What This Site (and I) Will Not Be

I was re-reading through parts of Dave Ramsey’s “Total Money Makeover” before I returned it to the library, and a testimonial caught my eye that had irritated me at first, and irritated me a lot more the second time around. It was about a young couple who scrimped and saved and lived an impoverished life for a long time until they were able to save enough money for a 100% down-payment on a home. I think that planning on paying a 100% down on a home is admirable, but I don’t think that a young and just-married couple should cut out everything but the bare necessities and deprive themselves of almost every bit of sensory pleasure in order to buy a house all-out sooner. Can a lovely honeymoon enjoyed in the first flushes of conjugal love be completely recaptured by a vacation one takes after several years of what appeared to me to be a majorly financial partnership? I think not. It apparently worked for the young couple in question, but I am sure it will not work for me.

And so, I think it is time that I decided what I will and will not do in my journey towards financial freedom. I will definitely be frugal – as frugal as I comfortably can be. I don’t think I believe in never treating myself to anything nice, eating all my meals at home, buying only low-quality clothes, food etc. I will be young only once, and I plan on enjoying myself as much as I can. I know I have wasted a big chunk of my youth incurring debts that I will take a few years to pay off. But I will not deprive myself of the rest of it. I’ll take a few cuts, sure… but I’ll do so without turning into a miser. My answer to the $40 wines I used to buy shall not be drinking water for seven years, but rather shall me the $10 bottle of wine which has been marked down to $8. I shall not replace my hitherto expensive vacations with a no-travel policy, but shall rather plan for shorter vacations, and save the cash for them before I do any of the spending.

And my blog will reflect the same – I shall talk not just about how I make and save, but also about how I spend my money – in frugal albeit fun ways. This is not going to be a blog that talks about how to cut out all expense and live on a shoestring budget, how to manage not eating out in four months, and so on. If you choose to live so, please do. I can afford not to because I know that in a few years time, I will be earning many times more than I am now. I also am able to completely forgo things that have been unnecessary frills in order to splurge on my own special indulgences. I also know that it is essential that I enjoy my financial awareness for it to last any length of time.

What do you think? Should I be cutting out all expense in order to get out of debt? Or is my more lenient approach okay too?

The Difference Financial Awareness Makes

Last year at this time (mid-summer), I was completely broke, and had already run up an additional $1000 in credit card bills. This year, I have $2200 to spend in my checking account. Why such a dramatic difference? This has happened purely because I am more aware of my own financial situation now, and have been taking steps to prevent sinking to rock bottom like I did last year. Let me tell you why I was broke last year….

I am graduate student on a 9-month contract. Summer funding, usually in the form of teaching or research assistantships is extremely difficult to come by in my department, and even when it does, is terribly meager. Summer work even outside the department is extremely difficult to come by. There are a few reasons for this: I live in a college town, which reduces in size in the summer to about one-fourth its original population. This creates a dearth of employment opportunities. But also, because most of the people who do stay in town are usually looking for employment, including the high-school students and summer partiers looking to fund their weekend booze, there is increased demand for employment. The result of this depressing trend is that any job that I do land is usually not worth the money. This summer more than ever, I need to be aware of how I spend my time since I take my massive Ph.D. qualifying exams in mid-August and need to schedule intensive studying for as much time as I can. Last year, although I did land a summer research assistantship, it paid only $1300 after taxes for the whole summer. That is how I came to be broke, and running up credit card debt. This had been my story the past few years as well, but I was engaged at that time, and my fiancé who earned many times as much as I did usually covered my summer expenditure.

However, this has not been the case this summer. Let’s take a look:

What has not changed?
• Summer employment opportunities still remain pitiably low.
• I still don’t have any savings (greater than $100).

What has added on to the financial burden this year?
• I have an additional monthly payment of $210 for a newer car.
• In March I took a two-week long break from work and went on a long road trip that cost me almost $2000, which I could have used for summer money. However, I am glad I took this trip since it provided me with some much needed travel and relaxation, and has been pivotal in keeping me sane. It also was a period of self-exploration that turned out to be priceless.

What changed? Well, for one, over this past year, I have become very aware of my finances. This affected all the following points:
• I moved to a much smaller, much crappier (but still inhabitable) basement studio apartment in a dilapidated old house to save money – the savings are not much, but are just short of my monthly car loan installments, so I don’t place any additional strain on my wallet.
• I have stopped raking up additional credit card debt, and consequently my monthly payments are lower.
• I was as frugal as comfortably possible during the non-summer months and paid off a few credit cards with smaller balances.
• I transferred balances to low APR% credit cards to avoid finance charges.
• I negotiated with my landlady to do maintenance work around the house in lieu of $50 off monthly.
• I use public transport as much as possible to save on gas.
• I cook more at home to save on food expenses.
• I use more coupons and shop for deals (this doesn’t happen a great deal, but has definitely saved me about $10 over the past two months).
• I gave up my Netflix subscription, and began using the public library (always free), and Redbox (almost always free – see promo codes in the right-sidebar of this blog), saving me about $15/month ($17 Netflix subscription – Approx $2 for Redbox when I run out of promo codes).
• I began this blog (late in the year, but I had been journaling off and on before I began blogging) to keep me motivated and accountable.
• I made a budget each month, and tried to stick to it. I almost never succeeded, but the budgets saved me from going too over the top and definitely saved me a few hundred dollars.
• I made a separate summer budget knowing that my income each summer month would be different, so I ended up not spending everything in my checking account by the end of the month. The money I now have in my checking account has to be carefully used over the next three months when my monthly income will be much smaller than it has been these past two months.
• I have become more comfortable asking for discounts and jobs, and have been greatly amazed at how often I seem to get what I ask for when I do ask.
• I negotiated with my department, and competed with a lot of other students for a higher paying summer assistantship (approx. $1850 over the summer).
• Additional Income: I lobbied (read begged) for, and got additional summer funding with a different department (approx. $1200 over the summer).
• Additional Income: I sold books I no longer need on Amazon.
• Additional Income: I sold a few household objects off on Craigslist.
• Additional Income: I joined and completed online surveys for cash.
• Additional Income: I pet-sat for a nominal fee.

Isn't it wonderful what being financially aware and responsible can do? I don't think I am ever going back to the old me!

What’s in My Wallet?

In the spirit of being open about my finances, I have decided to post what’s in my wallet. This post was inspired by one of those CapitalOne commercials which feature hordes of club-wielding, bloodthirsty, yet financially-informed Huns running amuck in modern-day American cities.

My wallet itself is a fairly unimpressive resin affair that I got from the cohort ahead of me in my graduate program at a “Welcome the New Cohort” party four years ago. It features the school mascot stamped into the resin, and has one-fold, both sides of which are held together with Velcro. In addition, it features a see-though plastic pocket on the front, a see-through plastic pocket inside the fold, an opaque pocket on the other side of the fold, and over this opaque pocket, a little zipper pocket for change. I am quite impressed that this little wallet, which probably did not cost more than $8 – and even that only because of the school logo that makes merchandise wickedly expensive, has survived without too much damage in four years of daily use. I used to use a much prettier and better-quality, but also much bulkier Nine West wallet that I replaced for two reasons: I wanted something smaller to carry in my bag, and unlike the current wallet, the old one did not have a see-through front opening that allowed me to flash my ID to the bus-drivers and I hated getting the card out every time I boarded a bus. So, here goes… this is what’s in my wallet:

See-through front pocket:
University ID (also acts as free bus-pass)
Driver’s License
Magnetic key for access to office
2 Coupons for: Swiffer, Febreeze

See-through inside pocket:
Public Library Card
Vehicle Insurance Card Duplicate
Medical Insurance Card
Spare Check (just in case I need a check)
Credit Union Membership Card
Borders Gift Card (approx. $15 balance)
Walgreens Gift Card (approx. $25 balance)
Target Gift Card (approx. $6 balance)
Walmart Shopping Card (approx $150 balance)
Advanta Mastercard
USBank Visa Debit Card
Bills that I have not entered in my keep-track .xls file
Post-it with Redbox Promo Code (see right sidebar)

Opaque inside front pocket:
On-going grocery list
3 coupons for Scotch Envelopes (handy for mailing Amazon sales)
1 Best-Buy coupon for 10% off in-store purchase
2 Hy-Vee pizza punch cards that I NEVER use
$2.00 in dollar notes

Zipper change-pocket:
$.70 in coins
1 button that had come off a top a few weeks ago

You know, it is a good thing that I looked. I had almost forgotten about the Borders and Target gift cards. I also reminded myself to give away the half-used pizza punch cards that I never use anymore, sewed the button back on again and marveled at the extremely tiny sum that I carry around in cash. I also found a few scraps of paper with phone numbers on them that I promptly entered into my cell phone, and discarded.

There you go, you bloodthirsty, club-wielding Huns – now you know what’s in my wallet – and it’s not a CapitalOne card!

Forgotten Treasure

I just made the most delightful discovery! I was cleaning out a cupboard and came across a purse that I have not used in the last three years. I considered putting along with a collection of other things that I hope to sell at a yard sale in a few weeks’ time, but the purse is too pretty to sell. Anyway, I looked through the pockets and among other relics of myself three years ago, I found thirty-five dollars secreted away neatly in a small, almost-hidden pocket!!! I was in raptures and did a victory dance around my living room. I now have more money to add to my June Monthly Challenge!

It is amazing finding money when you don’t expect to see it there, and I am almost tempted to conceal another tidy little sum in some other secret cache to discover in another two years’ time – but I’ll probably remember it all along and it won’t really be the same thing.

P.S. I received a variety of important looking documents and an ATM card from my new HSBC Direct savings account. I’m quite impressed, and HSBC has convinced me that by banking with them, I am truly getting good value for my money. My old credit union savings account wasn’t half as fancy, and I feel quite the snob right now. :-)

Opened New HSBC Savings Account

I opened a new high-yeild online savings account with HSBC Direct. I transfered the measly $100 I have in my Credit Union savings account to it and plan on sending in my snowflakes to this account until I reach my $1000 goal. It offers 3.50% APY till Aug 2008, after which is it 3.45% APY. It does not require any minimum deposit and you can link your checking account from any other bank to this account for easy transfers of money. I shopped around for a bit and thought this was the best option out there.

P.S. The Customer Service number offers options for service in four different languages! Isn't that amazing? I feel quite satisfied with how multiculturally competent HSBC is!

Free Suze Orman e-book

Suze Orman's much read and applauded 274-page book, "Women and Money" costs $16.47 (Amazon.com), but you can download it free if you do so in the next few days (before Friday 06/27/08).

DOWNLOAD "Women and Money"

First Monthly Challenge Accomplished!

About a month and a half ago, I decided that I would challenge myself to find an extra $150 each month to add to my debt-repayment/savings goals. June was the first month, and I have surpassed my goal of $150 by a few dollars ($154.77). There are a few more days to go, but I wanted to share the great sense of achievement that I have right now. At the end of the month, I'll summarize how I made the money. You can also see the progress on my left side-bar. If only I had started the monthly challenge 2 years ago! I don't suppose I'll reach my target every month, but I'll keep trying... It's great fun to look around one to see where you could find money. In July, I am going to hold a garage sale, and hopefully that will help meet my July goal. :-)

Free Redbox DVD Rental

Hello All,

Here's a promotional code you can use to rent a redbox DVD FREE!! The code is not valid for much longer, so the sooner you use it up, the better:

EGIZER5

Enjoy!
~Azalea.

PayPerPost Approved

Yahoo! My first PayPerPost blog post got approved. That's $20 minus fees. I don't have the money yet, but will do in a few weeks time. Although I am excited, I am not qualified for any other opportunity on payperpost. Probably because I am a new blogger and am not connected/read very widely yet. Now, how do I get linked to others quickly?

Now, Seriously!

Money seems to be wandering around looking for me. I said about a month ago that once you start looking for money, it seems to just keep coming to you - it's true: FINDING MONEY IS EASY ONCE YOU START LOOKING FOR IT. It practically falls into your lap apparently. Check this out - My major professor is working on a grant application and needs some extra help. She offered me an additional 5 hours of work/week for the Fall. Time-wise, this fall is going to be a tight semester, but with a bit of effort, it can be done. That would mean an additional $1200 after taxes over the whole semester! That would probably pay for my internship applications. I was dreading that expense. I love my major professor!

Random Thought: Online Surveys

Although I was initially skeptical about them, I find that the online surveys are quite an interesting and easy way to make some extra money. At first I thought it was too much work for too little money, but I have discovered that you just need to find the right survey companies. In the past two months I have made $43.40. Of this, I have $17.50 are locked in as points at GlobalTestMarket since you have to have a minimum of $50 with them in order to be able to cash out. But I still did get checks for the other $25.90.

The Economic Depression Might Be More Manageable Than We Think

Sometimes I wish I was not in the habit of watching the news three times a day – almost everything on CNN these days is extremely depressing news about the economy. Even the news coverage of the horrible Midwest floods frequently includes economically worrying information about how such major flooding in these agricultural states is going to negatively impact the economy. I feel a sense of depression settling on me. In several ways I am much better off than many others – I don’t have a house mortgage or stiflingly large student loans. However, I do have a low graduate assistant income and no full-time job for another two years, and who knows what the economy will look like then. And it appears that whichever way I turn, I am confronted with more depressing news about the economy. However, I found a very encouraging article on MSNBC Business – it’s about a year and three months old, but quite refreshing to read. I wonder if what he says isn't valid anymore…

*************************************************************
John W. Schoen
03/18/2007

Economists and officials like Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson are correct in saying that — at this moment, today — the U.S. economy remains healthy. The question is what happens next, which no one, not even the sagest of economists, can predict. Economies are like mobs: they can get ugly, but you really can’t tell when or if the riot will start or how long it will last.

But a little perspective is in order. Some of us watching the current mortgage meltdown and stock market gyrations remember the real estate slide and stock market crash of the 1980s. (Others, including some of the younger mortgage brokers who made all these risky loans that are now going up in smoke, apparently weren’t around then.)

The lending problems in the 1980s — both in the savings and loan mortgage market and the junk bond mania on Wall Street — were much worse that anything we've seen so far today. When it was all over, more than 1,000 thrift institutions, holding $519 billion, had been closed down in the “greatest collapse of U.S. financial institutions since the 1930s,” according to a summary report by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

At the worst of the 1980s crunch, we heard respected forecasters talk about 50 percent drops in housing prices and dire predictions of impending economic doom. Bookshelves sprouted titles like “How to Prepare for the Coming Economic Collapse” complete with advice on stocking up on canned goods.

But when the dust settled, the depression of the 1990s didn’t happen. Yes, we had a fairly nasty recession in 90-91, the housing market unraveled (home prices fell somewhat or were flat for many years in some markets), major commercial developers went bust, Congress had to write a check for over $100 billion to clean up the mess, and some S&L cowboys who wrote junk bonds that weren't worth the paper they were printed on went to jail. Within a few years, the economy was back on its feet again. Within a decade, the Fed chairman was worrying out loud about “irrational exuberance.”

It’s often said that economic cycles, and the markets that finance them, swing between fear and greed. Today, with the “fear factor” on the ascendancy, it’s useful to consider the scale of economic devastation brought by the Great Depression. Between 1929 and 1933, U.S. Gross Domestic Product fell from $103.6 billion to $56.4 billion — a 46 percent contraction that took 10 years to retrace. By contrast, the 1990-91 recession that followed the late 1980s housing collapse lasted 8 months, and GDP dropped by about 1 percent.

You can never say never again, but there are a number of reasons to believe that the odds of seeing another contraction on the scale of the Great Depression in your lifetime are pretty remote. The 1930s actually produced two back-to-back contractions; since then, historians have unearthed a number of government and businesses mistakes that actually made things worse and prolonged the agony.

Those lessons learned may help explain why modern recessions tend to be shorter and shallower than the panics and busts of earlier economic upheavals. From 1854 to 1919, for example, there were 16 downturns lasting an average of 22 months, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. From 1919-1945, the average downturn lasted 18 months. From 1945-2001, the average recession lasted just 8 months.

While any recession is painful, recent downturns have been relatively mild by historical standards. One useful measure is the number of people who lose their jobs. In the recession of mid 1970s, the unemployment rate jumped from 4.6 percent to 9 percent. In the 1980-82 slump, the jobless rate shot up from 5.7 to 10.8 percent. In 1990-91 it went from 5.0 percent to 7.8 percent. In 2000, after falling to 3.8 percent, the jobless rate hit 6.3 percent in 2003 before dropping back to 4.5 percent today.

So before you buy a gun, fill your car with canned goods, and head for the woods – take a deep breath. The economy maybe headed for a rough patch. But it’s done so every ten years or so in our lifetime, worked out the problems that caused it to stumble, got up and dusted itself off, and went on its merry way. Your forecast is as good as mine. But, based on what’s going on today, we’re betting against a catastrophic, Hollywood-movie-style economic collapse.

*************************************************************

Random Thought - Selling My Car

Sometimes I think I ought to sell my car. It's a lovely car and I've had it for less than a year. But selling it would save me monthly payments, insurance and gas. I could rent cars for travel like I used to do before I bought this car. It would cut my debt-repayment time by a year. And when I eventually get a job after graduating, I could buy a new Hybrid vehicle. I probably won't do it thought - I am too dependent on the car and cannot do without it for 2 years.

Good Riddance Chase Visa!

I just paid off my Chase Visa debt in FULL!! Using a combination of snowflaking and balance-transferring, I have managed to see the back of that horrible, oppressive and unmanageable debt. It will take a few days before the payment posts, but the account is already closed and I need not have anything else to do with that horrible company ever again. I hate Chase with a vengeance. And as I browse other PF blogs, I see that I am not alone in my loathing of the company. Every single Customer service representative of Chase that I have dealt with has been rude, offensive, obnoxious and desperately in need of a crash course in charm school. It’s almost as if every employee of the company has had special training in being nasty to customers.

When I first got my Chase Visa card, I was happy – it was at a 7.99% fixed APR and was easy to manage. I did run up huge bills on it – more than $5000, but I was making at least the minimum payments and cruising along. And then through a horrible oversight, I missed a payment when I was out of the country for three months. When I returned, I called them and asked them if they could reverse the late-fee. Now most places I know will excuse a one-time late payment – not Chase. They bumped my APR up to 24.24% variable, and did not reverse my late fee. Every time I called them to ask them to reduce my APR, they were horrible to me. One customer service rep even told me, “The way to keep your APR down is to make regular payments. It’s your fault you are in this mess.” Those were her exact words – I wrote them down in my diary so I would never forget! They are true, but I don’t think that’s an appropriate way to talk to your customers.

About a year later, I received a letter informing me of changes to my account. Among all the other changes in policy etc, there was a note that my APR was being bumped up to 32.99% variable! I had no clue why – I had been making all my payments on time and had not messed anything else up. I called Chase again to find out why. The customer service person this time said it was because I had a high debt and since I was only making the minimum payments, there was a good chance that I might soon default on the account. I was left speechless – if they thought I was running up too much debt to make even the minimum payments, why in the world were they trying to speed up that process?? I did not see how they profited from this. It was only much later that a friend of mine in the finance field told me that they did it because they probably thought that I was a “good bet” – a graduate student who has been making payments and calling often to try and see how I could pay the whole thing off – they knew I was dedicated to returning their money, so they thought they could add on some more money since I was probably going to pay it off anyway. The only way I could get off this hike in APR was to close the account, which I gladly did. I had no desire to use Chase anymore.

A few months ago, I redoubled my efforts to get out of debt. I started calling Chase again. After several rounds of calling, as usual lots of rude customer service reps (one of them even hung up on me when I asked to be connected with her supervisor), placing requests for reduced APRs and several rounds of such requests being rejected, I was not making any progress at all. One stupid Chase employee I talked with even suggested that I transfer my balances to a lower interest card – how in the world did he think that would be to Chase’s advantage? I wonder what Chase would have thought of that!

During this time, I was making several attempts at getting lower interest cards to transfer my Chase balance to. I either got rejected because of my high debt:income ratio, or got cards with miniscule balances until I finally scored with my Advanta card. And now, I am free of the horrible Chase Visa debt. I SHALL NEVER EVER AGAIN BE A CHASE CUSTOMER! And that is even if I get an unbeatable offer from Chase – their rude and ridiculous service isn’t worth any small financial gain their cards can offer.

GOOD RIDDANCE CHASE VISA! I HATE YOU!!

Fifteen Mangoes

I love Indian food. Three is no other food that makes me quite as happy as Indian food. Consequently, I cook a lot of it. I am vegetarian, and the variety of vegetables used in Indian cooking is positively astounding. Unfortunately, Indian vegetables are not easy to come by. Anyway, I was at the local international grocery store yesterday since it was vegetable-restocking day and I wanted to be in early so I could get my pick of veggies. I bought fresh Indian chillies, tapioca, plantains and colocasia taro (which I have not eaten in four long years, and so was very excited to see them at the store). I had come early in the hopes that I would find raw mangoes with which I planned on making spicy and savory mango-coconut chutney. Raw mangoes are practically unavailable in the US - even mangoes that look green have slightly ripe insides - the sharply sour Indian mangoes are nowhere to be found. However, I was ready to make do with even the reddish green ones if they appeared firm and raw. But there were none. The owner of the international store was very apologetic. He said that he still had almost a whole box left over from the week before because no one wanted them. I didn't either, and so he said he'd throw the lot away. I asked him not to - horrified at the thought of all those mangoes going to waste. And then he offered them to me. For free.

Needless to say, I took them. I brought the lot home, peeled, sliced and cubed the lot and packed the pieces into individual Ziploc bags and stored them all in my freezer. Over the next few months, they will be cooked - with lentils, yogurt, coconut milk and other yummy foods. And although I hadn't planned on spending the money on buying so many mangoes, I estimate I saved about $15 on them. :-)

I've Confused Myself

I have been keeping elaborate records of everything that I am spending, saving, wasting, making and so on. I confused myself yesterday because of all this complicated record keeping and made a payment too large towards my Chase Visa, and somehow didn't count for a $60 automatic payment. I'll be fine with a little juggling of money, but it's all too much effort. So yesterday, I pared down my overly complicated record-keeping a bit. I still keep track of everything, but in a simpler manner. In terms of what I show on my blog, it doesn't make much difference except to the Monthly Challenge. I've decided to do make the time period of the challenge one regular month at a time as opposed to the 15th - 15th, I had originally planned. So I sent off the May challenge amount towards debt, and updated the Monthly Challenge Bar to reflect only my June snowflakes.

I will receive some money later this month that I can use to pay off the remaining of my Chase Visa balance. I think that after that I shall channel all Monthly Challenge money towards my freedom account until it reaches $1000. Talking about snowflakes, I listed a 24" Weber charcoal grill (that the previous tenant of my apartment had left behind) on Craigslist for $15. I have someone coming to look at it today. I hope he buys it... more money is always great. :-)

UPDATE: The man did not buy my grill. He was into competition barbeques (never knew such a thing existed), and did not think my grill would match his needs. Hopefully with the summer just starting, others will be interested.

Random Thought - Economic Stimulus

Rumors of a new economic stimulus check are floating around. I feel rather horrible saying this - despite the pitiable, debt-laden state the U.S. economy is in, I would very much like to get a second stimulus check to add towards my own debt reduction.

Online Survey Cash

I got paid for taking online surveys. I never thought I'd actually get to
cash out, but today I received two checks - $10 from Opinion Outpost, and $3 from Pinecone Research. $13 more dollars to go towards my first Monthly Challenge. I find that I spend a lot more time trying to qualify for online surveys that actually taking ones I qualify for. However, getting paid is wonderful. I probably spent way too much time for a $13 compensation, but getting this money was wonderfully sweet! In addition to the ones I already mentioned, other online survey sites that I recommend are: MyPoints and Global Test Market. I haven't tried too many others, but I believe that there are some really good options out there. I love making money like this - if only I got paid all the time for my opinions!

Dog-Sitting Cash

Yay! I landed my first job in the Baby/Pet/House Sitting/Walking job. When I applied for the baby-sitting job that paid too little, I asked a friend whose children I occasionally baby-sit (for free, since I love the kids) for a reference. I think she was a little taken aback by my looking for side-jobs, but obliged by giving me reference. Now, a week and a half later, she asked if I would like to dog-sit for her while she and her family go camping with friends this weekend. I wanted to do it for free for her, but she insisted that she would pay me. She said she'd pay me $8/day which is just under what the kennel charges apparently, and I agreed. Aren't people supportive and sweet? Everyone's always trying to help out - I've found so many people so receptive to this money saving/making journey I am on. So, the little doggie (she's only a few months old, and a real sweetheart) got dropped off at my place last night. And I'll have $24/- more to put towards my monthly challenge come next week. :-)

I watched the news today about the skyrocketing oil prices - shooting up once again. Oil is at $134.67 nearing an all-time high of $135.09. Gas prices are bound to follow suit. My sister has borrowed my car for a month, so I'm commuting by bus and walking a great deal more and I really don't miss having to pour huge amounts of money into my gas tank. Maybe once I get the car back next month, I'll continue doing what I am doing now. I'd sell my car to help reduce payments and debt, but I use it so often to travel that I sure hanging on to it is a better idea than hiring rental cars each time. Oh well... it's progress that is my goal, not perfection.

P.S. I sold some DVD's on Amazon and added the money towards my May-June monthly challenge which is now at $185.79, which is way above my goal amount. I have fully-funded my first monthly challenge with one week still to go. I didn't think I could do it, but have - and the feeling is delicious! In another week, all that money goes to pay half of my Chase Visa debt.

I Joined PayPerPost !!!

My Blog just got approved for payperpost. I am very excited. PayPerPost (PPP) is an exciting service that offers bloggers money to blog. I first heard about it through some of the blogs I frequent. I also watched testimonial videos on YouTube about how wonderful PPP is. I was skeptical at first about it – “Yeah right! You just get paid money to do what you like – there must be a catch”. Shady and cynical thoughts along those lines raced through my mind. But everyone seemed to be raving about it, and I decided to do some additional research. I read testimonials on several other blogs, looked through the various blog forums and communities and so on. I was astonished to see that everyone without exception seemed to really like PPP. So, I decided to join it – and am happy about this decision. So from now on, I shall periodically be featuring paid reviews on my blog!

Here is how PPP works – It’s simple beyond measure. If you’re a blogger, you sign up for PPP, they approve your blog, you avail of advertising opportunities listed on PPP and review or write about products etc., your post is approved, and then, just like that, YOU GET PAID! But beyond just getting paid, I have found PPP extremely useful in a variety of different ways. I also discovered several exciting and new blogs through the PPP site. PPP’s website is very functional and easy to navigate. And what’s most exciting to me are the forums. The PPP forums are full of bloggers – it’s a great place to meet other bloggers and discuss almost anything under the sun with them. The participants of the forums are wonderful – welcoming, helpful and always ready to help or advice. There is also a great sense of camaraderie and community on the PPP forums. And this has been my experience of only a few days – I look forward eagerly to all the PPP delights I haven’t discovered yet. Having fun and earning lots of money to help eliminate my debt and start saving – what else could be as perfect??

A New Outlook

The cooking at home challenge failed on Day 1 - I ended up buying a sandwich for $3.75 at the cafeteria because I was lazy and slow and did not have time to pack lunch for today. This shall not happen tomorrow. I did cook a bunch of dishes yesterday, so I have homemade food ready for a few days. On Friday, I am dining with a friend at an all-you-can-eat buffet, but it won't cost much since we have coupons for $4.00 dinners each. And on Saturday, a friend is taking me out to a posh restaurant to eat - and I won't have to pay. On all other days, I lunch and dine on the concoctions of my own labor!

I have something quite exciting to share - I have been blogging only for a month now, and watching my spending only for a few months. Yesterday, as I walked down the grocery aisle (on an empty stomach too), I saw so many items that would have tempted me in my pre-frugal days, but which no longer held any attractions for me. I saw packets of potato crisps, donut holes and other yummy looking processed food and felt no yearning to purchase or consume any of them. I also saw other non-eatable erstwhile tempters, and kept thinking, "Who in their right minds would pay $... for THAT!?!?" Needless to say, I walked out with only what I had intended on getting. I hadn't expected to see such dramatic changes in my attitude so quickly. But, isn't it lovely?

Cooking At Home Challenge

Payday rolled around, and I have less money than usual since my contract for May was only a half-month contract. So, I have decided to implement something that I have tried often but never succeeded in - cook and eat at home everyday! I have lots of stuff in my pantry and if I wisely plan meals and shop for the basics only, I will be able to pull through the summer without any trouble. Also, I had loaned my sister $350/- which she will return sometime this month. With that, and my May-June Challenge money, I should be able to pay off my Chase Visa debt and still have my head above water.

As a side note - I did not take the baby-sitting job that paid $2.5/hr. :-)