Reviving SAP

Hi everyone,

I'm ready to conduct the next experiment. If you were following me previously, you know that I burned out from all the online activities I was doing in order to try to maintain my previous lifestyle.

Since I ended the last experiment prematurely, I haven't quite reverted back to my old ways. I don't drink coffee at Starbucks as much as I used to. I'm more likely to pack a lunch instead of eating out. And I've become much better at not buying every single piece of clothing my little heart desires.

I've also paid off my credit card and I have around $2800 in my savings account. So I've certainly improved.

However, I'm ready to challenge myself again. My goals, in a nutshell:

• Spend $250 a month on food (around $50 a week)
• Only spend $50 a month on clothing
• Have $5000 in my savings account
• Pay an extra $1000 on the principle of my car loan

I have until my graduation date - December 17th - in which to do this.

So starting July 1st, I will try to cook everything I eat. Food is still the area of my life where I experience the most waste. What I want is a sustainable relationship with food, not the fast food junkie lifestyle I'm prone to fall into anytime I am under stress.

My plan is to upload a picture of every piece of food I buy, every bit of food I eat, and everything I throw away. I'm still deciding how to go about this, whether or not I should open a tumblr or post to here.

This is going to be difficult because I am living with my parents, and they are huge wasters of food and lovers of convenience foods. But living with them is the only way I've managed to put so much into savings. I'm supposed to graduate with my bachelor's degree in December, and living with my folks has contributed to my lack of student loans and massive credit card debt. If I wanted to live in an apartment, even with a roommate, I'd be in the hole about $500 a month. And I can't live under the pressures of debt like that.

Hopefully, I can further better myself, become a better citizen, and be a good example for my parents.

My lunch today

Cheddar cheese, ranch dressing, and turkey pinwheels with a sliced apple, a side of chips, and a throwback.

I haven't made much "income" lately...

but I have earned a lot of credits on sample sale sites.

I've earned $10 on Rue La La, $30 on Hautelook, and about $7 on The Foundary.

Well, I guess this will help me get through the holiday season...

Thank you to everyone who signed up for these websites. I sincerely appreciate it.

I turned $2 into $5....

I got my mamapedia $5 starbucks gift card in the mail today!

Hooray!

I can't wait to get a peppermint mocha...

While cleaning my room, I found

...this really, really cool lunch bag from Annie's!

I'm super organized!

I totally forgot that I even got this in the mail in September. It's free from Annie's and Kids Konserve and you can get it here. You'll need two UPC codes from two qualifying Annie's products. I bought mine at BigLots. (One of my huge guilty pleasures is Annie's Mac N Cheese. Yum!)

And by total coincidence, my bento box actually fits in it perfectly.

When trading in for swagbucks, think inside-out the box

So today, I traded in my old iPod nano 2nd gen for 278 swag bucks. I was going to buy a box or padded mailer but then I remembered this post from Lifehacker.

According to Lifehacker, you start by opening the box. I also removed the sticker with the serial number for my blackberry. Don't want that floating around out there...

And then you put it back together inside-out, so that all the branding faces inward.

I decided to use crumpled newspaper as my padding, so I put my old iPod, the USB cable, and the headphones in a plastic bag so they wouldn't get all inky and possibly reduce the amount of swag bucks I actually get when it's traded in.

And then supervisory kitty reminded me that I needed to include a copy of my invoice inside the packaging! Thanks, Foxy!

Finally, I taped up the box and taped on the prepaid postage thingie I printed out at my Uni.

Now, if I could just convince my cat that I need to mail it......

Thanks, Swag Bucks and Life Hacker, for helping me recycle while I recycle. Hey, why does that sound like a bad Yo Dawg joke?

I think I'm getting it....

This week, I spent $2.86 so far! I bought a ready-made Starbucks frappuccino ($2.06) and a candy bar from the vending machine at school ($0.80).

The whole bento lunch thing seems to be working. Today I had fried rice (I made it myself) with a Dr. Zevia, yesterday I had a turkey and cheese sandwich with carrot sticks and grapes and a Dr. Zevia, and Monday I had lentil stew and rice with a Dr. Zevia.

Made with my pressure cooker

Who knows what tomorrow will bring! (Besides more Zevia....)

Blujay -- like eBay except it doesn't suck

I started hating eBay the first time I posted something for sale back in 2003. Oh sure, I loved making money on the side, but I hated listing items. The process gave me a headache. And the fees... don't get me started about the fees!

So today I stumbled upon a site called Blujay. On blujay everything is free (except the paypal/google checkout fees) -- free to list, free to buy, free to sell.

I'm starting with my jewelry (mostly costume) that I've accumulated over the years. Take a gander and let me know what you think. Or better yet, buy something and support my project. I'd really like to buy a new pair of shoes this month...

Click this link to go to my Blujay storefront.

My first bento box lunch!

...with a Zevia, of course.

The pickle is dil

I didn't buy anything extraneous for this bento. You're looking at a grilled turkey-and-cheese sandwich cut into thirds, some sour cream and onion chips, a side of loquats, a dill pickle "oval" cut into a heart, and a Dr. Zevia.

It was fun to eat and I felt satisfied but not full.

My dirty little secret...

Part of being a Spoiled American means not appreciating what I already have.

egads!

Now that I have a good system down for cutting out unnecessary clutter (unless I go out and earn the money), I need to focus on taking care of what I have.

My grandmother never left anything messy like this. She grew up during the Great Depression, where stuff just wasn't available. I have the opposite problem. I am drowning in stuff. To make matters worse, I live with my dad and step-mom, so I only have a tiny bedroom. Not that I'm complaining, it's just that I have more stuff than can fit in here comfortably.

My next step is to take care of the stuff I own, and get rid of my extra stuff. Now that I appreciate how much it costs to buy new things, this shouldn't be "one thing out the door, two more in" situation.

Look for weekly clutter updates. I'm again heading into uncharted territory, so please give me feedback...

$5 Starbucks giftcard for $2

I just bought a $5 Starbucks giftcard for $2! That will certainly help me stretch my money....

I don't know why I'm addicted to Starbucks.

Chuck Reynolds, sxc.hu

You can get a $5 Starbucks giftcard, too. Click here and pay $2. You can also donate 5% of your $2 to a local school. I don't have kids so I picked a local school at random.

Also, don't forget to register your Starbucks giftcard online to get free upgrades (soy milk, extra flavors, etc).

So far so good...

This week, I spent $1.08 after tax on a 20 ounce throwback of Mountain Dew.

Wewt~

That's it, at least so far!

Oh, and today, for some weird reason I decided to come home and COOK because I was hungry after my lecture finished.

Uhhh... I didn't have any knee-jerk reaction about fast food. I just decided coming home and cooking would be the logical thing to do.

Weird....

And on top of that, I made carrots from scratch. Yes, that's right. I had four carrots that weren't quite at that rubber stage, so I washed and peeled them, sliced them, and cooked them on the stove. Oh, and I made rice. I mean real rice, not instant rice.

It's not that I don't know how to cook, or that I dislike cooking. I just never did it before unless I felt like cooking. And it wasn't that I felt like cooking today, I was hungry and didn't want to tap into my free money.

Dang it...

I lost my steel water bottle
.
Man I'm so bummed. I had that thing for less than three months. It was beautiful.

Usually, I would use this experience to justify going out and buying an expensive, more beautiful replacement. I'm spoiled, remember? I did think about it. After all, if I can't buy single-serve water, how will I survive all day?

I lamented to my step-mom about my situation. She produced a steel water bottle that she never uses. It's nowhere near as sexy as my old one, but it works.

The spoiled brat in me is throwing a fit.

The scientist in me (the one that is conducting this experiment) is quite pleased with my ability to swallow my pride and use a second-hand water bottle.