Odin's Day

Administration
Hello to new reader nycorson!

Medical
Overdid yesterday. Ow. Seriously. Ow.

Dammit
I am so frustrated right now. SO frustrated. Would you like to know why?

In my dream, I went to a bookstore. And I had plenty of free time in the dream, and I was alone, so no one was saying "come on, let's go!", so - bliss. And I got to peruse the entire sci-fi/fantasy section. There was a new book, someone's debut novel - I read the first chapter and flipped through the rest a bit more to determine that I would like it, and put it in the stack. I selected about 20 books. Narrowed that down to 4, because even in my dreams, I'm on a budget, I guess. And I bought those four and continued on my way.

And then I woke up.

It's not not getting to read the rest of that book that's frustrating me... uncharacteristically for me, I remembered lots of detail and have written it down. So maybe I'll write it myself.

What frustrates me is... one of the other books was a new Vorkosigan novel.

And I do not get to keep it.

ARGH!

And I do like the Chalion stuff, but... Miles. I want more Miles. (Actually, this book focused a bit on Mark and Cordelia, from what I recall of the back cover. But still!)

Daily Science
Newfound Island Graveyard May Yield Clues to Dodo Life of Long Ago

...Over the last few weeks, however, a team of scientists has been exploring a trove of dodo fossils that may be as old as 3,000 years. Along with the dodos, the scientists have found fossils of other species of birds, reptiles, bats and numerous plants.

"You name it, we've got it," Kenneth Rijsdijk, the team's leader and a physical geographer at the Geological Survey of the Netherlands, said in a phone interview. "We've found the whole ecosystem."

The scientists expect the site to offer the first clear picture of the dodo's ecological world before humans arrived. It may allow them to better understand how dodos and many other species became extinct.

Fantastic article - read it even if you don't give a shit about dodos. Just the idea of reconstructing an ecosystem like that. Makes me all bouncy-like. (The author blogs about it here, too.)

Daily BPAL
( Uranus, Endymion, Kyoto )

Endymion goes on the swap pile. Reserving judgment on Kyoto... I have another cherry scent, but it's different. EDIT: Kyoto is a no.

Single-income advice

I was asked via e-mail how we're managing on a single income... "What kinds of cuts did you make while it still sounds like you live pretty comfortably?" I'm posting my reply publicly because there are others of you who are living on single incomes or, if not single incomes, just not very high incomes, and pooling ideas = beneficial!

A lot of ours was preparation-based, so it may or may not apply to you. As it became clear that my body was no longer up to a full-time job, we decided I'd go part-time.

Two big cuts we made so I could go part-time:

1. We paid off my car, using money from the savings account. This reduced our monthly expenses by $320.
2. I decided to work mornings instead of afternoons... so I could pick Elayna up from school and she would no longer attend the after-school program. This reduced our monthly expenses by $250.

We'd planned for me to stop working in late May 2006, our planned move date. The situation changed in many way - work became untenable before that, and we still haven't moved. But knowing that it was going to happen in advance gave us opportunity to prepare. The big thing we did:

Pay off debt. Aggressively.

When I say aggressively, I mean we were paying $150 a month on credit cards that had a minimum payment of $15. We needed them gone, gone, gone. I pretty much devoted my entire paycheck for over a year to getting rid of debt.

This is what you do.

1. Determine how much debt you have.
2. Determine the maximum amount of money you can pay on that debt per month.
3. Divvy that up, paying the most towards the cards/debts with the highest interest rates.
4. When you pay off a card/debt, do not put that money back in your operating budget! Divide it between the remaining debts. That's how we ended up paying $150 on a $15 minimum payment - as the other debts went away, we increased our payment from $50 to $100 to $150 til it was gone. If the money never hits your operating budget, you won't miss it.

This has reduced our monthly expenses by about $500. We're still paying off debt, but at a more normal rate, since me being jobless has forced us to put more into the operating budget... but we got rid of probably 80% of our debt this way. (EDIT: Also, take the credit cards out of your wallet. Put them in a bag. Put the bag in a box. Tape the box shut. Stick it in a drawer. This is the same principle as not having a gun in your glovebox without layers between you and it - cut the impulse. By the time you get to the card, you'll've had time to think about whether you really ought to be using it.)

That's the preparation aspect.

Now for the living with it now aspect.

You've noticed that we live well... you should, too. Self-deprivation is depressing and frustrating and horrible. Work around the lack of cashflow so you can treat yourself ever so often, or you'll go nuts. Save, save, save where you can, but treat yourself every so often.

Resources for getting things free or cheap:

Books: Well, there's the library. But we like owning books! So look into Paperback Swap. Free books. All it costs you is postage. (Use Yendi as a referral to get us a free book!) Also, many publishers have "First Look" programs, where they'll send you books - sometimes ARCs - in exchange for a brief review. You don't have to be A Book Reviewer... they want opinions from the general public. Also, the Amazon.com affiliates program gives you Amazon.com store credit for every purchase made through their links. Half the time when you see us kvelling over a major book purchase, we didn't pay a penny for it.

Music: Hell, that's easy. For free new music, haunt Amazon.com's free downloads section, or your favorite bands' websites. Or use your most important esource - your friends. It's perfectly free to send you mp3s, and cheap to send you mix CDs. And iTunes offers a free song or two every week.

Movies: Free screening passes abound! Go to the FatWallet forums, go to CHUD.com, go to Entertainment Weekly, and check your local free alternative paper (Creative Loafing, New Times).

Free Stuff in General: Go to the forums at DVDtalk.com and Fatwallet.com. We get tons of free magazine subscriptions via those forums, and random free samples of stuff, too! And Adam wins lots of stuff, including free movie tickets, on Blingo.

Food and Stuff: Okay, you won't get free food, but - you can find out what's cheap. And common-sense stuff - use store brands. Store-brand acetominophen is the same stuff as Tylenol, and it's cheaper. This stuff adds up.

Other Treats: Stuff like BPAL? Huge secondary swapping community. I get shiny new treats in the mail every week. What does it cost me? Postage. Are there other communities like this? Probably.

I'm sure there'll be plenty of other free-and-cheap-stuff tips in comments! But one thing to keep in mind...

Remember to treat yourself.

Get the store-brand Tylenol. Get your books from PaperbackSwap.com. But put aside a little money for that new hardcover by your favorite author. Or for a dinner at your favorite ritzy restaurant. Reward yourself. That is very psychologically important.

(EDIT: Also, think about what small, inexpensive rewards will make you happy, and allow yourself those. An Oreo milkshake or a pair of silly socks will delight me, and they both cost under $3.)

Thoughts? Let's help each other out here!

Brief additional note:

I didn't cover the kid-aspects of life on a budget. This is because if you can't find free or cheap stuff to do with your kid... you're not trying. Seriously, there are hundreds of websites for that. I'm not going to copy-paste from all of them!

Just a single note from a mom on a budget: Kids don't need stuff. They want stuff. They can put stuff on their wishlist. I taught Elayna that early on... and now, when she sees commercials or sees something pricy in a store, she doesn't say "Can I have that?", she says "Can you put that on my wishlist?" She knows that if something's on her wishlist, she'll get it eventually. She may have to wait for $WINTERHOLIDAY or her birthday, but she'll get it.

A side effect of this is that she has ended up not wanting stuff. Which is quite likely related to her not getting instant gratification as a young child, as regards stuff. If you ask her what she wants for her birthday or $WINTERHOLIDAY, she'll generally shrug and say "I don't know." Which frustrates the grandparents, but... that's just the way it is.

And it's led to her getting into the charity stuff - if you want to buy Elayna something, sponsor a manatee, or donate to Heifer Project. She digs llamas.

But as for stuff to do... google away!

...and speaking of charity...

Blogathon is a go! I'm blogging for RAINN, the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network. You can read about RAINN here.

This year, there's even more of a reason to push for money for RAINN - they're opening the first secure online hotline. I think this is going to be an amazing resource for survivors of sexual assault. When my life settles down a bit, I'll be volunteering. In the meantime, I'm raising money.

And I'm raising money by posting entries every half hour for 24 hours, flash-fiction sparked by your one-word writing prompts. July 29th. Be there.

And please...

Sponsor Me!

(no subject)

So the swap pile is growing, but so is the stuff-to-try pile. I'd asked before if people want to wait and see, or if they want their stuff now; I ask again, as I am going to the post office tomorrow. *nod*

[Poll #762839]

In related news, I got a marvelously engineered little box of BPAL from wytchchyld today! And two imps of stuff I know I love from emerald_ibis. Thank you!

I wore Drink Me to my massage today, and karlita's eyes lit up when she smelled me. :) Definitely need a big bottle of that.

And you should all get massages from karlita. If you are local, or if you visit. She is wonderful.