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A Good Day for Savings

July 29, 2006 By

I went to drop the pile of stuff off at Salvation Navy and decided to look around a bit. I usually don’t have the patience to dig through all the crap that they have, but I decided to look anyway. As I was pawing through the clothing racks, I found it. A pair of khaki pants, my size, in excellent condition, for only $4. I figured that since I had been wanting to buy a pair anyway, and would have spent $20-30 on them new, that this was a pretty good deal. I brought them to the cashier, who rang them up and told me my total. I was a bit surprised, because it wasn’t what the sign said. She said they were – are you ready for this – $1!!!!! One whole dollar! Woot! I am so glad that I picked today of all days to actually look around in there.

Then I headed out to the pharmacy to pick up the drugs. Gotta have drugs. Apparently my insurance company has changed the price for generics, but I never got a notice. Now they cost me $7 each instead of $10, so it’s a monthly total of $14. More savings, yay!

I also did my grocery shopping, so I’m pretty sure that the food I have will last until I go on vacation, so I shouldn’t have to go again for awhile.

So here’s the spending breakdown for today:
$1 – pants
$14 – prescriptions
$5 – more money on my laundry card
25 cents – gallon of water
$27.73 – groceries

So even though I spent money today, I feel pretty good about it because I got a pair of pants I needed for next to nothing, and everything else I bought was stuff I needed. Now I just need to find the motivation to do some cleaning around here. My desk is a mess, my filing pile is growing bigger every day, and I still have a bunch of stuff still straggling around looking like clutter. Oh well. I’m getting to the point where I’m starting to think more about packing for my trip, seriously hoping I don’t forget anything. Last year I forgot my camera. I definitely don’t want to do that again!

Filed Under: Shopping

Confessions of a Shopaholic

July 17, 2006 By

Yeah, I read that book – and the rest of the series (Shopaholic Takes Manhattan, Shopaholic Ties the Knot, Shopaholic and Sister) and quite enjoyed them. While I don’t consider my spending as out of control as Becky’s is, I definitely identify with the need to shop.

Gretchen posted on her blog about coveting. I covet stuff too, which is why I have 2 jobs. Job#2 is supposed to pay for the things I covet and already bought, but with my move that payment plan has fallen by the wayside. There’s always something – my move, my upcoming vacation, my car registration due in September, the upcoming holidays, blah blah blah. I want stuff, we all want stuff. When I had extra money, instead of saving it I would spend my weekends at the mall or visiting my favorite shops, always buying a bunch of stuff I don’t need. So yeah, I’m a shopaholic. Even now, when I’m bored, I think, “Gee, I haven’t visited that mall in awhile, I think I’ll go browse around.” If I buy something, I feel bad about the money I spent because I know full well it could be spent on something else. If I don’t buy anything, I feel bad because I see other people buying stuff and wish I could too.

Job#2 is retail, which has its good and bad points. Good point – I rarely, if ever, buy anything from my store. We sell shoes, none of which fit me because I have an extremely narrow foot, and we don’t carry narrows. We also sell purses and wallets, but I’m very picky about that stuff so I rarely purchase them (plus, they’re expensive, even with my discount, and I don’t like to spend that much on a purse). Bad point – the store is in a mall, and I always want to shop at the other stores, many of which will give a 10% mall discount.

What do I like to buy? Shoes, if I can find ones I like in my size. I love buying jammies, don’t know why because I don’t always like buying regular clothes. Books, magazines, movies, music. Stuff for my home, even though I have nowhere to put it. The 1 in, 1 out rule is a good one, but it still means I can buy stuff if I get rid of stuff at the same time and doesn’t solve the buying stuff issue.

Now that I have more than 1 reader here, perhaps this will be a good way for some accountability. I’m gonna try my hardest to keep a bit of a journal here on my spending and debt payments. I’ll update tonite on that, since I haven’t spent anything yet today. My basic goals are this:

1. Cut out frivolous spending while maintaining my sanity
2. Pay down debt – Mastercard and Visa
3. Save some money!

I’ll try to put up a daily post or at least include in my posts an update on this. If I don’t, you can all yell at me. I tried to keep a notebook, which lasted all of 10 minutes because there was no one else to answer to. I post on a message board, but again, no one else to really answer to. My parents basically leave me alone as far as the spending goes, because all my bills are paid on time and I don’t ask them for anything (unlike my sister, who depends on Dad’s handouts). So that leaves it to be a personal thing, and I’m asking for a little bit of accountability in this department.

Of course, I still covet stuff, so I’ve linked to my wishlist on Amazon just in case anyone wants to reward my efforts with a present ;-)

Ok, here it is, my spending for the day:
$1.66 – cookies (to keep in my desk drawer, so I have chocolate handy to keep me sane. They should last about 2 weeks or so)

Filed Under: Shopping

So I Was Craving an IKEA Trip

June 19, 2006 By

One would think that Las Vegas, the fastest growing city in the country, would be a prime area to build an IKEA. Despite pleas from myself and countless others, IKEA still won’t come here, which means we must go to them. Covina, CA is the closest one – a mere 4 hour drive each way. Did I mention that the drive is through barren desert? There’s like, 2 towns the whole way down there until you get to civilization again on the other side of the San Bernadino National Forest. Ok, 3 towns if you count Baker. Still, that’s a long way to go without anything to look at.

It’s been about 2 years since my last IKEA trip, and since I just moved into a new place, I figured it was perfect timing. Besides, I’m just about out of salmon sauce. I’ve been doing my homework, doing my budget and checking out what’s available so I could go in with a plan of action.

Saturday morning I woke up early to get a head start on the ride. I like to get there, eat an early lunch, shop my brains out, and be back by dinnertime. I was on the road a little before 7am, before most of the traffic. I had my carefully selected music since I detest playing radio roulette, and I had plenty of water and some snacks for the drive. Everything was going along fine until about 30 minutes before Baker I saw a small something on the road. I was in the left lane, and with a big rig next to me, there was no chance of moving aside. The shoulder to my left was dangerous at best, since it was in a pass (a pass, for those who don’t know, is a winding road through a somewhat mountainous area that has little of anything else except danger). This small thing was gray, looked like metal, and was about the size and shape of a 2-liter soda bottle cut in half. I tried to avoid it, and I thought I had enough room to either straddle it or go around, but I was wrong. I hit it with my right front tire.

Luckily, I had both hands on the wheel and was in complete control of my vehicle the whole time. I got to the right, put my hazards on, and carefully went out to survey the damage. Oy Vey! Who knew a little thing like that could do so much damage to a measly tire? There were 4, count ‘em, 4 huge gashes in the sidewall of my tire. It was toast. Even if I carried Fix-a-Flat with me, it wouldn’t have helped. Good thing I know how to change a tire – almost. I secured my car, set the parking brake, put something behind the opposite tire to keep the car from rolling, and got out the gear. My idiot tire had air in it, so I got that out and jacked up my car. Those stupid things that come with the car are almost useless. You can’t get enough torque to do the job properly! But I managed, until it came time to take the tire off. Those stupid lug nuts were so tight, I could not get them off. I had just given up and was starting to walk to the call box to call for help (I don’t have AAA, and I’ll tell you why in a moment) when a trucker pulled over to help me. He finished changing my tire and since he had a car carrier with some room on it, offered me a ride to Barstow, but I decided to go to Baker and see what I could do from there.

I got my scrap rubber put away and the rest of my tools in the trunk and continued on my way to Baker. Boy, was I nervous driving on the idiot tire on the highway. And in this part of the country, if you’re not on the highway, you’re on a dirt road that may or may not be legit, so highway it was. When I got to Baker, I found a garage that was open. The proprietor, who had 2 teeth and no hair, said he could fix my rim, which was dented by the mystery object, and said he’d sell me a new tire, all for the low price of $65. Since my Dad owns a garage, I knew this was a decent price, especially being in the middle of nowhere – I could have been seriously hosed with no other options. The guy fixed my tire rather quickly and I was on my way, praying hard that there would be no more mishaps on the way. I can’t afford it!

I got to IKEA just fine, only set back by 45 minutes which I believe is record time for being in the middle of nowhere. I ate my lunch in the Swedish Cafe, and continued my thorough search of the store to make sure I got everything on my list and didn’t miss any other incidentals. Here’s what I bought:

I wanted the Bjoberg storage bench, but taking into consideration the money I just spent on a tire, along with the fact that the box is a bit too big and heavy for me to drag into my 2nd floor apartment by myself, I ended up with this instead. I have it covered with a throw blanket so it doesn’t look so primitive, and someday it will go nicely in my lakehouse. Another bonus – it only took about 5 mintues to put together. I’m pretty well versed in IKEA furniture assembly, and this one is something anyone can do.

I also wanted some stuff for my kitchen, to make the best use possible of the ill-planned space I have. I’ve been lusting after the Grundtal series, so after careful consideration of my needs and some of the habits I’ve been developing in regard to my space, I got the mid-sized rail, the single paper towel holder, and the chopping board. It’s already hung over my sink and I must say, really classes the place up.

A spur of the moment purchase was this colander, and let me just say, that thing is HUGE! Sunday afternoon I made some pasta salad, using an entire 16oz package of pasta, and when I used my new colander to drain it, the pasta barely filled it halfway! I don’t usually cook large quantities, so usually my little old-style Tupperware colander does just fine. But this will come in really handy when I do have those larger amounts. Besides the attractive price, this colander will look really nice if I neglect to put it away.

I was looking at lighting, but I still have not decided what to do about my computer area, since both floor space and desktop space are at a premium, there is no outlet in the ceiling, and there is no wall switch that corresponds to the outlet there. So I’m still thinking that one over. I also thought about a picture frame for some art cards I got a couple years ago, but I decided that I should unpack my decorations and see what I still want to do at that point before I go and buy any more decorations.

Now, why I don’t have AAA. See, when I lived back east, my dad just put me on his account, and it didn’t cost me a thing. I still never really used it because the only times I needed a tow, it was either snowing like crazy and they wouldn’t come get me, or it was really late at night and even if I did get AAA to tow me, I’d still have to call Dad and wake him up so I could get home, so in those cases I just bypassed AAA and went straight to Dad. Once I moved to Las Vegas, I paid $79 to transfer my membership and didn’t use it at all. So I decided to discontinue it. Now, considering what transpired on Saturday, I still don’t think I’ll get it again. For one, I was in the middle of nowhere and might still be waiting if I had called for help. And I still would have ended up buying a new tire. Still not worth it to me. My car is fairly new and well-maintained, so overall I’m not worried about a breakdown, and we already know I can change a tire as long as I have some muscle available. My biggest worry during the whole tire incident was having my day ruined by not getting to IKEA at all, and/or being bit in the ass by a certain poisonous legless reptile that is abundant in desert areas. I was actually more afraid of that then my car being hit or some psycho trying to “help” me. Again, not something that AAA could help me with.

So all in all, my IKEA trip went well. I got set back just 45 minutes and $65, which considering the circumstances isn’t too bad. I got most of what I wanted and got home about 12 1/2 hours after I set out. For some reason I was exhausted when I got home, which is unusual. Long car trips usually leave me invigorated and restless, and I can’t sit still when I get out of the car. Saturday, though, once I got all my stuff in the house, I collapsed. Literally. I got home about 7:15pm and was asleep before 8, and I slept all night long. And that was the best part of my day.

Filed Under: Car, Shopping

Never Grocery Shop With PMS

June 12, 2006 By

I have no further comment regarding the title of my post.

When I got home from the office tonight, there was a note taped to my door from management. It reads:

Dear Resident,
In an effort to improve our community we will be power washing and repairing stucco on the buildings to prepare them for painting. This will start tomorrow June 13 and continue until the work is completed. Please remove everything from your patios and balconies and keep them empty until we are completed. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.
Sincerely,
Resident Administrator

Dear Management Office of My Apartment,
Since I have no patio or balcony, just like the rest of the apartments in my building, I will kindly disregard your note. However, I will be sure to remove the welcome mat from the carpeted 2nd floor landing that I enter my apartment from, just in case you want to pressure wash that. I’ll also be sure to keep my windows closed until you are finished with this. Although you failed to mention the effect that pressure washers have on open windows, I am well aware of the consequences, which thanks to your oversight, many of my neighbors will find out about the hard way. Thank you for your irrelevant advance notice of upcoming cleaning of my non-existent patio/balcony.
Sincerely,
Apartment ###

Now, for the rest of my to-do list. Besides the few things I still have to get to increase the functionality of my apartment (like a lamp for my computer area so I can see my keyboard), there are many things I need to do to minimize stubbed toes and make it look a bit more inviting. So, here goes.

*Finish contacting people about my change of address
*File stuff and finish organizing desk area, since it’s all unpacked
*Get out the instruction book and attempt to figure out my stereo
*Failing that, get a friend over here who knows about stereo stuff
*Properly make my bed so I don’t have my comforter and blankets on the floor
*Organize closet since I haphazardly hung everything when I moved in
*Keep up with cleaning and chores
*Start unpacking my decorations and figure out where they will go, then put them there
*Continue to purge unnecessary items
*Email Helen at church and tell her that when she changed my address, she added me to the mail merge twice, so now I get 2 newsletters
*Go thru my inbox, print/save what I want to keep and delete the rest
*Call cable company when they are open and tell them again to add my email address to my new account. It’s only my spam email address, but still!
*Go through my favorites/bookmarks and clean those up
*Re-learn meal planning so I can better plan and budget for meals so I don’t have to rely on so many hastily purchased crap food meals (and PMS related junk food binges)

Is that all? I hardly think so, the list seems awfully short for everything I feel like I need to do, but then again with the hours I work (nearly 60/wk) I guess it IS a huge list. I’m starting to feel like my end-of-summer goal date for being settled, with the above-mentioned hominess, is a bit ambitious.

I’m really looking forward to my visit back to New England in just under 2 months. My mom will be holding a birthday party for Bubba and Messy J, since my visit will be right in between their birthdays. I can’t wait to see them. Bubba, being the pre-teen that he is, is online a lot but can’t quite hold a conversation with his Aunty, since his typing skills are similar to that of many people his age. You know what I’m talking about – the kind of internet-speak that leaves literate adults like myself saying, “WTF? R u stupid or wat?” Messy J, on the other hand, is more interested in the physical world around her and is still a bit too young to grasp the virtual world, and therefore talk to her Aunty. I give that one a few more years before I start getting incessant messages from her in the same kid internet language I don’t understand. Being a girl, I’m sure I’ll get many more messages from her than I do from Bubba.

My mom is looking forward to that favorite New England pastime, antiquing. Seems every time I come to visit there’s an antique shop or fair she wants to visit. Now that I’ve been away for awhile and and starting to suffer the effects of too many big box stores and not enough old anything (and no, old people in the line at the buffet don’t count), this time I’m actually looking forward to it. But even though the town she has in mind is rather small and isolated, I fear it will take about 3 times as long as I want it to, so I should try not to make any plans for that day. I also have friends to visit and food to eat.

Oh yes, food. I mentioned in a previous post that one never things about being able to find their favorite foods when they move to another part of the country, and it’s one thing I’m looking forward to when I go home. Cheap lobster. Top-split hot dog buns (there, I said it – I’m from Massachusetts!). Good Italian food. Mom’s cooking. Dunkin Donuts and Au Bon Pain. Farm stands. Roast Beef Sandwiches. Newbury Comics. Oh wait, that last one isn’t food! But I still need to stop in for a wicked good time and cheap CDs that are hard to find at the big box stores. And yes, I wear my Toothface T-shirt proudly!

Ok, now that it’s getting late and I still haven’t relaxed yet today, I should probably do that so I can get a halfway decent amount of sleep. I have to work both jobs tomorrow, and apparently a higher up manager will be in the store tomorrow so I’ll need to be prepared – dressed 100% according to dress code, perky and ready to sell sell sell! Joy.

Filed Under: Family, Food, Shopping

Water, water everywhere

May 2, 2006 By

I saw the title of a blog floating by that had something to do with shoes. I like shoes – in fact, my second job is working is a shoestore. But alas, I cannot buy the shoes I sell. It’s not because I sell men’s or children’s shoes, I do sell ladie’s shoes. It’s because of my skinny feet. Very skinny feet. 8 1/2 AAA to be exact. It’s a slim width – not medium, not narrow, but slim. That’s a pretty hard size to find. And because of that, I do not have a pair of shoes to go with everything that I would like to match footwear to. Yes, my Imelda Marcos aspirations were cut short due to my skinny feet.

Let me tell you what happens when you have skinny feet. Most women’s shoes come in a B width, which is about 4 sizes too wide. When I wear B width shoes, I have a lot of room on the sides of my feet, even though the length is fine. Also, because the bones at the back of my ankle are also extremely skinny, the back of the shoe does not grip enough to keep the shoe on my foot. This is rather annoying, walking when the shoes don’t stay on. If I wear a sandle or something with an open toe, my foot slides a bit too far and my toes hang off the edge of the shoe. Again, very annoying.

One of the solutions that eager (and under educated) salespeople tell me is to go down a size. I don’t think they’re hearing me correctly. I have a TRIPLE A width. That’s not just a little narrow, it’s a lot narrow. Squishing my toes is not the answer to a proper fit. If I do go down sizes to get a shoe to stay on, I’m looking at a 6 or 6 1/2. Don’t forget, I wear a 8 1/2. If I did resort to such tiny shoes simply to keep something stylish on my foot, I’d be in constant pain every time I stand up or try walking. So going down a size (or in my case, many sizes) is not the answer.

I have found some resources online where I can find shoes my size. And I can even go with a Double A width if it’s something I’m likely to wear socks with, though I usually need heel grips for something like that because of my bony heels. I hear people complain of why they have wide feet – going barefoot a lot as a child is a good one. Hey, I went barefoot a lot. In the summer I never wore shoes unless we went to the store, and I never wear shoes in the house. How come my feet haven’t gotten to at least a medium width? I’m doomed to be forever in search of shoes that fit – not only my feet but also my budget. Have you seen the prices on slim shoes? No way I’m gonna find shoes that fit at Payless, even though that’s my budget.

I suppose the man upstairs did have a reason for giving me such skinny feet. It’s to keep me from bankrupting myself buying shoes. That’s gotta be it. I know I’d have a closetful of them if I could fit in them. So I guess there’s a reason for everything.

Filed Under: Shopping, Talking About Myself