Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Monday, August 12, 2013
Saving Money and Having Fun: Visiting a U-Pick Farm in Portland
Thank you, Amy, for the cute pic of myself!
On Friday I got to do something that I've only done one other time since I've lived in Oregon, which is visit a u-pick farm. What's a u-pick farm, you ask? Well, it's a farm where you get to go pick all the fruits, vegetables, and flowers you want and it's cheaper that way because you're doing the work yourself! I coerced Amy to go with me right when Sauvie Island Farms opened because I wanted to get out there and get pickin' before the sun got super hot. Luckily she was game (after a yummy coffee) and we had a great time!
My main goal was to pick a bunch of blueberries, but I was open to getting other fruits or berries, as well. Jonathan makes smoothies every morning and fruit really adds up in cost! Since it's something we use daily I wanted to stock up. Blueberries, marionberries (a kind of blackberry that only grows in Oregon), and blackberries at the farm were only $2 a pound! We also ended up getting broccoli ($1/lb), kale ($3/lb), beets (don't remember price), corn on the cob (25 cents an ear), and more! We spent four hours at the farm and picked.....
wait for it.....
35lbs of berries!
After getting home I began the task of cleaning and processing everything. This has taken a few days, because it takes time to freeze things in batches. You have to freeze the blackberries and broccoli on cookie sheets and then transfer them into bags or containers because otherwise you end up with a large chunk of plant matter frozen together and it's hard to get it out later for use. Also, vegetables contain an enzyme that makes the plant mushy if you don't blanch them before you freeze, so I've had to do the corn and broccoli in small batches because there is only so much room in our freezer. But Amy and I had a great time and I'm happy to save money and do something fun with my friend!
Back at home I processed the berries first since they are the most delicate. Sunday afternoon I started in on the broccoli. I had to trim all of it and clean it. I ended up only being able to blanch and freeze one bowl's worth, so I'll have to do the rest later.
This is what our freezer is currently looking like. It's getting more and more filled and soon will be lined with containers full of fruit and vegetables and in a few days I'll be stocking up on chickens and those will be in the freezer as well!
Everything I bought ended up costing $66, which sounds like a lot until you think about how much this can all cost at the grocery store. Blueberries are usually $4-6 per pound, broccoli is usually a couple bucks, and those are foods we eat quite a bit. I have bought several 2lb bags of blackberries at New Seasons and Whole Foods that are in the $9-10 range! I'm hoping to go get more fruits and veggies later but will have to see how full our freezer is first.
Have you ever done a u-pick farm? Would you ever do one?
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
I Got Laid Off On Thursday (And That's Okay)
As you may have heard online, I got laid off from my job on Thursday this past week. Yes, it was out of the blue, but it was also not a huge surprise either, really. I had felt something was up for awhile and hadn't been truly happy at work for quite a bit. I had just that morning tweeted that I was making as much in side hustles right now as I was in working full time. The thought of something new and working for myself had been on my mind since World Domination Summit, but wasn't 100% sure how to make that happen. Well, life is funny sometimes, isn't it? ;o)
I am thankful that I worked for the company I had the pleasure of working for and I really liked my boss and coworkers, but the job itself was not great for me. I had a whole lot of downtime and not enough projects to keep me busy. I tried to create projects for myself but even then there wasn't always much to them. (I should mention that this job was not the one I applied for and originally got. I started out as the HR & office assistant and got promoted to receptionist because the receptionist at that time got promoted, as well. It was either become receptionist or be laid off from being the assistant, so I took the receptionist job!)
So now what?
I did get to leave with a bit of a "severance package" so I used that to pay many bills in advance from now through February. I did this for a couple reasons. First, I will be gone through January, so that gives me through February to start getting money saved up again. Also, I knocked the bills down so that Jonathan and I are able to live off his income from now through February. I am thankful we do not have any debt AND that I'm a rockstar at saving money.
While I do have my money from side hustles it was all being saved to go to Antarctica in January, so since many bills are now paid off for awhile, I am going to save my side hustle income the way I used to. I put 10% of it into my Vanguard stocks, 10% into one of Jonathan and I's shared savings accounts, and then the remaining amount into my Smarty Pig fund. I'll still have to take a little bit out of my don't-want-to-touch savings, but it's better than not going to Antarctica at all!
Also, because of this new direction my life took me I'm going to hold off on going to Patagonia until later, which I'm also okay with. Ever since I did Conservation VIP's Peru volunteer vacation I have been wanting to do their Torres del Paine volunteer vacation, but since I was already registered for the first Patagonia trip I was just going to do the volunteer trip another time. Now I can do it whenever I'm able! So that is awesome. (Although I really, really wish I could do the Patagonia volunteer trip in March because it would be the best time of year for me to go out of town for awhile. I wish I could snap my fingers and make $5,000 appear!!)
So what's happening with me, folks! Lots of pet-sitting is happening and figuring out ways to make money. It's nice to not have to drive to Clackamas every day. I was so busy recently that I had almost zero free time to myself, so suddenly having time to take walks, work on projects, read, and nap is really nice! I know things will work out for me, because they always do. As Louis Pasteur said, "...Chance only favors the prepared mind."
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?
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
2013 Resolution: Consolidate Mutual Funds and Get Online Purchasing Power
This post is about me tackling one of my 2013 resolutions. Won't you follow along?
One of the things I've been wanting to do for awhile is consolidate my many mutual funds into my one fund that seems to do pretty well. I had three funds, two of which were not doing so good. I know that since I closed the two funds I will have to pay taxes next year on the "income," but it's worth it to me to have the peace of mind that only having one fund will provide.
The things I needed to do with my good fund was to change it from a joint tenant fund with my dad into an individual account and also apply for a new account so that I could have online purchasing access. The fund was opened back in the olden days for me back when you would have to purchase shares by check or phone. Now I want to be able to purchase shares from the ease of my computer and have it be immediate!
Getting the account changed from a joint tenant account to an individual account was a pain in the butt. I will spare you the details, but it was a pain to get differing information from both Dodge & Cox and Wells Fargo about what needed to happen between my dad and I, but we finally got it taken care of and earlier last week I got the email that everything was completed!
I haven't had a chance to purchase shares yet, but will in a few days. I'm looking forward to seeing how that works!
As mentioned before, my goal this year is to put $3,000 into it. Not counting the money I've deposited from closing the other accounts, I was able to put $412 into it for January. I'm putting in 14% of my paycheck from my main job and 10% of any side hustle money. Since I put in almost 14% of my goal in only the first month I'm excited to see how the year goes!
Are you thinking about saving for the future? How much do you save?
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, December 5, 2012
My Entire Work History... 26+ Jobs
I had more hair at one point!
In seeing two posts at both Give Me Back My Five Bucks and Budgets Are Sexy about past jobs that Krystal and J. Money have done I thought it might be fun to reminisce about jobs I've done! Being of the entrepreneurial sort I have always worked a lot and had multiple jobs, so let's see what I've done! I can't say that they will be in chronological order or that I'll remember them all, but I know I've done a lot!
(I should add, I have always worked multiple jobs at once, hence the amount of them. Not like I work a job for two months, then quit, then work the next job for a month and then quit, etc.)
My very first job... Photographer's Assistant - My very first real "job" at the age of 12! My friend's mom was a photographer and I would go with her to weddings and help carry equipment, pose people, and do anything that needed to happen. I'd also put printed photos into photo albums. Do people even still get that anymore?
Professional Maid - My friend's mom had a cleaning business and I worked for her for quite a long while. This is a job where I am thankful I learned so much about cleaning because I have cleaned other peoples' houses on my own and continue to do so until this day! There are a bunch of little places to clean that a lot of people wouldn't normally think of and little tips and tricks and I'm thankful I learned them. I also really enjoy cleaning! It's kind of a zen thing. :o)
Hot Topic Sales Person - I worked here when I lived in Portland the first time, from 2001-2002. This was SUCH a fun job and I met Andi there, who is still one of my best friends!
Service Dispatcher for Tongass Business Center - I was in charge of setting up maintenance for the copier and fax machines all over Ketchikan, putting them under maintenance contracts, and keeping track of all of our supplies and such. This was a pretty fun job and there was a lot of dancing on my part in the maintenance room. I also started naming machines when they got sold and left. I'd put a label with a name on the machine on the way out and people would start calling me and saying, "Horace has a paper jam somewhere inside and we can't find it!" and that, of course, pleased me greatly.
Manager/Barista at The Green Coffee Bean Company - I worked here for a long time! From 2004-2011! When I moved to Portland I would venture back to Ketchikan fairly often and would work at the coffee shop when I was there. I was one of Steve's first employees and I remember meeting him for the first time at the Blueberry Festival and buying some Ethiopia Harrar Longberry and freaking out about how GOOD it was! I basically stalked him for awhile until he hired me. I had such a great time working there! It's weird to think about how the shop was back in 2004 and think about how it looks now. I'm so happy he's doing so well!!
Fire Department Dispatcher/EMT - I got my dispatcher job through my friend Frank, who I worked with at TBC. He eventually became one of the career firefighters, so it was cool that we both worked at TBC and then moved to KFD. Being a dispatcher was fun, but stressful! I have fond memories of it overall. I really enjoyed knowing people were getting the best possible help during their time of need. I still wouldn't mind being a dispatcher, really. Doing the EMT stuff was fun because it was neat to get out of the building and ride-alongs were cool. Badge #551, baby!
Police Department Dispatcher - The fire dispatching got moved up to the police department in 2007, so I moved up the hill. Police dispatching was way more stressful than fire dispatching. People looooove firemen but HATE policemen. I got cussed out a lot by the public, but I also feel like I was a positive person and helped make a difference in people's lives. I was on graveyard shift a lot, so my daytimes were actually at night. I would get invited to dinner parties and that would be my breakfast. I did a lot of nighttime bike riding. I'm thankful that I am fine hanging out on my own so much because I missed out on a lot of fun stuff because I was sleeping. I did get to hang out with my beloved Matty quite a bit, though, as he was quite the night owl himself!
Crab Shucker - I worked for Brandee in 2008 before I moved to Portland. (I was working seven jobs the spring and summer before I moved. Every day I worked a double and sometimes a triple. I gave myself Sundays off so I wasn't *as* crazy.) I shucked crab and helped make some of the food at her establishment. I never really liked crab all that much until I started working here. I now love crab!
Oregon Board of Pharmacy Receptionist - This was my first and longest-worked job when I moved to Portland. I worked for the state - fancy! It was a stereotypical office job. I didn't like that I sat so much and I looked out onto an empty room. I did like my coworkers a lot and it was an easy job overall!
Old Navy Seasonal Sales - This was surprisingly fun! The only thing I really remember about working this job is an epic 2am girl fight on Black Friday and one girl ripped part of the other girl's weave out. Yup, that's the mall at 2am during Black Friday sales!
Papaya Retail Sales - This job was hell on earth. The boss was horrible, the job was horrible. I had just moved to Portland was working full time at OBOP but wanted to take on a seasonal job. I applied on Halloween and had an interview while I was wearing my Halloween costume. I should have run for the hills when I was asked at my interview if I could work that evening, but...no. It's Halloween and I'm wearing fuchsia eye shadow up to my eyebrows. I had told my boss I could only work part time but he kept scheduling me full time. House-sitting a friend's house for two months + moving to a new state + living with someone for the first time (a boyfriend, no less) + working a new job + working ANOTHER new job on top of the first job = Very Stressed Brittany. I cried a lot. I was angry a lot. I was sad a lot. I was so thankful when I quit Papaya. The plus side (?) of the job is that we were supplied with all the free Cup o' Noodles we wanted. So, you know, there was that. (My manager was also 18 and routinely came to work with hickeys. This job was like my own personal hell.)
Mr. Green Beans Retail Sales - Such a fun job! We sold green coffee beans, coffee-making equipment, coffee roasters, DIY stuff, jars, all sorts of goodies! This was a fun job, but I needed more hours so I moved on. This was definitely the most fun job I have worked in Portland!
Outlet Store - I worked here for two weeks earlier this year when I was in Ketchikan to house-sit. I'm thankful Aimee hired me to work that time period because I couldn't had gone without work! We did a lot of prep for the tourism season. I met a lot of really nice girls that worked there! They seemed to make up a good team. Good times!
Ketchikan Mining Company - I have worked here for Amy twice now and It Is So Fun. I was usually a bagger but I also cleaned things, stocked things, etc. I folded a LOT of t-shirts! I like schmoozing with people, so this was a GREAT job for me! Heck, maybe she'll let me come work for her next year for a month? :oD
Ketchikan Dry Goods - I worked here for a few weeks while Ashley was out of town. SO fun! This is my favorite shop in Ketchikan and it was an honor to work here! I talked with customers, cleaned, stocked our wares, and generally was just Really Excited about our products. It's easy when it's your favorite shop, right?!
Good Fortune server - I was both a server and a delivery girl working here. My Chinese name is "Bernie" because that's what they called me. They cooked me both amazing food items (fish) and not-so-appetizing (to me) foods (fried pig intestines that apparently go great with beer). I love eating here still! The food is always so yummy. I learned some helpful words in Chinese at the time, but don't remember them now. Oh, well!
Petsitter - Still doing this! I originally started doing this when I worked at TGCBC because people would ask me if I knew any one who took care of pets and I decided that I could do that. It was fun! And I'm still enjoying it!
Royal Tea Company Sales Associate - I worked here briefly in 2002 when I returned to Ketchikan from Portland. It was very slow and I didn't sell all that much. I did not work here long.
Alaska Rose Jewelry Sales - Working for Tina was great! I really like her jewelry and it was fun to sell it and the other goodies she had.
Packager for Angel Face Botanicals - I helped Jessica during one holiday season. I did a lot of packaging. I have packaged squillions of her fizzy aromatherapy shower steamers! Her products are super yummy!
Sales Person for B. Hive Designs - Barbara is no longer selling her fun shirts, but I worked a holiday season for her. I sold her wares at holiday shows and chatted with people. It was really fun! I really liked her shirts.
Independent Contractor for Amy Wing Designs - I do all of the menial jobs Amy assigns me. (Ha ha! You know I love them, just in case you read this. ;o) No, no, I do tasks for her that don't require any sort of artistic ability. I do things like cut 100 pieces of sterling silver wire and then sand the ends, stamp logos into charms, and drill holes. It makes me feel like I have some sort of artistic street cred. ;o) We have good conversations and there is often lots of giggling! I also get to pet her cute cats, so it's a pretty sweet gig.
Tutu Sales Girl - I worked a couple times for my friend Whitney at the Saturday Market, selling tutus! It was really fun and it's easy to get excited when customers do because the tutus are so freaking cute.
Clothing Sales for Luna - I met Karina at a holiday show when I was working for Barbara Soule. I eventually bought several of her skirts, we became friends, I started helping her at Saturday Market, and now I own even MORE of her goodies! I loooove her products and I'm so thankful that I've gotten to help her out as much as I have!
Soap Seller - Still selling soap in my Etsy! This was something I wanted to learn for a long time, finally did, and then rocked it! I just made a new batch of charcoal soap a few days ago because it's the one that sells the most. I know I said I'm no longer making soap anymore, but I still own all the ingredients and decided to make this one since it sells so well. So enjoy it! I'd still make soap if I made more sales, but sales were soooooo slow this year that I think I'm going to hold off. Maybe I'll just make a couple soaps and rock those. No choices. Just charcoal soap, my beer & honey soap, and the couple other good-selling ones. :o)
Tea Shop - I worked here briefly and helped get the shop set up. It was fun and I learned a lot, but, alas, not a good job fit for me!
Sooooo, I think that's it! I don't think I've missed anything. Crazy! I would have never guessed that I've worked at least 26 jobs. At least you can't say I'm lazy, right? What are some of the more crazy jobs you've worked and how many are under your belt?
Friday, November 30, 2012
So This Just Happened...BAM!
BOO. YEAH.
Not counting the amount I've had to take out for trip deposits and airline miles, I just officially reached $10k saved for my trips on the day before my 30th birthday.
*happy dance*
Only have $11,000 (minimum) to save in the next year! I got this one, guys.
And how are YOU doing today? :oD
P.S. If any of you are feeling generous and want to help celebrate my birthday, you're welcome to feed the pig in the upper left corner of the screen. When I am strolling off into the Antarctic sunset, holding the wingtip of a penguin, I will be thinking of you. (Okay, that image is not *entirely* realistic, but bear with me.)
P.S. If any of you are feeling generous and want to help celebrate my birthday, you're welcome to feed the pig in the upper left corner of the screen. When I am strolling off into the Antarctic sunset, holding the wingtip of a penguin, I will be thinking of you. (Okay, that image is not *entirely* realistic, but bear with me.)
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 27, 2012
Spending Fast: Day 27
Image from Izismile. :o)
Sorry I haven't really updated on the Spending Fast. We've been doing pretty good. It's relatively easy to not go wild at spending money when I have to tell myself that we don't really have the money to spend. On the other hand, we have been eating the same thing for days now and it would be nice to have a wee bit more spending money for that, but I'm fine. I do find myself eating a lot of toast and PB&J sandwiches on homemade bread. Filling and cheap! (And delicious!)
We did go over on our gas budget this month because we went up the mountain twice for playing in the snow, but I was able to save money in other areas, so it made up for it. I contacted both Progressive and Comcast about lowering our rates and it worked!
Also, since we recently got our electric bill I took a peek at it compared to last year at this time and I'm shocked! Last January we used 838kwh and this month we used 489. Quite a difference! I'm curious to see how it looks next month, too, since it will be a more complete month of usage (I technically started the spending fast about a week into January, I think). One thing that we still have to do fairly frequently is use the dehumidifier because our apartment gets really damp. I just noticed this morning that I need to leave it on more because there is a layer of condensation going about 1.5" up every window in the apartment. Not okay! So the dehumidifier is back on.
With the spending fast, it's still nice that I have my own spending money so I don't go completely crazy. It's nice that I've been able to treat Jonathan to beer a few times. I also just finished paying off my credit card bill (from buying some bras and my REI Endeavor pants) and can now start hoarding money for my trip again. I've managed to sell quite a bit of stuff on eBay and Amazon in the past couple of weeks and am going to be pet-sitting for two different friends in the next two weeks and am also hired to clean a house that some renters just moved out of so that it can be rented out again!
I also will soon be selling soaps at a shop here in town! More details to come as soon as they are figured out. I will also hopefully be helping a friend who has a booth at the Saturday Market during the weekends this spring and summer. I'm working really hard to come up with $6,194.84, which is the difference between how much I have saved now ($4,805.16) and $11,000, which is about how much paying for the preliminary part of my trip is going to be. Once I get it paid for I can know that I'm ACTUALLY GOING OMG and can then worry about the plane trip, travel insurance, and food/spending money later. (I have also been in contact with one of the travel officers for the trip and there are still lots of camping and kayaking spots available!)
But now! I need to get ready so I can head to work. I hope everyone has a great weekend and has lots of fun stuff planned!
Monday, January 9, 2012
Spending Fast: Day 9
Our new desk!
Well, we are now just over a week into our spending fast. Those of you who pledged to do it with me, how are you all doing? I am finding it easy to do it so far, just not fun. Using the thought, "I currently only have a $40 a week grocery budget" is quite the motivator, though!
As mentioned previously, I said we would still be getting a desk for me to do homework at. This happened, but we had to take $50 out of savings to pay for it. The good part is that I got it used on CraigsList by a family who lived a mile from us. The bad part is that I don't anticipate being able to put that $50 back into savings soon, unless someone buys our old desk, which will help.
I am curious to see how much our internet bill will be for the month. It has been $72 or so for quite awhile, but I recently talked to Comcast and they said they would give us some sort of promotion for six months, and our payment would drop down to somewhere in the $50 range. I don't know why they randomly gave us a promotional discount and I am still not *really* expecting it to be there, but if it is I will be pleasantly happy and that extra $20 will go into savings!
Jonathan and I decided that we would give up beer during weekdays and only enjoy it on the weekend to help save some money. This is a sad, sad decision for me because I think you all know how much I like beer. :o) But it is only temporary! We do still have some home brew that I made last spring that we aged and are currently working through, so at least we technically have some free/cheap beer.
A friend (you know who you are - THANK YOU!) gave us some coffee, so we're still caffeinated, at least. I was going to be pretty sad if I had to wait until I was at work to have good coffee, but, luckily, I think we'll be okay for a bit yet. Whew!
We are going to have to forgo getting a cat for a little longer, which suuuucks. It makes me sad, but we really don't have the extra money to pay for food, litter, and flea meds for her so we will probably have to wait on the cat, too. Maybe Cat Adoption Team will have another cat sale sometime in the next couple months. :oD
I am thankful that I still had a whole chicken from the last big Whole Foods sale. I'm also thankful for our crockpot. I have been making some yummy and filling soups the past few days.
I decided that I was going to not do a daily shower and use my dry shampoo a few times a week. The first time I used it was the first time the can had been used since last spring and so there was a little explosion of dry shampoo when I used it last week. My hair looked pretty Muppety. I have been doing daily rotations of shower, use dry shampoo the next day, wash hair under tub faucet the next, and then do another day of dry shampoo. That way I'm showering every three days, which is still not *that* bad. It's not like I get really dirty during my usual days! We'll see how long that lasts. I think I am putting too much thought and words into this now and you are bored. Sorry!
I was able to sell a surprising amount of books to Powell's for virtual credit, which I will be buying eBooks with to replace the ones I got rid of. I don't know why I thought it was going to take about $250 to replace my books, because it's really going to be a lot less, but I am also thankful for about $60 in virtual credit to help with that! I finally finished going through my books on Saturday. It feels weird to have so many less books in the apartment, but I think it's a good thing, since SO many were books I hadn't read in ages, if ever. (I used to go through the "literature" section of Waldenbooks in Ketchikan and just buy books for the heck of it. This is why I have Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" - although I do like the stories I've read from the book...that I read in high school - and "Silas Mariner.")
How is everyone else doing now that it's been the first week?
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Spending Fast: Day 4
I just added up our projected income for the month and subtracted all of our bills and it leaves us with $40 a week in groceries and no money to be able to put into savings. I'm not even sure we can eat on $40 a week. I guess we're going to have to try, though. I sense a lot of oatmeal, beans, lentils, and potatoes in my future, and probably not many fresh fruits and vegetables, which kinda sucks and I'm not looking forward to.
We are already living pretty frugally, but I guess it's time to tighten our belts a little more. I just turned the air purifier off and turned the heater down even more (which is almost off). Maybe I can start using my dry shampoo more instead of showering to cut down on our water usage. Anyone else have any other ideas on how an already frugal family can cut down even more?
I did find out that the desk that I have been wanting to get on Craigslist is going to be OURS!! I will finally have a study space! YAY! I also am selling some stuff on eBay, if anyone would like to check it out.
Also, if you are in the PDX area, I would still love to clean your house. ;o)
For the month of January I'm having a sale on my soap. Use code "SUNSHINE" to get 10% off your order in my Etsy shop! Any soap sales help us be able to put money into savings. Tell your friends!
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!
Friday, December 9, 2011
Mechanical Turking and Making Some Moolah
Some of my books weren't selling on Amazon or Half.com and so I decided to trade them in for Amazon credit. Once they receive my books and process the credit I'll have about $67 to purchase something on Amazon with. I've been doing a lot of researching and soul searching and I have decided I am going to get a Kindle Touch with my funds. (I love my books and I'm not going to get rid of all of them, but I don't want to start adding more "stuff" back into my life since I've been trying to get rid of it. If you want to know more reasons why I made my decision I'm happy to elaborate. I was pretty hesitant for a *long* time on e-readers.) The best part is that I won't have to pay the difference between the $99 and my $67. No, my friends, I've upped my Mechanical Turking.
Wait, huh? I am one of the only people who seems to know what Amazon's Mechanical Turking is, but it's an easy way to make money (actual money that can be deposited in your bank account) or Amazon credit. Basically you're doing all sorts of tasks called "hits" in exchange for money. There are hits that pay a penny, there are hits that pay $44. I made $5 in 20 minutes by listening to four different recordings of people reading passages from books to vote on who I thought would make a great audiobook reader and who needed to work on their speaking. I usually go for the hits that pay 75 cents or $1 because they are often quick to complete and the money adds up quickly.
Not counting the hits that have not been approved yet (after which then I'll get payment) I made:
*December 6 - $9.11
*December 7 - $13.86
*December 8 - $2.50
I still have 24 more hits pending, with a dollar amount probably in the $15+ range.
Granted, yes, Turking takes time, but time is what I have a lot of right now, so Turking for a couple of hours isn't taking too much time away from doing other things (like housework, which is obviously completely thrilling). Would I rather spend real money that I really don't have too much of or would I rather spend some time doing menial tasks? The Kindle is at this point paid off and I will be ordering it as soon as my trade-in funds post and I've also made enough in my Turk account to buy a couple books. I plan on Turking whenever I have some free time to help make some money for my Antarctica fund.
You can rest assured this isn't a scam. I've been doing this off and on since 2008. I've received payments from Amazon in my bank account, which is basically like any other selling of books and such I've done on Amazon recently.
If you have any questions about Mechanical Turking I'm happy to answer them!
Money and Finances
True piece of paper that made me think, "You know, maybe I should give this Mint a try because this ain't working":
Yeah, a little confusing for you and me both.
I set Mint up and I'm really liking it! It's still pretty new, as I've only been tracking for a week or so, but I'm really enjoying it. I'm curious when the first month has passed if we will have any money left over or not or how it all works.
I've also added some new PF blogs to my Google Reader that I thought I'd share. They're really interesting and I've enjoyed reading them!
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