Tom says I am one hell of a woman.
August 21, 2009
I called Comcast and told them I had to cancel the landline because we’re too poor to pay for it, and they knocked twenty-five bucks off our bill, amped up our internet, and threw in HBO.
See, that’s the kind of thing that money-saving websites always tell you to do, and I’m like, THAT WILL NEVER WORK, but lo and behold. I wonder who else I can call and threaten with defection. I wish I could do it to Dunkin’ Donuts.
Why has the train stopped?
March 12, 2009
Last Friday I took the bus to New York after work. Normally I hate riding the bus at night–the darkness makes me blue and also afraid I might get murdered at any second. This time, though, before I left I downloaded a performance of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express–which I’d never heard or read before–onto my iPod.
You GUYS. It was pure bliss.
My mom watched a lot of Poirot on PBS when I was a kid, so I had some idea of what I was in for, but I wasn’t expecting to be so completely delighted. The quirky characters, the suspense, the accents! I love books on tape anyway, but this was like listening to my own private play. I pulled my knees up to my chest, closed my eyes, and let myself get swallowed–before I knew it, the bus was all the way down 95. I’m definitely going to look into getting my hands on some more spoken-word performances.
A book on tape from the library plus a twenty-dollar bus ride–not such a budget way to travel after all.
Five Date-Friendly Movies
February 27, 2009
Anyway, every once in awhile a movie comes along that hits the sweet spot, that tiny overlapping sliver of the Ven diagram where the two of us look at each other once it’s over and go, “That was awesome.” Here are five movies that have gotten equal love from both sides of the sofa:
1. Almost Famous: This movie is one of my all-time favorites, period. The music. The seventies glam. Patrick Fugit’s floofy little face. Cameron Crowe being literary and smart and sweetly hilarious. A chick flick that’s also a dude flick.
2. Forgetting Sarah Marshall: This movie is one part random hilarity to one part gross-out to one part luuuuuuuv. Something for everybody.
3. Ironman: A smart action movie if there ever was one. Plus, it features (the super-damaged) Robert Downey, Jr. playing (the super-damaged) Tony Stark. If you’ve met me for five minutes, you know that damaged men are my kryptonite. I was sold. Plus, there’s flying! And science!
4. Gone Baby Gone: Either one of us would be equally happy to swap this one out for Good Will Hunting or The Departed. Basically as long as it takes place in Boston and there is a Damon and/or an Affleck in it, we’re going to be on board. Bonus points for aerial shots of the sketchy power plant near our house.
5. Slumdog Millionaire: I didn’t want to like Slumdog. When the world unanimously thinks something is awesome, it makes me feel suspicious: U2, for instance. Angelina Jolie. Soy. So it was with a certain amount of resistance that Leprechaun and I went into this one on a recent double date. But just. Uncle. I loved it. So did he. It was beautiful and sad and violent and lovely and has approximately one hundred breathtaking shots of the color yellow.
watching the children and the garden grow
February 18, 2009
photo: gardengrowth.com
Victory of the day: Convincing Leprechaun that we should do the CSA program at Stone Soup Farm this summer. I’ve been obsessed with CSAs since I first discovered them a couple of years ago thanks to Barbara Kingsolver, but it never seemed particularly practical–I worried it would be too expensive, and a lot of times you need a car for pickup. Lately, though, I’ve been on this kick of saying “what the heck” to as many adventures as possible, and after talking to my buddy Stef about it last night, I think we’re going to hop on board.
If you’re not familiar with CSAs, the basic gimmick is that you pay a certain amount of money up front to a farm for a percentage of the harvest over the course of a growing season. Every week you go and pick up your share for the week–a box of whatever happens to have sprouted from the ground over the last couple of days. Or, like I said to Leprechaun when I gave him the hard sell–a treasure chest! Of vegetables! Every week!
I was sort of worried about the cost-effectiveness of this particular endeavor, but when I did the math it turns out that a half-share works out, over the course of twenty weeks, to about what I’d pay for anemic tomatoes at my local Stop and Shop. So in addition to being community-friendly, this one’s wallet-friendly, too.
Oh MAN I am already fantasizing about the kale.
to be fair, it was actually kind of beautiful.
February 17, 2009
My cousin D had ten bridesmaids, a trumpet player, and a smoke machine. It cost a hundred grand.
Works for Me Wednesday: Pennies, pinched.
February 4, 2009
1. Bank of America’s MyPortfolio feature. I started tracking my budget more closely in January using PearBudget, which I really liked, but it costs money after the first 30 days. I have some issues with the size and scope BofA (“homogenize the world mochachinoland…”) but boy howdy do I like how they automatically organize all my checkcard transactions into a neat little pie chart to help keep me on track.
2. The Bolt Bus. I wish the Bolt, which runs from Boston to NY and NY to Philly, had existed when I was a freshman in college and waiting for the Lucky Star on a street corner in the freezing cold just to save a buck. The drivers are friendly, there’s a place in every seat to plug in your iPod, AND they’ve got free wifi. Not to mention the fact that if you book far enough in advance, it only costs a dollar. As an added bonus, it has yet to explode into a firey ball in the middle of Connecticut, unlike SOME low-budge busses I know.
3. Rewards Programs. Being a grub at my job does have its advantages, one of which is that they throw me a $25 Target card every now and then when we get them as a thank you from the phone company. If I play it right I can take care of a big chunk of my regular household-type expenses this way–tensions rods and toilet paper and other annoying things like that, stuff I hate having to spend actual dollars on. Next up: an Amex Blue card. Leprechaun has one and they’re so nice to him!
5. Bad Weather. It sucks out. Ergo, I’m in no mood leave my house–let alone spend money. I’d much rather stay in and read (or, um, watch Hollywood Week on Idol) than strap on some high heels and head out into the cold, cruel world.
City Mouse: An Urban Girl’s Simplicity Primer
January 21, 2009
So I’ve been at this simple-in-the-city thing for about six months now. Some days are easier than others. Sometimes I get frustrated. Sometimes I want to sit on the couch and eat processed crap. Sometimes the universe steps in and laughs at my decidedly un-simple plan to make four loaves of bread while getting ready to go to a party with my boyfriend and listening to a podcast of All Things Considered on NPR, and also our downstairs neighbor is singing Build Me Up Buttercup at the top of her lungs and I can hear a homeless guy rooting through our recycling outside. Sometimes I make dumb decisions with money. Sometimes the (green, frugal) subway gets stuck underground and makes me late for work.
It’s going, though. My life is changing, and I like how it looks. I’m trying to live in the moment more. I’m less anxious. My savings is growing more quickly than I ever thought it would, and I don’t feel like I’m giving anything up.
I’m nowhere near the end of the trip (is there even an end? I don’t think so); if anything, my endeavor to live a simpler, more frugal, more meaningful life is picking up speed. More than ever, I’m trying to cut the waste wherever I can.
The blogging world have been invaluable in helping me along the way—you all are a spunky, creative, powerful bunch, and I’m lucky to have found you–but it occurred to me pretty quickly that there are not a whole lot of people my age trying to do this.
So while many of the tips I’ve found for living more simply fit seamlessly intomy life, because I’m walking a different road than, say, Joan from Wichita, other tactics needed some tweaking before they worked for me.
Admittedly, I’m still pretty new at all this, and in terms of specifics I
doubt I’ve got anything to tell you about simplicity that you haven’t
heard already (just in case: Pack a lunch! Turn the lights off when
you leave the room! Walk instead of drive!). Still, I have a feeling
there are a few other young, frugal city dwellers hiding out there
someplace, so here are a couple of loose guidelines that seem to be
working for me.
1. Don’t compare your lifestyle to anybody else’s.
Clearly, indulging in jealousy for folks who have more stuff than you is
going to get you exactly noplace. But what about envying others’
simplicity? As a part-time homekeeper with 700 square feet of
apartment to work with, I do find myself occasionally feeling inferior
to those who have gone whole hog. Eventually, I’d love to pursue a
more self-sufficient lifestyle—to tend a garden and keep a couple of
chickens, or even just learn to sew passably well. I admit I feel a
tinge of jealousy when I read other blogger’s accounts of the dress
they just whipped up, or the abundance of their tomato plants.
Meanwhile, though, I’m working three jobs (admin, freelance writer,
and nanny, for those of you playing along at home), so domestic
endeavors often become the bookends of my day, rather than the main
events. For me it’s a victory to get dinner in the crockpot before I
dash out the door, or to squeeze in a quick stop at CVS on my lunch
break. It’s hard not to feel bad at this every time I screw up with my
Extra Bucks or feed my boyfriend dinner from a can or realize my feet
are black from walking through my kitchen without shoes. Right now,
though, I’m learning to make peace with the fact that I’m doing the
best I can with what I’ve got. And that’s all that anybody can ask.
2. Make it work.
Some principles of frugality translate better to city life than
others. For example, I can’t stockpile or buy in bulk (seriously, in
my apartment there is room for either my boyfriend or a 40 pound bag
of flour, and a 40 pound bag of flour is not going to bring the
garbage down to the curb on Wednesday nights), but I can double the
recipe of whatever I’m making for dinner and freeze half for another
night.
I can’t grow my own produce (last summer’s attempt at container
gardening yielded three enormous, vaguely grotesque sunflowers
straight out of Little Shop of Horrors—and nothing else), but I can
shop at farmers’ markets. I can’t convince my boyfriend that we should
stop eating at restaurants so that we can save all our money for
retirement (nor would I want to)—but I can budget for one really nice
dinner out as opposed to three cheapie pizza nights because I don’t
feel like cooking. It’s all about finding a balance—and being
realistic about where I’m at.
3. Take advantage of everything the universe is offering you right now.
That sounds new-agey, and I don’t mean it that way! But the truth is
that my life isn’t gong to be this way forever. Someday soon I won’t
have all the freedom—with both my money and my time—that being
twenty-three affords me. As long as I’m careful to put a chunk of my
earnings away, and as long as I’m not spending money frivolously ($200
purses every day of the week) or needlessly ($8 on laundry detergent I
could get for pennies), then who’s to say I shouldn’t act my age on
occasion, and experience everything I possibly can? As a matter of
fact, my boyfriend and I are planning a weeklong vacation this fall—an
unessential expense, maybe, but possible because we set the cash aside
ahead of time.
Simple frugality, for me, has to do with living in the now and
planning for the future, stopping unnecessary drains so that I have
the resources for the things that really matter. Here, now, and for
the rest of my life.
Frugal Friday: Coffee Talk
December 12, 2008
photo courtesy of Starbucks.com
I like coffee a LOT. A lot a lot. I’m bleary-eyed and useless and frankly mean until I have some in the morning; I usually have another cup after lunch. I tried to quit once in college and had a headache for thirteen days. A day without coffee? Honestly, what’s the point?
To my credit, I get my fix from the local shops a lot less often than I used to. I try and keep it to once a week or so, usually with Leprechaun on Saturday mornings, and I find I actually like it better that way: it feels like a treat as opposed to just one more line to wait in on the way to work. Plus there’s the added bonus of not chucking a Styrofoam Dunkin’ Donuts cup in the trash every morning: brewing it myself and toting a travel mug to the office has my wallet and Al Gore equally pleased.
When I started taking my Monday night writing class, though, I quickly realized that I was going to need an added boost to get me to ten o’clock: I love workshops, but a caffeine fix definitely helps.
Plus, everybody else always had one.
A grande peppermint mocha every week would have added up to almost fifty bucks over the course of the class, though, which felt super excessive to me. I’d much rather plunk that money into my savings, or even buy myself some new shoes. But using my travel mug wasn’t really an option: there was too much time between work and class for me to fill up at work, but not enough time for me to get home and back. So I decided to do some research.
Guys, people are giving away free coffee constantly! I never knew! And not just, you know, at soup kitchens. At the beginning of the semester, I nabbed a Starbucks card as part of a rewards program at work. Once that ran out, I kept my eye out for coupons–I nabbed a free latte at Barnes and Noble one week, a complimentary cappuccino at McDonald’s (which was surprisingly not gross at all) the next. Starbucks gave me a free drink for filling out a quick survey. And Dunkin’ Donuts does a 99-cent latte (in a paper cup) for those Mondays when I couldn’t find a better alternative.
Now that class is over, I’m back on the make-it-myself coffee cart, but it’s nice to know that here–as in so many other areas of my life–there are lots of frugal options out there, if I’m willing to explore them.
Well-saved, well-caffeinated. And well-pleased.
Frugal Friday: Give My Regards
December 5, 2008
photo: microscopiq.com
A girlfriend of mine was in a production of Little Women at my alma mater last night. I’ll be honest: I wasn’t super thrilled about going, since I’m still coughing and sputtering like a broken down car, but after reading Anne’s post about being the kind of friend who shows up, I dragged my sorry self downtown.
And I’m really glad I did.
Our tickets were actually comped (thanks, E!) but it occurred to me that even if they hadn’t been, supporting college (and high school, and community) theater is one of the easiest and least expensive ways out there to get your culture on. Tickets are generally less than twelve bucks, a total steal compared to Broadway or a national tour, and the staging and performances are often (if not always) professional-quality. The costumes in last night’s show were particularly fabulous.
I’m a total theater geek (and so is Leprechaun, although you’d never know it to look at him and he’d deny it if you asked), but the cost is often prohibitive, and the stuff that comes through here on the big tours isn’t always stuff I’m dying to see (Dora the Explorer, anyone?). But small-scale theater is nothing if not interesting, unpredictable, and live—for about the same cost as a movie ticket.
We went for dinner before the show, at a family-style Italian place all decked out for Christmas, and by the time the play was over I was feeling positively festive. Said Leprechaun on the way home: “That was a good thing to do.”
Yeah, it was.
Happy Friday, you guys.
Substitute Teacher
November 14, 2008
To be filed under “Things That Will Shock Absolutely No One”:
Sometimes I can be really rigid.
I just like plans, is all. I always have. I like to approach my day, my week, my life with at least a general idea of what’s coming, and I can get admittedly crabby when something unexpected lands in my path.
We can talk about the larger implications of this particular character flaw on another day—honest—but for now I want to talk about what it means in the kitchen. I like to do a weekly grocery trip—just one. I check the flyer, plan the menu, get in, and get out.
Which is why, when I run out of something in the middle of the week, I’ll do nearly anything possible to avoid another trek to the Stop and Shop. It’s just time—and money—I’d rather spend elsewhere.
So I substitute.
I have to admit, my iron-clad resistance to mid-week shopping trips have led to some weird-ish dinners around these parts (I once used refried beans to thicken a soup; it did NOT taste good). But some of my substitutions have been just swell: earlier this week, for instance, we were out of milk, but I will tell you a scoop of vanilla ice cream in my coffee was not the worst thing that has ever happened to me.
Other switches I’ve loved include maple syrup on a peanut butter sandwich (we were out of honey) or hot chocolate with unsweetened cocoa and a little bit of Splenda (I’m never buying Swiss Miss again) I also took advantage of after-Halloween sales and have been doing a ton of baking with M&Ms and Reese’s Pieces instead of chocolate chips. Delish—and a small way to keep cash in my pocket.
What substitutions have you guys made in the past? Have they worked? I’d love to hear.
Today I’m Thankful For: the weekend, yo.
