Manifesting Money!!

So, my work situation is pretty good right now. I am covering the basics, I'm pretty happy with the amount of time I have available to do other things, I'm learning and growing, I don't really feel a pinch in terms of wanting things that money can buy on a day to day basis.

I am however, looking for ways to manifest cash for travel. My college friends, who I have managed to see pretty much every year since college, are getting together on the West Coast to celebrate the graduation of one of us in late May. 5 of them live on the West Coast already, 4 of them within 3-5 hours or so of each other. So the 5 are going to be there, and I'd like to join them. In my initial estimates, between travel expenses and to make up for the days of work I would miss, it would be about $500. That's like an extra $100 per week from now until the trip...

The other thing I need to pay in a big chunk is the remainder of my Song School tuition, which I think is also coming up in May. I think that's $350.

Then by August I need to figure out how I'm getting to Colorado for Song School and the wedding, and I'm also going to need to buy a bridesmaid's dress. (I'm shrinking so quickly these days I want to wait till as close to the date as possible for the dress) But let's say between either driving or flying or train it's about $250 for travel, and I would hope somewhere between $60 & $100 for a dress. Oh and shoes. crap... another $20 or so???

So yes. Somewhere in the range of $1,180 - $1,220 for travel between May and August.

I am open to ideas.

But before you start offering them though, let me mention a few things.

Credit Card. Technically, I COULD put it on a credit card, I have enough room for that (especially since it wouldn't be all at once). But I already have a balance that I'm working on paying off within 11 months of when I made the balance transfer. I also have a student loan payment due each month for my music courses. This is part of why I don't have a lot extra to work with. So yeah, I could put it there, but I don't know how or when I'd be able to pay it back. Ditto goes for any sort of a personal loan. I don't want to ADD to my debts, especially not right now.

Selling crafty things at the Farmer's Market (or in local stores, or online). Lots of people jump to this when I mention I need to make some more money. It's a good idea, and I'm flattered they think of/remember me as crafty and my stuff being good to sell, but in all honesty it takes quite a lot of time/effort for not much cash in return. So when I'm doing it for fun and I am just getting joy out of making the stuff and I have all this extra I don't need, and if I happen to get some cash for it, then great! But when I'm actually in it for money and depending/hoping to get a certain amount, I usually end up disappointed.

When I was able to do the Farmer's Market regularly, I never made more than about $20 or $25 TOPS in a week. And really, in this economy, people (understandably!) go for food items first. Crafts & jewelry are not high priority.

Plus Farmer's Market is on Saturday when I work at the Cafe, and I KNOW I'll get a reliable amount for working there. It's not a gamble of "Will I make my table money back today?" All that said, when Farmer's Market starts, I may see about sending a small set up with my bro and give him a commission or something... Every dollar does count!

Selling Used Stuff. I don't really think I have anything to sell on craigslist or ebay. I've been living on a low income for several years now, so I don't have a whole lot of extra things just lying around. Usually when I buy something big it's carefully saved for and used until it wears out. But I will keep thinking on that one.

So yeah, it would probably be more effective/efficient to try and teach another improv class to kids or do a performance, especially when I'm trying to come up with hundreds of dollars in a short period of time. Both of those would take prep time and advertising. Technically I have written an hour's worth of songs, but I don't remember how to play all of them, and even if I did, I don't know if they are strong enough to entertain for a whole show by myself.

I have one young guitar student. I could take a couple more of those if anyone was interested. It's not something I have advertised because I partly don't feel qualified for it. Seriously though, if it's just the basics and getting started learning chords, I'm probably a good teacher for that because it's not like uberly boring for me and I have a lot of patience and compassion for people starting out.

There is also an opportunity to write some articles for a local blog, which I have started doing, but I'm not sure if I can crank out enough of them fast enough to make the cash by the first trip in May, and even if I could, I don't know that they have the budget for that many in so short a time. Still, I will work on those.

With the awareness of what a difference it could make, I can be a bit more strict with myself about not spending my tips. I usually use them for things like coffee and lunches out during the week, but I won't feel pinched about giving those things up if I know I'm saving for something so totally worth it. That's between $10 & $20 per week if I'm really lucky, and if I don't spend any of it!

Finally, I am also totally open to receiving unconventional ways of achieving my travel desires. I am pretty inspired by the way I was really clear that I wanted to go to the Ingrid Michaelson concert at a price I could afford, and the next thing I know I saw an offer of two free tickets through someone I follow on Twitter, on the day of the concert! So miraculous things do happen!

And I am already arranging my schedule as if I was going to Portland - I had someone looking for a house concert and I set them up to do it with another lady in town who had expressed interest in being a host only a week or so before. (I'll still help promote, whether I can go or not!) I haven't scheduled an interview for the Tuesday after, just in case.

Anyway, I have the strong desire and the motivation and a good feeling about this. Now to make it happen!

(cue the doot duh-duh DOO ---- CHARGE! trumpets!)

hrm

Shared a table space with my bro at the indoor market today. Ended up with $9 after paying $6 for table space, and was there/working on being there for about 7 hours. Not great, but that's more cash than I've seen in a while. Sigh. There were somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 vendors, and somewhere between 6-8 of them were selling jewelry - LOTS of competition. I had meant to make more stuff this week and never got the chance. I ended up waking up, driving T there and setting up our tables with some of my little beeswax tea lights and then I went home to get some more stuff while he held down the fort.

I stayed for a bit and made a few cards, just simple ones but I think they are cute. I'm real glad I did because I ended up selling four of them! Also sold several of the tea lights, some of them while I was gone, so I'm glad I left them there at the beginning. But I also guess I'm glad I didn't spend a whole lot of time making stuff, because I have the feeling I would have sold about the same amount whether I had more or not, and I would have been more disappointed if I'd put more time in.

Anyhoo, next year if I plan to keep selling stuff, I really need to find a new thing to make. Something more unique. Or the jewelry needs to be more unusual. Although really, if everyone is making the stuff that is fast, it sort of shows that people aren't paying for the more intricate, unique stuff when it comes to earrings. Also some of these ladies must be buying big amounts cheap of stuff like the real silver and gold-filled ear hooks, because otherwise how can they sell the stuff for so cheap and make money?

Well, tomorrow I get to help out at Cafe P for their very last Sunday brunch in the old location. They have been working like crazy to get finished in the new place on the square, I hope they are ready! I think they are just going to do it no matter what. They've had a lot of volunteers helping make it happen, I was out putting up posters and it seemed to be crawling with people working on it. The remodeling they are doing really is making it super nice though. Still trying to figure out if they are going to have a kitchen or what, because I can't figure out where with the current layout... Maybe they thought they've gotten by without it for so long, but hrm.... Anyway, I'll get some hours and I'll get to be there in the old place. It'll be a little sad to see it go. I wonder what will happen there next...

Weekend

Wow. Had a whole actual weekend for the first time since what, April or so? Went to a concert in IC on Friday night, slept in on Saturday, went to a friend's house and decorated cookies, went to a play, slept in and went out for brunch Sunday, had a friend over to play music and went to some neighbor friends for dinner and to share Peru experiences.

Not that my days really would be that much different from a weekend lately, but everyone around me is on a week/weekend schedule, so all the fun stuff happens on the weekends I guess. Working Saturday does cut a dent in that hangout time. But I do like cooking for people. So I guess I can enjoy the break for now.

I'm hoping to make enough stuff this week that I would have a decent amount to sell at the indoor farmer's market next Saturday. There will be a lot of competition, but if I'm sharing a table with my brother, it won't be much money down to try and make back. We'll see how it goes.

Got the Christmas tree up, I think it's going to stay. We used some fishing line to tie it to the curtain rod. Sigh. I know an artificial tree would be easier, but I do love the real ones. So far it's just lights, want to make sure it really will stay up. The first time my brother and I thought we had it, I came home and it was leaning against the window. At least it was the window and not the floor!

I Made It!

(More MySpace cross posting)
Current mood: tired
Category: Jobs, Work, Careers

Well, there's lots I could say I'm sure, but the main thing is - I'm all moved out of the office and I don't have to go back. It was a weird day, people were weepy and saying nice things about those of us leaving and such. And bit by bit it looked less and less like the place where I spent so many hours of my life for over 3 years.

I don't know about other offices, but as an art company, and especially as the creative department, our walls and ceilings and cubicles were full of art, posters, color, balloons, lights, plants etc. So seeing it all stripped bare and white was quite bizzare. I was the last one out of our room. There's still a lot of clean-up to do, especially in some of the other rooms.

Now my living room and entry way is full of the crap I brought home, that was as far as we had the energy to bring it in. Some of it is really awesome crap, but finding the places for it... ergh.

Pretty much went from work to shopping for a present for my brother to his party to bed to Farmer's Market today. It was kind of slow but I'm still glad I did it, sold a few things that I hope people will like getting as presents.

There's a lot I should be doing today. So tired. And we're getting some freezing drizzle type stuff. Whoopdeedoo! We had a big snow dump and by now it's all melted. I heard it was supposed to snow tonight. It would be nice to have a white Christmas for the first time in a while.

Weekend of Progress

Cross post from MySpace. Because sometimes one blog a day isn't enough.

Progress of Sorts
Current mood: accomplished
Category: Life

So while I haven't done nearly everything I've been wanting to do for ages now, I do feel like I made a lot of progress and did a lot of good things this weekend.

Friday
- Company Christmas party. Kept my white shirt clean through tomato soup, ravioli sauce by intelligent napkin placement, and scored a $50 massage gift certificate.
- Caught the second half of Arthur Lee Land's show at Cafe P

Saturday
- Set up a table at the Indoor Farmer's Market, made somewhere in the neighborhood of $25
- Slept from about 2:30 - 5:30
- Went to a Christmas Party with a bunch of the MUM Latino's and understood a bunch of Spanish

Sunday
- Over the course of the day, G and I changed the sheets, cleaned up the clothes on the bedroom floor and vacuumed and did 4 loads of laundry
- We also throughout the day made tremendous progress on the dining room table: filing, sorting, recycling, shredding mail, magazines, receipts etc.
- Took the dryer exhaust tube off to discover it was ENTIRELY packed with bird nesting materials and lint. Cleaned it out. Our dryer now dries clothes in one cycle, and damp air doesn't exhaust out into the laundry room to keep all the line-dry clothes wet.
- Saw "The Skaters" ballet at the Civic Center, including the Generation NOW show choir opening. Talented kids! I so want to perform on that stage sometime!
- Watered the plants
- Paid bills
- Activated new credit card, cut up expired ones
- Talked to Sarah
- I've also managed to START thinking about Christmas. Which feels good because i was starting to freak out that I hadn't done anything about it AT ALL yet.

If I'm really lucky, I might even order some of my online presents before bed, and/or my plane tickets to Colombia.

Hooray for Monies!

I made lots of money at the ArtWalk - like $140 or something and then I had to give them $19. And then I made maybe $40 or so more the next day at the Farmers Market, which was kind of surprising because I thought maybe people would be all "bought out" from the night before!

It definitely made staying up till 3:30am on Thursday night worth it, but I really don't want to do that again for a while. Luckily I got to take naps on Saturday and today.

Saturday night I had to do my photoshop lesson over because the computer ate it or something, and the mouse sucks and I messed it up so I had to do it AGAIN, but I finally sent it in and did the next exercise and sent that one in, and then we went to Subway and then to the square and caught the second half of the Public Property concert. (those guys are really good, quite polished, I love the dancers)

It's nice to have some cash on hand - I spent kind of a lot today actually - G and I picked 7 pints of raspberries at the Pooles $3 per box, and then we stopped at the gem and mineral show and I got some green stone chips, and some grey freshwater pearls, plus some really neat little square shaped flat pearls. The first two strands were $4 & $3, but the square pearls were $24 for 39 pearls - but he gave me a $1 discount so they were $23. They are really neat and unusual though, so I bet I could charge a bit more if I made earrings out of them. Actually even if I just used one per earring and made 5 pairs at $5 I'd make the $ back and still have 29 left... so I think it was good.

It also meant little things like I could get some Indian fry bread and a cup of cucumber lime juice while I was at Farmer's Market, and I could get coffee AND French toast tomorrow. I didn't realize what a pinch I've been feeling really, not having cash. I really valued it more though and was pretty conscious about my choices yesterday and today and I really savored/enjoyed them. yay.

And then we got to have dinner with B & P at B's new place. I brought tangerine iced tea with mint, and we had cheese and crackers and grapes and popcorn and minestrone and foccacia out on her lovely porch, and we saw my brother for the first time since he got back from Burbank, and then a lovely night of conversation. more YAY!

All in all, a very very good weekend. yum.

Lame-a-tron!

1) Waiting for my Harry Potter book. B & P got theirs already. On the UPS tracking site it says mine has been in transit from Ottumwa since 10:28. It is now 2:08. That is plenty of time for it to get to me! But as G pointed out, there's probably a lot of books being delivered today. I have had a strict conversation with G about the things he is NOT allowed to do until I am finished with the book, including and perhaps most importantly the fact that he MUST NOT read the last two pages, even if he promises not to tell me what happens. Because I just know he would go around with a little superior smirk of knowing and that would ruin the experience of reading it. I still never told him what happened in the last book. I think it's cheating to not read it for yourself. Maybe that's being a little harsh, but at the least he shouldn't wreck my experience. After I'm done he can read the last two pages or the whole thing.

2) Waiting for my paycheck. I got totally thrown off by a) forgetting to tell G about my poetry class check, and b) car insurance payment. I also don't have my backup travel fund to dip into since I used it all on our trip. And this is a loooong pay period because get paid on (or the weekday before) the 15th and on the last weekday of the month, which means while the bills are paid, but I'm 8 days in on 18 days of not having any spending $. I can use my CC but I'd rather not. And there are those few things I want to do that don't take CC's. Lunch at Small Planet and concerts at Cafe P being the two most painful things to give up. I'm feeling like such a whiner now, yipes! Anyway, the point being I stayed up late last night and got up a bit earlier than I might have otherwise this morning so I could sell some of my tea at the Farmer's Market, because I REALLY want to see Gayla Drake Paul at Cafe P tonight. I made a whopping $6.50, and I still need to give $2.50 of that to my brother for sharing his table with him. Luckily he said I could give it to him later. I have $2 and 11 cents left from cleaning out my penny basket so I could have coffee with Mikaila a few days ago. The thing that is really driving me bonkers is I don't have a paper, and I can't find anywhere online to tell me how much the show is!! I sure hope it's less than $8.11! It looks like I need to do the Farmer's Market next weekend too, and do a little better, Ali Sperry and Betsy Huebner are doing shows at Cafe P next weekend and I'd need $7 for that...