$$$$ December 28, 2010

As the new year approaches, there’s a theme of looking at current life assumptions and practices and deciding to make changes based on the introspection.

For about a year now, I have read books, blogs, and attended classes on money management.  I’m not okay that I’m in debt and have no savings.  I know I can do better and am constantly trying to figure out how to make that happen.

I know many of you are in a similar situation, so I’m going to share some of the more useful resources.  Some of these resources have appeared in previous posts, but are awesome enough to be included twice.

1. mint.com: You can load your bank accounts and set up a budget.  Mint will send you notifications when you exceed a category in your budget.  This is not a helpful tool if you have no cash flow; it’s better for those who have a consistent income.  Thrive is another resource, similar to mint.  I don’t use it, but it got a good review in some book I read.

2. Young, Fabulous, and Broke, by Suze Orman: Suze made me feel a lot better about being a broke 20 something, cause she gets it.  This book has a lot of good advice for young people, duh.  There are chapters that might not apply yet, but are good to read because they may apply soon.

3. Hot (Broke) Messes, by Nancy Trejos: This is a memoir/resource book.  It’s easy to read because Trejos went through a debt reduction process and pulled on knowledge from all sorts of gurus at the same time.  I don’t have a lot of sympathy for her need to have name brand clothing and nice jewelry, but I appreciate that she wrote about the inaccessibility of health care.  Check out the resource section in the back.

4. Vagabonding, by Ralf Potts: Find the motivation to cut back on your spending here.

5. Move Your Money:  Credit unions are nicer to people who don’t have much money.  They charge less for overdrawing accounts, or don’t let us do it.  Their interest rates are much lower than traditional loan and credit card companies.  I am in the process of switching to a local credit union.  I’m impressed so far; a banker took ten minutes to explain to me the printout of my credit score when I opened my checking account.

6. Fun Blogs: Frugalicious Foodie, Go Frugal, Wise Bread.  All of these blogs link to other blogs that can take you on an adventure of getting nothing done but reading people’s tips for saving money.

Basically, what I have learned is:

that if you’re broke, the distinction between needs and wants is very different.  I need to pay my car bill, but I want the Vogue with Natalie Portman on the cover.

that saving for retirement in my twenties is the only way I’ll be able to retire ever.

that paying down the line of credit with the highest interest rate is the place to start.

that having solid credit history is vital to cheaper insurance rates, rent, and interest rates.  If you don’t have a credit card, look into it, please, for the sake of your credit score.  Don’t use improving your credit score as an excuse to rack up debt on said credit card.

that happy hours and brewery tours = cheaper beer, that libraries have good book selection and they’re free, that volunteering can get me into events that I otherwise couldn’t afford.

that I don’t need as much stuff as I think I do and that the merit of my personality is not determined by how much money I have.

Good luck!

Oh Glory! December 18, 2010

1. Time wasting: Instead of facebook, why not try these blogs: Art and Influence, Lines and Colors, Flavorwire, and Seizure Chicken.  Thanks to my bro for the first two.

2. How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman:  Not only does this man write wonderfully about food for the New York Times, but he also teaches how to make delicious food in his cookbooks.  I’m a vegetarian, so obviously, his vegetarian cookbook is the most germane to my needs.  We’ve tried more than three recipes, tagine, mac and cheese, olive oil bread, etc, from this book, and they’ve all been easy to follow and have turned out pleasant to eat.

3. Handkerchiefs: I used to be a firm believer in blowing my nose on disposable pieces of paper.  To make myself feel better, I would buy the recycled kind.  Now, I’ve converted 80% to blowing my nose on pieces of cloth that I can easily throw in with my laundry for cleaning.  I’m working on the other 20%.  I made my handkerchiefs by cutting up bandannas and thin t-shirts I wasn’t using anymore.  You can do it too, if you’re not already a convert.  They’re also nice for wrapping around my breakfast when I have to take it to go, duh, I only use clean ones for that.  Try it out, you might beat me to 100% conversion.

Wednesdays are Great! December 8, 2010

Did the exclamation point convince you?  If not, perhaps the following !!s will.

1. Typetrigger:  Every six hours, you get a prompt, a trigger, and you write about whatever the prompt triggers you to write about.  You only have 300 words to do it, so your writing is short and sweet, or sassy as the case may be.  It’s kept me writing now that Nanowrimo’s sadly over.  I have a couple of invitations left, so send me your email address if you want me to invite you.

2. Missed Connections on Craigslist: Go to your local Craigslist.  Look for ‘missed connections’ under personals.  Read these, with a grain of understanding.  People who post here are often poets, they have met their muse and then lost her.  Oh how will they ever find her again?… on Craigslist, of course.  The posters are so full of hope, it’s refreshing.  You never know, you might be someone’s missed connection.

3. Positive Gathering Spaces: These are places where people get together to be in community with each other.  Examples I can think of are churches (not all), contra dances, certain cafes or bookstores or libraries or pubs or tea houses, gardens, breweries, etc.  They can also be friends’ houses or specific events.  This is where we are reminded of who we are and who we want to be.  This is where our dreams are allowed to be spoken with conviction.  This is where we find allies and new ideas.  I am still learning where these places are for me in Milwaukee and they are oh so necessary for my happiness.  Please, if you, gentle reader, don’t have a place that immediately pops into mind, search for one.  I find an almost unsettling sense of grace in Unitarian Universalist congregations, but that might not work for you.

The Hopelessness of Unemployment December 3, 2010

In this year of November to November, I have been unemployed four times.  The first because I could not figure out how to continue at my good job and be happy, the second because the store I was working for closed, the third because I moved across the country, and the fourth because, regardless of how hard and much we try to influence voters, election day does come.  Surprisingly, I’ve  worked more than I’ve not worked in these twelve months, because not working actually sucks.

I don’t know what it is to be long-term unemployed.  I don’t know what it’s like to lose a home.  I do know what it’s like to be looking for a job… again in this market.  I definitely am living, every day, the conundrum of having a BA from a good college and four years of work under my belt, but no real experience to do anything but what I’ve already done.  I am yet another person in her mid twenties who knows she should be doing something incredible with her youth and skills, but is stuck in the mire of crappy jobs that exploit youthful energy and enthusiasm.

There is some quality of unemployment that feels very Protestant work ethic guilt trip to me.  I should enjoy my free time to read and learn and explore this city and do all of the things I don’t have time to do when I have a job.  In truth, I currently do some of that.  I also look for jobs, not with too much gusto anymore.  Still, the incredible amount of unscripted time is debilitating.  I’ve taken up crossword puzzles, I exercise, I take the dogs on walks, all the while finding it increasingly more difficult to find the motivation to do any of it.

Because, ultimately, what everything comes down to in this country is money.  If I don’t have money, I can’t pay my bills.  If I can’t pay my bills, then all sorts of wonderful, for the corporations, things can happen.  I am caught in the debt trap; luckily, it’s not too deep, it is deep enough to keep me stuck.  I have to find a job so that I can pay my bills and buy beer.  So I say to myself, “Hannah, today you will apply for jobs.  Today, you will decide that you could probably fit your skill set into the requirements for this job.  If your cover letter is slam bang, you might even get an interview.”

I haven’t quite figured out why I feel the need to write this ‘extra special glimpse into my life’ and share it with the blog-reading world.  Maybe it’s because being 26, broke, living at home, with few solid job prospects, and no clear sight of any future is a common plight.  Maybe it’s because, for my peer group, this time of life is supposed to be career building time, an opportunity to figure out what we’re good at and what we need to work on.  This is almost impossible to do if we can’t land jobs that push us to excel.  I feel just as bad for the friends who remain unfulfilled and bored at jobs they keep because the economy is so bad.  We are losing the intelligence of our generation to the great giant of mediocrity and I do not know what to do about it.

So, once I am done writing this, I will go mix myself a rum and orange juice and likely distract myself with some sort of fiction and hope that tomorrow that perfect job will appear that makes my cover letter write itself.  Oh happy day!

Oh yes! December 2, 2010

I’m bringing it back, cause I missed it, wonder Wednesdays, by title only.

1. An Education and A Single Man.  Both great movies, very well acted and well captured.  Watch them if you’re looking for excellence in cinema.

2. Clueless.  This is funny.  It’s more funny to me now than it was when I saw it first when it came out back in the day in 1995.  If you need a throw back to exposed bellys and a young Paul Rudd, then this is the movie for you.

3. The Rihanna/Singin’ in the Rain mashup on Glee.  Watch it here.  It might make your day the best day you’ve ever had.  I know I was overcome with joy when I saw it the first time.