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March 11, 2005
many questions on the current state of things, and a few thoughts on frugality.
q: is there central heat in the house?
a: no
q: are there any other questions worth asking besides that one?
a: yes
q: is the basement even dirtier and more disgusting than before?
a: yes
q: is there now an enormous open space under two windows in the basement, such that one is almost compelled to fill it with useful workbenches, industrial strength electrical hookups, and abundant lighting?
a: yes
q: is the rain going to ruin the salvageable, almost-new circuit board in the old furnace?
a: maybe. sometimes they dry out and are fine. don't worry about it.
q: is the rain going to ruin the new duct they left sitting out?
a: again i say, not your problem. de rien.
q: do you have the first clue of what you'll do about your mother's birthday cake?
a: no
q: is your cat superadorable???
a: that's rhetorical, right?
:|:
faced with an intimidating pile of debt, i've thought about plans for paying it off. i'd like to be fairly agressive in doing so.
i thought to myself last night, you know, if i could not spend an entire month's salary, it would knock out so very much of it at once. so how could i do that?
the mortgage i can't get out of. perhaps if i refinanced i'd miss a month.
i could cancel my land line, tivo, netflix, cable, and revert from dsl to the cheapest possible dialup account with my provider (so as not to lose my email address... i want to be able to revert to my current state without significant losses of any kind.) i could use my wireless as my voice and data connection, and supplement that with time spent in cafes that have wireless internet.
i could choose a month in which neither heating nor cooling is really missed. that eliminates gas and some electric.
water i'd have to allow myself, but i could curtail usage in a couple of ways. just don't plan to come near me on the weekends...
i could further curtail electric by greatly reducing my use of lights, unplugging my tv, stereo, etc, and pushing the temperature on my water heater down to the barest tolerable level (it's too hot right now anyway). also, air-dry all clothing. carefully plan wardrobe to require the least amount of clothes-washing possible. surely i have 30 pairs of panties and 30 pairs of socks.
a single, carefully planned trip to costco at the beginning of the month would suffice for food and other supplies. i already have plenty of coffee and tea; artificial sweetener is trivially swiped from various readily available sources.
absolutely no going out and having fun of any kind that involves spending money. fun i would be allowed to have: making photocopy art with the spare change i find around the house; hanging out at the library; walking in the woods; tinkering with the van; cleaning the house. cleaning is fun, you know. oh, and free wine tastings would be acceptable.
no frivolous driving around. consolidate all errands, of which i will be doing very few since i won't be spending any money.
make my own biodiesel with free waste vegetable oil from fast food restaurants.
no buying of shoes! at all!! or clothes!!
Posted by lisa at March 11, 2005 05:14 PM | TrackBack
Comments
and after you've gone mad, you get free room and board at dorthea dix. ;-)
Posted by: christa on March 12, 2005 01:48 AM
it's really not all that different from how i lived through much of my 20's.
but then, i'm used to all those luxuries now...
Posted by: lisa on March 12, 2005 09:10 AM
How about saving half of your salary one month and half the next month? Same result, slightly more comfort -- you'd only have to cut back about half as much, and you could have some heat and water and such.
Posted by: Stephanie on March 12, 2005 06:47 PM
ok, so a) your comment won't post right away because i have to approve it first and b) you might get a server error but your comment probably posted anyway and c) previewing doesn't work so i've removed the preview button.