical instruments, so I'm hoping to learn both trades while staying with them.
My most recent employer told me she'd be happy to put me back on the schedule, so I should have my first paycheck since August within a few weeks of being back home. Judging by the jobs posted on Craigslist, Darling shouldn't have too hard a time drawing his own paycheck. Solar is still hopping in Texas.
There is so much I miss about Austin! I'm really looking forward to getting back to my dentist, getting a fresh box of contacts, a haircut, and buying my favorite shampoo. I'm also looking forward to simply having space and a daily routine of my own: knitting in the morning, long bike rides along familiar routes, baking for hours at a time, blogging to my heart's content...
All I need is for someone to answer my rideshare request, and I'll be all set for 2013!
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
December 2012 Net Worth
My net worth as of right now is -$2161.21.
Right now it really feels that way, too. Having no source of income and no really liquid assets really drives that home. But..today is busy and I will have to contemplate that all at a later date. At least I'm back to updating it.
Right now it really feels that way, too. Having no source of income and no really liquid assets really drives that home. But..today is busy and I will have to contemplate that all at a later date. At least I'm back to updating it.
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