Living La Vida Broka

Update much?

2011-01-30T21:36:00.003-05:00

So... I am a horrible blogger. But it's not my fault, I swear! We're not even into the fourth week of school yet and already I've had one presentation, three papers due, and hundreds of pages of reading (150 this weekend alone!). I'm in way over my head already, and I'm so scared of what's to come. I feel like having a nervous breakdown every weekend that I spend 20 hours working and 0 hours playing.

Since we've last spoken, I've managed to rack up $50 of parking tickets (including two in the span of five minutes... must be a new record!), survived (?) a $35 cut to my paycheck, and had my Comcast bill DOUBLED (do you all hate Comcast as much as I do?? Argh!). Needless to say, my financials are not great for January.

Oh, and I might be living in Germany next spring. Which makes for a hell of a lot of drama in finding a new place to live, because my landlords now won't let me sublet anymore.

Hmmm I feel like this post is really schizophrenic. Don't worry, I'll sit down and write a real post sometime soon. Things are just really stressful all of a sudden and there's a lot to think / worry about. But I am still alive.

Happy 2011!

2011-01-05T11:07:00.006-05:00

Thank goodness that those 00 glasses are finally out! Also, how weird is it that it's 2011 now? Eek! Well anyway, new year new goals, and here are mine:

FINANCIAL
1. Save enough for the trips I have planned this year.
Realistically: California for my friend’s wedding, Austin for another conference (the funds from the dept won’t cover the whole thing because I’m flying), and a road trip to Boston.
Dream List: Those + a road trip to Minnesota and getting to Seattle.
For the realistic list, I’m estimating around $1,700. That includes travel AND wedding expenses, minus our conference travel stipend.
2. Pay down student loan debt to 14,500.
Seems I’ve had this goal since I started the blog.
3. Save $150 for future car repairs
I’m going to need new brakes and tires in about another 3? 4? years, so I’d better start saving a little now.

PERSONAL
1. Travel to at least FIVE new places
Since this goal worked out so well last year, I decided to up the ante a bit. :)
2. Get a new tattoo
3. Try THREE of Julia Child’s recipes
The boy got me her cookbook for Christmas, and I've been drooling over all the cool stuff in there. I found some so far that don't seem too complicated!
4. Work out at least twice a week
This would be a huge improvement, since I stopped working out altogether. The only exercise I get is my 1/2 hour walk to and from school everyday.
5. Read more books / watch more movies in German
I need to start practicing with the language again, I'm getting a bit rusty!

SCHOOL
1. Choose a dissertation topic
2. Pass my comps in the Fall
3. Publish a paper
I've got one in the works, I just need to fix it a bit and rerun the stats on it.
4. Do an internship in the summer

2010 goal recap!

2010-12-29T14:37:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone, I hope you had a great holiday with friends and family! Well it's the end of the year (already?) and I must say it was a great one. I’m not sure about success on the financial front, but I got to live in a new country for a bit, see and do tons of awesome things, improve my teaching, and check lots of things of my life’s “to do” list.

FINANCIAL
1. Pay student loan down to 14,500
NO. Started at $15,391, Currently at 14,999. GROSS. Don’t really want to talk about this (except for one little thing-- under 15 yay!).
2. Get EF up to $2,000 (and keep it there!)
SORT OF? So in June I had $250 in the EF, now I have $1,800. I guess this goal is half complete—I got it up high enough, but still had the crazy fluctuation that I always do.
3. Put $1,500 more into my Travel Fund
CHECK (ISH). Not really, because I actually emptied the fund to go to Italy, but I did use about $1,500 for that trip in the summer months... does that count?

PERSONAL
1. Travel to at least THREE new places
CHECK!!! I traveled to approximately 15 new places, in three countries! Or maybe more!! Probably my most successful goal. :-)
2. Get a new tattoo
NO. I just haven’t had the money for it. I picked a design though, and a place. Now I just need to scrape up some money, though I’m not sure where from.
3. Read 35 books
NO. I got 22. I was busy this year, and also over the summer, which is usually when I read the most and catch up.
4. Keep my relationship with the boy healthy and happy
CHECK
5. Try out 20 new recipes
CHECK. I tried more than 20, with some great ones and some big failures.
6. Only buy (and wear) clothes that I absolutely love
CHECK. I think I’ve gotten better at this overall. I also discovered the magic of clothes from Express... which gives me a YES in a love department, but not necessarily always in the wallet department.
7. Volunteer this summer.
NO. I went to Italy, so I didn't have the free time that I thought I would.

HEALTH
1. Eat at least one fruit and vegetable per day
CHECK on the fruit part, NO on the veggie part.
2. Start using organic body products
CHECK. I switched over in late February and now use organic everything. My acne is WAY better, but not totally gone yet. But still, I’m thankful that it’s not so bad as it used to be! If any of you guys have bad acne and nothing seems to work, give this a try!

SCHOOL
1. Put more effort into teaching
CHECK. I have been trying to think of more creative activities and getting tips from other teachers. I still don’t really like teaching that much though, so it might be time to start thinking of a new career path.
2. Attend my first conference
CHECK! I went to GLAC like I wanted, and got some great feedback on my very first paper.

Looking back on these goals, I accomplished most of them! But it's a little frustrating, because for some reason I'm not pleased with it. I don't feel that nice sense of accomplishment, and I'm having trouble getting excited about 2011. I have some goals in the works though, so maybe making my new list will help me feel better about the upcoming year.

How did you guys do on your goals this year?

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-27T09:10:00.005-05:00

Hi everyone, I hope you had a Merry Christmas and lots of fun with family and friends. For those who don't celebrate, I hope you had a nice long weekend! :-)

My Christmas was nice, we had a little bit of drama and worrying yesterday because of the snow storm, but it turned out alright. We had everyone over our house this year, and though I hate to say it, I'm sort of glad it's over. I haven't had a chance to relax during my break yet because of all the cooking, cleaning, shopping, and wrapping that I had to help my mom with. She worked all week long and didn't have time, so I was the Christmas slave. But now it's all done and I can relax, read, and enjoy my new gifts! I got lots of new stuff for my apartment this year-- I was like little Sally Homemaker or something. The boy and my mom both bought me cookbooks, I got some Pyrex mixing bowls (which I've been wanting for so long!!), a cupcake pan/carrier, a new bookcase, a toolbox and an external hard drive. I actually got a lot of surprises this year, which is not usually the case.

As far as I could tell, everyone in my family liked the presents I gave them too. I don't usually spend too much every year, usually between 25-50 for each person. This year I got my dad a headlamp (he has been asking for it for months), my mom an Underarmor baseball hat she can wear while exercising (another request), my grandma a purse, my sister the complete works of Edgar Allen Poe, and my brother a hand crafted bowl made out of a Simon & Garfunkel record. For the boy I bought NBA Jam for Christmas, and this card game called Munchkin for his birthday present. And I think they were all happy with them. :-)

Bridesmaid Dress Shopping!

2010-12-23T13:13:00.007-05:00

Next summer, I’ll be a bridesmaid in one of my best friend’s weddings, and the wedding is in LA. I've never been in a wedding before, so I'm really excited! We went bridesmaid dress shopping together yesterday, and I found a dress in under a half hour! We were limited by the fabric/color choices, also by the vast amount of ugly dresses. But we had it narrowed down to two good ones:

I LOVED the flower one, and was hoping she’d like it too. It's just so cute, and so me. But it was sort of awkward for a bit there, because I couldn’t tell which she liked better. She didn’t seem so sure about it, and I didn’t want to pressure her. Because, let's face it, her wedding day shouldn't be about me! But it was definitely the most flattering out of the ones I tried on. And thankfully in the car she was like “Oh I’m glad you picked the flower one, I didn’t really like the strapless one.” She apparently thought I liked the plain one better, so was trying not to pressure ME! Haha.

But- you'd better sit down for this one- sucker cost me $190!! I was expecting (for some reason) a dress to be about $125 or something like that. It’s not a huge problem, and I’m definitely glad I got the chance to pick my own dress style and all. I am just surprised once again by how much I underestimated the cost of something big. And I still have to buy shoes, get my hair done, etc. Eek!

Have you guys ever been in a wedding far away? I've never done it before, so how much should I estimate to spend on all of this? I don't want to underestimate again!

Credit Card Churning Craziness

2010-12-20T17:13:00.006-05:00

Ever heard of credit card churning? Well, you can accuse me of living under a rock, but I never did. But man, last night a whole new world opened up in front of me. Credit card churning! Basically it's opening up new credit card accounts to get the bonus offers and then canceling, only to open a new account a few weeks later and get the bonus again. And some people do this with as much as 10-15 cards a year... I love it. I don't know why I do, because as a PF blogger I should be vomiting in my mouth at the sound of it. But it's absolutely fascinating to me the things crazy people will do.

I was inspired (ok, ok, not really, I was already planning this for a few weeks) to try it a bit myself. I applied for a United Airlines Visa from Chase. You get 30,000 miles for signing up, and the annual fee is waived for the first year. That's enough points for one free domestic round trip flight, or two tickets and I'd pay a little on each. I was checking around on the internet to see if there were any restrictions to using the points and canceling it before the year is up to avoid the fee. Looks like it'll be ok, and from what I've read, it seems like my credit score will only take a minimal hit, if any.

I mean, 10-15 new cards and cancellations each year is WAY too much risk for me, but... a *little bit* of risk sounds great if it benefits me. :)

Ready for Christmas!

2010-12-19T09:58:00.003-05:00

Wow! I definitely didn't realize that Christmas was coming up in a week! This is great news! I'm ready-- all presents are bought and all presents are wrapped. I didn't have so many people to buy for this year-- just my grandma, mom, dad, sister, brother, boyfriend and two friends. I spent $173 on presents in total, and sixteen on random stuff like cards, candy, bows, tinsel, and all that other fun stuff. Not too bad, and definitely less than I've spent in other years. I think the sales just keep getting better and better each year.

I didn’t quite reach my savings goal for Christmas, but I did manage to get about $200 out of the proposed $250. And as luck would have it, I didn't need that extra $50. So my EF is still all nice and intact! :)

Now to just sit back, relax and wait for the fun to begin!

What all do you still need to do before the holidays? Are you excited?!

Potluck Dinner (Fail?)

2010-12-16T16:34:00.003-05:00

My roommate hosted a party last night, and man... sh*t's expensive! I think I grossly underestimated the costs involved, and unfortunately didn't budget nearly enough. I spent $50 on food, and L spent $50 on alcohol... for a POTLUCK dinner. As in, the kind where other people are supposed to bring everything. We were so worried about not running out of anything that we ended up WAY overprepared. Some of the food we didn't even put out because we forgot we had it, and didn't need it anyway.

I mean, don't get me wrong, the party was awesome and so much fun! I liked playing hostess, it was really fun to have everyone together and make sure everyone's happy and full and having fun. I don't really regret it at all, but I do regret the bill a little bit. I sorta wish I hadn't spent so much! But I guess, a lesson was definitely learned.

What kind of holiday shenanigans are you guys up to?

It's nice being Santa

2010-12-07T17:13:00.004-05:00

I took your suggestions and went for the Lego's. I agree, Lego's are awesome because you can build, play, and be creative too. I got the boy to go in on it with me, and he picked up a pair of PJ's for the kid too. Camo, because he said if he was a seven year old boy he'd like camo the best. It was too funny though- they only came in Small Medium or Large sizes, not numbers. We were confused so we had to ambush some poor woman and ask her what size she thought would fit a seven year old kid. As luck would have it, she also had a seven year old, so she gave us the right advice. Except then... she wouldn't leave. She followed us around regaling us with tales about how the jeans she buys are always too long, and how her son is growing so fast, and on and on and ON! I mean, really? I don't know you, stop being awkward! Haha.

Anyway though, now the presents are given, and I hope that my kid is happy Christmas morning. :)

Charitable Christmas Giving :)

2010-12-02T23:46:00.003-05:00

When I was a kid, my family always did one of those charity Christmas gifts for kids in need. We always really loved it and we would help my parents pick it out. I haven't ever done one on my own, but this year is my year! I got an "Angel" from the Salvation Army. I picked a 7 year old boy who wants either footed pajamas, Legos, or a Tonka RC car for his gift. I thought this was a good list cuz I can get any of these things, but it's turning into such a production! Some of the stuff is hard to find, and I'm so flipping indecisive that I can't narrow in on a gift. I wanted to get him a basic Lego building set, but what if he already has that set or something? Also what if he really needs PJs? Ack! And so, faithful readers, I turn to you.

If you were a 7 year old boy, what would you like best?

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-26T18:22:00.003-05:00

Hey everybody! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Mine was pretty good. The boy came to Philly to visit with my family for the first time, and I (successfully) attempted to make a Martha Stewart pie. Not something I think I'll make into a habit though... so complicated!

Today the boy and I went shopping for Black Friday, mostly just cuz we were bored. I only bought a necklace at Old Navy for 7 bucks, so no insane spending spree for me. Today was only the second time I've ever been out for Black Friday, and neither time seemed that crazy to me. Granted, I went in the afternoon, but I've never seen things as crazy as the stories you hear. Maybe I should go at like 4am next time, what do you think? Haha.

After shopping, we had lunch at Friendly's, one of my favorite restaurants that my family used to go to when we were kids. Have you guys ever been? The boy never heard of it before, apparently they don't have it in the Midwest? That's just craziness, is what that is.

The Eye Doctor Lies

2010-11-23T10:01:00.002-05:00

Apparently the eye doctor I went to last year was out of network!! They were recommended to me by some people in the department-- last time I take recommendations from people with money to blow. I almost hyperventilated last year when I saw I needed to pay almost $500 for new glasses and a year’s supply of contacts. Now I know why it was so high— I was getting such tiny reimbursements compared to what I could have gotten in-network! Apparently when a place says "Sure, we take your insurance" that means they can take your insurance for one tiny part of the process and that's it!! It’s like a trick. Good thing I at least learned my lesson and checked it out better this year. It was mildly annoying to go to a new eye doctor, but it totally worked out in the end... a year's supply of contacts for 70 bucks, baby!

Gail's Recommendations

2010-11-14T20:46:00.003-05:00

I'm bored right now, or just avoiding doing work... you know how it is. So anyway, I was playing around on Gail Vaz-Oxlade's website and I found the following recommends for where your income should go. I figured out how much I should be spending for each of the areas, and calculated how much I really am spending. I'm not that far off at all!

Income: $1,245
Housing: 35% $435.75
Debt: 15% $186.75
Life: 25% $311.25
Transportation, 15% $186.75
Savings 10% $124.50

And here's what I'm doing:
Income: $1,245
Housing: 32% $400
Debt: 22% 270
Life: 26% $325
Transportation, 8% $100
Savings 12% $150

The only really negative thing is that I have a bit too much debt for how much I make. But I make up for it by having really low transportation costs, so I think *maybe* it's alright. Good things are I save more than 10% and I'm right on target with the housing and "life" categories!! I think it's pretty cool that I never did one of these tests before making my budget, but I'm doing it right.

Let's take a second to define Impossible, please...

2010-11-10T08:50:00.003-05:00

In our group meeting this morning with our supervisor, everyone was talking about how everyone has student loans in grad school. My supervisor was literally like “It’s impossible to live without them. There’s no way you can live off of a grad student’s salary.” And I’m sitting there thinking... um, I do? I mean, I’m not saying it doesn’t suck and it’s not hard and annoying, but it is possible. You can't just blow it off without even trying. It’s just funny to think, once again, how I come from a different place than these guys. They can't even imagine living off of what we get paid, so they think that no one can. Their lifestyles have always been more expensive. But you know what, I’m super proud that I’m not taking out a single loan to get through grad school. AND I still have money for a new car and to travel and all that awesome stuff. AND I will still have money for that later when they are paying off loans. And less stress to boot! :-P

I apparently missed the whole last month

2010-11-04T08:56:00.004-04:00

I guess it's November already... although my brain doesn't know it. I saw commercials for a Veteran's Day thing on TV this morning and literally thought: "It's way early for that, we just started October!" Oy.
October was one of the first months that I made goals for in a long long time. Truth be told, I was hardly ever on this blog, so some of them I kinda forgot about. But I did alright anyway! :)

1) Save $100 towards my friend's CA wedding --- YES. Gotta love automatic deposits.
2) Limit eating out to no more than two times a week --- YES. I went out a lot less this month, in part because I've just been busier. I don't have time to go out and spend a few hours on dinner.
3) Do NOT go over budget --- MEH. I did a little bit on my groceries category, because I ran out of money and I really don't have any stockpiled food here. And hey, I need to eat.
4) Try out two new healthy budget recipes --- YES. I tried some kale soup and a sausage egg frittata with egg whites and turkey sausage. Neither of them were great, but it was worth a try at least.

So overall, a MUCH MUCH better month than September was. This month I just gotta work on not buying so many small snacks all the time, like cupcakes and candy bars and gatorades.

Week one down, bring it week two!

2010-10-10T19:30:00.003-04:00

So far my October has been going MUCH better money-wise! I stuck to my goal for the first week and only went out to eat twice -- once at Chili's for $10 (the boy covered the tip) and once at this awesome bar for our girl's night, which was only $12. I stuck to the stuff I like that's cheaper, which included an AMAZING caprese salad that was almost as good as in Italy! I'm proud of myself to sticking to my guns and not breaking my goal on my first week!

This coming weekend my friend is coming to visit, which could be a little tight on my budget... I'll have to think of some cool stuff we can do that won't cost me a million dollars. :)

Till Debt Do Us Part

2010-10-02T23:08:00.003-04:00

I'm spending my Saturday night in this weekend, since I didn't feel like going out in the cold or watching the football game. And it's a good thing too, since I happened upon this fabulous show called Till Debt Do Us Part. Have you guys ever seen it? It's like a money Supernanny for grown ups! She basically comes in and gives them challenges to help them revamp their lives and get out of debt. The one I saw tonight had a couple who spent SEVEN THOUSAND DOLLARS over their income every single month. And $2,000 of that was on groceries and eating out!! I was floored. I can't imagine spending so much money on food (and as we've seen before, I spend a lot of money on food...)!! Such a cool idea for a show, rather than people just calling in and asking people for advice. If you've never heard of it, check it out!

Happy October!

2010-10-01T18:21:00.005-04:00

Happy October, everybody! One of my favorite months, not because I love Fall (cuz trust me I don't), but because I LOOOOVE Halloween! I already bought mostly all the pieces for my Halloween costume, on a budget of course! I'm so ready to go. :)

I don't usually do monthly goals, but since September was such a shit show regarding my finances, I've decided to set some concrete goals for myself this month. And here you go:
1) Save $100 towards my friend's CA wedding (Travel Fund)
2) Limit eating out to no more than two times a week
3) Do NOT go over budget
4) Try out two new healthy budget recipes (I already have one in mind!)

Alright, those are all I can think of for now, but it's not a bad thing to start small. :)

Biggest Fail Ever??

2010-09-26T19:40:00.006-04:00

Hey, remember how I had such high hopes for my first cash-only month?? Well, I crashed and burned, folks. And not like, crash-my-bike-and-scraped-my-knee crash, more like the-plane-fell-out-of-the-sky-in-a-burning-ball-of-flame crash. I ran out of cash for the month last Sunday... and just. kept. spending. It's like I blacked out or something for the last month, and am only now being shown what happened. I mean what was I doing? I'm currently about $135 over budget for the month, which may not seem like a lot, but when you realize it's over 10% of my monthly salary... ack. And the worst part is, it's all on food! I was trying to keep track of my cash to see where it was going, and of what I remembered to write down, this is how it went:

$33- Random snacks (Gatorades, candy bars, dairy queen, etc.)
$92- Meals (at restaurants or fast food)
$28- Breakfast (gotta let the boy stop convincing me to go to the Waffle Shop every Sat morning)
$13- Part of a Halloween costume
$6- Used books
$4- A puzzle

So there you are folks-- I never really realized just how much of my "Fun/Entertainment" money was really just spend on eating things! I don't even have anything to show for it (not even extra poundage... thank goodness for small miracles).

I'm so frustrated, but I can't let myself get too down. Just gotta watch better this month and try harder not to be so loosey goosey with my money. It's just gonna be hard because I'll have even less money to work with. But let's hope October is looking brighter...

Where Should I Get My Tattoo?

2010-09-14T17:38:00.007-04:00

I've been like a madwoman in the past few weeks, participating in study after study. I got my brain electricity read (NOT fun), did a word memorization task (kicked butt!) and also visited some random webpages and then filled out surveys. From doing these three studies, I ended up with a fresh $51 in extra cash! As I said before, I *heart* easy experiments that pay you. And there are so many of them to choose from!

And what might I be doing with that extra money? I got quoted for a tattoo today... fifty bucks! Remember how one of my goals for this year was to get my second tattoo? Here goes! I didn't make an appointment yet because I still have to figure out some details, like what exactly it will look like and where it will be, but it's awesome that their minimum is only fifty. I am thinking of a small little sun somewhere, to remind myself of Italy. I'm thinking on my ankle, or maybe on my side under my arm. So I'm opening it up to you guys for ideas- do you have any ideas of good spots for a sun tattoo?

Happy Birthday to My Car!

2010-09-06T11:26:00.001-04:00

My car turned 1 year old last month! I should have a birthday party for it, one year is such a big birthday. ;-) I can’t believe it’s already been a year. And the great thing is, I only put 7,2600 miles on it! I’m under average, which is excellent, which means less wear and tear on my car!

And you know what else is cool? How much of my loan I’ve paid down in just one year. $1,774! Granted, it’s a 0% interest loan, but still, it’s cool to see that much progress on it! Not nearly as depressing as my student loan, which pretty much never even budges despite all the money I throw at it.

September = Cash Only (Kinda)

2010-09-01T23:38:00.003-04:00

Alright, here we go! Today marks the start of my very first "cash-only" month. I've never done this before, so I'm going to start small and just use cash for my Fun and Miscellaneous categories. That's where I overspend the most, so we'll try this and see if it helps. But that means I'll have $195 in cash just... laying around. It seems weird to have that much money out at one time, even though that's what I did in Italy for the whole summer. Guess it's different with dollars since this isn't usually how I roll here. But anyway, good luck to me! And good luck with all of your budgeting adventures for September too! :-)

(In other news, it. is. so. HOT.)

Fall Semester Budget

2010-08-28T13:54:00.007-04:00

Well September is almost here, and now that I got my paycheck for it, I'm starting to think about budgets. Here is what I'm planning for this semester:

Monthly Income: $1,245 (the real total once insurance is taken out)
Rent: 360
Cable & Internet: 30
Electricity: 10
Food: 130
Car Payment: 150
Gas: 40
Loan Payment: 120
Fun & Entertainment: 140
Miscellaneous: 55
SAVE: 210

As far as the saved money goes, I set up automatic payments of $100 to go directly to my Travel Fund (to go to CA for my friend's wedding). I have to save $60 for my car insurance bill coming up in December, and I'll save about $50 a month for Christmas until I get to my goal of $275. After that, I'll save the extra for books and parking for next semester.

AND since I got lots of extra money this month, I put that away for Christmas too. So right now I have $77 saved for Christmas, $120 for my friend's wedding, and $60 for car insurance!

False Alarms

2010-08-27T20:25:00.001-04:00

I had two false alarms of happiness today:
1) Rumor had it that we were getting a pay raise this year, even though our contracts said the same amount when we signed back in May. Cut to today, and our paychecks were SEVENTY DOLLARS more than usual!! Pure ecstasy! But the hitch is... the idiots forgot to take out our health insurance costs. So, I guess the news is still half good because I’ll still be getting about $20 more each month. But you know, twenty bucks ain't no seventy.
2) Amazon sells groceries! I was super hella excited about this, because even though I love the grocery store, if I can save money I’ll do whatever it takes. But you know what? I am never gonna get through 6 jars of peanut butter, 27 boxes of mac n cheese, or 10 boxes of the same flavor cereal. I guess this is geared much more towards people who have families. Poor me, with only one person to eat all the food, has no use for pounds and pounds of it, even if it is cheap from Amazon.

No Books!

2010-08-24T16:20:00.000-04:00

So today was the second day of school, and guess what?! I don’t need to buy a single book for school this semester!!! All of my classes are using articles as required reading, which I can read online or print out for soooo much cheaper than buying a book! I’m so psyched, this is the first semester ever where I didn’t have to pay for books!

Kicking of the Christmas season in style…

2010-08-22T11:37:00.000-04:00

Ok, I know it’s insanely early, but I just bought my first Christmas present of the season! I only bought it this early because it was a one-of-a-kind from Etsy, and it was perfect for my brother. I bought him a bowl made out of a Simon and Garfunkel record. He is moving into a new apartment (we hope?) relatively soon, and I thought this would be something cool and funky to use in his new place. He loves weird artsy stuff, and loves Simon and Garfunkel too, so it seemed the perfect fit. Also, it only cost me $14 including shipping, so I think it’s a win-win situation!

My first cash-only month?

2010-08-19T09:02:00.001-04:00

You know, after seeing the train wreck that was my annual credit card summary, I’m even more tempted to try a cash-only month. I have always thought about doing it, but lacked any kind of push. And plus… all that CHANGE. But really, having a credit card does make spending too easy. I mean, so what if I don’t have the money in my wallet right now, I have the money to pay the credit card bill somewhere in one of my bank accounts. But then my savings go backwards instead of doing their job! So I think in September I’m gonna try out my very first cash-only month! Have any of you guys done this before? Were you successful?

Trying for some extra income

2010-08-15T10:19:00.004-04:00

Way back when, when I was kinda sorta seeing this South American guy, he gave me a whole big package of books and computer games to learn Spanish. And now... I'm selling it. Dude did me wrong and took away any desire I had to learn Spanish. I put an ad up on Craigslist this morning, with pretty pics and everything. I know it probably won't get as many bites as selling furniture would, but I'm still trying. Hopefully I can get at least a bit of cash from this, and get rid of extra crap at the same time! Ahhh, Craigslist really is a wonderful thing. :)

Oh, and if any of you guys want to learn Spanish, let me know... ;-)

The Scholarship has Landed!!

2010-08-14T19:38:00.002-04:00

Our summer scholarship is FINALLY in!!! It took sooooo long because of some stupid glitch in the system. I mean it’s supposed to be for summer living expenses, since we don't get paid in the summer, and it usually comes in late June or early July. And the summer is over already! I mean for pete's sake, we're getting our first paycheck for the fall in another 15 days. It really is ridiculous. A lot of the other people teach over the summer, but since I don’t I’ve been completely flat broke since I got back from Italy. But anyway, it's in now (PHEW), and I’m raking in the dough!! I also got my security deposit back from my last apartment, so I have $4,065 to contend with. This is my breakdown-
$1081- check to my parents for the money I’ve borrowed from them
$2000- to my EF
$200- getting new contacts
$784- bills, furniture, etc. for the rest of Aug
It's kind of boring, I'd like to be able to splurge on a little something for myself, or use part to pay down my loans, but at least I can totally refund my EF!

I've Joined the Savers

2010-08-12T22:10:00.002-04:00

I finally did something I should have done a long time ago. And, admittedly, I only did it for the chance at winning a $5,000 or even $50,000 prize! No shame here, folks. I set up an automatic transfer to my ING account each month. So now, $100 will go into my Travel Fund while I sleep. :-) I’m taking Ramit’s advice on this and hoping that automation works better for me than manually putting money in myself each month. Cuz I need that money by next summer for my friend’s wedding- no ifs, ands or buts about it! AND, perchance I'll win the prize money too! (Haha I wish)

This is Ridiculous

2010-08-09T15:47:00.001-04:00

You know, credit card annual summaries are both really nifty and REALLY SCARY. On one hand, it’s kinda fun and cool to see your expenses all broken down by category, and remember what you did over the past year. But then... I SPENT $6,221.30 ON ONE CREDIT CARD LAST YEAR. And no, I’m not joking. That’s the actual number. It makes you shudder, doesn’t it? It gets worse when you realize that that’s almost HALF of my annual income. I spent $555 on gas, $140 on tolls, $1,544.65 on “merchandise” (thank god this includes groceries!). It’s like a train wreck… I just can’t stop looking. Ok, so in my defense, I charge EVERYTHING to get the points (like seriously... there are a number of $1 charges on here) and pay off my bill in full each month. But still... six thousand dollars??!!

My New and Improved Apartment!

2010-08-07T19:54:00.006-04:00

Remember when my roommate kicked me out in favor of her boyfriend? Well, I’m all moved in to my NEW apartment, which is simultaneously brand new and exactly the same! I only moved two doors down in the same complex, so I have the exact same apartment with a flipped layout. Which really blows your mind, by the way.

But it's still so different. The last roomie had tons of fancy things, mostly because of her parent’s shiny little credit card sitting in her wallet. I got used to the life of luxury there. If I wanted a fancy cedar wine rack, it was there. Extra-sharp Henkels knives? Done. Turkish rug in the living room? No problem!

Now, L and I have an empty apartment. We are house poor, as my mother would say. Our bedrooms are all done up, decorated and furnished, but the downstairs is literally a ghost town. We have a dining room table, 2 lawn chairs, and a TV on the floor. Oh, and an empty bookshelf. But you know what? I don’t miss all that fancy like I thought I would. I love my new apartment, because it’s more mine than the last one ever was. Every time I’m in it, I like it more and more. I mean, eventually our situation will change as we find some second-hand furniture to fill it up, but I really don’t mind sitting on the lawn chairs for now. :-)

Post-Italy $$$

2010-08-04T20:21:00.004-04:00

Ok, now that my gushing over Italy is finished, it’s time to talk finances. I did a really bad PF thing. I literally have NO money right now (please see sidebars for more info). I spent basically exactly what was in my budget, which left my bank accounts more or less at 0. I did that because we get a really large scholarship in the summers, and it’s supposed to be in by mid-July. But, go figure, it STILL hasn’t gone through. I expected to have it by the time I got back to pay for my life in August, and I don’t. It’s insanely stressful and a bit embarrassing because I’ve been leeching off of my parents until the money comes in. Thank God they are willing to help me out! And don’t worry, it’s not free. I’ll pay them back once the money comes in.

But anyway, since all of my bank accounts are now drained, it’s time to set some new financial goals! Everyone’s favorite... yay!
1. Replenish my EF - I should be able to fill it out to 2,000 again with the rest of the scholarship money.
2. Save up money for future car repair – In about 3 more years, I’ll need tires, brakes, etc. Better to start squirreling away some small amounts now than have to shell it all out at once later.
3. Save $1,700 in my Travel Fund by next summer – Next summer, I’m going to be a bridesmaid in my friend’s wedding in CA, which means lots of costs for a dress, gifts, flight(s?), etc. I also am planning on going to another GLAC conference, which is in Austin, TX next spring, and doing a road trip to visit my BFF in Boston in June.

I'm baaaaack!

2010-08-03T08:16:00.006-04:00

Hey everybody, remember me?? Probably not at this point! Well, I'm back from Italy now, and sorta uber depressed about it. I come back from sunny Italian beaches, great food and amazing adventures to boring old central PA. And it's cold and cloudy to boot... sigh.

Being in Italy was amazing though. I know it's cliche to say it, but I can't even really describe it to people who've never experienced it. I mean, Southern Italy can be really really frustrating sometimes, which I think people don't expect. There's a lot of corruption and inefficiency, it's dirty and hot and smelly, there are no toilet seats, and nothing ever gets done when people say it will be. Not to mention the infestation of roaches in our apartment! (I lost count after we killed 25 of them.) But then at the same time, it is so incredibly beautiful that you don't mind anymore. I saw more beautiful places there than I've ever seen in my life, seriously. I never completely got over it.

And I had SO many cool adventures. I cliff jumped at a topless beach in Tropea, got stung by a jellyfish (which turned into a battle scar, it's pretty cool), went to a goat farm and ate freshly-made ricotta, snorkeled off the coast of Sicily, saw a saint's day festival, bathed in a smelly sulfur mud bath next to a volcano (and reeked for three days after), got lost in an old-fashioned fisherman's village, tried every regional specialty that I could, bought my food at a loud crazy street market, and relaxed on the beach almost every day. It really was una esperienza indimenticabile! :-)

Italy Dream List

2010-06-12T09:53:00.003-04:00

My plane leaves later today! I am getting really nervous and anxious for some reason, even though I've been waiting for this for months and I'm not afraid of flying at all. I wonder why? Oh well. I am calming myself by making a list of things I absolutely MUST do while I'm in Italy. Here goes:

1) EAT: This, more than anything else, is my big goal. I literally just want to eat and drink wine. And I want as many local dishes as possible. This may or may not include a fried spleen sandwich and some sardine pasta in Sicily... it’ll depend on just how gross I feel like getting that day.

2) RELAX: I really want to get into the Southern Italian culture and just chill. I want to relax on the beach and not have to worry about going anywhere, doing anything, or money, or stress. This isn’t my usual style, so this might be the hardest thing.

3) Pick an orange off a tree: I love looking at orange trees. So I want to pick one off a tree and eat it.

4) Speak Italian: Even if I get nervous and mess up.

5) Make friends: The other people in the group are way younger than me (like 5 years younger), and they are all undergrads. So basically their goal list is probably like "Get drunk" and "Party." I'm not the most social person, and I'll be very different from them, but I'm going to try to make friends with some of them anyway so I'm not on the outside. Someone's gotta have something in common with me, anyway.

6) Try a mudbath on the Aeolian Islands: As a group, we are taking a boat ride out to the various Aeolian Islands (including the volcano Stromboli!). I'm super excited and want to try out the mudbaths there on one of the islands.

7) Ride a vespa: I’m not sure if I’ll get any opportunities to do this, I guess I'll have to do some major sucking up to some locals. This isn’t a do or die thing like the others, but it’d be really sweet to pull an Eddie Izzard-style Pope and say “Ciaaaao!”

So that's it. I'm not going to have internet in Italy, so I probably won't be on this blog much at all, but I'll see you all when I get back in 7 weeks!!! :-D

Budgeting, Italian Style

2010-06-09T19:43:00.012-04:00

There are only three more days until I leave for Europe!!!! EEEEEE! I'm really freaking out!! This is going to be so awesome. :-) I'm so excited that I just have to share the master plan with you, complete with a budget and Euro-US Dollar conversions! Haha.

First, I'm spending a week in Marburg, Germany visiting a friend. I used to live here, so I can't wait to go back. It's my favorite place that I've ever lived! Plus I haven't seen her since September. :-) My budget for that week is one lump sum: 285 euro. That includes all of our various planned activities-- train tickets, World Cup games in Frankfurt, going to the zoo and a drive along the Rhein, + food for each day and buying some stuff for the boy. I should probably be under budget here, but just in case.

Then, I'm taking a night train from Germany to Rome (already paid for), and we've got Italy for six weeks!! The first week will be spent in Rome (except for Saturday when we are moving in in Reggio), so I have 100 euro allotted for fun & free spending money, and 55 euro for food once we move into our apartments. These are hiiiiigh estimates, since all of our activities are paid for by the program. I probably won't use it all but rather more than not enough, right?

After we get all settled in in Reggio, my budget goes to 35 euro a week for groceries and 65 euro a week for free spending money. I think these will be just fine... I'll have more than enough to go out for dinners or to the clubs, and enough for food during our weekend trips.

Also, I budgeted some money for one weekend trip to Palermo, which is 170 euro. With the program, we go on a ton of pre-paid trips around the area, but we also have 2 free weekends. I have always wanted to go to Palermo, so I'm going to take one weekend and do it. It's only about 3 hours away by train and ferry!

So, the rough totals once the euros are converted:
Food: $285 (230 E - 35/wk + 55 for week 1)
Spending: $525 (425 E - 65/wk + 100 for wk 1)
Souvenirs: $35 (25 E)
Palermo Trip: $210 (170 E)
Week in Marburg: $350 (285 E)
TOTAL: $1,405

Side Note: Going out to dinner is always budgeted in fun money for me... it's easier for me to mentally keep it separate that way. :)

Bad PF Blogger

2010-06-08T10:07:00.004-04:00

You know, lately I’ve been feeling like a “bad” PF blogger. I mean, since I started this blog, I made goals to pay down my student loan debt, and didn’t achieve them. I went out and bought a brand new car (granted with a 0% interest loan and $5,500 off, but still). And NOW I’m spending my entire travel fund + on one 6 week trip to Italy. Even though I’m not upset about these things, sometimes I feel like one of those irresponsible people that many PF bloggers write about with disdain. You know, “How dare you take a 6 week vacation/trip when you have all this debt?”

But isn’t part of personal finance about freedom and happiness? Isn’t that why we take care of our money, so that we don’t have to give up on the things we like best in life? I guess people can call me irresponsible, but I am a firm believer in doing what you want to do. What’s the point of dreaming about things if you never do them? I'll be the first to admit I am probably doing things backwards. In paper form, it's definitely pay down debt first, travel later. But my reasoning is- how can you pass up a chance to fulfill three life goals in one shot, especially when you aren't going to go into extra debt to do it? I mean really, how?

2010 Goal Updates

2010-06-04T12:08:00.004-04:00

It's halfway through the year already, so it's time for the dreaded check-up on my 2010 goals. Overall I'm doing OK, and a few are already completely finished!

FINANCIAL
1. Pay student loan down to 14,500
Started- 15,391
Current- 15,273
Wow. Um. Not much to say about that one.
2. Get EF up to $2,000 (and keep it there!)
So... I have 250 in my EF right now... another fail.
3. Put $1,500 more into my Travel Fund
CHECK (ISH). I put about $650 into it this year, but then I decided to go to Italy. That will empty out the Travel Fund completely. But since almost my entire June paycheck is being used towards traveling, I guess I will consider this goal complete.

PERSONAL
1. Travel to at least THREE new places
So far, I’ve been to two new places: Mankato, MN and Milwaukee, WI. And when I go over to Italy, I’ll get to add about 10 more cities to my travel map!!
2. Get a new tattoo
Not yet, maybe in the fall though? Not good to get them before summer.
3. Read 35 books
This last semester was hell and I have only finished 10 books so far… I have to catch up like crazy in the summer if I want to do this. Stay tuned.
4. Keep my relationship with the boy healthy and happy
Things are going good.
5. Try out 20 new recipes
So far, I’ve cooked 9! My favorite was the BBQ chicken burgers with coleslaw.
6. Only buy (and wear) clothes that I absolutely love
I'm not doing so hot on this I don't think. I only bought three new shirts to wear this summer, two likes and one love. I also LOVE the Capri pants I bought. I returned about 5 things that I bought and didn’t really like too much though, which is about my normal style I guess. I have to stop letting my mom convince me to buy things I don’t like.
7. Volunteer this summer.
Since I’m bouncing around from place to place for the entire summer, one week here, one week there, I think I'll postpone this either for the Fall or next Summer.

HEALTH
1. Eat at least one fruit and vegetable per day
Well… I’ve gotten better. I usually get the fruit in, not the vegetable though. I really do hate most veggies.
2. Start using organic body products
CHECK! I switched over in late February. I now use organic shampoo, conditioner, face wash, acne medicine, lotions and shave gel. My acne has totally improved, I only get a zit once in a blue moon now which is amazing. If any of you guys have bad acne and nothing seems to work, give this a try!

SCHOOL
1. Put more effort into teaching
CHECK. I think I did this semester. I put more effort into creating fun and interesting lessons, but I’m not really sure that my students learned anything or even enjoyed my class. Teaching is the most frustrating job ever.
2. Attend my first conference
CHECK! I went to GLAC like I wanted, and got to travel to Milwaukee to present!

The Week of Nothing

2010-06-02T23:27:00.002-04:00

Continuing with the ping-pong game that is my living situation, I'm back at my parent's house again after spending a nice week at school with the boy. My last week to see him before I'm shipping off to Europe.

You know what, it's so strange to hang out with him and have literally nothing to do. We were completely inspired by the nothing, so... we did nothing. All week. We watched the whole first two seasons of True Blood (omg new obsession), took walks together, and saw a comedy rap duo for a $5 concert (they were actually really horrible, but the potential was there!).

AND. We played golf! I have never golfed before in my life, I’ll tell you what, I did not suck!! At least, I didn’t end up in any lakes or forests like I thought I might. My biggest problem was the in between shots, where I had to chip it up... I’m completely horrible at that. But it was really great, that was my birthday present from the boy. My birthday is actually in April, but we were crazily time and sleep deprived during the semester (how sad is that, actually?). So I got a late birthday treat- one round of golf, 2 tries in the batting cages, and some of those yummy wonton tacos from applebees... all free to me!

Soap!

2010-05-29T10:16:00.000-04:00

One of my goals for this year was to switch to all organic bath products in an effort to ditch the acne that’s been chasing me around for my whole life. It’s actually working really well!! But that’s a story for another time. Anyway, I now buy my soap from a company called Pangea Organics, which is really really cool if you’re interested in organic products. It’s on the pricey side though, so I usually have to wait for the sales. But man oh man, did I score the jackpot on this last order! First off, the soaps I use are BOGO for the month of May. Then I signed up to review free samples of new products, and they gave me a 20% off AND $5 off coupon that I could layer. So I just bought FOUR bars of yummy smelling organic soap for less than the price of two… $15.50, to be exact (and that includes their uber-expensive $7 shipping, thank you very much!!). Ahhh, I how I love the smell of a great deal in the morning. :-)

'Fessing Up

2010-05-23T16:08:00.004-04:00

Ok ok, I have something to confess. It’s not anything super juicy or horrible, for those of you who got super excited just now. ;-) I don’t secretly have a love child, a married lover or $1,000,000 in credit card debt.

But if you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you might remember this one little goal I made way back when concerning my student loan. Last May I promised that I would pay my student loan down to $14,500, or $1,500 off the principal in one year. And, well, I didn’t do as well as I’d hoped. I made it about halfway... I’m sitting at $15,273 right now. It’s better than nothing of course, but I still didn’t make it. At the time it didn’t seem like such an ambitious goal at all, tough but not impossible. And then I bought a car. And planned a trip to Italy. It’s funny how things can change so much in just one year’s time, and so I didn't end up throwing all my extra money at that loan like I thought I would.

So there you have it... my confession. Go easy on me.

No more responsibilities

2010-05-19T15:49:00.002-04:00

Man, summer is a wonderful time of year. No time restraints, nowhere to be, nothing pressing to do... I love it! Too bad life can't always be like this.

I'm also happy because I got to erase one more thing off of my list of responsibilities this summer... My apartment is signed over. Our subletter signed the documents, I paid the balance of the rent, and now I don't have to do anything at all except enjoy my time with the boyfriend, sit in the sunshine (if it ever freaking shows up!) and pack up my stuff to take it home. Everything is taken care of until I show back up in August!!

Shutting it all down

2010-05-13T17:26:00.002-04:00

I called the cable company today, armed to the teeth and ready for a fight. I figured the big bad Comcast wolf would never let me cancel service without a battle to the death. But... it was eerily peaceful and easy! I mean, I called to cancel a free trial of some lame dippy internet service awhile ago and had to argue with the guy for about 5 years before he let me go. But Comcast? I just walked away no problem. So weird!

Check off another thing I don't have to worry about until August! Woot!

Subletting is Annoying

2010-05-12T17:05:00.004-04:00

Lately I have adoped the absolutely wonderful, fun, relaxing activity of... trying to find a subletter. Ugh. You’d think it’d be easy in a college town, with thousands upon thousands of people moving around and changing apartments, etc. But it took me 3 solid months with no bites before I found someone! I was posting on Craigslist, in the classifieds, in the grad student newsletter, and mailing people who needed housing for the summer... and I got nothing until just this week. Ridiculous!

But at least I finally have a subletter, a girl in my department actually. Good things are that I know her, my roommate knows her, and she is responsible. The bad thing is she can only afford $250 a month because she will be paying rent on both her apartment and mine (long story). So, that leaves me to pay the extra $250 to cover the rest of rent and utilities for June and July. I guess at a certain point, anything is better than nothing, though. I'm just glad I don't have to worry about it anymore.

SUMMER! Finally!

2010-05-10T10:03:00.002-04:00

My semester has FINALLY come to an end! And I am proud to report that I got A's in two of my classes, with the third grade still to come. :-) Now it's time for the lazy days... reading, sitting in the sunshine, and studying Italian. I'm at home for a week, back up at school with the boyfriend for another week, and then home for 3 more weeks until it's time to go to Europe!

One goal of mine before I leave for Italy (besides learning 2 semesters worth of Italian) is to work out more. I'm so out of shape it's ridiculous. Can't even run for a minute before I can't breathe and get dizzy. That's insane (and really embarrassing to admit, actually)! I've been trying to work out every day though, something cardio and then followed by a full body weight-lifting session. So we'll see if I make it the full month until mid-June!

Summer Bill Trickiness

2010-05-07T14:04:00.002-04:00

My summer tuition bill is PAID! This means all my fees are taken care of, and I have nothing to do but sit back and relax until Italy!

Just one problem-- I was a dummy and didn't know there was a convenience fee of 2% on every credit card payment made through the university. I waited until the very last minute to pay my bill so that it would show up on June's cycle and my money could collect a bit more interest in the bank. Makes sense in my mind. BUT now I got slapped with a $30 fee to pay with my credit card! And the money isn't in my checking to pay with an e-check, so I had no other choice. Well... the lady at the Bursar did try to trick me into taking another choice. Deferred payments! Sounds wonderful! Until you factor in the FIFTY DOLLAR deferment fee!! Aaaahh those people are sneaky sometimes. I *almost* fell for it...

"As we headed off to exciting destinations like... Milwaukee"

2010-05-03T21:16:00.006-04:00

I have a paper due at midnight, that still needs lots of working over, so of course... it's time for a blog post! Right.

I just got back from my road trip (with my profs!) to the conference in Milwaukee, and let me tell you, that is a cool place! I had so much fun, who knew conferences could be so cool? And traveling on the department... amazing! I didn't have to stress if I could afford the $15 entree for ONCE in my life, I could live it up! I ate tons of cheese (including Limberger-- don't ever do it!), visited a brewery, tried famous Wisconsin cheese curds (DO do it!) and walked along the river. :)

My presentation went well too, even if there weren't that many people there. Apparently not too many people are interested in experimental L2 phonology... I've run into this problem before. But it's so cool, I just don't know why people don't like it! Oh well, it was a good group for my first conference presentation, and one of the profs there offered to send me all this extra material and things to help me out, so that will be sweet. I already can't wait till next year- Austin baby!

Shopping Deals

2010-04-25T19:52:00.002-04:00

Even though I shouldn't have, I went to the mall today. I sound like some sort of addict, don't I?? No really, I'm just super low on money until payday on Friday. But my roommate's birthday was Friday, and I forgot to get her a gift in time, so I had to get her a gift today (*sigh*). Don't you hate when people spend a lot of money on you for your birthday, so you feel obligated to get them something?

Thank God for sales though! I got her this really cool ceramic soup crock set for only $13! Her and her boyfriend eat soup like it's their job, so it was the perfect idea as well as being super duper cheap. AND she loved it. Man did I luck out!!

PS- I also got a new pair of VS underwear for me for only $2, because of my birthday $10 off coupon. :)

No Internet in Italy :-/

2010-04-14T21:42:00.004-04:00

Things with Italy are more or less set and ready to go!!!! I got my visa (nice, shiny and green!) and we had our orientation night. The itinerary for our program rocks- we're going to Sicily, some great beaches, towns with Greek ruins, and the Stromboli volcano! I seriously can't wait.

But there is one thing that bugs me hardcore-- our apartments have no Internet access. In what world would they pick apartments with no Internet?! I realize that it is more important to go out and experience life, don't get me wrong. But how am I supposed to cheaply keep in touch with my family and boyfriend without Skype or a phone line?

So now my thoughts are consumed by trying to figure out ways to call home that aren't going to cost me an arm and a leg, because there are wayyyy better things to be spending my money on than a prepaid Italian cell phone that will cost me 98762094353 dollars to call home with.

If you guys have been abroad recently, what did you do?

Is this semester over yet?

2010-04-13T23:43:00.004-04:00

I cannot wait until May. I am busy to the point of BREAKDOWN over here. There have been tears, there have been panic attacks. Sometimes I am not sure allllll of this work will get done. And the worst part is, the presentation I'm doing at the conference? My data is shit and I've got nothing. ARGH.

In good news, my friends from college are coming this weekend to visit!! I am a little nervous about losing a whole weekend, but it'll be so good to have them all over to hang out. :-)

Oh and ps- If you ever find yourself at a fancy restaurant for wine tasting, make sure you don't also drop $50 on dinner. Just sayin'-- learn from my mistakes.

New Roommate Found (I Hope)!

2010-03-28T19:32:00.003-04:00

So remember how my roommate more or less kicked me out for next year? I finally found a solution to the problem! Awhile back I told my landlords that I'd like to have my own two-bedroom in our complex, and they had one open for me. I already signed the lease and put down my deposit, so the next step was to find a roommate.

And... DONE! I was emailing people on Craigslist who had put up ads requesting housing (you can better weed out the crazies that way), and found a really cool girl. She came to visit last Sunday, we had coffee Wednesday, and she's signing her half of the lease this Wednesday! She seems really fun and easy to talk to, but there is one problem. Her mother is a freaking nutcase. She came with to see my current place to get an idea, since it's only 2 doors down. Cut to her trying to break into my neighbor's apartment so she could see what his bathroom looked like. And going on and on about how the landlords completely have to gut and redo the kitchen before we will move in there. And rip out the carpets in the bedroom. Like, seriously?!?! What the hell does she think the landlords will say to that? I'm imagining something along the lines of... F*ck off! (after hysterical laughter).

I really like the girl, and am totally cool with having her for a roommate, I just hope that her mom won't push her around and convince her to make all these crazy demands. It seems ok because when we had coffee (sans mom) on Wed, I told her I wasn't comfortable doing that so I won't ruin my good relationship with the landlords, and she said she understood. I just hope she doesn't go bat-ass crazy when we meet with them on Wed, or else I'll be in the market for a roommate again.

Slightly in Shock

2010-03-27T12:58:00.003-04:00

Sorry I've been so crap about updating! Well, an update:

I am going to Italy!!!! For real, the approval letter came on the 15th (I know, I know, I'm soooo late). But starting June 20th, I will be basking in the warm Italian sunshine, eating pasta and drinking good wine. :) And I just bought my plane ticket!! I'm really excited, but I am in shock as well. The flight was $1,400. Yes, you read that right-- FOURTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS. I've never paid more than $700 for a flight IN MY LIFE, and this is double that. I'm super perturbed, actually. Guess that's what I get for flying in the middle of the summer. That's only part of the problem, though. The other part is that I have to fly home from Reggio, a small airport, which jacks up the price as well. I have to be back at school the very next day after I get back (my lease ends), so I can't take the time to travel up to Rome and leave from there. Balls.

I just have to keep remembering that sunshine though, then maybe I won't be so stressed... :)

Man, living out your dreams can be expensive :-P

2010-03-08T22:56:00.005-05:00

In only 7 more days I'll find out for sure if I get to go to Italy or not!! I'm already registered for classes there and already got my summer tuition assistance approved, but it won't all be formalized until March 15. I assume I'll be accepted but you all know what they say about assuming... haha.

I know I told you guys before how this trip will be hella expensive, but I was kind of hiding the details. So here's the truth: it's going to cost me about $5,100. Yes, you read that right... five THOUSAND. *sigh* Basically, I have enough in my travel fund + my tax refund to cover the program fee ($2,695) and the flight if I can get a good deal($1,000). But I still need to scrape up about $1,000 for food, going out, and souvenirs/clothes/whatever.

But I have a plan! Well, two plans:
a) Sublet my apartment for June and July. Finding someone is already in the works, but no biters yet. If I can do this, then the only bills I'll have to pay for those two months are my car and student loan payments.
b) We get a scholarship every summer from the department... at least $3,500 but sometimes more. Even if I use $1,000 out of it, I'll still have leftover money to refill my EF like I plan to.

Update of sorts

2010-03-04T08:30:00.003-05:00

Sorry I've completely given up on this blog lately, but I'm STILL sick and feeling crappy. Mono is a bitch, to say the least. I was even jaundiced last week because my liver was in such bad shape, so at least THAT's improved. But as far as the mono goes, my glands are even more swollen than before, my throat hurts more than before... it's like I'm going backwards! I'm so completely over it at this point. At least spring break is next week so I can just spend the whole week and SLEEEEEP. Boring, but glorious!

In other news, I'm starting to run participants for my experiment, and it's going great!! So far I have 14 people signed up, which is a big enough sample size for the conference I'm attending. I need a few more people to make it big enough for a publishable article though, so we'll see if I can get them. It's a little hard when I don't have any money to offer them to lure them in, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Sick sick sick

2010-02-17T08:41:00.002-05:00

I've been insanely sick the last few days-- my weekend consisted of laying in bed all day and growing a spectacular collection of lumps on my neck. For one second I was kind of hoping it was the plague, because who could ever have a better story than "So, did I ever tell you about the time that I had the bubonic plague?" But, never fear, it's apparently mono. Who the heck knows where it came from, since I don't know anyone who has mono right now, but whatever. I only know two things-- mono sucks, and cortisone pills are amazing. For real, they make me feel 150% better. I'm still trying to rest though, because that's just an illusion and I know I'm not really better at all yet.

I seriously lucked out though, getting the worst bit of it this week, because this week is not super busy for me. Taking some time off from classes is not really gonna hurt me too much right now. And one good thing I guess is that if I'm not really supposed to be out and about, I can't spend money! Haha, gotta look for the silver lining somewhere...

Lowering Expenses, One Day at a Time!

2010-02-11T11:52:00.005-05:00

I just got two bits of good news that will both help me save more of my hard-earned money for Italy! First of all, over spring break the boy wanted to go down to Georgia to visit his sister, but (as mean as this sounds) I didn't really want to go. She is way older than us (like seriously-- only 3 years younger than my parents) and lives in a small town, not to mention he hasn't even seen her in 10 years. So what the heck would we do around there for a whole week? I didn't really want to spend all the money to go there if it would be boring. But anyway, those plans fell through, so that right there saved me about $200-$300 bucks!

Also, I got accepted to go to Milwaukee in April for a conference! Our department gives us $350 to spend at conferences, which is good except it's for everything-- flights, hotels, food, etc. But I seriously lucked out because our two professors are renting a van to drive us there, and they offered to pay for all the van and gas costs! Which means, I probably won't have to spend a dime of my own money to go there! That in itself is bitchin' enough, but also let's take a moment to appreciate how awkward/fun/crazy a 10 hour road trip with our professors is going to be... I can't wait!

I kicked the snow's ass AND got my tax return!

2010-02-06T21:50:00.005-05:00

Snowpocalypse (I have to use this name as much as possible because it amuses me immensely) will not keep me down! I kind of missed the memo that a snowstorm was coming, because apparently I live under a rock, and woke up with no food in my apartment. So today I traipsed through 15 inches of mostly unplowed, unshoveled snow to get some groceries (only $14 for all next week, not bad!), and returned home the conquering hero.

And when I finally did make it back home, it was like Christmas all over again! I got a package that I had bought from Ebay, an American Eagle gift card that I got from my credit card rewards, and $1,322 in my bank account from Uncle Sam. Again... Christmas! Unfortunately, that money is not sticking around for very long at all. I am using $1,000 of it to pay for the program deposit for Italy, $137 of it for stupid medical bills that my insurance didn't cover, and putting the rest in my EF. But you know what, I didn't have to take out of savings to cover any of that stuff, and that in itself deserves a little happy dance. That and the fact that I now have food.

Happy February!

2010-02-01T08:23:00.003-05:00

I am so excited that it is February already. Only one more nasty nasty winter month to get through, and then it should lessen up a bit before spring comes!!!! :-)

In the spirit of saving money for my Italy trip, the boy and I had a fun, cheap weekend this time around. We went to Wegman's on Saturday for this free Food and Beer Pairing festival thinger. You didn't have to pay anything and they gave you all kinds of food samples and some beer to go with it. Most of the food was really great, even if the beer was a bit questionable at times. My favorite was this artichoke & asiago cheese dip-- amazing! And we got a free lunch out of the deal. Fri and Sat night we stayed in, cooked dinner and watched movies. It has been a nice long time since I had such a relaxing weekend-- usually I have so much work to do. But this time around there wasn't much at all!

Taxes are done, biyotches!

2010-01-26T20:17:00.002-05:00

I just filed my federal taxes!! WOOT! I am such a nerd, I really love doing taxes. But I am not alone in my nerdyness- we got our W-2's today and everyone in the office was starting to file their taxes right away. Or maybe that's not nerdom, it's just being broke, haha. But I just finished mine, and it looks like my refund will be $1,322!!! That's more than I've ever gotten before, usually I hover around $500-600. So this is definitely awesome. I also e-filed for the first time ever, and so I should have the money direct deposited to me in like 3 weeks or so!! :-D

Dreaming of Italy... omg

2010-01-22T17:59:00.006-05:00

...but the plans have changed. I went to the info session last night... and I decided the Todi program isn't really for me. The town looks amazing, and the trips they have planned are awesome too, but there are some things that turn me off a bit. For instance, you have to live with a family, and they said that many of the families own and operate farms outside of town. I'm def not interested in a farm... PA has enough of those. Also, you have to take studio art classes, and classes go from morning until 6pm every day. Then there are activities with the group almost every weekend, so I feel like I wouldn't get enough flexibility and time on my own to enjoy the place. Not sure I'd like to be stuck with giant groups of 20-year-olds all day and night.

But, luck was with me, because I talked to the language coordinator afterwards, and they offer another program in the south of Italy, in Reggio di Calabria. It's right on the tip of the toe of the boot, right next to Sicily. I would take a language and a culture class, and that's it. The program trips go to Sicily and different islands in the Mediterranean, and also to see old Greek and Roman ruins. Plus I'll get an apartment in the city, and there is a lot more free time to explore the area on your own. I feel like this is a much better fit for me. ESPECIALLY when you see pictures! Basically, I must live there. I've always been insanely jealous of people who live on the coast along the Mediterranean, and now I might get to be one for a few months!

TGI Thursday!

2010-01-21T08:55:00.004-05:00

I have a feeling this semester is going to be wonderful... three day weekends every single weekend. Thursdays are my last day of classes!! :-)

In other news, I decided (on a whim kind of) that I want to study Italian in Italy this summer. I've always wanted to live in Italy, because really, what country could be more perfect?? Our school has a summer program in Todi, which is in Umbria and is completely gorgeous. I talked to the higher-ups, and it sounds like my tuition would be covered!! All I would have to pay for is the program fee, which is around $3,000. I know it's steep for just under two months, but that's for your room, all meals, and also weekend excursions. And really, I know I won't regret it... studying abroad as an undergrad was one of the best things I ever did. Anyways, there is going to be an information session tonight, so I'll find out more then. I so hope this works out!!

$1,000 NSF Prize!

2010-01-15T11:18:00.003-05:00

Have I ever mentioned how much I love free money?? Cuz... I do! Remember how I applied for an NSF grant back in November? Well our graduate school offers anyone who even APPLIES for the grant $1,000. It doesn't matter whether you win or lose! And, lucky me, I finally got the $1,000! It'll deposit in my account on Monday, but I already have grand plans for it. A little is going into my IRA, a little is going towards paying off my student loan, and the rest I'm going to save for a trip to Germany (I hope!!!!) this summer to visit friends in Marburg... back to the town I used to call home! I'm not gonna lie though, I am super tempted to buy some new clothes... but I think I'm gonna have to resist this time around. Sometimes, it's all about priorities.

2010 here I come!

2010-01-10T13:49:00.002-05:00

So, I know my 2010 goals are fashionably late, but I have been creating this list for awhile now and it's just now finally finished. It is my honor to present my list of goals for 2010!

FINANCIAL
1. Pay student loan down to 14,500
This one is going to be SUPER hard, since I'm at 15,391 currently. I’ll have to scrape to find some money to go towards this.
2. Get EF up to $2,000 (and keep it there!)
Usually my EF fluctuates like crazy, but this time I really want to keep it steady.
3. Put $1,500 more into my Travel Fund

PERSONAL
1. Travel to at least THREE new places
...and don't go in the red while doing it!!
2. Get a new tattoo
I’ve been hankering for a new tattoo for a long time, so this will be my year.
3. Read 35 books
I slacked off on my reading like crazy this year, and I want to get back into the habit.
4. Keep my relationship with the boy healthy and happy
I want to keep our relationship amazing way past the “honeymoon stage”.
5. Try out 20 new recipes
6. Only buy (and wear) clothes that I absolutely love
This can also be considered a financial goal, to avoid buying clothes that I don't feel great wearing (and therefore wasting my money).
7. Volunteer this summer.
This summer I'll have loads of extra time, and I want to be productive with that extra time.

HEALTH
1. Eat at least one fruit and vegetable per day
Something which I really do not do and need to start doing. 'Nuff said.
2. Start using organic body products
I have had pretty bad acne for years now, and I read before how some of the chemicals used in shampoos and body washes can aggravate acne. So this year I’m going to go all organic and natural when it comes to these products (lotion too!)

SCHOOL
1. Put more effort into teaching
Teaching is not a favorite activity of mine, but I think maybe if I put more effort into it, I might like it more. We’ll see.
2. Attend my first conference
Hoping to get accepted into GLAC in Milwaukee this spring (which will also help me reach my traveling goal!)

And there we are. Wish me luck!

How did I do in 2009?

2010-01-10T13:29:00.003-05:00

Well, speaking frankly, 2009 was a pretty shitty year for me. A lot of personal and family problems and hurdles to overcome, so I'm def not sad to see it go. I'm so hoping that the next year will be better. But first, I should review the goals I made last year at this time, and finally put 2009 to rest.

Goal 1. Learn to live within my grad student budget: I think I have more or less been able to do this well. I rarely have to dip into my EF for everyday-type expenses anymore. Having my rent cut by almost 300 bucks really helps with this.
Goal 2. Add an extra $1,000 to my Travel Fund: No... big fail on this one. I actually took money OUT to help pay for my new car. Which brings me to...
Goal 3. Bring my New Car Fund up to $3,000: Again, no. But I did buy my new car, so that means this fund is now more or less obsolete. I gotta think of something new to start saving for now.
Goal 4. Refund my Emergency Fund: Well, yes and no. When the Thompson scholarship came in this summer, I filled the EF back out to a good level... and then drained it again buying furniture for my new place, paying car insurance bills, and doctor appointment bills that my insurance won't cover. So now it's back at dangerously low levels again.

Well, the goals I made for myself didn't quite pan out, but then again, I'm not too depressed about it. A lot can happen in a year. I mean, in January I never thought in a million years I'd get to buy a new car, so all the planning I did then didn't quite map up to real life. It's not going to stop me from making new goals though for this year!

Back from MN!

2010-01-07T09:57:00.004-05:00

Just got back from my vacation to Minnesota yesterday, and damn, it looks like I got back just in time!! I mean, it was basically a frozen wasteland as it is, -27 degrees some days! It was a bit of a bummer to be stuck inside a lot, since I wanted to go ice skating and sledding and other cool wintery outside things, but the weather just did not cooperate at all. It was still fun and still worth it though! I got to meet the boy's crazy parents and friends (and grandparents and aunts and uncles...), see a new place, and experience cold like I've never felt before (hah!). My favorite parts: riding on the roller coasters inside the Mall of America (something that's been on my "to-do" list for years!!!!) and New Years Eve. We had the best of both worlds for New Years-- watched the ball drop on TV from the nice cozy couch and then went out for the second New Years since it's an hour behind the east coast. We saw this really awesome rock band, and it wasn't too crowded so we could actually dance and goof off. It was really perfect. :-)

As far as expenses go, I did really well. I got $120 cash for Christmas and just used that for my expenses on the trip, and still came ten bucks under! I'm super pumped about this-- it means I don't have to take any money out of my Travel Fund to pay for the trip (besides the $200 I took out way back to pay for the plane ticket in the first place)! Victory is mine! ;-)

Some random encouragement for the new year :-)

2009-12-27T18:53:00.003-05:00

I’ve been doing Jillian’s 30 day shred workout videos lately, and I started thinking about something. You know how when you do a workout video the host is always so crazy upbeat and positive, always throwing encouragement your way? The same stuff they say can work well in “real life,” too. When life gets absolutely shitty, almost everyone has thoughts of giving up. “I can’t do this, I can’t take it anymore” (...basically the same thoughts I have while Jillian is kicking my butt every morning).

I mean, life is infinitely harder than any workout video, and most of the time we want to take the easy way out instead of pushing ourselves. So many people end up living out a life which they don’t love or don’t want, simply because that’s the path they think they are on. But think about it—- the same motivation you apply to get through a tough workout can help you on a larger scale. Being your own cheerleader can help you to stay determined in your life choices and not give up when something seems impossible. This is true everything, but especially true for finances too! If you have a bad day or week where spending is pretty intense, don’t be tempted to throw in the towel or get too discouraged! Remember your plans and remember how good it feels to pay down debt or watch your savings grow. Since we don’t have life coaches, we have to give ourselves (and each other) the encouragement. :-) So if anyone is feeling low, stressed, or overwhelmed, remember to push through, be strong, and believe that you can do it!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T23:13:00.003-05:00

Hi all, just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas! We just finished our little shindig with the fam. It was a successful year as far as presents go- I think everyone liked what I got them... although we did have a big of a problem with my mom's gift. She bought the exact same Wii game for my dad that I bought for her! But it's ok, it made everyone laugh and we can always exchange it for something else. My parents got me a new ipod nano, which I'm totally in love with. It's green and shiny and cute and takes videos! I can't wait to play around with it more once it's done charging. My mom also bought me the new Burt's Bees acne line, since my visit to the dermatologist's office wasn't so successful the other day ($215 for a tube of cream-- no way I can afford that!). I seriously hope it works. Everything else was mostly clothes and books, which are also needed and loved. And tomorrow it's off to my uncle's house for more presents and food! Hope your holidays are going well too!

Frustrated

2009-12-10T18:52:00.003-05:00

I got my car insurance bill for Geico today, and my premium went UP, not down like it usually does-- even though I haven't gotten pulled over or a ticket or anything! I called them today and they said that it was because the town where I live has become a greater risk area. I'm not quite sure if that is complete bullshit or not, but I just have this awful feeling that they completely dicked me over and I did nothing but accept it. Sometimes I get so mad at myself when talking to these people on the phone for not being pushier. I call and it usually doesn't accomplish anything-- actually come to think of it, I've mad three similar phone calls to other people in the past few days and they didn't change anything. I'm feeling kind of down now, just because I hate feeling like I am a pushover...

Roommate Drama!!

2009-12-09T07:38:00.002-05:00

Last Friday we got our lease renewal letters in the mail, and on Saturday morning my roommate came to talk to me about it. She decided she wants her boyfriend to move in here, which basically means I'm out. I wasn't mad or anything, even though I love this apartment and would like to stay here, because honestly-- I saw it coming. He practically lives with us now! It's just annoying to have to find a new place and move and stuff, and I was kind of hoping they'd move out and find their own new place together.

So anyway, cut to Monday-- EVERYONE in the department is talking about us. I guess she went running her mouth off to everyone about how mad I was at her (I only told the boy and my best friend here), and everyone else was mad at her for "kicking me out without a legal right to do so." Seriously, people were calling me over and telling me how I'm such a pushover and I should fight her for the apartment and all this crap, and she came home crying last night because people were saying mean things about her. I mean, really??? It's not worth it to make enemies over an apartment! Plus I absolutely hate drama of any kind and always stay out of it, but now somehow I'm stuck in the middle of the drama of the semester!!!! Argh!

Checks in the Mail = Love

2009-11-30T21:31:00.003-05:00

When I came back from Thanksgiving break, it was like a carnival in my mailbox! I finally received my reimbursement check from my eye insurance, and I also had a check waiting from mysurvey.com. Add that money into what I got today for returning the Zeno I bought (such a waste of money ugh), and I made a $100 deposit to my EF today!! I know it's not a whole lot, but I'm desperate for all I can get at this point. I updated my sidebars to reflect my new money stuff. (On a side note, how much of a bummer is it that I've only paid 3 car payments and have paid of 5% of my loan already, while I've been paying off my student loan for 2 years now and have only paid off 10%?? Ugh.)

I'm getting so excited for Christmas!

2009-11-25T16:17:00.003-05:00

I usually hate all the Christmas hype starting before Thanksgiving, but for some reason I am getting super excited about Christmas this year! I was kind of a freak this year and bought most of my presents in the summer at various craft fairs and festivals. So far I got presents for my sister, brother, two best friends, and a birthday + christmas gift for the boyfriend (his bday is Christmas eve). I already wrapped them too-- don't judge! :-P But anyway I hardly have any more presents to buy. Here is a short list of who I still have left to buy for and some ideas about what to get them:

Dad-- Texas Roadhouse gift card $40 (his favorite restaurant-he's mega obsessed)
Mom-- new walking shoes or a Wii game $40-50 (she wants Sports Resort or Boom Blox)
Grandma-- Susan Boyle's new cd + something else (Do you guys have any good ideas??) $40-50
Roommate-- kitchen gadgets or nice stationary $10-15

First day at the lab

2009-11-10T20:59:00.004-05:00

Today was the first day of my food study, and I made $15. :-) I don't get paid until the very end of the study, which will be in early December. It'll be nice to get it then though, because then I'll have $75 to use for Christmas presents! The food was pretty good, not stellar or anything, but definitely good enough. You should see the portion sizes they give out though- I'm not sure anyone could eat that much food. I got two whole trays full of stuff to eat, thank goodness I don't have to eat everything!

I have a syntax test tomorrow, and I can't even make myself care about it. I think I studied enough, but I did not study well. I am basically being irresponsible and playing around on the internet instead of doing any work (as you can see). I must say, Facebook aps are wonderful in these situations- I'm completely addicted to Restaurant City...

Sometimes I love grad school (and those times usually involve free money)

2009-11-05T22:13:00.004-05:00

I submitted my NSF grant proposal today. When they told me about the grant last year, I was totally meh about it. For some reason I didn't want to do it, even though it's about $30,000 a year for three years and I wouldn't have to teach at all. Call me crazy, right? But this year I've been working on it for the last 2 months, and I finally submitted it today (right under the deadline)! I'm not really sure if I'll win, since it's a national competition and I'll be competing against linguists from freaking MIT, but it was a good learning experience for future grant writing. AND! (possibly the most important part), our graduate school gives you a free THOUSAND DOLLARS just for applying. I am nervous it won't actually happen, but hopefully that paperwork all goes through alright, and soon I'll be getting my moneyyyyyyyyy.

PS- They picked me for the study! 3 free meals a day on Tuesdays and 75 bucks, here I come!

Cool Food Study

2009-11-03T21:10:00.003-05:00

Remember how I posted once about how much I love getting paid for experiments? Seriously, one of the best parts about going to a big research school. Today I signed up to do a food study, and it seems really sweet. All I have to do is go to the lab once a week for all three meals and I get paid $75! I mean, really?! I love food, I love money, how is this a bad thing? Plus, it'll almost be like I'm getting paid more than that since I won't have to buy my own food. Today I went in to taste-test some of the stuff, and it seemed pretty normal (and really tasty!). I also filled out a big pamphlet about my eating habits and attitudes, so they'll call me tomorrow to let me know if I'm in. I'm a bit nervous they won't take me though, because even though I think my eating habits are perfectly normal, sometimes other people don't seem to think so. But I guess we'll see, I'm keeping my fingers crossed!! ($75 wow!)

I absolutely <3 Halloween

2009-10-31T16:50:00.003-04:00

Halloween is my favorite holiday out of the whole year, even better than my birthday and Christmas. I love the horror movies, the candy, and seeing everyone's costumes. This Halloween should be good, even though I didn't buy a real costume this year. I am going as a peacock, and I only had to buy some peacock feathers for $10. I already have a shirt with peacock feathers on it, feather earrings, and teal eyeshadow and shoes to wear, so the feathers for decoration were all I needed to complete the costume. It should be awesome, I've always wanted to go as a peacock sometime and now I can!

Another cool thing is that my little sister is coming up to visit for a Halloween party with my friends tonight. She should be here in an hour or so, then we are going to Cici's Pizza for dinner and then getting ready the rest of the night. I hope this party is really fun, because I stayed in last night instead of going out. It should be though, I am really excited for it.

Happy Halloween everyone!!

I passed!

2009-10-31T16:45:00.002-04:00

I passed candidacy!! I am now a PhD. Candidate... boo yah!! The exam went really well, I wasn't too terribly stressed and once we got the ball rolling and they started asking me questions about my work, I settled in and felt really good about it. PLus they only deliberated for about 3 mins or so before letting me know I passed, so I think that means all three of them agreed that I did well. :-) I'm super proud of myself, and I think my parents are too, if the $100 check I just got in the mail is any indication!!!

Candidacy!

2009-10-27T20:27:00.003-04:00

Well folks, tomorrow is the big day... the moment of truth. I have my candidacy exam, which basically means they will review my dissertation proposal and tell me whether I can continue on to the PhD., or if I have to leave with a Master's and go home. It doesn't seem to be too difficult to pass, because it's basically the earliest step of working on your dissertation, but I am still nervous. One of the guys who took it last year failed and left, so it does happen. I am trying to relax tonight though, going over my presentation and details of my proposal only a few times so I don't over-stress. This would all be so much easier if I didn't also have a cold/the flu at the same time!! Oy. Well, I'll let you all know how it goes tomorrow!

FINALLY cancelled my Sears Card

2009-10-21T20:44:00.002-04:00

So I bit the bullet and finally got rid of my Sears card. It was the first "real" credit card I ever got, but I really just wasn't happy with it. I feel like they played games, always changing the due dates and then charging super high late fees. I haven't been using it for the last few years except maybe a small purchase once a year. So today was the day I decided to cancel. I'm most likely not going to need credit for the next few years... just bought my new car, DEFINITELY not going to buy a house, and I have four more guaranteed years of funding at school. So I feel like now was a good time to cancel the card, in case my credit score does take a hit. But overall I'm happy, because now my credit card count has gone down to 3, which is a much better number for someone my age.

Going to Minneso:ta! (sorry linguistics joke)

2009-10-20T08:58:00.005-04:00

I just bought a plane ticket for Minnesota! The boyfriend is originally from there, and he invited me to come out and visit over New Years. When the semester's over, he's going to stay at my house for a bit before I take him to the airport, then I'll join him in MN on the 30th and stay for a week. I'm soooo excited to meet all his family, especially his little brothers, who are about 14 an 16 and sound like a lot of fun. Plus I'll meet all his friends at the New Years party. :-) I'm mildly nervous about the trip, but mostly just because it's going to be ridiculously freaking cold there. Thank God I bought good snow boots at the mall this weekend! Phew.

Cost-wise, the ticket was really cheap- only $229. Basically, it's a bargain... definitely the cheapest plane ticket I've ever bought (or boughten in MN speak- gotta start practicing :-P)!

Snow. Blah.

2009-10-15T17:35:00.003-04:00

First off, I'd like to mention that it's snowing. IN OCTOBER. I think this is completely unacceptable... I can only imagine how bad this winter will be if we have our first snow already. We apparently broke a State College record even for the earliest snowfall... one that's been in place since 1901! Oy.

Speaking of winter, I'm going to need to shell out some precious cash and buy some snowboots. I don't own a single pair of waterproof shoes, and unfortunately the closest thing I have are leather boots with heels. I made due with those last year, but considering I'll probably be living here for the next four years, I figure I should make the investment. Does anyone know of some good but (very) inexpensive brands of snowboots?

Boyfriends are Expensive!!

2009-10-07T21:07:00.003-04:00

I know that this is common knowledge to probably everyone, but it's been awhile since I've actually had a steady boyfriend, so just bear with me... having a boyfriend is expensive!!! We have been doing nothing but spending money the last few weeks-- going out for coffee (hot chocolate in my case), going out for ice cream, going out for dinner, going out for breakfast, etc. It's getting ridiculous-- I certainly can't keep this up much longer. Both because of money issues and because I am going to get fat! To be fair, we do spend a lot of our time hanging out at home, but the problem is that we also work together in the department (I know, I know, might not be the best idea) so it's always tempting to take a break and go out for lunch or some snacks. I can't keep acting like a high-roller though, so I'm definitely going to have to cut back a bit. I'll let him down gently of course... haha.

End of September Ramblings

2009-09-28T15:26:00.003-04:00

Man I am getting horrible at keeping up with this thing! It's not that I'm super duper busy or anything, it just seems that any free time I have is sucked up by hanging out with friends, reading for classes, or working on my candidacy proposal. But candidacy will be over in a few weeks, so maybe I'll have more free time then. After I turn in that paper that's due mid-semester... oy.

Money-wise, things are going alright. I am already doing so much better staying within my budget than I did last year. And I would have been exactly on budget for September except I bought three semi-expensive tickets -- the football game vs. Akron, Cirque du Soleil and Avenue Q. Each ticket was only around $30 though, so it could have been a lot worse! I'm not gonna keep it up though, so luckily there are no other shows coming up that I am dying to see. This might be it for the semester, unfortunately it all got piled up at once.

So I'm back

2009-09-11T07:31:00.003-04:00

Hey guys, sorry I seem to have dropped off the face of the planet!! I really don't know why I haven't updated or anything. Maybe a combination of lacking inspiration and being busy settling in to the semester. Here is an update of sorts of what happened since the last time I wrote:

1. LOVE my car. LOVE LOVE LOVE it. I am so glad I bought it, even if the bills will start coming in soon. The gas mileage is amazing! And it's soooo fun to drive. :-)

2. Strangely enough, I also love my students. They are so on top of things and so into the class activities we do, which is super strange. Not quite sure how that happened, but we'll see if it changes later in the semester. And it's amazing only teaching one section as opposed to two.

3. My kitten died. I had to go home last weekend because she was so sick and we had to put her down. She was only two, which is super shitty and unfair (and apparently I can't seem to talk about it without sounding like a spoiled teenager).

4. On the upside, I may or may not have a romantic interest... finally! We'll see where that goes.

5. I went to the first Penn State game of the season! My ticket cost only $36 online, which was completely bitchin' because all of my other friends paid about $70 on theirs. :-)

6. I dropped $500 on new glasses and contacts. This one caused me to stress out like crazy about money for awhile. I do get some reimbursements from my insurance and also a rebate for the contacts, so it will be nice to get those. But still, that sum is huge! The only reason I needed to get both was because my eye doctor found that my prescription (for apparently my whole life??) was WAY too strong. She dropped me like 2 points, and I didn't want to stress my eyes by switching between the strong glasses and the low contacts all the time.

7. I'm currently sick. Sick sick sick. Maybe it's the swine flu?? haha...

NEW CAR!! WAAHOO!

2009-08-21T22:30:00.003-04:00

Ok ok, I feel like some of you might kill me for this, but I took the plunge. Today I bought a new, black Toyota Yaris! It’s got everything I wanted in a car- air conditioning, power everything, cruise control, fold-down seats and a spoiler. I took advantage of the government CARS program, and got an amazing deal on it. With all of the rebates and everything, my car payment will only be $148 a month with NO INTEREST. Hellz yeah!

Here’s the breakdown:
Car Price: $16,500
Clunker Program: -$4,500
Grad School Rebate: -$1,000
Price I Paid: $11,870 (w/ tax and tags)
Down Payment: $3,000
Financed: $8,870 for 60 months with 0% APR

For my down payment, I took all the money out of my New Car Fund, and $1,550 out of my Travel Fund. I have bonds from when I was little that are worth about $1,200 now. I was going to use them for the car, but because they get a higher interest rate (4%) than my money in the bank (1.4%), I’m just going to let them stew for a bit. I'll wait to cash them out until I need them for a trip or something.

I still have my $2,500 EF and $2,300 in the Travel Fund, so I am far from cleaned out. I feel really good about this, and it will be so nice to have a car that will be reliable and in good shape for the next few years . AND I think it’s pretty much a dream come true to get a brand new Toyota for a used-car price!! Not to mention it’s my dream car (the one that’s actually attainable of course). I can't wait to start driving it around!

Random stuff

2009-08-18T17:27:00.004-04:00

I really am too tired to organize my thoughts into a cohesive blog entry today, so just bear with me.

a) I was thinking about it today, and I managed to get all the necessary items to fully furnishe and decorate my room in my new apartment for just over 120 bucks!

b) I sold my second item on Craigslist- a dresser that the old girl left here when she moved out. I got 11 emails within 3 hours... I love selling things in State College! My roommate and I are going out to dinner with the $25.

c) When I moved in, I wasn't aware I had to pay for my parking spot. It's $150 a semester... ouch! :-/ I suppose I should have asked, but at my last apartment it was free so I didn't think of it.

d)I had to buy Skype credit today for the first time in who knows how long. My cell phone is roaming inside the apartment and even outside on the street, so I can only use it for texting. This is pretty lame, but I can't get a new phone just yet.

e) I forgot how glad I am to shop for my own groceries and cook for myself! All summer I just ate whatever my mom would buy at home and packed on the pounds. Now it's time to go back to healthy fun food. :-)

Moved in!

2009-08-16T12:36:00.002-04:00

SO! I'm all moved in to my new apartment! There were even some pleasant surprises waiting for me that the previous roommate had left, like a full length mirror and a lime green desk chair that matches my laptop perfectly! Two things I can check off my "Need to Buy" list.

The only problem is that space is super tight in my room, so I'm still a little unhappy with the layout. Basically my bed is too big for the tiny room that it's in, and I don't have enough closet space. One would think this means I have too many clothes, but I disagree. ;-) I went to Walmart this morning to get some finishing touches: a toothbrush holder for the bathroom, and an over-the-door shoe hanger. My shoe rack won't fit in the closet, and it definitely won't fit at the same time as my hamper. So I'm going to try out one that hangs on the door and see how it goes.

Back to reality tomorrow

2009-08-14T09:42:00.002-04:00

I'm moving back to school tomorrow to get ready for the next semester! We have an orientation week next week and I have to be one of the new girl's "buddies"-- escort her around, answer her questions, go with her to parties. I know, I know, such a hard job. But the week after that is officially when my summer ends. :-( I'm a bit sad because my summer didn't really live up to the expectation I had for it, and now it's over. Although what really does, right?

The good things is, I have my new apartment! I cannot wait to move in, get settled and decorate my new room! I'm a little nervous about getting along with my new roommate though. She decided this summer that she hates having roommates and told me she never liked any of her roommates before. That might be a difficult situation to move into, but I'm hoping she doesn't judge me before we even live together.

How I Keep Expenses Low While Traveling

2009-08-11T11:28:00.004-04:00

Many people have marveled at the fact that I manage to travel so many different places when I am a graduate student (who didn’t pull out any loans). Ergo, I thought I’d give some tips on keeping travel expenses low. Most people probably already do these things, but I’m going to share anyway.

1) Stay at budget hotels, small local hotels or even hostels.
Whenever I plan a trip somewhere, I look for the cheapest accommodations I can that are still a) safe and b) not disgusting. You can save an insane amount of money doing this. For example, on my last trip to TN, we only paid $155 per person on a week's worth of hotel stays!! This is the same as one night in some hotels. Now I know not everyone is like this, but when I am traveling all I really need is a bed and a shower. Websites like tripadvisor.com can really help when looking for a hotel. But read the reviews with care. Sometimes the hotels are given bad reviews for something that doesn’t matter to you-- it’s all about realizing what aspects of a hotel stay are the most important to you and finding one that fits. I’ve found the best budget hotels are Days Inn and Howard Johnson— really clean beds and bathrooms, free breakfast, and sometimes a pool! I’ve never stayed at a hostel in the US before, but they do have them in some cities

2) Find out the cheapest method of transportation and go with that.
Usually when I travel with my friends, we drive. This isn’t always the best bet though, depending on where you’re going and how much time you have. Sometimes the train has very good deals, and you can see more of the country you’re traveling through. And if you’re in Europe, the train is definitely the way to go. In Germany you can by discount tickets for use in a particular area, or the special weekend ticket that can be used on trains in any part of the country. Also, surprisingly enough, sometimes flying really can be cheaper than driving, even though this seems counter-intuitive.

3) Bring friends!
This is great because it’s not only much more fun, but you can also split costs on things like gas, parking, cabs and hotel rooms. Just make sure you bring friends who are not super big spenders, because they might tempt you to spend more than what you can afford on food, entertainment and accommodation. And I've found it's harder to say no when you're "on vacation."

4) If you are a student, bring your ID with you!
You might be amazed at the discounts you can get with a student ID. Sometimes they are as good or even better than the senior citizen discounts. This is especially true if you go to Europe, since almost everywhere you go will have some sort of student discount. All those little discounts can add up, so you can use that money towards a better purpose, like dinner!

5) Try to get away from super-touristy areas.
Now I know that if you are going to a place for the first time, you want to see the things that you've heard about. I do the same thing! But if you are looking for good food or other activities, wander away from the touristy areas. You will get similar thrills with a smaller price tag. This espeically goes for restaurants, which will jack their prices through the roof if they are in a super touristy area(Times Square, anyone?).

6) Don't buy overpriced souvenirs (they are just junk!).
This kind of goes with the above tip, considering any touristy area will have a plethora of stores where all kinds of crap is sold. Even if something seems cool, ask yourself whether it's really necessary, or if Mom really needs another mug. I'm not sure about your families, but my family doesn't want any of this stuff, and they don't appreciate these types of things when I do cave and buy one or two. Save your money and take pictures, write your memories in a journal, or if you must collect something, try something cheap like postcards.

Craigslist Games

2009-08-09T18:51:00.005-04:00

So I got a guy who called right away asking to buy my mini fridge, and now he's playing games with me. First he made a big fuss about whether it works or not (why would I sell a broken fridge?) and then asked me if I could bring the fridge to HIM. I told him I would do that, since I was going up to the area on Saturday anyway. Saturday morning rolls around, I call him asking him for his address and what time would be a good time to meet, and I don't get a call back until Sunday night??? Apparently he went to NYC for the weekend?? This might have been some good info to tell me earlier... And he still wants to meet to buy it. I'm pretty peeved. I know he doesn't know me, but some courtesy would be nice!

Trip Finances

2009-08-08T14:13:00.004-04:00

So... I have two secrets to tell about my TN trip. Not terribly juicy ones though, so don't get too excited.

Secret #1: I went over budget. :-( Not by too much, only about $30. The gas, parking/cabs, and hotel expenses were exactly as much as I estimated them to be ($75, $50, and $155 respectively), but the spending money I had for entertainment and food was where I went over. I budgeted $325 and spent $355. But man, I didn't realize how many tours and things we would go on, and they were each between 10-15 bucks a pop! I didn't spend too much on food and drinks though, which helped balance it out. Only going over by 30 bucks is no big disaster and everything would be just peachy except for...

Secret #2: I FREAKING GOT PULLED OVER IN VIRGINIA!!! I know when I went there for the weekend in June I said I liked Virginia... well now I changed my mind. I was only going 78 in a 65 on I-81, which isn't even 15 over the speed limit! AND it's not like I was speeding past the other people on the highway or anything, I was going right with traffic! I am super mad at this ticket. Not mad at myself, but mad at the cop. I really feel like I was targeted because I'm out of state. Plus he set the court date for Sept. 16, which is during school so I can't try to fight it and get the points taken away. Argh. So that adds another $126 to my trip expenses. A completely unnecessary $126, if you ask me. Hopefully my insurance won't go up because of it.

Tennessee Rocks my Socks

2009-08-07T20:19:00.003-04:00

Hey y'all! I'm back from Tennessee! All I have to say is, I *heart* the south. Seriously. The accents, the food... *sigh.* I got to do soooo many insanely awesome things on this trip! Our first stop was in Memphis, which was great. Probably my favorite city out of the two (between that and Nashville- we didn't see much of Knoxville). Although the frozen drinks on Beale St. were kind of a bad idea. But we ate BBQ and fried chicken, saw some great live bands, stood in the studio where Elvis and Johnny Cash got their starts, watched the sun set over the Mississippi, visited the Jungle room, and met the owner of Silky's bar (he insulted me, but that's another story).

Nashville was fun too, but it has such a different vibe than Memphis, which was interesting to observe. I'm not a country music fan at all, so Nashville wasn't as exciting to me as Memphis was, but it was really freaking cool to stand on the stage at the Ryman where Johnny Cash used to perform. Plus we went to a dueling piano bar, which I've always wanted to see. And in Nashville I GOT TO PLAY ELVIS' FAVORITE PIANO! The one he recorded so many of his songs with!! Really one of the coolest things EVER. I almost died of excitement and I'm not even a huge Elvis fan... those people would probably hyperventilate or have seizures or something.

But alas, my Tennessee Tour has come to an end. I just got back home, and PA seems so blah compared to how vibrant and different cities in the South are.

Roadtripping to TN!

2009-07-31T13:10:00.004-04:00

Ok, so here comes my last big trip of the summer before I have to go back to school... (I think this calls for a :'-( face). My BFF and I are doing a road trip to Tennessee!! We're hitting up Knoxville, Nashville and Memphis, all in a week. I can't freaking wait to leave, I feel like I've been waiting for this trip for foreverrrrrr. We were supposed to go this past week, but with my grandpa and all, we postponed it a week. Surprisingly we canceled all of our hotel reservations and changed the dates without a hitch! No fees, no trouble at all-- somehow it all worked out perfectly. So I'm heading over to her house in a few hours, and tomorrow morning we'll be on the open road!!

So far with all of the hotels (for a week!) we only had to spend $155 per person. As far as the rest of the trip goes, I'm estimating about $120 per person for gas, parking, cabs, etc. and then $325 for food and entertainment. That gives me a $600 budget for the whole trip. I'm not really worried about going over budget. Last year when we went to Florida, I didn't spend nearly what I thought I would. Plus I'm thinking things in Tennessee will probably be cheaper than tourist-laden Florida. So let's hope for a repeat performance!

Everyone enjoy your weekends, I'll see you in a week!

The Funeral

2009-07-30T22:44:00.006-04:00

The funeral was today. It was pretty rough at times, especially since I just felt so overstressed and anxious, not to mention I had to hold my mom up for half of it. But it turned out nice overall, as far as funerals go. There were tons of people there, the flowers were nice, and I didn't get scared by the open casket like I thought I would. It was just so strange to see so many people there-- his other family, the people he worked with, etc.-- who knew him better than I ever did or ever will. It's depressing that I don't really have any memories with him. But the one nice thing was to see my cousins though at the luncheon afterwards, and enjoy the craziness and inappropriateness that is my family. Even though we met at a funeral, that part was nice.

My first time with Craig (slist)

2009-07-29T09:05:00.004-04:00

Although I've bought some furniture for my new apartment from Craigslist in the past few months, I've never sold anything on there. But I posted my first sale item on Monday... I'm selling my old dorm fridge from college. I used it for all four years of my undergrad career, and now I think it's time to part with it. Plus now is probably a great time because people are going back to college, or going for the first time! I posted it and asked for $35, and I've already gotten an email asking about it! I'm not sure if they will buy it or not yet, since they were just asking for more information. It would be great if it went through though! Keeping my fingers crossed...

RIP Pop-Pop

2009-07-25T20:07:00.003-04:00

My grandfather died today. He had a heart attack yesterday, and didn't make it through surgery this morning. I feel so bad for my mom, because everything is on her. His second wife doesn't know anything and is pretty helpless, so the entire family is deferring to my mom. And the truly disgusting thing is that people are already calling her and asking her about his money...

My family is bugging me to get a new car

2009-07-25T13:36:00.004-04:00

This year, our family vacation turned into the "Why doesn't Ashley buy a sports car and date a football player?" conversation that my uncle seems to favor so much. He was ragging on me all week, and even got my parents in on it! They all want me to buy a new car with this new Clunker program. Now don't get me wrong, when I first found out about the program, I was just about jumping for joy. You see, my car is worth next to nothing as a trade-in, and I would basically be making $4,000 for free.

The only problem is, you have to buy new. Now you guys already know I've been toying around with the idea of buying a new car ever since mine started giving me all kinds of problems and making me nervous to drive. So far I have $1,460 saved towards a new car, and technically, I could afford a car payment of $200 or less, but it makes me super nervous. There would be absolutely no breathing room, and I don't want to be stretched too thin. I feel like it just wouldn't make sense to take on even more debt at this point. But my whole family is telling me I'm a fool if I don't take advantage of the program! Argh, it's so frustrating. Have any of you guys been in this situation? What do you think (even I think I already know what you think...)?

Beach :-)

2009-07-18T08:39:00.001-04:00

Hey everyone, I'm going down the shore for a week with my family (= all expenses paid woot), so I won't be back until next Saturday. Hope everyone has a great week!

What did I do with the Scholarship?

2009-07-17T17:35:00.006-04:00

Ok, so I finally figured out what to do with my scholarship money. This is the final breakdown:
$340 = Car Insurance Payment (for the next 6 months)
$200 = IRA (I haven't funded my IRA AT ALL this year... sad)
$500 = to Student Loan
$500 = to New Car Fund
$260 = spending for July & Aug (just gas and any fun things)
$2,300 = to EF

I still just threw the majority of the money into my EF, like I had talked about last time. Some of it is for books for the upcoming semester, but the rest I'll just keep. So now my EF can hover around $2,500 instead of just $2,000.

Oh and PS- I still haven't completely ruled out the tattoo. ;-)

PF Mad Lib!

2009-07-17T09:22:00.007-04:00

Decided to try this Mad Lib from Punch Debt in the Face, since it looked kind of fun. I used to love these as a kid!

Hi my name is Ashley. I currently have sixty dollars in my wallet. When I started managing my finances I was worth -$7,800, and now have a net worth of -$4,100 (that's mildly depressing). I currently work as a TA in grad school and have been doing it for one year. I make roughly $17,000 per year. I want to have enough to live comfortably (so my children won't have to support me) waiting for me when it comes time to retire. Aside from learning about finances, I really enjoy traveling and reading. I think the world would be a better place if violence and the fight for power (will never happen... I know) didn't exist. I had some weird egg and spinach pizza that I made on naan for dinner last night and it was surprisingly amazing! I have had 3 significant others over the course of my lifetime (counting awkward middle school relationships). One thing that makes me different is my sense of humor doesn't always match up with other peoples'. Now that I'm done with this mad lib, I think I'm going to go eat breakfast and watch a movie.

First Swagbucks Prize!

2009-07-15T10:45:00.002-04:00

This morning I finally earned enough Swagbucks to cash them in for my first prize! I got the $5 Amazon.com gift card. Since I love reading so much, I have a bunch of books I'm interested in buying. I hope to use Swagbucks enough that I can get a bunch of these gift cards and then go on a nice little book shopping spree! The first book that I really really want to get is I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit. His blog was one of the first PF blogs I ever started reading, and started my years-long obsession. He has tons of useful information on the website, and I think the book will be just as good!

Hey, if any of you have been playing around with the idea of signing up for Swagbucks, please use my referral link! :)