be more frugal

The faucet on my kitchen sink was broken. It was also all nasty with hard water sediment and whatnot. I considered replacing the whole faucet rather than repairing it.
But I decided to do the repair instead and while it was taken apart, I cleaned the hell out of it and it looks nearly brand new! Steel wool = awesome.

The repair turned out to be a pain in the ass, and the actual broken part isn’t something that is fixable. I did a make-shift fix, but it won’t last forever, so I’ll have to spent the big buck eventually. For now, I got out with $11 and it looks great and isn’t gushing water everywhere!

I just hired a professional cat sitter.

It’s more expensive per full day than taking my cat to the vet. But she charges by the visit, so I can do partial days and partial weekends. I’ll be weighing the costs for each trip I take and choosing the least expensive option. For a quick Saturday night out of town this will save me about $50. At my current rate of travel, that’s $600/year! Of course, this means I’ll not have to decline so many weekend trips, so it might cost me more…

Unfortunately, she doesn’t cross state lines, so if/when I move to Portland I need to find a new situation

I volunteered to be the secratry for my bowling league. It’s kind of a lot of work, but I get my bowling 1/2 paid for! Woo!

I’ve been trying to be frugal by bringing my lunch to work. I’m so sick of the same 5 varieties of canned soup (I’m being a vegetarian for a while, so the canned soup selection is reduced to just a few varieties which all taste the same) and pb&j every day! There has got to be another low-effort low-cost lunch option.

I kind of accidentally canceled my debit card. Now I can’t buy anything until the new one arrives (a week?) unless I go into the bank for cash, which is unlikely because banks have stupid hours. (I’m going to try to not use the credit card at all, just to see if I can.)

Yesterday I walked my utility payment to a city drop box rather than wasting a stamp on it. Also it was nice to have a destination for a lunch-time walk. This was only possible because I happen to be working in the downtown area, which is causing me to be very un-frugal and try out all the restaurants in walking distance to my new office. Sadly, our downtown is not exactly bustling, so I think I’ve been to most of the lunchy spots in this week and a half.

So… I bought a laptop today.

Not exactly frugal. And I justified it by putting it on a credit card so that I can just pay minimums for now and pay it off when I get a job. (Really, I will, right away, I promise.)

Yeah, not my greatest moment, but when I can be job hunting from somewhere other than my dreary computer room I’ll thank myself, I’m sure.

I just met with a financial advisor. Things are looking more dire than I’d thought.
I just dropped out of the class I’d been planning to take at the community college for fun… Boo.
And no computer until I have a job.
And do a much better job at stopping eating out. That one will be easier in 2 weeks when I’m out of the office and don’t have people asking me out for one last lunch or one more happy hour every damn day!

I’m doing really well on day-to-day stuff and on eating out.

I did spend $85 yesterday on interviewing/office clothes. My current office is beyond casual, we wear tee-shirts and jeans and sandals and shorts or whatever we feel like. I tried on some of my old business casual clothes and the suit I bought for interviews in college…. Ummm. So lets just say they’re not quite as flattering as they were 5 years ago. So I went down to TJ Maxx and bought myself a suit jacket with matching skirt (they didn’t have the matching pants in my size), and another skirt and a pair of nice pants. I tried to be good and didn’t buy any tops because I do have enough of those to get me through interviews. I’m worried the suit is going to look too formal, but all the books suggest going very conservative for interviews, even at casual places. And really, where the hell am I going to wear a suit ever again? Thank goodness it was only $50. Once I find a job, then I’ll start shopping for clothes to wear to work.

Now my big question is the computer… I get a pretty good employee discount on my company’s products. I’ve been wanting a laptop for some time (I don’t need one, my 6 year old desktop is still trucking) and I’ve found one that has everything I want and is not too low-end that I could buy for $650. That’s about $300 to $500 less than I’ve been able to find elsewhere. So do I buy it now and spend nearly half a mortgage payment on a luxury while putting on airs about being frugal and worrying about being homeless in February? Or do I be frugal now and spend the extra money later? I’m supremely torn.

A group of friends in the office is planning a going away lunch for some of us who are leaving. I politely asked the organizer to plan somewhere less pricey than the fancy restaurant I know she usually chooses.