What happened to Miss Independant?!

Quick update on my day:
30 minutes late for work
Bounced 5 checks
Forgot lunch
Credit card was denied

all before 2...and on 3 hours of sleep.

You are all invited to my pity party.

UPDATE: After 9 hours of sleep (thank you sleeping pills), I feel much better today!
At work on time
ate breakfast
remembered lunch
wearing a super sassy outfit
decided yesterdays financial woes were a wake up call. as in-wake up and pay attention!!

If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with

Happy Stinkin' Valentines Day!

Today was surprisingly sad for me. Even though Scott and I probably would not have done anything particularly romantic, it still sucks. As I told a friend " Maybe he would have planned a big surprise...I'll never know. This may have been the time that he surprised me with a trip to Rome! ". Which is not true at all...I know him and he thinks it (VDay, not Rome) is as ridiculous as I do :)

It is funny, no matter how stupid the holiday is, it is always a bit depressing when you are alone. Sort of like New Years Eve...you know it is going to be a letdown but every year you get dressed up and hope. So far this year I have made myself some extra yummy coffee, wore my favorite red shirt and went thriftin' on my lunch break. Tonight I will have a lovely dinner with a new friend at my house. I am allowing myself to have little treats, like a waffle maker and extra chocolate after lunch. And maybe some truffles and champagne with dinner. This weekend I may go buy the bike I have not yet been able to bring myself to get.

I have been spending a lot of money lately, much more than usual. Ah, retail therapy. I don't really feel too badly about this. I am normally so careful and conscientious. Right now, little comforts are making a huge difference to me. Books that help me escape, candles to soften the blow of my one bedroom apartment, and delish cheeses to entice me to eat. I know that one day this will need to stop or slow down. Just not quite yet. At least I am not buying ironic Tshirts (for some reason, this makes my spending seem less frivolous).

I am officially rambling and justifying. Hug your friend, eat some chocolate, buy a new soy based candle, tell your friend or lady that she looks pretty. It's F-ing Valentines Day!!!!

cheap women...a trailer of sorts

My good friend Carrie and I are embarking on a journey into financial freedom. That sounds like the worst book ever! anyway, we are having a contest to see who can spend the least amount of money is 4 months. 4 months! that is a long time. We both realized recently that our financial lives are a bit...well...crazy. We quit jobs that were 'successful', and are trying to figure out what to do next. Both working at Starbucks making...not a lot. Resting and taking a long hard look at ourselves and our world, trying to decipher where we may be a fit. We are also both single, which is a big thing. it may not sound it, but it really is. Women are raised to believe that after college, you will be taken care of. We are pretty much only taught to balance our checkbooks, not how to fully support ourselves and retain our femininity. It is hard. Our culture is also hard for single women. Spending money is applauded, trendy clothes are required, gym memberships mandatory. I don't want that! We are attempting to shine light on this and figure out how to live differently in this mixed up world.
So, like any good hipsters, we have decided to do it on the web. We are setting up a kick ass website. It is not up yet, but will be. We will be blogging daily about our lives and finances. And the contest! Book reviews! Tip of the day! We hope that by being totally honest about where we are financially, we will begin to unravel the mystery that is our vocations. It is daunting but fun. And, being who we are, we are also selling some pretty sick merch. All handmade by us. Another aspect of this project is to see if it is feasible make a living selling our art and working at Starbucks. At the end of these 4 months, I am hoping to have a little insight on my life and my future, even if it is realizing that I cannot afford to live on my art and getting another corporate job to make ends meet.
I will keep you updated. Check our website (up by September 1). www.cheapwomen.org.

Cheap women: Saving our souls one Penny at a time.

also, forgive me if I suddenly start making you gifts, or wearing the same clothes for a week, or asking to do laundry at your house....it is going to be a fun little journey.

1st Post of the night: Hummers, McMansions and Mountain Brook

Did you know that the average house size has more than doubled since 1950? But the Average household has shrunk from 3.7 to 2.6. Many houses are also trading "Living rooms" for "Media Rooms". and most children have a television in their bedrooms. (interesting fact: the number of TV in bathrooms is skyrocketing. Really? How much time are we spending in the bathroom?). The average size of the American has grown significantly also. I know that none of these are new statistics to anyone, but they are a bit appalling. We love everything big, big, big. You know what number is also getting bigger: the poverty rate. The number of homeless children.
i work in Mountain Brook, AL one of the most affluent communities in the US. The roads here are wonderful. Yet, there are a ton of Hummers. Where are all of these people doing this off-roading? I am bewildered by this. The young girls come in for coffee wearing sweatsuits that cost upwards of $100, and Chanel sunglasses. And they are unhappy. My theory is one I call :The overabundance of choices and how this is screwing our children, yet making us all feel better. When you are able to have anything you want, the only thing you focus on is what you do not have. How to get the next thing. The children I see have a sense of entitlement that is unrivaled by anything I have ever seen. As do the adults. Gratitude is nothing, expectations are everything. Their parents are not doing them any favors by giving them everything, although I can understand how they would think so.
The women in this community are obsessed with working out. We are meant to work, made to work. Yet, they do not have to. Children are taken care of, house is cleaned, bills paid...by someone else. So the need for work, the longing that we all feel to create and be productive gets perverted. All this energy is put into working out. The women cease looking like women. It is Stepford out there! The are thin, muscular, weirdly orange colored and dressed to a T. The only clothing that you see are workout clothes or 'lunching clothes' No one wears jeans and tennis shoes (although they do wear Crocs, a fashion phenomenon that is too baffling for me to address now). Anyway, my point is that everything looks so great and pretty on the outside, but it just FEELS wrong. If feels gross. Because it is. the overexcess is only hurting them.
By them, I think that I mean all of us. We are all part of this. I sit here, typing on my macbook, yet I feel like I am "poor" because I have no expendable income this week. I work at Starbucks, and everyone constantly asks me " Are you in school?". No on can fathom the idea of just working my job. $8 seems ridiculous. Although I am less well off than most people I know, I have a nice apartment, a nice car, etc. I am not poor. Our views of wants and needs have gotten warped. This is not to say that we cannot enjoy ourselves or the fruit of our work, I am just saying let's be real. We are overstimulated, overprivileged, overfed. The poor are paying for it, our neighborhoods are paying for it (in that the sense of community in America has diminished as our media rooms have gotten bigger), the earth is paying for it. Our children will pay for it. turns out, affluent children grow up to be less satisfied than middle class or working class children. It makes sense. You get anything you want and then one day wake up and realize that is doesn't mean shit and you are still not happy. So you try to get more. With no real mechanism to handle life, your things own you.
Tyler Durden said it best: Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.
btw...if you continue to read this blog, you will notice a lot of Fight Club references. I love this movie. Watch it. Again. Really.
ANYWAY, let's downsize. our cars, our TVs, homes. It is scary, but good. You are not your khakis or the content of your wallet. Or are you?

how to be broke 101

I do not make a lot of money. I used to make a lot of money, but now I do not. In 1 year, I halved my salary (by choice). I do not regret this decision, as I am happier and more healthy than I have ever been. However, I have had to change a lot of things in my life. I would like to share the things that I have learned in this tumultous year.
NOTE: I am not claiming that I am poor, because I am not. Not even close. By society's standards, I am probably am, but I am not hungry, am clothes (stylishly), have a car, nice apartment, etc. This is only a tutorial on how to live on less.
Ok, here we go:
1. Don't buy alcohol at bars. This expense really adds up. On that note, usually if you get to a bar early (before 8 or 9), you can get in before they start charging a cover. Then, you can spend the cover money on a beer, or not.
2. The library. It is a wonderful resource. If you are someone who really likes to own books, most of the Jeff. county libraries have a section where they sell book, for 50 cents. I have gotten some really great, new releases and old classics from this section. The Mtn Brook library has a sale on the first Tuesday of the month where books are only a quarter! a quarter!
3. Stop smoking. Ok, this is not something I did, but really, you should quit. It is gross and expensive. so quit today. right now. put down the cigarette.
4. Only buy no name brand non perishable foods. I still buy organic even though it is pricier because I feel it is worth it. But when buying granola, oatmeal, cereal, etc...buy the cheap brand. Most of the time you can't tell a difference.
5. Dumpster Diving. The art of finding really good shit on the side of the road. I do this shamelessly. I have gotten a desk, bookshelves and a table. not to mention buckets, paintings, clothes. Or if you can't handle that: Goodwill. seriously, this is a mecca. for books, clothes, housewares...everything.
6. emusic.com. this is a website/music club that has indie music on it. good indie. everything from Wilco to The Pixies to Ryan Adams, etc. I pay $19.99 a month and get 75 downloads. Not only is this economical, it is green. no packaging. if you must get the actual cd, amazon.com is the way to go.
7. Get a hobby. Better if this is cheap, and even better if it makes you money. When you have a hobby, you are less likely to feel like going shopping, and when you make something, you forget you are broke!
8. Eat at friends houses. No one wants to cook for 1, but going out is expensive. So, eat at friends and then have them over. This really does work, and is a lot more fun.
9. Find cheap things to do. here are some ideas: Go to Books and Company, Joe Muggs, etc and read magazines. If you feel badly, buy a coffee. You can spend hours doing this and you get to read expensive magazines.

And the Final and most fantastic....
10. Become a Freegan. This is a person who eats things that are free. the actual definition is as follows:
Freeganism is the practice of minimising one's impact on the environment by means of consuming food that has been or is about to be thrown away by someone else (e.g., supermarkets). A freegan may obtain the food by asking a retailer for what is to be discarded or by taking it from waste bins, a practice known colloquially as "dumpster diving".

It is Freegan awesome!

I am thinking about Dumpster Diving Whole Foods...whose in?!?

Stayed tuned for:
America and it's proliferation of nail salons and what this says about us