ThreeBeanSalad

Old Total: $2430.20
+ $60.00 babysitting
$0.66 PETCO coupon on eBay
------------------------
New Total: $2490.86

I got back from vacation late Thursday night. I checked my email and saw I had an opportunity to babysit the following night. I figured the time was ripe to earn back some of the money I spent on vacation!

I made $60 babysitting from 6pm- 12am last night. I also added in a whoppping $0.66 I profited from a eBay sale of a coupon prioir to leaving for vacation.

Once I run some totals of what I spent and get re-organized from being away for a week, I'll post more about my trip. In sum: It was fantastic! ...and we got some nice prizes for being audience members on the Dr. Phil show!

I'm off to Santa Monica for a week of some much needed R&R and quality time with my husband.

Los Angeles isn't exactly known for being a budget-friendly place, so I'll be interested to report back on my experience of living it up while living on a budget.

Here are a few things that I've done already to help minimize the expense:

1.) We're combining business with pleasure. The primary reason for the trip is for Mr. Bean to attend a work meeting. His airfare is covered, as are 5 nights in the hotel. We are staying 7 nights, but we were able to get the "corporate" hotel rate for the extra 2 nights. Also, our cab to and from LAX are covered. The cab normally costs $50 each way!

2.) We're not planning to rent a car. Yes, I know this is ambitous since LA isn't exactly known for having marvelous public transportation. Although a car rental for the week was reasonably priced at ~$150, parking at the hotel was $35 / day. Yikes! I was able to use the

Los Angeles Metro web site to figure out how to take public buses to Hollywood and the other tourist attractions we're interested in seeing. It also helps that we are both content to spend time just enjoying the lovely Santa Monica beach rather than trying to travel all over Orange County.

3.) We're taking advantage of the of one of LA's best free events: a television show taping. We're going to be audience members on the Dr. Phil show! All I had to do to get tickets was fill out a simple form on his web page. In my opinion, the quality of topics covered by Dr. Phil has really declined in the past few years. I expect the show will be a hoot!

4.)I used my coupons to stock up on suitcase friendly snacks. I got all of the following for $3.50. I'm also packing a lunch for our 6+ hour plane ride.



Of course, we'll also do our fair share of eating out and splurging to make this a memorable trip. I've already paid $75 for a private surf lesson. I can't wait!

That's what frugality is all about for me-- saving on things that don't mean much so you can take advantage of the opportunities that do!

$42,070: the approximate amount I've paid in rent over the last 6 years.

Yikes.

The number is only an approximation because some of my apartments included utilities in the rent whereas others, like my current place, do not. I halved the monthly rent for the past 3 years since I was married because my spouse and I basically split expenses.

My rent has ranged from $400 / month (my current place.. where $400 covers 1/2 the total rent for a 2 BR house and no utilities in a small college town), to $860 / month for a 1 BR apartment in DC back in 2004.

This is good motivation to continue to stash away my $20 Challenge money earmarked for a house down payment.

Old Total: $2400.20
+ $30.00 babysitting
------------------------
New Total: $2430.20

I babysat from 9pm - 12am.

Old Total: $2270.20
+ $130.00 overnight babysitting
------------------------
New Total: $2400.20

The Mom paid me in advance for the overnight babysitting I'll do tonight, so I received $130 in total. I came early last night (usually I get $20 extra for this), but she paid me $30 extra plus didn't subtract the $10 credit from when she overpaid me last time. I told her she was paying me too much and I reminded her of the credit, but she said that they really appreciate it when I come early because it allows her husband to earn a lot of extra money.

My morning is off to a good start!

Old Total: $2214.03
+ $56.17 textbook sale on half.com
------------------------
New Total: $2270.20

I sold the other

textbook I got for free. My profit was $56.17. The breakdown looked like this:

$65.00 sale price of book
+ 2.64 shipping reimbursement
- 8.13 half.com commission
- 2.81 actual shipping cost
- 0.53 cost of padded envelope + tax
--------------------------
$56.17 profit

I just thought I'd do a follow-up to this

previous entry regarding the prices of milk from a local dairy, grocery store, soy and non-fat dry milk (NFDM).

I've been drinking re-constituted NFDM for the past 3 weeks, primarily in my cereal. I don't care of the taste it straight up in a glass, but it works fine in cereal and recipes. My dislike of the reconstituted milk for drinking definitely results in a lower consumption of milk-- probably not a great thing as far as my calcium intake is concerned. It has been wonderfully convenient though-- no extra trips to the dairy, no spoilage, etc.

I was near the Dairy this morning, so I picked up my first 1/2 gallon of fresh milk in quite some time. They've raised the price of a 1/2 gallon of skim from $1.50 to $1.55. Not huge, but worth noting. I think we can anticipate the price of all dairy foods to continue to climb.

Old Total: $2114.03
+ $100 babysitting
------------------------
New Total: $2214.03

I had a big babysitting night yesterday: 2 different families in one night.

My "regular" family from last year is back their 2 month travel abroad. I babysat for them from 8pm - 12am and earned $40. Then I jumped in the car and went to my overnight job where I earned $60 (in actuality, it should have been $50, but The Mom only had 20's so I'm giving her a $10 credit for next time).

Old Total: $2036.33
+ $77.70 half.com sale
------------------------
New Total: $2114.03

I ended up netting $77.70 from

the text book sale. The break down went like this:

$89.99 sale price of book
+ 2.64 shipping reimbursement
- 11.25 half.com commission
- 3.15 actual shipping cost
- 0.53 cost of padded envelope + tax
--------------------------
$77.70 profit

I was excited to see my Challenge top 2K. But when I shared the “good news” with Mr. Bean yesterday, he said, “Really, that’s all you’ve made?” Typically when he says something contrary I get angry, but this time I just kind of chuckled and said, “Yes, I know!”

$2000 isn’t inconsequential, but when I think of all the babysitting and selling over the last 8 months, and all of the thought put into finding new babysitting jobs and finding new things to sell, I can’t help but think that it doesn’t amount to a very big hill of beans.

That being said, as a graduate student, my income isn’t very high. Stashing away this $20 Challenge money differentiates me from many of my grad student peers who end up going into debt during their graduate careers. But, it just really drives home the point that the best way to earn money is to have one decent paying job. The amount I’ve brought in over the last 8 months is roughly equivalent to the take home pay of one month of work for someone making 65K / year.

Maybe I’m just fatigued, but I’m looking forward to being back in the real working world again and just having ONE job with a decent salary!

Old Total: $1976.33
+ $60 overnight babysitting
------------------------
New Total: $2036.33

I was asked to come 1 hour early yesterday, hence why I made $60 rather than $50.

I think The Mom just deals mostly in $20 bills and that's why there doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to the amount I get paid to come early. I think that as long as it's convenient for me to get there early, I'll come early. I feel like they are trying to compensate me for being flexible and everyone is happy.

I'm so excited! I just made ~+$85 for doing practically nothing with no investment.

Today a professor in my department set a pile of books outside his office with a note reading "free". The textbooks were mostly intro level so I have no need for them, but I knew I could sell them on half.com and make a profit.

I waited a few hours to see if anyone took them (I felt a tinge of guilt taking them only for re-sale), but no one did so I took two. Just hours later, one has sold for $89.99! I'm going to wait until after I mail it on Monday to add it my Challenge so I can subtract out the proper amount for shipping.

This truly is an example of how the $20 Challenge has changed my outlook. Last year, I wold have seen them and thought: "No use to me". This year, I saw dollar signs!

Old Total: $1896.33
+ $80 overnight babysitting
------------------------
New Total: $1976.33

I was expecting $90 last night ($50 for last night + $40 in "back pay" from Monday). I'm not sure if The Mom forgot that she paid me $30 rather than $40 last time, but effectively I was only paid $10 for coming early the other night. If it turns out they are only going to pay me $10 to come early, I probably won't be so willing to do it. I completely understand that this arrangement isn't cheap, but coming early at the drop of a hat kills my night at home, and $10 isn't enough for that.

However, all in all, this arrangement is working out.

Old Total: $1866.33
+ $30 overnight babysitting
------------------------
New Total: $1896.33

I actually made $70 the other night, but The Mom had given her ATM card to The Dad and she didn't have enough on hand to pay me the full amount. She'll pay the remaining $40 when I go back tomorrow night. In the mean time, I'll count only the cash I have received.

Typically, I'm getting paid $50 / night, but if The Dad has the opportunity to go into work early and I can come a few hours early with little notice, they pay me an extra $20. This was the case the other night and the reason why I should have been paid $70.

It's been a dry summer here in Beanland, but my flowers look great and my water bill is low. My secret: I use the water from the basement dehumidifier for the plants.

The benefits are numerous:

1.) I don't use municipal water, hence saving money.

2.) The water is chlorine free. This water could be better for the plants; but I admit to not knowing if this is true.

2.) The dehumidifier gets emptied regularly. Yes, this means it runs more, but my stinky basement and the stuff I keep in it benefit.

3.) I water more frequently since I can't bear to put the dehumidifier water down the drain. This has resulted in me hearing the dehumidifier shut off at 10pm and then promptly going outside to water in my pajamas. On the upside, it doesn't take me long since the tank is ~ 2 gallons (not to mention that less water is lost to evaporation when you water in the evening!)

The water in the tank perfectly fills my watering can. I start at one side of the garden and work my way over systematically with each full tank. As you might guess, my garden isn't huge, but it works for me!

I made a voyage to my local Goodwill today. I admit, the trip was purely for entertainment. I try not to use to use consumption and shopping for entertainment, but despite my best intentions, I like getting "new" things. I've come a long way, but my inner consumer rears its head every now and then.

Sundays are usually 30% for Students, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that they were running 50% off the entire store (in which case the student deal is void, but hey, who's complaining about 50% off?)

I got this fun pair of Sandals for $2.50 (they've never been worn!) I know this "George" brand is a WalMart label, but it doesn't bother me since it's second hand. I would never buy shoes like this in a store since I know I can get a lot more use out of something black or brown, so these will be a pleasant little burst of color.



For myself I also got a sun dress from the

designer Dex ($3.50), a light blue Ann Taylor linen button down shirt ($2.50), and a flirty "going out" top ($2.50; again, not something I would buy new, but as a result I often feel like the ugly duckling when I'm out with friends). I'm not familiar with the designer of this top, but I have the impression that it might be a more high end designer based off the look of the label and the cut of the shirt. The designer is "Salt & Pepper" if anyone knows anything. The last item is a GAP maternity shirt in excellent condition for a friend who is struggling to find inexpensive maternity clothes ($2.50).

Total expenditure: $13.48.

There's a part of me that feels a little foolish since I didn't need any of this. I'm still trying to find a way to spend "fun" money sans guilt. Maybe once I wear the "new" clothes and bask in the compliments I'll lose the guilt :-) I rarely tell people my clothes are Goodwill finds. I would say that that I'm not embarrassed, but then what keeps me from 'fessing up? I don't know. Something to think about.

I wanted to share a link to

No Impact Man's blog. I read an article about his experiment some time ago in the NY Times, but I just started reading his blog this weekend. He offers great ideas on life, environmentalism, and living simply. There are many posts I've enjoyed, but this post was struck a chord with me: World's easiest-ever green living tip.

He writes:

"So here is one radical solution I came to. If I didn’t have time to sit down and drink a coffee out of a real cup, I didn’t have it. If I couldn’t eat food from a real plate, I didn’t eat it. There was no need to buy a full table setting of portable cups and bowls to be green. Instead, I finally learned to either do without or wait until later."

A guilty pleasure of mine is watching the TV show Wife Swap. I can't tell you how many times, week after week, I see families routinely eating off of disposable tableware, even when the food is prepared at home. I've often remarked that I think disposable tableware is a symptom of bigger problems, and I like No Impact Man's credo that if you don't have the time to sit down and enjoy a meal properly, then you need to re-evaluate. (Yes, this is coming from the same woman who just admitted to the internet that she loves Wife Swap. We all have room for improvement).

In other news, my roommate moved in 1 week ago. After 2 years of living on my own, followed by 3 years of living with my spouse, having a roommate feels a little bit like retrograding. However, my roommate is a wonderful person and I just need to get used to this being the state of my life. I have to say focusing on the money saving part of having a roommate helps me stay positive (for those new to my life, my spouse moved 250 miles away for work. I'm in the final year of my graduate program and plan to join him once I graduate in ~10 months).

I've never really paid much attention to the price of milk. We're lucky enough to have a dairy about 1.5 miles from our house that sells the most delicious milk in returnable glass bottles. The price has always been comparable to what you'd pay in a grocery store but the taste is far superior. In other words, there was never issue over where we would buy our milk, it was always: THE DAIRY.

However, now that Mr. Bean is gone, I find that the milk from the dairy, which can only be purchased in 1/2 gallon containers, often goes bad before I can finish it. Also, now I'm the only person running household errands, making a special trip to the Dairy for milk is sometimes inconvenient. Add in the recent press on the

rising price of milk, and I decided it was time to re-visit the milk issue.

I use milk in my cereal, and occasionally will drink a glass or use it in baking or cooking. I always buy skim, but I'm not opposed to drinking soy milk instead of dairy milk. The options that are acceptable to me (with current prices / gallon):

Non-fat milk from the Dairy: ($3.00 / gallon)
Nonfat milk from grocery store : ($3.35 / gallon)
Soy milk ($5.98 / gallon)
Re-constituted non-fat dry milk: ($2.25 / gallon)

So, milk from the Dairy is cheaper and tastier. Unless it's a major obstacle to get to the Dairy, I'll definitely continue to buy liquid cow's milk at the Dairy rather than the grocery store.

But, is milk from the dairy really cheaper than soy milk?

I usually buy 8th Continent soy milk which comes in a 1/2 gallon container. Once it's in the fridge, it has a long refrigerator life. The packaging says to use with 7 days of opening, but I find that it lasts much longer. In addition, I often get 8th Continent save $1 on a 1/2 gallon coupons from the Sunday paper. This, when doubled by the grocery store effectively brings the price to $1.98 / gallon, thus making soy milk the least expensive option. When the soy milk is on sale, it's usually $2.49 / half gallon, so with the coupon I'd pay only $0.49 1/2 gallon or $0.98 / gallon.

Benefits of the non-fat drink milk are that I can mix it up a quart at a time, thus eliminating the risk of spoilage. Also, if I keep NFDM on hand, I can drink soy milk for liquid consumption, but will have cow's milk on hand for recipes.

In actuality, I'll probably end up using a mix of all 4 of the options outlined above. Since I don't really drink much milk, the cost savings of one over the probably doesn't amount to a very big hill of beans. My little analysis underlined the benefit of taking advantage of the $1 of soy milk coupons when they are available.

Old Total: $1796.33
+ $70 overnight babysitting
------------------------
New Total: $1866.33

I did the overnight babysitting again last night. The Mom called me at 6:30pm and asked if I could come at 8:30pm (instead of my regular 11pm-ish). The Dad had been offered to come into work early. I said I could come. She paid me an extra $20 for doing so, so I ended up making $70 last night.

I slept better this time and the girls slept through the night, too. Hopefully this trend will continue!

Wednesday night was my first night doing the

overnight babysitting that I wrote about back in June.

All in all, it went well. I arrived around 11pm. Everyone was in bed. I went to my bedroom, read a little and went to sleep. I woke up around 12:30 when I heard the Dad get up and leave for his work, but went back asleep relatively quickly. I was up again at 3am when I heard one of the girls get up. It turns out she was only going to the kitchen for a drink of water, but she literally RAN to the kitchen so I wasn't sure what was going on and immediately shot out of bed to see what the situation was.

Mom was home by 7:25 am and paid me $50. I go back again tonight. The downside is that I feel a little uncomfortable spending the night in someone else's house and that I didn't sleep particularly well, but hopefully both will improve as time goes on.

Some of friends think I'm a little crazy for doing this. But, like the people in the recent NYT article on people who bought a home on their own, I realize that the money for a home down payment isn't going to magically appear some day.

Old Total: $1746.33
+ $50 overnight babysitting
------------------------
New Total: $1796.33

I had good luck with toiletry coupons at the grocery store today (the store doubles up to $1).

I got:

2 4-packs for Cottonelle Kids Toilet Paper for $0.62 ($0.31 a pack.. although now I have to use TP with

little puppies and monkeys on it)

Secret Deodorant: $0.14

Old Spice Deodorant: $0.14

Tampax 20 count: $0.82

Skintimate Shave Gel: FREE

Degree Deodorant: FREE

As far as couponers go, I'd say I'm moderately into it. I stocked up on the deodorant since I happened to have good coupons for it and I'm down to my last roll (Mr. Bean is very brand loyal to Old Spice already has 2 rolls in queue). But now that I have enough deodorant to last us 8 months or so, I won't bother clipping deodorant coupons or going down that aisle until we're nearly out again. At that point, deodorant will go back on my radar.

I used to constantly scan of deals, but found it too time consuming and now only buy what we don't already have a little surplus of. The store does not allow you to use to duplicate coupons. I do have duplicates for the Tampax and the shave gel, so I may swing back into the store this week to pick up another of each (I'm having friend over for dinner on Wednesday so I'll probably need to pick up fresh salad fixings anyway). The shave gel isn't something I insist on using, but I like to have it. The bottle I bought today (for free!) is the only bottle I have at the moment. I find it goes on sale to the point I can get it for free only in the late summer/ early fall.

Old Total: $1506.23
+ 240.10 garage sale
------------------------
New Total: $1746.33

My total for the 2-day garage sale was $240.10. My big ticket items included:

Stereo ($50)
Guitar ($40)
Desk ($25)
Sega Genesis and Games ($15)

All in all, I'm pleased. If the time permits this week, I'll write about it in more detail, but I wanted to get my final tally down for the count! My parents made ~$350, and our neighbors made over $900!

Day 1 of the garage sale is over. I made about ~$100, and my folks about ~$300. I did sell a guitar for $40, but the other ~$60 came from $0.50 here, $1 there etc.

When I think back to all the effort that went into the sale and cleaning and pricing of items though, $100 doesn't seem like much. However, nothing I sold is anything I'll miss, so there's certainly the added bonus of just having the junque out of the house. It gives me more space and will make the next move easier.

The sale didn't start until 9am, but the people starting come at 7:45am. I still had a little more pricing and organizing to do, and it was disruptive and nerve wracking to have them swarming about. Once the hard core dealers and such dispelled, it was a little more relaxed and enjoyable.

Tomorrow should be another long day and probably won't result in too many more sales (I feel like all my "good stuff" sold today), but we'll just have to wait and see!

I'm planning to join Mr. Bean on his next business trip to LA in September. He's planning on taking a direct flight from Dulles to LAX. I'm going to fly from my podunk little town to Dulles and then connect to the same flight as his so we can fly together. I'm not buying 2 separate tickets- it's all the same carrier and just connects through Dulles. Interestingly, as the prices stand today, the entire cost of my round trip flight is $69 cheaper than his direct flight- even though we'll be riding together on my final leg and my trip has more miles.

Who would have guessed?

Tomorrow evening I'm driving some 240 miles away with a car load of my finest

j-u-n-q-u-e to participate in my parents' neighborhood garage sale. We're participating Thursday- Friday although the actual sale goes until Saturday. The timing is perfect since I would have had to drive up there anyway to attend a family wedding on Saturday (albeit I would have waited until Friday).

It's always interesting to see what people will buy... and what fails to sell. Mr. Bean is in CA this week for work. We were on the phone earlier this evening and I asked if he would mind if I tried to sell an old Oxford blazer of his. The blazer is of poor quality and rather unattractive. His response was: "You can try- are expecting many hobos to come through?" Some combination of the use of the word "hobo" and my fatigue at the late hour made me laugh until I cried. The thing is: I bet it will sell!

What are some of the junquiest items you've sold at a garage sale? What have you been surprised to see people pass up?

My aunt commented that she sells less at neighborhood garage sales compared to when she holds one on her own. How about you? I know I'm not going to bother to lug a foldable chaise lounge I never use up to the sale- my parents are already trying to sell two!

Old Total: $1486.23
+ 20.00 babysitting
------------------------
New Total: $1506.23

I made $20 babysitting tonight. I still need to take those clothes to Plato's Closet and start rounding up stuff to sell at my parents' garage sale next week. So much to do, so little time!

I bought a new bike today to replace the one that was stolen. I was perusing some online classifieds for bikes (both to buy and to try to see if anyone was selling mine) and ending up emailing someone about a used bike for sale. He was asking $100 but told me he would take $75 if I bought it today. He even drove the bike over to my office so I could test it out. The bike is a

Mongoose Pro Rockadile SX from 2002 and had hardly been used. I think it probably sold for ~$230 when it was new. After testing the bike out, I wasn't sure if I loved it (I think I'm still mourning the loss of my last bike). I asked him if he'd take $60- and he consented. I'm happy to have wheels again and feel like I made out pretty well for $60. The guy said he won the bike in a card game, so I figured he had no use for it (plus it's way to small for a man his size).

I stepped out onto my front porch this afternoon to hop on my bike and ride to the grocery store.

Hey wait, where's my bike?

My beloved bike had been stolen off the front porch!

Yes, I called the police and filed a report. I also walked around the neighborhood to see if I could find it abandoned somewhere. I checked the local classifieds to see if I could find it being re-sold. I'm not holding my breath.

I loved that bike. I loved riding the bike. Cruising home on my bike at the end of the day reminded me being 10 years old and cruising around my neighborhood on pink Schwinn banana seat bike.

I loved that bike and biking around so much I'll probably buy a new one. Unfortunately, they don't come cheap (even used bikes). I'll also need a new lock since my lock was dangling around the handle bars. No, it wasn't locked. I'm kicking myself now, but I thought it would be safe on the front porch of my own house.

I rode it home Friday and parked it on the porch. I don't remember tripping over it when I watered the flower boxes Saturday afternoon so it was probably stolen Friday night.

I don't like that someone crept onto the porch and took it. I'm not in anyway suggesting that the two events are related, but just earlier this week a few blocks from here a young woman awoke to her apartment being burglarized. The invader then beat and raped her. Such events are rare in my small college town. I have been extra vigilant to keep the windows shut and locked. I am thankful that I did not hear who ever took the bike off the porch because I think I might have suffered a heart attack had I awoke in the night to hear someone of the porch.

Live and learn, I guess.

Check out this clip of Demetri Martin from the Daily Show taking about credit cards posted on

My Money Blog. Hysterical. I love it.

Today's my last day teaching a 100-level course in the Summer Session (No fear though, I stat up again with the second summer session in a week).

So, in honor college kids everywhere, check this out.

Old Total: $1481.44
+ $4.79 eBay
------------------------
New Total: $1486.23

After I paid all the fees and mailed the goods, I netted $4.79 off my latest eBay auction. I lost money on one item with the shipping, and another item didn't even sell (although I still deducted the cost to list it).

I don't have any riders coming with me to DC and I forgot to stop at Plato's Closet to re-sell clothes, so I feel pretty safe to say that my total as of June 30 will be the amount listed above. Hence, I fell a little short ($13.77) of my goal of $1500 by June 30. But, If you include the interest I've made off the money (it's in a high yield savings), then I probably surpassed the mark).

Next month I should have more regular babysitting jobs and I'm brining items to my Mom's garage sale to sell.
Have a great weekend!

Old Total: $1441.44
+ $40.00 babysitting
------------------------
New Total: $1481.44

I babysat for 2 hours on 2 occasions (total time of 4 hours) for the new family that I will be doing some overnight sitting. Based off some comments from the mom regarding what they pay their other babysitter, I expected a day time rate of maybe $5-$7 / hour (my overnight sitting will be a flat rate). To my surprise, when she paid me she said they would pay me $10 / hour for daytime babysitting. In our initial interview they asked how much my other family pays me. The other family pays me $10 / hour, but they have 3 kids (this family has 2), they live farther away, and they are very wealthy (not that that should effect what they are charged, but they certainly appear to have a generous amount of disposable income). Honestly, I think the new family upped their rate to make themselves a more "competeitive" job. Hey, works for me! It's fun to see the

free market in action.

Now if I can just round up $19 in the few days, I will meet my goal on earning $1500 through new streams by June 30. I have eBay auctions ending tonight, so that should generate $5- $10. I alo have some clothes to try to re-sell at Plato's Closet, and some ads posted offering a ride to DC this weekend (I'm going to see Mr. Bean).