Finally Stable... Sort Of

I really wonder how anyone manages to save money. Ok Suze Orman enlighten me because I have yet to save a penny. I've been paying rent since October, I've been paying off medical bills since November. I pay my phone, cable, electric, student loans, food, gas, and ok I'll admit my credit card bills.

And still I'm going to try to move during the summer. Am I a lunatic? Does every adult feel like they are standing over a cracking fault line? I obsessively recalculate my budget and it never looks better.

However. I have a roof over my head. I'm far from starving. I commute to a job that I haven't gotten sick of yet. I have an iPhone. I buy some drinks and eat out on occasion. I bought a few new shirts a couple weeks back. Life is good...  really, what do I have to complain about?

The problem is all the things that I want. We live in a world where things are paraded in front of us, and I have expensive tastes. I want nice things. I want clothes, shoes, a beautiful apartment, vacations, a dog, regular hair cuts, manicures, pedicures, and high end skin care and makeup.

My solution? Five megamillion picks. Done.

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