Start of Class, A New Beginning

My community college class started on Monday and I loved it. Its an accounting class on how to use Excel. Man, it was so lovely, because I was learning something new and making mistakes and learning from those. I could also directly see how this is a marketable skill that I can put on my resume. It is just so tangible. It gives me hope. I think now I can see the future with a real grown-up job. I think I was a little down before due to using half of my emergency fund to pay off the remainder of my student loans. It added to my feeling trapped. Also I chatted with my boss and she is willing to really work with me, by giving more hours and off the days I ask for. I also discovered that I could get the trial version of the Microsoft Suite free for 60 days, which is longer than the duration of my class. So I'll be able to make a more educated decision on whether to buy the software and which version, also education prices are nice. It's coming up roses.

Accomplished Big Goal, Why Ho-Hum

So I sent in my last payment towards my student loans last week. This is momentous, except I feel fairly ambivalent. It's good I don't have any debt. I'm no longer a wage slave. I'm doing better than a good majority of my peers. I have a job and no debt, other than my credit card that lasts for two week intervals to earn rewards. (Although I might stop using the credit card except for one monthly expense, I feel a little allergic to debt now. It makes me itchy and uncomfortable.) However I thought I would be in a different place literally and figuratively. I'm feeling the burnout of Starbucks due to management and other things. I expected to be in a career using my degree by the time I finished paying for it. I'm enrolled in community college for this upcoming quarter, which I'll pay for up front. Or I thought I would be traveling in some exotic European city and doing some awesome random job to help me to continue to travel. I just thought it would feel different, like I would take more pride in it. Also most of the last payment came from the money I left in an account that I saved to pay the minimum on my loans while I was going to be traveling, and had her check last month to see how much was left and ended up being three times the amount I thought (Happy surprise, I guess).

Why Couchsurfing is frugal...

So CouchSurfing was been making the rounds in the media lately. I thought I would put in my two cents about my experience of CouchSurfing (CS). I have been a member for about 5 years now. I don't surf much I've done it only a handful of times in the US. Nevertheless, I have used as a social outlet after college to meet like minded people in that we like to travel. Since these people like to travel, they have the desire to save money, while having a good time. Last week, Cappy and I hosted this 7 person Aussie gypsy punk band for two days. They stayed on our couches, futon, and floor, but they were just happy to have hot water and washing machine (although they didn't use the dryer, instead they line dried their clothes). We got to check them out at the infamous Stag Night in St. Louis for free. Also that same weekend, we went with a CS friend who had old study abroad friends in town ziplining and since we had a group of 10 we got the group discount. Also the local CS group has a monthly happy hour that moves around the city and so not only do we get to try new bars, but sometimes we can get the happy hour specials extended to our group due to our size. So I get to save money by hanging out with these crazy traveler types while we are working our regular jobs and feel special showing my version of St. Louis.

Being a doer instead of a talker

This idea has been really present in my mind recently. I've grown up being told that you need to have a plan for your life. year, week, etc. and that maybe a back up plan or two would be good as well. With these lessons, I got good at being able to tell people what my next steps could possible. However I am horrible procrastinator. Thus I have all these plans and the best of intentions, but I get distracted by TV and movies and paralyzed by fear of failure and the what-ifs. This helped my finances as in I've automated my savings, so I have a good amount in there. I have a couple sets of plans for this money. But the what-ifs keeps the money in the savings account. However I have figured out one plan to use the money. I am getting a tattoo on my birthday in exactly a month. I'm excited and weird sense of calm about coming to the realization of where to get the tattoo and the ability to give artistic license to some one else. Its a step in the right direction to become a doer instead of a talker. For what is savings for, but for to experience life fully.

Minimalist Valentine's Day

I know I am little late in the game on this one. But let me just tell how I spent my Valentine's Day. First Cappy hand delivered a dozen roses that he arranged himself in a vase we already had with a tin of Ghiradelli chocolates. I appreciated this because part of getting flowers is sharing with people or showing off to people especially since it was right next to the register. I got him a nice rib eye steak. I like that we got each other consumables instead of stuff like dumb stuffed animals or even jewelery. For dinner, we used a groupon to a bar we could walk to from our house and saw a free screening of a local film while there. We did get a bottle of champagne, however it was only 8 bucks, which we drank out of mason jars. So no too spendy and very tailored to our personalities.

Unwanted gift cards

So I got these ugly pajama pants from my brother for Christmas. So instead of being polite and say I liked them and totally would wear them, I did the rude and honest thing and said good attempt, but I'm not that kind of girl. The next day I returned them. He got them from WalMart, even though I told him in the past how much I despise WalMart and don't want presents from there. So now I had a gift card that I didn't really want. I looked on line to see if I could sell it on one of those auction websites for gift cards, but since my card was for $17.98, I had hard time finding a site that would take it. The lowest amount most of them would take was $25. I did find one, ABC Gift Cards. It was a little more of around about way than the other ones. I had to send in a request to see if the would accept it and then they sent me an email like a week later. They sent me a form to mail in with the card, and at that point, I also accepted that it might be a scam and I wouldn't see the money or gift card at the end. However, in a couple weeks time, I got the PayPal email saying the funds were transferred into my account. So I really recommend these guys. So glad to have money in my bank account, instead of cheap crap from WalMart in my house.

Theoretical vs. Actual Savings

The No Spend Challenge has got me thinking about savings cause isn't the point of this exercise. I think it is a little silly how grocery stores and even Starbucks say how much you saved at the bottom of your receipts. I didn't save money, I just spent money. It didn't go into savings or towards paying down debt. I most likely would not have bought that thing if it cost that much more, my purchasing threshold was due to the actually price, not the savings, my mind does not work that way. However, Cappy is totally falls into that trap of theoretical savings and spends more because of the value and just saving so much on the one item he can then get those other things too. This is why it is amusing to see what he comes home from the grocery store. So I'm wondering if there is a way to bridge the gap between theoretical and actual savings or if it is necessary to. Again it seems dumb or too much effort to take those receipts and move the theoretical money saved from the checking account into my online savings account. I have the fear that I didn't budget for this and if move to much money I'll just have to dip back into the savings, which I worry will create a habit of it or if that money is moved to pay down debts that I will need to use a credit card, thus a vicious cycle is reignited.