Well, life has a funny way of sneaking up on you when you think everything's okay and everything's going right.
1. I created a budget yesterday. It was kind of eye opening. I'm not saying I won't be able to afford to move, but I am definitely saying I'm going to be much more strapped for cash than I've ever been. I guess that comes with moving out, eh? It's good though.
Because Angela's current lease is binding, we cannot move until the end of March/beginning of April, so I've got four months to continue saving my pennies. And that starts yesterday. I'm actually sticking to my recently instilled rule of only eating lunch out once a week (which literally saves me a minimum of $40 a week!). Socially, this is the biggest change for me, but also the best money saver and it must be done.
I'm also getting serious about selling my photography. I know I've said this before, but it has become a necessity at this point. My parents have a great outlet for me -- their antique shop. I can start there and maybe eventually branch out, but at least I can get some exposure (but more importantly, some money!).
2. Speaking of moving, I need to find a new dresser. And by new, I mean old and cheap. I won't have a fraction of the closet space I have now (not that I use most of my closet space for clothes...), so I'm going to need dresser space. I'm hoping to find a tall chest of drawers I can sand down and paint, but these kinds of things always seem to surface in brick-a-brack, junk, and antique shops in New England, not Florida... what gives?
I also need an old wooden door. I've got a crafty idea for a bed. I'm going to find a discarded old door (I'm actually thinking Joe's Stuff n' Such), sand it down, paint it, and turn it into a headboard. Come to think of it, Joe's might be the best place to find the old dresser/chest of drawers too.
In fact, if I get out of work early enough today, perhaps I'll stop by there today on my way home -- not to buy, but to look.
I have a crafty idea for my fooseball table too. I want it to be a convertible kitchen island. Bear with me, it's completely feasible. We have a very spacious kitchen, but the rest of the rooms are fairly small in size (and somehow we've got to fit the fooseball table into this house). We need/want an island and I can't think of a cheaper way to fulfill that need than to build a countertop for the fooseball table. It's totally possible. And I think functional and crafty too. The only question is, would it look tacky ... then again, would I care if it did?
I also need to find a decent sized rugged rug for the guest bedroom and it needs to be tan.
3. Lunch. From lunch time yesterday to this very moment, I've eaten almost an entire package of Craisins. The weird thing is, I distinctly remember seeing a pack of these on the fridge in the Patriot Press portable some three years ago and thinking to myself, "gross."
I'm pretty sure that particular package belonged to Liz Cherry, but that's moot. What I remember thinking was that Craisins were like trail mix-ish dried fruit. And thus, they were gross. The only thing I like about trail mix is the salty/sweet combination of the peanuts and M&Ms.
News Flash: they're actually delicious.
4. My Christmas list. It's not a wish list. It's a card list. It's a list of people I choose to make cards for each year. I updated this year's list and it's not teetering at 65 cards. Whew! I don't even know when I'm going to have the chance to make them all, but I'm doing it.
While I'm talking about Christmas ... my family isn't really doing presents this year. So they say. Aside from the cards, I always make some kind of gift for each member of the immediate family, Angela, and JM (and I'll get something for Nhyya since it IS her first Christmas...). But this year I'm pretty sure that's where I draw the line. I can't afford to give gifts to everyone this year. I'm just going to be too financially tight.
And to add kindling to the fire of cutting corners this Christmas, I'm recycling the fronts of last year's Christmas cards we received at the office and using them for the fronts and trimmings of this year's cards for my loved ones. As controversial as regifting is, I guess you could call it that. I don't mind.
1. I created a budget yesterday. It was kind of eye opening. I'm not saying I won't be able to afford to move, but I am definitely saying I'm going to be much more strapped for cash than I've ever been. I guess that comes with moving out, eh? It's good though.
Because Angela's current lease is binding, we cannot move until the end of March/beginning of April, so I've got four months to continue saving my pennies. And that starts yesterday. I'm actually sticking to my recently instilled rule of only eating lunch out once a week (which literally saves me a minimum of $40 a week!). Socially, this is the biggest change for me, but also the best money saver and it must be done.
I'm also getting serious about selling my photography. I know I've said this before, but it has become a necessity at this point. My parents have a great outlet for me -- their antique shop. I can start there and maybe eventually branch out, but at least I can get some exposure (but more importantly, some money!).
2. Speaking of moving, I need to find a new dresser. And by new, I mean old and cheap. I won't have a fraction of the closet space I have now (not that I use most of my closet space for clothes...), so I'm going to need dresser space. I'm hoping to find a tall chest of drawers I can sand down and paint, but these kinds of things always seem to surface in brick-a-brack, junk, and antique shops in New England, not Florida... what gives?
I also need an old wooden door. I've got a crafty idea for a bed. I'm going to find a discarded old door (I'm actually thinking Joe's Stuff n' Such), sand it down, paint it, and turn it into a headboard. Come to think of it, Joe's might be the best place to find the old dresser/chest of drawers too.
In fact, if I get out of work early enough today, perhaps I'll stop by there today on my way home -- not to buy, but to look.
I have a crafty idea for my fooseball table too. I want it to be a convertible kitchen island. Bear with me, it's completely feasible. We have a very spacious kitchen, but the rest of the rooms are fairly small in size (and somehow we've got to fit the fooseball table into this house). We need/want an island and I can't think of a cheaper way to fulfill that need than to build a countertop for the fooseball table. It's totally possible. And I think functional and crafty too. The only question is, would it look tacky ... then again, would I care if it did?
I also need to find a decent sized rugged rug for the guest bedroom and it needs to be tan.
3. Lunch. From lunch time yesterday to this very moment, I've eaten almost an entire package of Craisins. The weird thing is, I distinctly remember seeing a pack of these on the fridge in the Patriot Press portable some three years ago and thinking to myself, "gross."
I'm pretty sure that particular package belonged to Liz Cherry, but that's moot. What I remember thinking was that Craisins were like trail mix-ish dried fruit. And thus, they were gross. The only thing I like about trail mix is the salty/sweet combination of the peanuts and M&Ms.
News Flash: they're actually delicious.
4. My Christmas list. It's not a wish list. It's a card list. It's a list of people I choose to make cards for each year. I updated this year's list and it's not teetering at 65 cards. Whew! I don't even know when I'm going to have the chance to make them all, but I'm doing it.
While I'm talking about Christmas ... my family isn't really doing presents this year. So they say. Aside from the cards, I always make some kind of gift for each member of the immediate family, Angela, and JM (and I'll get something for Nhyya since it IS her first Christmas...). But this year I'm pretty sure that's where I draw the line. I can't afford to give gifts to everyone this year. I'm just going to be too financially tight.
And to add kindling to the fire of cutting corners this Christmas, I'm recycling the fronts of last year's Christmas cards we received at the office and using them for the fronts and trimmings of this year's cards for my loved ones. As controversial as regifting is, I guess you could call it that. I don't mind.
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