Counting My Pennies » simplifying

Making room

Megan — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:26:09 +0000

The heat has sapped all my blogging skills. Or something. Inadvertent hiatus. Sorry, readers.

Actually, it’s just been a crazy couple of weeks. And it’s hot. It makes me glad that my rent includes electric. I’m not keeping it ridiculously cool in my apartment, but it’s nice to be able to sit and read a book and not feel all sweaty and gross.

Today, I got an e-mail from my soon-to-be-roommate about when she’s moving in and what she’s bringing. She’s officially coming on the first of August, but I told her that she was more than welcome to move in the week before and not worry about that week of rent (she’s a friend who has done favors for me before, and that weekend will be much more convenient for her). I’m excited to have someone else around and excited to have help with the rent again. I was making ends meet, but not saving as much as I would like. Now I can go back to saving again. Very exciting!

I am going to have to do some significant decluttering before she moves in though. She’s a big cook and is bringing a ton of kitchen stuff. Unfortunately, our kitchen doesn’t have great storage, so there’s going to be plenty of work to do moving things around and making space for all her things. My last roommate didn’t have very much at all, so that made things easy. Of course, some of the stuff can probably be stored away – we both have big stand mixers, for example. She uses hers a lot, so I can probably just put mine in a corner of my closet and not worry about it.

It’s a good excuse to really go through things and reorganize. My kitchen isn’t set up as well as it could be, mostly because I can’t reach the top shelves, so I don’t store much up there. I’ve got a step stool, so now I should just start keeping the rarely used things up high and getting rid of the things I don’t use.

I have said it before – I love the idea of small space living, but I just have so much STUFF!

Learning the hard way

Megan — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:56:05 +0000

I’ve been slowly trying to clean out my apartment of all the various excesses that I have accumulated. When my last roommate moved in, it was sort of a last minute thing, so anything I had stored in the spare bedroom closet got crammed into any space I could possibly find. When she left, I pulled a bunch of that stuff out and put it back into the spare bedroom. Now it looks like I might be getting another roommate this summer, so not only do I need to clean out that room again, this time I actually have time to go through things.

I’m not a fan of throwing away things that are usable, so I’ve been putting stuff up onto eBay. Usually, I just agree to ship to the U.S., but since I work by a post office, I figured it wasn’t too hard to ship out of the country. So I recently listed something worldwide. I used eBay’s shipping calculator to figure out how much it would cost to ship and didn’t worry about it. According to eBay, it would cost $18 to ship to the international buyer.

When bidding ended and the purchase was paid for, I took the item to the post office to ship. And it cost $32 to ship. Nowhere near the $18 that I was told. Thankfully, the final bid was high enough that I didn’t lose money, but when it was all said and done, I really didn’t make much money on the sale either.

So now I know better. If I ship internationally, I’m adding a $20 fee to the eBay calculated shipping rate. I don’t like to overcharge for shipping, but I don’t want to take a huge hit either!

(Really? You don’t want to win a book?)

Spring Cleaning

Megan — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 13:59:51 +0000

I think I’m rebelling against the unusual cold and starting my spring cleaning early. Actually, doing spring cleaning in the winter makes some sense – who wants to be trapped inside cleaning when it’s nice outside? Maybe that’s why my spring cleaning didn’t really happen last year.

Over the weekend, I started going through cabinets and closets and getting rid of things that I didn’t need/want. The most important of this was going through the linen closet and tossing all expired medications. Of course, when I pull something out, I always check the expiration date, just in case, but it was good to see what needed to be trashed. It was a surprising amount of things, which makes me feel a little wasteful. Clearly I need to be more careful about my shopping.

I realize I also have way too many cleaning supplies. And personal care items. I forget that I have toothpaste, so I pick some up, and then suddenly I have eight tubes. And then in a year, I’ll be completely out because I thought there was still some in the closet. I know some people keep an inventory list on the doors to their cabinets and closets, and while that sounds ridiculous, it doesn’t seem like such a bad idea at this point.

I didn’t get through everything – I really wanted to tackle the kitchen cabinets, but only made it through one cabinet – the dreaded tea cabinet. I ended up tossing a bunch of stuff and I probably should have thrown out even more. Tea may not expire but it definitely does go stale, and somehow I managed to stock up a bit too much. It feels so wasteful to throw things away, and it is, but the solution isn’t to not toss things – the solution is to learn from it and buy less.

And I’ve said that before, I know. But now I need to stick to it. Buy less. Stop stocking up on things that don’t need to be stocked up on. It’s not a good deal if you never use it.

Living on Nothing

Megan — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 10:00:29 +0000

Over the weekend, I read an article (yes, I read Details magazine) about a man who lives without money. He lives in a cave, scavenges for food, and writes a blog at the local public library. You can and should read the article yourself, so I won’t summarize it here. It’s a fascinating story of what we can live without.

Personally, I have no plans to go live in a cave. Nor do I really want to dumpster dive for my meals. But I am always impressed by stories of people who choose to go without in an extreme manner. I read this article after working on my budget updates for July, and as I will discuss later this week, July was an expensive month, with vet visits for the cats and new tires for my car. So with money on my mind, the idea of simplifying further is fascinating.

Of course, I like the idea in concept. I think Tiny Houses are adorable, and I have a friend who lives in a gorgeous apartment that is around 300 square feet, which also seems tiny to me. But then I think about what I would have to give up and how I’m not sure I want to do that. First off, where would all my books go? I’ve stopped buying books for the most part, and I’ve gotten rid of hundreds, but I still have shelves full. Books that I love and do re-read. Sure, I could just get them from the library, assuming the library has them. I know I could pare down my wardrobe, and I know that I should. I also really love my couch. It’s nothing special, but it’s comfy at the end of the day.

And of course, if I were living in a cave, not only would I have to get rid of my couch and my books, but also the things I consider necessities – running water and indoor plumbing and a stove. And a roof. And four walls. While I like camping, I can’t imagine doing it all the time.

But like I said, it puts things into perspective.

Spring Cleaning

Megan — Wed, 20 May 2009 10:00:32 +0000

I have been going through what I go through every spring. Extreme dislike of every piece of weather-appropriate clothing that I own. I’m not sure why this happens, but I do it every year. It could be that since my office is like a refridgerator, I end up wearing cardigans all the time over my summery shirts, and I have a tendency to do that on warmer winter days as well. So when it should be time to change up the wardrobe and wear things I’ve not been able to wear in months, there’s nothing that falls into that category.

Part of the problem is that there are items in my wardrobe that I need to replace. But before I do that, I always make myself go through my closets and my drawers and really clear them out. Have I worn this in the past year? Does it fit? No? Then out it goes. Sometimes I find things buried in the back of the closet that I haven’t worn because I don’t think I like how it fits, I try it on, and hey! This doesn’t look so bad after all.

Admittedly, it’s a bit shameful that I have as much clothing as I do, and over the past few years, I’ve not bought that much, mostly just replacing things that have worn out. But forcing myself to go through everything once a year is great for keeping things under control. I always manage to pull together at least one big bag of stuff to donate to charity, and it’s refreshing to have everything re-folded and the closet re-organized. I should do it more than once a year, and every so often, I’ll go through a drawer or a section of the closet, but spring is always a great time to do a full cleaning.

No More Pennies?

Megan — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 11:00:47 +0000

Happy Birthday, President Lincoln. To celebrate, stores have decided to stop accepting the penny.

That’s right, in West Concord, Massachusetts, a number of stores are refusing to accept pennies as of today, calling pennies “wasteful and time consuming.” Instead, they will round all purchases down to the nearest nickel.

I suppose no one can really complain – after all, they will simply be getting a few cents off of their purchase. Buy a cupcake that costs $2.74? No pennies allowed, so that cupcake now costs $2.70. It just seems a bit harsh to put the new rule into effect on Lincoln’s birthday of all days, especially this year, which seems to be the Year of Lincoln.

I can’t say I spend pennies all that often. They do end up in my wallet, and if I have exact change, I try to use it, but every few days, I dump the majority of my change into my change jar. I like filling up a change jar. Getting rid of the penny would make that a bigger challenge, that’s for sure.

We’ve gotten rid of coins before. Years and years ago, the U.S. minted a half-cent piece. It looks like we might be getting closer to putting the penny out to pasture as well.

No more books!

Megan — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 10:00:33 +0000

I think the editors of Lifehacker were looking directly in my direction when they referenced this WikiHow on how to stop accumulating books. I have discussed here before about how I seem to continually accumulate books and I have officially reached the point where I’m not sure where to put them anymore. Of course, if I actually bother to deal with the shelf of half-filled photo albums, I will have more room for books, but that’s not really a solution to the accumulation problem, now, is it.

I’ve actually been very good about not buying books this year. I have purchased a few books for my Kindle thanks to an Amazon gift certificate, and I picked up one series book (also with a gift certificate) at Borders, but it is part of a series I’ve been reading and collecting, so I don’t feel so guilty about that.

That said, the books just keep piling up! I track my library on LibraryThing, and I officially have 151 books on my to-read list. 151 books! Most of them are in a storage box under my bed, which is why I don’t think I’ve realized just how many books there are. My goal is to half that number by the end of the year. I’m not sure if I can do it. Oh, sure, I can read 75 books by the end of the year. That’s not a problem. But that means no more accumulating books. The other problem is that a number of books I have were passed on to me by friends and family and are the later books in a series, and I always feel that I should try to read a series in order, or at least read the first book in a series to get familiar with the characters. Which, of course, means accumulating more books.

I’m doing it in a money-saving manner, of course, with Bookmooch and PaperBackSwap, but at this point it’s less about the money and more about the fact that this book collection is getting out of hand. It would be one thing if these were books that I had read and loved and wanted to keep. But I have 151 books that I have never read and might completely hate just sitting around!

I think that come summertime, I should re-evaluate my box of books and see if there’s anything in there that I will never read and just list them all on the swap sites. Or maybe I will have some sort of a blog contest. Win ten pounds of books!

Yeah, you’re right, that sounds like it could be the worst prize ever.

I’m sure you’re thinking “Okay, so if it’s not a money thing, then why is this on a personal finance blog?” Because I think that a huge part of personal finance is smart ownership. And by that I mean not only taking care of what you have but making a point to only have things that you want and that you will use. If you are a big gamer and want three different gaming systems (and you can afford them), then by all means, go for it! If you are a bookhound and you have 1000 books that you have read and you love and they take up an entire room in your house, hey, why not? But what’s the point of having things you never use? It’s accumulation for accumulation’s sake which I don’t think is a good way to live your life. If you do it with one thing, what’s to stop you from doing it with two things or five things? Eventually, it will cost you. And yes, many of these books were just given to me. But some I picked up on my own. Some I got through swap sites, which involves paying shipping – not much, but it’s not free either.

By swapping the books, I can get credit for other books that I do want to read. Or I can sell the books and make a bit of money. Even making $1 from each of these books would still pull in a very good amount of money. Or I can do what I did yesterday and packed up some books for mailing to friends who I know will enjoy them very much. And yes, that does cost money, but it’s nice to send little gifts every now and then.

More reasons to declutter

Megan — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 10:00:41 +0000

I’ve written about J. Money’s Sell-O-Meter, where he tracks how much money he’s “made” by selling off old items he’s no longer using, and how I’ve been inspired to also keep track of the money I’m bringing in by selling off things that have been sitting on a shelf or hidden in a closet (a painless $67 in under 2 months).

This week, J.D. at Get Rich Slowly posted his version of the idea – a Stuff Replacement Fund. Same general idea – sell off your things and track how much money you’re making. But rather than spend the money immediately or put it into a “fun fund,” J.D. suggests creating a Stuff Replacement Fund. If you’re hanging onto something because you think you might want to use it someday, by putting the money into a Stuff Replacement Fund, you have the money there to replace it if you so choose. His theory is that a few years later, if you’ve not needed the money, you can just fold it into your regular accounts, because clearly, the items you sold weren’t items you needed.

This isn’t a bad idea for people who find themselves holding onto things because they might need them again. Sure, you won’t be making enough money to replace the item if it were new, but you’d probably be able to buy another used one.

What’s the point of selling then, if you’re just going to stash away the money? Well, you’re earning interest. All your item is collecting now is dust. Additionally, you’re simplifying your life. I’ve realized over the past few weeks that one of my problems is that I have too much space to store things. I’ve kept stuff just because I have room for it, not because I need it. Plus, the item is better off in the hands of someone who will use it.

I’m not sure if this is something I’m going to try or not. I’m pretty good about getting rid of things that I know I won’t use again, but there are things I can’t bring myself to sell, even though I’m well aware that perhaps they are not items that I need. I find more incentive in creating a “fun fund,” as J. Money has done. But maybe I should take another look at what I own, just to see what else might be ready to leave the apartment.

Spend Nothing Month

Megan — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 10:00:18 +0000

Thanks to BlogHer, I just discovered Owlhaven, an amazing blog by a woman with 10 kids! 10! And I think I have trouble balancing my budget with just one mouth to feed (well, 3 if you count the cats, who do very much like being fed).

This month, she’s doing an experiment called 30 Days of Nothing, where she and her family cut back as much as they can to see what they can live without. They’re not actually spending nothing during the month, as I think it would be very hard to feed 12 mouths without buying any food, but she’s severely cutting back and keeping to a $200 grocery budget (with 10 kids!). Of course, there’s other money being spent as well (she mentions a recent gasoline purchase). But she’s resisting all impulse purchases and discussing that on her blog. She’s also limiting electricty use by hanging clothes to dry and making other “spend less” steps.

It’s an interesting experiment, and I’m eager to see what happens. I wonder if I could do it. I’m amazed at her grocery budget. She does appear to have an absolutely amazing garden to work with, and I admit, I’m very jealous, but still. 12 people. $200. It’s definitely an accomplishment. She’s also inviting people to participate in whatever way they choose. Might be something to think about.

(I considered not posting today, because it seems frivolous to talk about money on the anniversary of such a tragic event in American history. Then I realized that while it is always important to remember the past and remember those who died, it’s also important to remember that life goes on and that we have to be thankful for that and for all we have, even through our sorrow. I think Owlhaven is a great example of being thankful for what you have, so this seemed an appropriate topic for today.)

New Money Saving Method – A Roommate!

Megan — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 12:00:53 +0000

I’ve been kind of out of the blogging world for the past week. I had a big presentation to give for work (which went well, thank you very much) and I was working on cleaning my apartment. Why? Because I’ve decided to get a roommate! Sort of, anyway.

I have a friend who has moved to town and was looking for a place to stay possibly for a short time, possibly for longer. I have space that I don’t really use efficiently. And it is always nice to have a friend around, someone to hang out with and chat with and cook meals with from time to time. And given the state of the economy, I can definitely use someone to help out with the rent.

We’re not sure how long she’s staying, so we’re just going month by month right now. What that means is that I’ve been cleaning out the room for her arrival, which is something that needed to happen. I’ve gotten rid of at least five bags and boxes of things that I had held onto for no apparent reason. And she’s working on getting moved in, and she’ll be deciding around the end of every month whether or not she’s staying another month. Unless something amazing comes up with a shorter commute or we decide we hate each other, we both think she’ll be here til next summer.

Some people would freak at the uncertainness. I’m usually one of those people, but I’m surprisingly ok with all of this. I’m not sure why, exactly. It might just be that I realize that I need to clean out that room and the idea of her paying me for even one month of rent will do wonders for my finances after the month of pet expenses gone wild. Plus I’ve missed having her around and so far, we’ve been having a lot of fun. I hope she decides to stay. Not just for the financial reasons, but for the social reasons as well.