Becoming an "Extreme Couponer"

I recently decided that I want to be an "extreme couponer". 

I’ve never watched the TLC show, but I had a long conversation with a friends mother yesterday about the rush she gets when she walks out of a store having gotten products for free. For free! I’ve decided since my budget is so tight... a.k.a. I still don’t have an income and I have a long list of bills that will be due soon so I cannot spend money. Ever. I need to learn how to get things for free.

She told me to check out these two websites:

http://thekrazycouponlady.com/

and http://www.couponcabin.com/

Haven’t had a chance to really explore the sites yet- hopefully I’ll be able to try them out and post some reviews.

Some other advice she had:

-Buy the Sunday paper each week. I asked if I should buy more than one but she said one should have all the coupons for the week.

-Check out JobLot. Never been there, and when I looked up locations there are only two in the near area. I’m wondering if I could get the same kinds of deals at a place like Sam’s Club, which is down the street from my apartment?

-Sign up for a card at the chains I shop at. I already have a CVS Extracare card which is fantastic because not only do 2% of all my purchases come back to me as Extrabucks, which is basically money to spend anywhere in the store, there are often deals in the store where if you are buying certain products or a certain amount you can get money back in Extrabucks. Also- a bit of advice for those with CVS Extracare cards- don’t forget to swipe your card at the coupon machine in the store for daily deals! I’ve gotten some free candy bars and little things like that just by swiping my card.  I also have a Stop and Shop card, but I’m not sure that it’s benefitting me as much as the CVS card, because while it provides me with the sale prices in the store the only thing coming back to me is money off on gas, which you have to go get at a specific gas station.

-Combine store and manufacturer coupons from online and the paper... that’s how savings really add up!

So I’m going to give this couponing thing a go... I can’t wait to see how much I can save!

xoxo,

T

Apartment? Check.

Went ahead and got an apartment. My friend and I have about three months paid for. Deposit was only 99 dollars because our credit was so good. (WHAT A STEAL). We move in October 15th. We may have committed fraud by saying we still work at The Pharmacy (we don't really- we are just still in the system) and I may not actually have an income yet.

The call that was supposed to come today about my job in insurance didn't so I was of course going out of my mind. I had a two hour interview/evaluation last Thursday which of course for no reason at all I thought I botched. The branch manager said she would give me a call on Tuesday so by four pm I was going to pass out from being tense and anxious for four and a half days. So I called, and the branch manager explained she hadn't made a decision yet pertaining to the position and would call either Thursday afternoon or FRIDAY MORNING. I CANNOT TAKE THIS.

Anyway... I have bills to pay. Lots and lots of bills. I'm going to have to look for a couple of jobs to get them paid. BUT. I have a place to live. That's a HUGE step forward. I don't really have any options in terms of where I can live, and while jumping ahead of the job to get an apartment might seem crazy, the bottom line is we have three months rent covered. That's fantastic.

Next on the list is a car. That has been quite an exhausting decision process...

xoxo

T

JOB. LIMBO. GOING. CRAZY.

I'm pretty sure I've been in limbo for the past month. No job, hoping for a job, trying not to freak out, compulsively checking my "work" e-mail. I'm pretty sure that my boyfriend thinks I'm a total stress case at this point and is probably growing a little concerned about my ability to handle the roadblocks life throws at you.

In any case, I think that everyone around me probably wants me to get a job just as much as I do, if only to put a stop to my random outbursts. They go something like this: "I can't take it! I can't wait two days for a phone call!"  "No one wants meeeee!" "I'm homeless!" "I'm a charity case!"

I have wild fantasies of strolling into an office and saying, "No need to look any further for this position- I'm here." And then of course, it being a fantasy, he/she/the person in charge glances down at my resume and shakes my hand, saying "Welcome to our team."

On the one hand I know I have to support myself no matter what, as living at home or any kind of support from the parents is never happening, so I do understand that I might have to go back to the pharmacy chain that was only tolerable for the first hour of an 8 hour shift. On the other hand I have a bachelor of arts degree from a pretty good school. I was super involved. I have work experience. I'm put together, personable, a good writer, organized, responsible.... Is it too much to ask for a job that is not miles below my qualifications?

xoxo
T

I'm beyond stress right now. My friend and I are selling the results of her mother's hoarding problem on ebay trying to make enough money to put down for an apartment. As someone with OCD and a propensity to plan everything and anything, this is quite an experience. I have no home, the place I'm staying has a deadline of October, no job, a credit card and phone bill to pay, no car, and all my fall/winter clothes are stored in my parents house where I am not welcome due to irreconcilable differences. Want to know how I figure my way out of this one? Stay tuned...

xoxo,
T




The xenophobia ironed a pancake

Success

The other day I was driving my friend’s sister L to the bus the other day and we had a conversation about young women and marriage and success and age.

First of all- why the timeline? Women seem to have very specific deadlines- they want to be married by one age, having their first child by another age. What’s the rush? If we think about how long we actually live, marriage at 25 means an average of 60 years of marriage. That’s a long freaking time. 

And L made a good point- we spend all of our childhood and teen years changing and growing and adapting to major changes in our environments and moving in and out of relationships, and then once we hit our twenties we work our butts off trying to accomplish a life of routine- something some might call stability and others might call security. Why? Why not approach our whole lives knowing full well that things can and will change, that we will encounter the unexpected, that we can and will enter and exit relationships- or sustain them. Why do we not seek out change and the unexpected once we graduate from college? Or rather- why is that the opposite of what we are “supposed” to do?

We decided it came down to measuring success. Whose job is it to define success? Shouldn’t each individual define it for him/herself? Whose to say that a singleminded pursuit of career and money is what makes one successful? What about happiness and balance- satisfaction and love? What about quality relationships, free time to play and stretch our creative side? 

On that note.. what does success mean to me?


xoxo
T

A Quick Note on Exhaustion...

I don't think I could be more exhausted. On my third day of working 12 hour days and I give everyone who does so on a regular basis all year round SO much credit. Truly- to those people I bow down to you. As for me, I certainly have my limits. If I hadn't popped an adderall before the night started at the restaurant I don't think I would have made it because I was already dragging at the pharmacy.

But then I had the most lovely conversation with a wonderful couple that comes in the restaurant all the time. They are older, locals in this tourist community, and very involved. We chatted about sororities, my degree in religion/sociology, and ended up talking about Catholic church reforms. To my surprise I walked away from that conversation feeling incredibly energized... as it turns out I can be physically exhausted to the point where I'm ready to curl up in a floor in the corner, and get a second wind from a rather short conversation. Thinking about this later I decided that it felt so good because I was using my brain for the first time in a few days, and it felt great. Talking to people who were interested in my opinion, wanted to discuss things that required some critical thinking, and listening to their own opinions is clearly something I've been missing and I didn't even know it. All the more motivation to finish the summer and find a job where my intelligence is an asset and I'm not just pressing buttons, repeating myself, and smiling at grumpy old people and tourists until I think my face is frozen!

xoxo
T

My Current Job Situation

There is quite possibly no greater motivation to get your butt moving and get job searching for a "real life" job than working two retail/customer service jobs in a tourist town. By that I mean I am a cashier at a chain drug store and a hostess at a small, family run restaurant that is really flailing business wise and has the strangest staff possible, and I cringe every time I slip on my polo or dirty restaurant shirt with the lobster on my boob because I can feel my lovely liberal arts university education going to waste. And almost in the same moment I am ashamed of my blatant snobbery. That fine line those few conscientious souls in academia walk between their hoity toity theories and their awareness that they are part of an exclusive population and that they really aren't qualified to judge anyone and their life choices- after all aren't we all a product of our circumstances?- is a really difficult line to walk and I find myself drawn back there this summer time and again. In my anxiety to find a job for the fall, which I'm hoping will be some kind of balance between useful for my income in stimulating for my mind, I find myself wondering what the hell the "locals" are doing being satisfied slaving away in a dim little seafood place that forever will smell like fish and chips?

And yet... what the hell do I want to do with my life? I have no specific career desires. If I had to pick one thing I would say writer. Closely followed by actress. Part of me wishes that my parents had forced me into nursing school. Or instilled in me some burning desire to go to medical school that would have pushed me through the Chem and Bio classes and terribly long hours of lab... all things I avoided in college. On the one hand I have a really interesting and well rounded education background. On the other I am not trained for anything. I have yet to figure out how to effectively and creatively bottle and name my excellent communication, organizational and leadership skills in order to convince someone to hire me.

It seems that the weather today will be just as depressing as my train of thought this morning so I'm just hoping that the customers at both of the jobs I am working today aren't too grumpy. My fuse is getting shorter and shorter and I would really hate to lose it and go apeshit at a mean old lady today.

xoxo
T

Facebook Burnout

In contemplating my first post, it being rather momentous, as all "firsts" tend to be, I considered how to get off to a good start. What would make me sound the most interesting? What would be a good way to kick off what I hope will be a successful venture?

There was one thing that kept coming to my mind, and I tried to ignore it because it didn't really fit the witty and somewhat glamorous start to my blog that I desired, but I can't let it go. I keep thinking of how annoyed I am with Facebook. I know, I know, what a breakthrough thought! (kidding- I'll need to watch my sarcasm on here, so as not to confuse my multitude of readers. Hah- there it is again. In reality I have zero)

But really, it's irritating me that I am 'so over it'. I'm part of the Facebook generation! When it was invented, I was about to head to college. It was made for me! I should love it!  I suppose I did once. I could easily lose hours scrolling through my news feed and new pictures, editing my list of friends (is there anything more satisfying than deciding someone didn't make the cut and deleting them?), and looking at friends of friends with open profiles. I once religiously checked the birthdays to make sure I didn't offend anyone by not writing on his or her wall. I once even uploaded albums that carefully documented college stupidity/fun. Of course now those are locked down so tight I'm the only one who can view them, and my privacy settings are so strict that I'm not even sure my Wall is visible to my friends, since the job market doesn't seem to be very forgiving of that college stupidity/fun.

I'm not sure when it happened but I've slowly lost interest in Facebook. The thought of logging on to check  my news feed is unappealing and exhausting to even consider. Quite frankly I'm bored. I don't care that Sally McBoring wrote "Hey what's up! Miss you even though its only been a week xoxo" on Suzy McEvenMoreBoring's wall. I never remember to take pictures so I don't really need to upload them. I don't want to have inane public conversations with acquaintances and I would rather text or call my good friends. I use LinkedIn for job networking. So why do I even have an account?

Honestly? Without it I would NEVER remember birthdays. Nowhere on any of my many calendars or planners (I have a slight self control problem with office supplies and paper products) are any birthdays written down. So for now I'll keep my account, and hope that I'll feel some resurgence of fondness for the website. I just wonder what happened... and am I the only one with Facebook burnout?

xoxo
T