Showing posts with label minimalist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label minimalist. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Side Hustles vs. Relationships: My Experience
I gotta thank my girl DoOrDebt for her post "Side Hustles vs. Relationships" that she posted earlier this week. It really resonated with me in thinking about HOW much I've been side-hustling lately.
In the past year I have...
Helped Amy with Little Bright Studio
Helped Shawn with Pixel Party
Worked at a curios shop in Ketchikan
Dog-sat
Tested wares at Ketchikan Dry Goods
Worked at Saturday Market for Karina
Sold soap
And mooore!
That's a LOT of side hustles and I'm not even naming all of them. DoorDebt's post is about her struggle between needing to pay down her debt and spending time with her partner. She turned down a $20 an hour job to stay in for some much-needed down time. She comes to the realization that she would rather foster her relationship with her partner than earn the money. Her take is that, while she needs the money, there are only so many moments in life and she is tired of their conversations being short nuggets of information and her coming home when he is sleeping and vice versa. I totally respect that, but what if you're me and you have a really expensive trip to Antarctica coming up?
For me, I would have taken the job BUT only because my trip is so much closer. I have a LOT of money I need to be earning (like $10,000+) before my trip starts in January. And that's just paying for the trip. It's not even counting the amount of work that I will be missing out on for three weeks. (I think I will have two weeks of vacation time then?)
Yes, working a ton on alllll these side hustles means I have less time to spend with friends and family. It makes me slightly neurotic sometimes to think of how much money I need to save so that I have to take less money out of my do-not-touch savings. (I already realize there would have to be a miracle for me to earn all the money I need in this amount of time and I have been slaving my butt off.) I would sometimes just like to buy something I don't need just because I want to. I would love to go out and have dinner and drinks with friends sometimes and not worry about spending the money.
It's only temporary.
That's what I just have to keep telling myself.
I am working my butt off and I would love to spend some time at home, but until my trip is over I need to keep my head down and eyes on the prize. I'm thankful that Jonathan is so supportive of this trip and my dreams and whatever I need to do. It also helps that we both really value our alone time and we're not co-dependent on each other.
The take-away from this? When I am on a five week trip of a lifetime I'm going to be SO thankful that I worked so hard for 2+ years. It's going to be totally worth it. Will I spend this much time earning money in the future? I don't know. It IS kind of addicting to have a bunch of money in savings. My stocks are doing good and it would be nice to put a bunch more $$$ in them. I don't know if I could ever be one of those people that is able to retire when I'm 40 or something, but it would be kinda neat. ;o)
What would you do if you were in my situation?
P.S. I found a trip to the North Pole that is "only" $24,999! But it includes helicopter and hot air balloon tours, so it's totally worth it, right? :oD Anyone want to buy it for me??
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Random Bits of Britt Thought
I don't really have a whole lot going on right now of enough to write full blog posts about, so I thought I'd do mini recaps of what is going on.
**I realized earlier this week that I am living on only half of my monthly income. What I mean is that I'm earning almost as much in side hustle income as I am at my regular job. However, all of that side hustle stuff is going to my trip fund. I think I'm going to keep side hustling after my big trips happen and put that money into my stock funds. I didn't start saving soon enough and so now I'm behind in how much I should have saved by age 30. (See this page, this page, and this one, too, for some good info!) I signed up for the Vanguard 500 fund last month, thanks to Mr. Money Mustache. I've been putting 10% of my side hustles plus $225 into my long-term savings for awhile now and it just keeps adding up. I love saving money!!
**I think I have reached the peak of my minimalist "getting rid of things" project. There are just a few more things I've got on Craigslist and plan to list, but overall I'm done. It feels really refreshing to finally be at the point in my life where I think twice about spending money on more stuff. Our apartment is super cute. I stocked up on a few things for my trips, including a couple of these shirts, this windbreaker, and this dress.
**I found out last week that two girls that used to be some of my best friends de-friended me on Facebook. I know, I know, wah wah, it's Facebook. But it bums me out that I don't see these friends anymore. I know I have the memories forever and friends in life come and go, but it still just kinda stung/stings, you know?
**I officially am no longer making soap. A friend of mine completely bought me out. It feels so good to finally be done with it! One less thing to worry about!
**My job is still going awesome and I love it! We've been super busy lately. It makes the days fly by! I can't believe it's almost April!
**I have been super slacking on my 2013 resolutions. I will do a recap post in a few days to see where I'm at.
**I made Frank her own Flickr with her own map of where we've been together. Now her map won't be tainted by my photos taken with the new camera that have GPS built in. It's the little things, people.
That's kinda what's going on with me! I'm sure there's more, but this is some of the main stuff. What's on your mind lately?
Monday, March 11, 2013
Minimizing and Decorating Our Living Room, Bedroom, and Spare Bedroom
Hello, friends! I hope you had a wonderful weekend! We had a GREAT time at Jonathan's parents' house and I will have photos up shortly!
As I mentioned last week, I've bought some new stuff for the apartment lately. I've been doing some minimizing and getting rid of stuff, but then sometimes it means I need to get some different stuff that makes sense with how things are getting decorated. Let me explain...
A few years ago we bought this giant rolling record player stand with a bunch of storage. It takes up a lot of room in our spare bedroom. When we moved in together, Jonathan had a TON of records. Only thing is, he didn't have a record player, and we haven't had a way to play all these records we've now been storing for half a decade. Last week he weeded through all the records and got rid of a bunch of them he didn't care to keep anymore.
(Like this many! SO PROUD OF HIM!!)
Thanks to Ravyn's posts, I knew I wanted to get us the same record player her and Jimmy have, the Crosley CR249. We had recently moved around our living room in order to combine a bunch of things. I was able to put the records and CDs that had been living in the giant rolling stand into the credenza. Instead of having our fish tank, which will be set up in the next couple months, on a separate metal stand, I put that on top of the credenza, too. The random stuff that has also been living in boxes on the record stand will be going in two of these puppies:
and then into this in our living room, with the records we are keeping living in the two bottom spaces:
I have been lusting after this thing for quite awhile, but I can't justify almost $50 (which includes shipping) on a thing that just holds other things while they charge.
Luckily, I was able to find just a two slot one for $25 on eBay and free shipping. It doesn't have the front phone charging area, which is fine because Jonathan and I use our phones as our alarm clocks and they charge in our bedroom. So this thing will hold Mackie and Pigeon (my laptop and iPad - yes, they have names!) while they charge on top of that Expedit shelf.
Meanwhile, we can now sell the giant rolling record player stand on CraigsList (which is going to be SO MUCH FUN) and then when that's gone I can move my dresser from our bedroom into the spare bedroom and then I'll have a bunch more space in our bedroom.
I'd love to get one of these to put in the corner of our bedroom or maybe something like this, but it's not totally necessary, just pretty!
Meanwhile, back in the living room, since our tv had been sitting on top of the credenza, we decided to use our present coffee table as a tv stand and then got a different coffee table, which I am in love with.
I also have several pieces of art to hang, which I am hoping to do this week. I am having a Naked Lady Party on Sunday and I'd love for things to be as done as they can be.
Art and pretties at our place:
Hopefully later this week I'll have pictures of our apartment all spiffed up!
Thursday, December 6, 2012
What I'd Really Like For Christmas
I've been doing a lot of thinking about what I'd like for Christmas. I still don't really want any "stuff" for the holiday. Know what I'd really like? I'll tell you: money (or gift cards) for experiences! Not to sound completely gauche, but this list is what I'd use it on. It also sucks that some of this stuff is fairly spendy, but even money to put *toward* it would be helpful!
*Frames for art - I have several pieces of art that I'd love to display, some that I've had for over a year, and the reason I can't display it yet is because it needs to be framed and framing can get expensive. I don't want fancy frames, but I would like something! I think $200 to put toward framing my art would be adequate or it would at least take care of most of it. We had a few things framed a couple years ago at I've Been Framed and I'd probably go back there.
*Gift certificates for the Bhaktishop - Yoga is one of my favorite things. I'd love gift cards to the Bhaktishop because that's the gift that keeps on giving!
*Kayak Class for Jonathan and I - Yes, I know how to kayak, but Jonathan doesn't and it would be more fun if we did this together! Also, I haven't kayaked since last year, so it would be nice to hear about kayaking in Oregon from the instructors. There is always more to learn! This class through Next Adventure looks fun! Two gift certificates is $130.
*Gas card for $50 - Since Jonathan got me snowshoes for my birthday, now I want to go play with them up on the mountain! Unfortunately, it's a little cost prohibitive because it's a full tank of gas round trip and we only have a $100 a month budget for gas, so, you know, we can't afford to blow half that in one day. Luckily, Shell has a gift card and that would help pay for a fun day of snowshoeing! (Bonus: some moolah for a pizza and beer at Double Mountain after playing outside in the cold all day would be AWESOME.)
*San Pellegrino - Okay, so here is one thing I actually do want. I freaking love San Pellegrino. It's so fizzy and refreshing. I would love finding a bottle of water in my stocking. (No, really!)
So that's what I'd really like for Christmas. Cold, hard cash that I could then turn into something fun and exciting. I have everything I can think of that I need or want! But it's hard to take some of the money that I earn that I need to be saving for my trips ('cause trips to Antarctica ain't cheap) and spend it on a day at the mountain or kayaking for a few hours. I guess that's what I should probably do, but, Santa, if you're really listening, get me some fun experiences for 2013!
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Getting Rid of All the Things in 2012
Remember how on October 27, 2011, I wrote this post showing pictures of what our spare bedroom looked like when I came back from being out of town for seven months and had started into my life of relative ownership of items and simplicity?
Let's recap with the photos:
Um, holy heck, right?!
Let's see what it looks like now, as of yesterday!
I have been getting rid of things for the past year now. It's been a pretty long process, you know, what with deciding to overhaul your lifestyle and get rid of things that just aren't working for you AND realizing that you don't need to buy every item that you like AND realizing when you have enough. I've been pushing to finish my "Getting Rid of All the Things" project by the end of the year. I just want to start 2013 anew. I want to not have piles of random things around the apartment that remind me I need to take care of them still. I want to start 2013 focusing on new projects. I've been working at getting rid of things since July, 2011, and I just want to be done with it. I'm ready to be done with it. I've made some new decisions lately (more to come on that later) and I am ready to be finished. This year has been challenging overall and I'm ready to be more focused and taking on new tasks and adventures. This year has been all about changing my life and I've learned some lessons and learned more about myself. I'm ready for 2013.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Thoughts About Money...To Move or Not To Move
(This photo of a giant lobster claw that I found on the beach in Ketchikan has nothing to do with this post, but "they" say you should have a photo in every post, so that's what you're getting. I have more beach pictures to post later!)
I've now been home in Portland for a couple of days. Today is the only full day off I'll have for awhile and I have been spending most of the day doing about 10 different projects. I have been wanting to switch my small dresser in our spare bedroom with the large record player holder (for the record player we do not yet have...hmph) because I have been wanting to put my coffee tree in front of the window. So, I moved that stuff around and then set to moving other things around, as well. I got a lot of cleaning done!
It's weird that I have gotten rid of so much stuff in our apartment and yet it still feels like I own SO MUCH. I look around and it seems like I have a ton of things everywhere. We have been talking about moving into a small house for quite awhile now and had been thinking that when our lease is up in February that it might be a good time to do that, but now I'm not so sure.
PROS OF LIVING HERE:
*It's relatively cheap. We pay $790 a month for a two bedroom apartment that is spacious and bright.
*We are pretty darn close to our works. Jonathan works 3 miles away and I work 5.5 miles away. It's an easy bike ride for both of us. It's also easy to drive, take the MAX, or the bus from here.
*Our apartment is cute and I like how I have it set up.
*There is nothing but residential stuff around us, which I like because I like not being tempted by coffee shops and little stores or whatnot to spend money in.
*I know there are more pros to living here, because I'm almost always happy here, but I am pretty accepting of things. :o)
CONS OF LIVING HERE:
*It would be nice to have a dishwasher or at least a washer and dryer of our own. We do solely use our clothes drying rack to dry things on, but it would be nice to be able to toss sheets in the dryer or if we had a bunch of things to wash to not have to stagger it out.
*Neighbours coming and going. Right now the neighbours above us are great for the most part. They do fight occasionally and the woman will stomp around and slam doors for hours sometimes. This can happen during any time of the day.
*No outdoor space that is ours. I'd love to have plants, a garden, and a compost area outside. We have talked about having chickens for years! And bees!
*My kayak lives at my friend's grandmother's house. It would be nice to have it closer to me! (Not really a con, but it would be nice to not have to store it at someone else's place.)
Because my job situation fluctuates so much I am kind of thinking that maybe now would not be a good time to be looking for different housing. We are also going to be needing to buy a different car within the next few years, as my car is starting to show signs of its age. Jonathan will also be going to bike frame building school next fall and that's around $3,000. I would like to take a couple smaller trips next year or maybe one bigger trip with Jonathan (we'd love to go to Greece, Turkey, visit his mom's family in Maine, visit my mom in Alaska).
So that all costs money and renting a house would definitely be more expensive than renting our apartment. Houses seem to average about $1,200 a month here. I guess it technically boils down to right now that our finances are already kinda tight and we would be spending $400 a month more on not living with people above us, more or less. Since that pans out to $4,800 a year, that's a big chunk! That could easily help be a down payment for a car, pay for part of Jonathan's tuition, or be a good part of a trip. I will also have to have extra money in the bank to help pay the bills when I am out of town on my weeks-long trips.
I guess my mind is just whirring because I have moved so much stuff around today and done so much cleaning!
In good news, I will soon be the proud owner of a 15 gallon aquarium setup! I have been wanting fish for the past few years. I miss owning them. I am such a catfish nerd. I miss having these little guys, especially! I was looking on CraigsList today for bookshelves and an aquarium stand for my (someday) fish, but then I found out that there was a complete setup listed for a good price! I will still have to get some of my own accessories and I'm hoping I can sell some of the stuff that I know I won't need. I'm just happy to have fish again and to not be spending a bunch of money on getting started a second time around!
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
More Minimalizing and Money: Getting Down and Dirty
See this? This is what our spare bedroom still more or less looks like. Remember this post here? Yeah, this room is obviously a little better, but still not by much! Granted, yes, I was finishing up my degree during the beginning of this year, but now it's over with and I have returned to my "wanting to purge things" way of thinking with a vengeance!
I recently read "The 100 Things Challenge" by Dave Bruno and there was something in there he said about getting rid of the things you have been holding onto that are part of the person you wish you were. For me, this is my homebrew kit and my cheese press. Both of these things have been used once. I really wish I was the type of person to both make my own beer and my own hard cheeses. The first and only time I made beer it turned out delicious, but it was SUCH a pain in the butt to make in our small apartment. Having an outdoor area would make this so much easier. Because we don't plan to live in our little apartment forever, maybe I will someday be the person who homebrews. And if not, that's okay. I have enough beer-loving friends that will supply me with homebrew that I don't need to make it myself.
And the cheese. I made cheese several times and it was actually really awesome, but it is SO time consuming. Like, up to eight hours time consuming. Granted, I made some badass Monterey Jack and cheddar (seriously), but it took forever. Maybe I will be the type of person who makes their own cheese more in the future but I think for right now I am over it.
To say this stuff out loud (well, typing, whatever) makes me kinda sad. My dad got me the homebrew kit for my birthday in 2009 and actually made me my cheese press after I supplied him with my thoughts on how I wanted a cheese press made. (My dad is pretty badass.) Part of me feels like I am letting him down in a way by not using these items he supplied me with that I was once SO excited about. Have we ever discussed the homebrew kit or the cheese press in the past few years? Nope. So the fact that I am now in the right frame of mind to pass these items along to people who will actually use them, instead of having them collect dust in their spare bedroom does make me happy, although with a little twinge of guilt.
I have also been really good about getting rid of some clothing items that I should have gotten rid of a long time ago. Like a true Alaskan, I am a lover of adventure gear, especially coats and jackets. I have had a LOT of adventure jackets in my life. I still own quite a few jackets of various sorts, but I wear them with much more regularity than other jackets. (If you ever need me to justify some jacket purchase for yourself, I am the girl to go to. I freaking love having the knowledge of layering that I do. Seriously, give me a projected climate and your activity of choice and I will tell you what to wear for maximum comfort and badassery.) I finally broke down and sold a bunch of stuff on eBay this week and it felt good to let some of those things go. My North Face puffer jacket that accompanied me to the Iditarod in 2009. My Marmot rain jacket that looked great on me, but the sleeves were just a little too long that it bugged me. My Patagonia sweater jacket that Jonathan told me I should have ordered a size smaller but I didn't and then it never fit me right and he was right.
It feels good to get rid of these items because I am starting to purge more things again. I now have the mental space to renew my vision of having fewer things. Also, I need to put about $500 a month into my Antarctica 2014 fund for me to be able to pay for it by my projected date. This past month I didn't do that and it kinda bugged me. Where did my money go? Well, I bought a new camera and a cardigan (that was on sale). I did want both of these items, so they weren't frivolous purchases, but it still was $250 that didn't make it into my travel fund.
Which leads me to now. My work schedule in August is pretty wonky because of the shop owners going out of town several different times. My job interview I mentioned previously went great and I really hope/think I have a good shot at the job, but the company ran into some snafus and have paused all hiring for 8-12 weeks. We had to get our car worked on to the tune of $2,000, which was a huge part of our savings. If I were a more excitable person I'd be pretty freaked out right now, but I am pretty level-headed and I know things will work out. Yes, it definitely concernes me that we have so little in our savings right now, but we have been good at savings and just need to tighten our belts and be a little bit better. I am house-sitting for a month or so at various friends' houses and won't actually get to sleep in my own bed for a few weeks. This cuts down on the amount of food we need to buy, as my friends have all told me to eat their food. Because I'm not working much I am able to stay at the houses with the pets I'm staying with and I don't really need to go anywhere. I have Eleanor to get me to places for free.
I got the go-ahead from work to go to Ketchikan to house-sit for a month for some friends of mine whose wedding I am going to. Those lucky ducks are heading out on a Mediterranean cruise a couple days after the wedding and I get to take care of their three kitties. I am super thankful because they are paying me to cat-sit and I will also be able to work full time for three weeks while I am in Ketchikan at one of the jobs I worked at last summer! One of my crafty friends here in Portland also signed me up all the way into December for several craft shows during the holiday season. Basically, things are working out, although not in a linear fashion. 2012 has made me give up some of my tendency to plan things hardcore. It feels good, although I can't say that I'm not frustrated sometimes. There is so much travel I'd like to do. I want to go have drinks with my friends. I want to do fun stuff with Jonathan that isn't based around us staying in the apartment.
Things will be fine and things always work out. Life is a journey. I feel like I've grown again in this past year. July marks one year of purging things and there is so much going on in my head about that. I feel like my eyes have been opened. I have done a lot of reading of library books lately with all of my free time while I'm house-sitting. I feel like I should start doing book reviews or at least perhaps having a list of books I've read. I just am feeling really good about the way my life is going, despite the ups and downs of the past year. What happens next? I really don't know, but I look forward to finding out.
P.S. Sooo, anyone want some soap? Because I am offering 10% off your order in my shop with discount code ALASKA at checkout. Help a girl out!
P.S. Sooo, anyone want some soap? Because I am offering 10% off your order in my shop with discount code ALASKA at checkout. Help a girl out!
Friday, June 29, 2012
Life Update: Job, Minimalising, Money, Travel
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Friends, I've had a lot on my mind lately. Between Jonathan's accident and graduating with my bachelor's degree, life has been a whirlwind lately.
I have a job interview next week for a job that I think I would do good at. It would be part time and would allow me to work at my current job, which is pretty awesome. The people there seem super nice and are really positive. Cross your fingers for me! I have been working very part time since last October to allow me to finish up my degree. This is what lead to the spending fast (which I didn't do a good job of blogging about - oops). Overall, we did do good at saving money and I have still been weeding through my things to find goodies to sell and am still working at minimalising my life. But I'm done with my degree and I'm SO ready to start working more again! I have really, really missed being able to go see the coast and having more adventures. I have felt like my life has been very small lately.
I've been thankful for the low amount of hours I've been working, though. I think that was the real kick in the butt to get Jonathan and I into saving mode. I've always had money to buy whatever I wanted and to suddenly have to really, REALLY budget was a good experience. It's been good practice for us. Whether I get this other job (which would mean I'd be working almost 40 hours a week total - YAY!) or a different other job it feels awesome knowing we'd be putting almost all of the extra money into savings. We've lessened our wants. I've been purging things. It feels good to streamline.
I can't wait to start saving all this extra money so we can have some fun later. We will eventually need a different vehicle. We want to go on trips to visit Jonathan's family in Maine and my mom up in the Interior. I am still saving for Antarctica, obviously (48% - wha wha!), but I also want to visit friends in North Carolina and Norway (Sonya, I am holding you to your VW van offer ;o). I realize this will be a year without many extra fun times. Heck, in January I blogged about all the cool stuff I wanted to do this year and none of it has happened and I don't expect it to happen. I kinda want to just hunker down and save a bunch of money. (Although Jonathan and I do want to go to Astoria in October for our 5 year anniversary and stay in a fancy-schmancy hotel and eat a ton of seafood.)
This year has had a lot of ups and downs. If you know me well, you know that I like stability and I like planning. I like order. This year has had none of that and it's been a great learning experience. Heck, 2012 is just barely halfway completed. What does the rest of the year bring? What is this post even really about? I have just been doing a lot of thinking lately and just needed to get it out.
Friday, January 20, 2012
For Sale on eBay
I've got a bunch of stuff listed on eBay and CraigsList right now, so I thought I'd share some of it in case anyone was interested. The money goes straight toward my trip fund, which I'm actually going to talk about next week because I'm changing it just a little bit and hopefully going SOONER!! If you see something you like that's not on eBay let me know because I will happy ship my CraigsList stuff! Also, if you want something that I have listed on eBay that doesn't have any bids on it, make me a reasonable offer and we'll go that route!
Here's a link to everything I have listed on eBay right now.
Locally-made skirt, size 4-8 or so? It's made to fit a range of sizes.
It has a BUM RUFFLE ON THE BACK!!!
(Also fits small ladies. ;o)
(There is a whole Kobo saga about me getting a Kobo.)
(My silver sparkle princess Kobo will be here Tuesday!)
I've been selling a bit of stuff lately, but it's slowed down a bit. I think a lot of what I have listed on eBay will sell, though. I also am selling my Kitchenaid mixer and the ice cream attachment, so if you're interested in that let me know!
I'll have more posts next week. Not much has happened this past week and I've been busy with statistics homework. This weekend I'll be planting trees with Friends of Trees and snowshoeing with friends! Should be a good time!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Our January Spending Fast
The last month has been a doozy, money-wise. I had to pay for school, do the Christmas present thing (even though I made gifts there was still a bit of money involved), gas for the car so I could take care of some of the extra errands (re: hauling stuff around, otherwise I would have biked), friends in town, etc etc, the list goes on!
I made just over $800 last month (yeehaw! ha ha) and we just barely covered expenses for things. We haven't been able to put any money into savings since I got back to Portland two months ago and it sucks. Therefore, one of the things Jonathan and I discussed while we were doing our coast trip is to do a spending fast. For the month of January we are only buying necessities. Heck, we may even end up doing it for an extra month or two, I don't know. What I do know is that I like regularly putting money into savings.
So. This means not going out for drinks (which I don't feel like we do hardly ever, but Mint.com told me otherwise for December), no random food bought out because we didn't plan ahead/were too lazy to prepare snacks/whatever, no buying anything other than what we absolutely NEED.
Exceptions:
*I have been looking for a large desk with an overhead shelf on Craigslist for the past month because I would like a workstation to do homework at. Our current desk is not much bigger than our computer, which means if I need to go to a quiet place to do my statistics homework I have to sit on my bed, which is not my ideal studying location. It is too easy to slack if I am too comfy. Therefore, I am going to continue my daily search for a desk with a shelf to put the printer on.
*I'm still going to be selling my books and buying the eBook version (if it is a book I want to keep) because there are not a whole lot of books I really want to keep. I currently keep 20% of my paycheck to do whatever I want with (J and I both put 80% of our paychecks into our shared account), which works out to about $150 a month, not counting any income from selling things online, the amount I get to keep per bar of soap sold (my cut is $1, baby!), or anything like that. I'm estimating it will take about $250 to replace my books with eBooks, which average $9.99. I'm trying to downsize my stuff still and so while I could technically wait to buy the eBooks until after the spending fast, I know it's money that would still be spent and I have totally rocked putting money into my Antarctica trip fund so I am not worried about $250 not going into there. I have been Turking my butt off to get money to put into that savings fund, so I think I'm doing fine. After the books are replaced I'm just going to return back to funneling all my money into my savings fund, so no biggie.
*We are getting a cat this month. A cat is a necessity for my mental health and general happiness. (Finnegan didn't work out with our family. He was waaaayyyyy too rambunctious and he was too much cat for our tiny apartment. Luckily, the other family who wanted him still wanted him so he is doing great with them.)
*I will still pay for film processing. I got three rolls processed last week for a grand total of $8. I scan film myself to save more money (see where I'm going with this?). It's $2 a roll for 35mm film and $4 for 120 film at my camera shop. That's pretty cheap. I don't use a super ton of film, so I will allow myself to use my film cameras normally. I would have to try pretty hard to spend $10 a month at the rate I'm going.
I don't forsee any other exceptions. That is that. I am looking forward to seeing how a "normal" month goes in funds for us!
Have you ever done a spending fast or cut yourself off from buying things for any length of time? How did that work out?
P.S. I got the idea of a spending fast from And Then She Saved, a blog I love reading because Anna is upbeat and doesn't make not spending money sound like a horrible thing. Plus, there are a lot of other readers in the same boat as me right now! Join us and sign the pledge! :o)
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
People With eReaders, I Have A Question For You!
Today (!!!) I will be picking up my Kobo Touch, which, as I mentioned before, I'm pretty excited about. What I'm curious about is how many of you have been getting rid of your physical books and have been buying eBooks instead? Two months ago I started pretty heavily going through my books (and other things) to get rid of, since I hadn't really done it much before. Now that I'm getting an eReader, I'm pretty excited to have my library on it and in digital format. I am slowly selling off the books I know I either re-read fairly frequently or I definitely want to keep (as opposed to having to hopefully get it from the library, borrow from a friend, etc).
Are any of you switching your books over to the digital format? Part of me feels a little weird because I am using money (which would otherwise go into my Antarctica fund, which I am at 22% saved for now!!) to buy books I technically already own, but then the other part of me feels like I am doing the right thing because I am letting go of things, which is in line with my trying to be more of a minimalist. Is there a happy medium? eBooks average $10 each, so I am spending about that on each book I already own. Is that silly? I guess I'm just curious what other people are doing.
Maybe I also feel better spending a little bit of money on eBooks because, between my birthday and Christmas, I was able to put a large chunk of change into my travel fund and so it's less of an issue to spend a couple hundred dollars to streamline my life?
What do you think? Thoughts?
Edit:
IT'S CHARGING!!!! It's sooooo cute!
Monday, December 26, 2011
My Minimalist Christmas
Jonathan and I spent the weekend with his family. We were able to visit for two days instead of our usual one day this time, which was really nice. Artoo and I took a long hike around their property on Saturday. It was gorgeous out! I used up the film in both my Diana Mini and my Diana, which was nice, because I think the photos on the rest of the film are from when I was in Alaska still! I also took a good amount of pictures on the LCA+. I plan on dropping off my film today at Hollywood Photo, so hopefully I get my negatives back in the next few days so I can scan and share them!
I was really happy in the presents department this year. There really wasn't anything I wanted, other than some money to put into my Antarctica fund. I'm happy to say that I got a nice amount between my parents and Jonathan's family and will be able to put several hundred dollars into savings! We also got some yummy food from Jonathan's parents. His mom works at a Market of Choice, which I gather is something like a Whole Foods or New Seasons. We got some Indian simmer sauces, different noodles and rice, some pasta sauces, olive oil, wine, champagne, and more. I don't think I'll have to do any grocery shopping this week, other than for vegetables!
From my bosses at Mr. Green Beans I got a $50 gift certificate for Cellar Door/2nd Story!! Jonathan and I like riding our bikes to Cellar Door in the summer to get iced mochas. They are one of the only coffee places in town that I've tried where their coffee is consistently delicious and their baristas aren't snooty jerks. I've been wanting to try 2nd Story, but we haven't really had the money lately. Now I'm happy to be able to treat Jonathan! Thank you, Ginny and Trevin!
In my stocking I had some winning lottery tickets with a grand total of $3 won!! Better than last year! ($0)
All in all, it was an excellent Christmas. I am so happy to have gotten exactly what I wanted! Just about everything I gave this year I either made by me or was something I found locally. I gave lots of consumables this year! I'd put exactly what I made but not everyone has received their presents from me yet. (I am BAD this year.)
I hope everyone had a great Christmas! What was your favorite part, gift received, gift given, etc?
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Sorry, Kindle, I Ordered A Kobo
In looking at the bookstores in Portland that I could buy eBooks from (Broadway Books! Powell's!), I realized that I couldn't buy a Kindle and had to think of something else. I started researching the Kobo Touch and immediately fell in love. It was everything I wanted in an eReader and was just like the Kindle, but better. Expandable memory? Check. Ability to download Google eBooks, of which there are over twice as many as Kindle books? Check. Ability to buy from my local bookstore?! CHECK!! The evidence was there and it was clear - I wanted a Kobo, not a Kindle.
I had been *anxiously* awaiting the receiving of my trade-in books to Amazon, thus giving me a gift card that I could use on my Kobo. Every day, multiple times a day, I was tracking my box of books that I'd sent to Amazon in receipt of a gift card. This was $60 at stake here! Plus, I still had $6.50 from previous trade-ins. I have been hitting the Mechanical Turking hard lately, because I figured that it didn't make sense for me to pay for the balance of the Kobo with real dollars. Why not just spend several hours Turking and make that money on my own? And so I did just that. But then I still had to wait for Amazon to officially receive my trade-in books and authorize my gift card amount.
Yesterday was the day!!
As soon as I refreshed the trade-in page Monday morning it said it was verifying my last mailing of books. Then I received the email that I'd been waiting for. Amazon had officially received my books and given me money - more money than I'd expected! - and I was able to use that money to order anything from their site. Well, I'd had a used Kobo in my shopping cart for about five days. It was used, but in "like new" condition, and it sounds like perhaps it was a store demo model. Plus, it was silver! It will match Mackie, my beloved MacBook Air. (Yes, I name my things. Yes, I am dorky in that respect.) The silver Kobos retail for $129.99, but I got mine for $95, which is awesome because I could have gotten a black one for $99 or I could have gotten the color I wanted - silver! - for the same price. :o)
I even splurged an extra $3.99 on expedited shipping! I'm a crazy girl!
As soon as I receive my Kobo, which should be in the next week, I will report on how I like it. I've Turked enough to have some money to buy a few books with. I really am curious on how it will react since I was initially pro-Kindle and didn't know anything about any other eReader.
Do you have an eReader and how do you like it?
Monday, November 7, 2011
Cleaning and Sorting: Bookshelves and Spare Bedroom Edition!
This morning our spare bedroom looked like this when I started...
Jonathan has been going through his things and getting rid of stuff and making a pile of things to donate and things to try and sell. This morning we were at a point in this room where I just had to move a few things around and take a few things out and then it turned quickly into this:
YAY!!!!! Hooray for some empty floor space!
There is still his closet, his dresser, and a little more to go through but I am really proud of him to get to this point. It's really hard for him to get rid of his stuff and he is slowly getting to the point where he is comfortable with it. It's not easy and I applaud him for it!
After I tackled the spare bedroom I headed to take care of my bookshelves. (I wish I would have taken some proper "before" pictures.) Since I got back to Portland I have been taking out chunks of books and donating them or selling them quickly and I had large gaps in the shelves that just looked bad and needed to be put together more cohesively! So today I put books from my bookshelf in the dining room in these shelves and dispersed them throughout in a hopefully organized manner. While I am not anal about my books, I like like-minded books to be in the same sections, you know? So right now most of my books are not organized into as neat sections as I would like, I think this is looking pretty good (or better than it was, trust me).
I also started going through my CDs. The ones on the shelf second up from the ground on the right bookshelf are mine and those are the ones that I have decided to keep (for now), even though I have them in digital form. I know we will be getting a new car in the next year or two, one that will be a little more up-to-date than mine now and will have an iPod plug-in, but until then I have kept all the CDs that I would probably theoretically want to play in my car until that happens.
Sadly, this is our kitchen table right now. I need some boxes to put my books to donate to the library in! So our table is a little unusable, but only temporarily. My goal is to eventually empty the bookshelf in the back of the room there, get rid of what can be gotten rid of, and then sell the bookshelf and get a used little low shelf thing that I can put some of my soap stuff on. Or maybe not, since I like the idea of keeping all my work stuff in one area. This is all new for me, so it is definitely a transition into different thinking! I just like that we are going with the flow of getting rid of things.
Poor Artoo, I promise we won't be getting rid of you!
Tomorrow I have quite a few errands to run in the car since I am trying to lump all of my car errands into single days and not having to run one or two errands every day. I may have quite a bit to do tomorrow now, but I would rather do it all at once. I just sold quite a bit on eBay and have more listed, so check it out if you're interested! Half of the funds go into Jonathan and I's shared savings account (which recently took a hit from the pets' very expensive vet visit two weeks ago) and then the other half is mine, which I divvy out between my Antarctica fund and one of my savings accounts. I'm trying to get used to not working or making as much money as I'm used to, but it's also been really nice having all this time to go through my stuff and run errands. There is always *something* I want to do, so my time is used wisely. ;o)
I hope everyone had a great Monday and has a great rest of the week! Either tonight or tomorrow I will be working on making my water kefir, so cross your fingers it works for me!
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Busy, Busy: Getting Rid of Stuff, A New Job, and A Soap Sale!
Oh, the spare bedroom.
We have been using it for storage since we moved here. It has gone through many changes. As of now, our goal is to turn part of the space into a workroom for me, so I can get a work table and have space to do soap stuff and art projects. Unfortunately, this is what the room looks like right now:
The entire room is completely full. For Jonathan's sake, he had started the process of going through his stuff (his part of the room project) before I came back from Alaska. He hasn't had much of a chance in the past few days to work on his stuff, but since I have been home yesterday and today I've managed to go through a lot of my stuff. I got rid of one tote completely and I just have one more long tote of stuff to go through and then that will be a big chunk of my stuff in here. I'm not sure what our plan is when we're done with going through things. I'm not even sure WHEN we'll be done going through things. It might be kinda nice to have some shelving set up and all of the stuff we've decided to keep can go in that, but we don't know how much will even decide to be kept, you know?
I've begun listing things on CraigsList and have a Flickr collection set up of photos of things I'm getting rid of, so if you see something in there you like it's yours! Some stuff I will list on eBay this weekend. I wish I could have a garage sale because there is some "good" stuff that I think is worth something, but we aren't allowed to have garage sales in our apartment complex.
In awesome news, I am now contracted by a local company to make soap for them twenty hours a week! I will probably start sometime next week, but tomorrow I am meeting up with a person from the company to go shopping for supplies. In personal news, I am busting out a ton of soap! In addition to all the cleaning and organizing, I am making as much soap as I can because the holiday season is coming up! It would be cool next year to do holiday shows, but because I did the Alaska thing this year I am kinda behind. Next year I can plan for it, though!
Speaking of soap, I am having a pre-order sale in my Etsy shop because I have so much soap available, but not really "done" until the end of November. Use the code "PREORDER" at checkout to get 10% off your order and have some soap to look forward to! Here's the link to my shop.
This is what I'm working on this week, soap-wise:
PRE-ORDER - Super Yummy Handmade Beer and Honey Shampoo Bar
PRE-ORDER - Corvidae Charcoal and Green Tea Facial Bar
PRE-ORDER - Hairy Sasquatch Shave Bar
PRE-ORDER - Malaspina Peppermint Vanilla Handmade Vegan Soap
PRE-ORDER - Chinook - Grapefruit Orange Handmade Vegan Soap
PRE-ORDER - Fireweed - Lavender Geranium Handmade Soap
I hope everyone is having a great week! Tomorrow is ~Friday!~
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Blog Posts I've Enjoyed Lately
*The Underappreciation of Rest in Today's Society - Becoming Minimalist
This post is so true! Rest is necessary. As you all know, I have been working four jobs for awhile now and I still need to remind myself that rest is necessary and important! I'll come home from one job and what I *should* do is take a nap before my next job, but sometimes it's everything I can do from getting online and reading blogs or checking out Facebook or looking for funny YouTube videos. I sometimes have to tell myself out loud, "GET INTO BED, BRITTANY" and then I take a nap and I'm fine. Joshua's pointing out of the false sense of urgency for things like this is so spot-on!
*Extreme Organizing - B For Bel
I think just about everyone in the bloggosphere has seen this, but I'm posting this *just in case* you haven't. My love of things lined up neatly is enamoured with this!
*Want to Control Your Happiness? Control Your Exit - The Happiness Project
I have always done this but never really thought about other people doing it in order to be happy until I read this. So true and awesome! I would always rather drive myself somewhere or go to someone else's house so I can control my exit and leave when I was ready. I remember before Jonathan and I lived together I would like to have people over for dinner and whatnot, but once people are over for an hour or two I'm really ready for them to leave so I can go back to having my own personal time. (Not to sound like a person-hating hermit. I just value my "me" time and perhaps need more of it than some people do!)
I hope you enjoyed! I have more to share at a later time but this is all I've got in me for now.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
In the Homestretch!
I found this box at my curios shop job. Before he went back to school, one of the summer workers went through and left many little notes on all sorts of things for other people to find. It certainly made me smile to find it while I was stocking picture frames! :o)
I would apologize for posting so infrequently these days except I'm not sorry. I have been working so hard to put money into savings in this last final push and it feels AWESOME. As I write this on Saturday morning, it is a gorgeous day outside, the first sunny day we've had in a few weeks. We've had some pretty epic storms this summer and it hasn't been very sunny overall. I have been reminiscing about my time here in Ketchikan and thought I'd blog about it.
I can't believe my plan that has been in the works since last August is finally happening. Last year I sat in the park outside my job that just wasn't right for me and called Steve at the coffee shop and asked if I could come back for the summer and was so overjoyed when he said yes. When it was stressful at my job I just had the little spark that everything was going to be okay because I had an exit date planned. April 22 was my last day and, while I do appreciate the friendships I made there and the things I learned, I was ready for something else. I had a week that I thought I would have off before I got on the ferry but I found myself still being really busy. Before I knew it I was driving north on I-5, up to the ferry that would take me to Ketchikan. Leaving Jonathan was really hard. When it was finally time to say good-bye it was SO HARD to get into the car and actually drive away. I wanted to stand there and say infinite good-byes. I did have to pull over and get another good cry out before I got onto Halsey to head to the freeway.
But I made it and I was fine. It was a beautiful day for a drive and once I got to the ferry I was happy to get settled. 36 hours later I was in Ketchikan! If you have been following my blog, you know I have lived in quite a few houses since I have been here, which meant packing and unpacking my boxes and my car A LOT.
How many houses?
House 1: Robin's house
House 2: Murgen's house
House 3: Gretchen and Terry's house
House 4: Joey's house
House 5: Brandee and Morgan's house
House 6: Kristi and Jeremy's house
House 7: Brian and Whitney's house
House 8: Frank and Tiffany's house
House 9: Current house!!!!
Wow! I didn't realize until now exactly how many houses I have lived in this summer until now. While it was a pain in the butt to move everything, it really made me take a hard look at my stuff and decide what I want to be hauling around with me. All those clothes, shoes, and beauty products that I really didn't wear in Portland, but thought that if I took them with me to Ketchikan I would be forced to wear them? Nope, didn't happen. I still didn't wear them, but I was still hauling all of it around. This was the spark of my transition into a more minimalist lifestyle (that and since I came here to make money, why would I want to be buying a lot of stuff?). I have gotten rid of a bunch of stuff since I got here and it feels awesome! I've given things to friends, sold or given it away on Ketchikan's Facebook groups, sold things on eBay, Amazon, and Half.com, and had a garage sale. I can't wait to get back to Portland and start going through my things there to get rid of! There is nothing like being away from all of your things for five months that makes you realize how much of it you really don't miss. In my mind I have a "Come Take Brittany's Things" party where I put all of the stuff I don't want and I can't sell on a table and have my friends come over and just take whatever they want and I'd donate the rest. (So, note to PDX friends, remember I said this. ;o)
And now it's time for me to end this so I can go get ready for my day and head out to work. After work Marley and I are going to go for a hike somewhere and enjoy this nice weather. I can't wait! I hope everyone else has a wonderful weekend, as well!
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