Thank Goodness It's Friday

Last night was interesting.

For those of you who may have missed the announcement, yesterday was Stephen G.'s birthday.  We ate cake, drank beer and played pool and, best of all, Stephen said he had a great time so it was a pretty splendid night overall.

There were some not-so-great things that happened last night (and this morning!) too, but I'm not so sure I'll be sharing those with the blogosphere just yet.  While I admit I find the more personal and revealing blogs to be the most tittilating, I can't bring myself to share every little detail of my life just yet - especially if it involves someone else's life as well, who of course, made no such decision to start their own blog and chronicle their lives on the Internet.

So anyways last night was interesting, but splendid nonetheless.  Needless to say, I am ridiculously exhausted today. A little burnt out (to say the least)...

OH!  I almost forgot to share the good news with you all - I got paid today :)  It's such a glorious feeling to check your bank account online and see more than one figure in the balance column.  And then, my mom calls me and tells me that not only do I NOT owe the government money after taxes, but I am also getting a pretty hefty sum back from them in the next few weeks.  Such splendid news!  It almost makes me feel a little less exhausted...almost.

Oh and also, I have to be honest with you guys since I feel like we are all so close already -  I bought those mocs.  I couldn't help myself!  It was like a present to myself to make up for the night and the morning that I had.  But worry not, I paid my mom and the San Francisco Department of Parking and Traffic first.

Blime.  I already feel guilty having told you about my impulse buy.  I suppose I'll feel better when I have those sweet suede babies on my feet :)

Anyways, work beckons for now.  Hope you're all having a splendid Friday!

My $8 Existence

I have $10.11 in my bank account right now which, actually, is an accomplishment.  My credit union tends to get a little cranky when I have less than $5 (or less than $0) in my account at any given time.  I could create a novella with all of the paper statements they have sent me asking me to please try and keep at least $5 in my account, but I digress...

Living off $10 is hard.  And I've been living off about $8 for the past two weeks in my heroic attempt to keep some money in my account (double what the minimum is, in fact!).  There's a Walgreens down the street from my work and you can buy Pepperoni Pizza Hot Pockets there for around $3 and, after you purchase those, you get a coupon which lets you buy TWO boxes of Hot Pockets for about $1.  And of course, as any starving twentysomething knows, every box of Hot Pockets comes with TWO Hot Pocket sandwiches, so these little babies have served as my lunch and dinner for the past two weeks - and I still have ten bucks in my bank account!

So obviously, I am pretty proud of myself.  But also fairly obvious is the fact that my $8 existence is pretty pathetic.  I mean, I have a full-time job at a successful PR company! Why am I living off Hot Pockets?*

So luckily, I am getting paid tomorrow (and I have a sweet gift certificate to Outback courtesy of a very splendid Valentine).  But what's the first thing I want to do when I get paid? I want to buy these sweet Minnetonka Moccasins:

And then I want to head to the bookstore and buy about 5 books I've had on my list since I began the Life of $8.  I want to get these two caterpillars crawling on my face above my eyes waxed.  I want to buy an anniversary gift for Cute Boy.  I want to put away money for my upcoming trip to Napa.  I want to pay my mother back the $200 I owe here from helping me purchase my bed back in 11/07.  I don't want, but have to, renew my parking permit for a pricey 60 bucks - which sucks doubly because I will probably only be living at this location for another four months and it's a year long pass.  I also don't want to, but have to, pay off the parking ticket I received over at Cute Boy's apartment last week when I took a nap and forgot to read the meter.  Blime.

And then, of course, I want to eat.  And not just Pepperoni Pizza Hot Pockets, even though they are so dear to my heart.** You see my dilemma, I'm sure. I am struggling with equal parts low salary, lots of monetary needs and even more monetary wants.

Last October, Elysa posted this money-saving post on GenPink.  Splendid advice, really.  Especially the part about selling books on Amazon (as opposed to my copious habit of...well, buying them).  So in the spirit of Elysa's frugality, here are my day-to-day ways to improve my finances:

Items I Have Implemented in My Life to Save Money

• Um...yeah. I buy my Hot Pockets with coupons?
• I eat the office supply of Whoppers (the malted milk ball, not the hamburger) for a healthy, mid-day snack.
• Hmm...okay, moving on!

Things I Plan to Start Doing

• Using coupons for ALL my food shopping!
• Actually, shopping for food instead of going out to eat it.
• Not buying too many unnecessary purchases (like moccasins AND a new collection of books - just one or the other).
• Bringing my lunch to work.
• Plucking my caterpillars myself :/
• Resisting the urge to buy every magazine at the newsstand and understanding that they all say basically the same thing anyway.
• Eating breakfast at home instead of buying a bagel on the way to work every morning.
• Not driving to work :(
• Showering my Cute Boy with more kisses and less expensive presents.
• Getting a raise!  Woot !!

*You'll be happy to hear that I convinced Cute Boy that, as my one-and-only Valentine, it his duty to take me to lunch today.

**I am now too poor even to afford these Hot delights and have resorted to eating Whoppers to keep from fainting.  Blimey.