I just went over to the library and checked out the three volumes of The Tightwad Gazette. They didn't have the complete volume, so I have three books to heft around. That's okay. I'll burn five extra calories this way.
So far, many of these tips don't apply to us. The Guy already packs lunches, reusing old shopping bags. We've switched to reusable bags ($.05 credit per bag at each shopping trip), so that supply will eventually dwindle, but then he can just use one of the reusables anyway. We don't use dryer sheets. We don't have school-age kids.
Some of them are things we won't ever do. We don't have a fireplace and never have occasion to buy firewood. Sending in all the neighborhood's bills in one envelope doesn't apply because we pay all our bills online
I am excited about homemade granola, though. The Child is obsessed with granola. Every time she wakes up from a nap: "Hoongry! Goy bar? Goy bar?" Few granola bars are even remotely acceptable for regular consumption (I do so love those gooey ones that are half high fructose corn syrup and chocolate chips, though), so we shell out for Kashi or Nature Valley. I stock up when they're on special. But they're still expensive (for what they are, at least). I could make it in large quantities and cut back on the sugar. Yay!
Anyway, even the things that aren't going to be directly useful are getting me to think about how to be creative in saving money. And that's my real problem. It's not that we can't go without optional comforts. Because we do that all the time and don't mind. No, my real problem is that I just don't think.
In the last week, I have become hyper-aware of all the little things I do that cost us money. That sounds stressful, doesn't it? But it's not.
The more mindful I am of everything I do that costs money, the better I feel about every little thing I do to save money. I smile when I remember to switch off a light that would normally stay on. I smile when I pull the curtain to the cold kitchen closed behind me. I smile when I use the fluorescent light under the cabinet instead of the halogen overhead light. All these tiny little things are adding up to me finally making a contribution to our finances. It's a good feeling.
Even the tips I won't ever use are getting me to think in new directions, which means more tiny accomplishments every day, which means feeling less and less like a useless schlub.
I like to come here to the new coffee shop and sit for a couple hours with my laptop during the girls' naps. Yes, that latte did cost $3.00, but for a weekly indulgence, I think it's worth it. There aren't any other places in town with free wireless where I can just go and sit in peace. And if I were home, I'd likely be sitting around, accomplishing nothing. Here, my laptop is at least plugged into someone else's outlet.
Here's something I've always known but never really thought about: saving money on optional expenses is better than earning that same amount of money extra. If we save $5,000 a year by cutting back, that's $5,000 extra that isn't taxed as a raise would be. No income tax, no sales tax. If my husband got a $5,000 raise, about half (maybe more) of it would be gone to taxes. So saving us just a few thousand a year is like earning double that.
(I'm more than a little foggy on tax law, especially since we're just on the edge of a tax bracket. I admit I don't know exactly how these things work. And I don't want to. Tax law makes me yawn, and then gives me a headache. It's enough for me to know that a huge chunk of any money my husband makes goes to the government.)
If it sounds like I'm psyching myself up needlessly, keep in mind that I am the most unmotivated person in the world. I spent 8 years in college and never got a degree. I slouched my way through high school, earning grades that ranged from passable to goodish (except in subjects I truly loved, like calculus, where I did practice problems for fun), when I could have probably earned straight As and a scholarship.
I have this ingrained notion that being capable of so many things is something to be proud of, that it's enough. But it's not. In fact, great ability makes a lack of accomplishment even more shameful. While I know this, I don't know it. Same way that I know there are no monsters under the bed, but I still make a running leap for it in the dark so nothing grabs my ankles.
I can't take credit what I was born with, but I can control what I do with that. It's too late to go back to high school and learn how to try, and it's too late to erase years of pointless school debt. So now I can try do three things: rewire my brain, make the most of our finances from here on out, and try to teach my children a different way of thinking.
Which means getting off my lazy bum and actually doing something.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Beans, beans, beans
I'm trying an experiment this week. No meat (okay, one recipe has smoked sausage), all beans, lentils, and peas. Five meals.
This is going to be a fragrant household.
But!
Our grocery bill for this week's meals was $75. Seventy. Five. Dollars.
That includes the beef roast I bought for something like $7.
Our grocery bill rarely drops below $100, even with meticulous planning and couponing. I couldn't believe it when she rang it up.
I hope we turn out to really, really love beans. The idea of saving $25/week almost made me pass out.
I didn't shower yesterday. I looked up the price of a ten-minute shower. *It's about $2.10. Now, I don't know how accurate that is, but I'm guessing it may even be low for this household. I like my showers hot, and in the winter, mine tend to run longer. Even though we insulated most of the pipes in the basement, we still have a few naked ones running around, which means the water loses a ton of heat on its way upstairs. So, I think I'm going to start showering every other day. Don't worry, friends; if you come to my house, or if I come to yours, I'll shower first.
So let's say I drop three showers a week (it's better for my hair and my really dry skin anyway, right?). That's $6.30/week, which is $.90/day.
That's five things. Five down, ninety-five to go.
I'm beginning to think this was a little ambitious.
*That just doesn't sound right. Even with our house and my love of extremely hot water. Okay. I take about a ten-minute shower. We have an older water heater, maybe 10-15 years, it's FREEZING in our basement, water takes about a minute to get warm enough, and I'm pretty sure we don't have a low-flow shower head. I found a calculator online, but it really seems off. So I don't know. We'll call it $.30/day for now.
This is going to be a fragrant household.
But!
Our grocery bill for this week's meals was $75. Seventy. Five. Dollars.
That includes the beef roast I bought for something like $7.
Our grocery bill rarely drops below $100, even with meticulous planning and couponing. I couldn't believe it when she rang it up.
I hope we turn out to really, really love beans. The idea of saving $25/week almost made me pass out.
I didn't shower yesterday. I looked up the price of a ten-minute shower. *It's about $2.10. Now, I don't know how accurate that is, but I'm guessing it may even be low for this household. I like my showers hot, and in the winter, mine tend to run longer. Even though we insulated most of the pipes in the basement, we still have a few naked ones running around, which means the water loses a ton of heat on its way upstairs. So, I think I'm going to start showering every other day. Don't worry, friends; if you come to my house, or if I come to yours, I'll shower first.
So let's say I drop three showers a week (it's better for my hair and my really dry skin anyway, right?). That's $6.30/week, which is $.90/day.
That's five things. Five down, ninety-five to go.
I'm beginning to think this was a little ambitious.
*That just doesn't sound right. Even with our house and my love of extremely hot water. Okay. I take about a ten-minute shower. We have an older water heater, maybe 10-15 years, it's FREEZING in our basement, water takes about a minute to get warm enough, and I'm pretty sure we don't have a low-flow shower head. I found a calculator online, but it really seems off. So I don't know. We'll call it $.30/day for now.
100 Things (A Work in Progress)
My list of 100 ways to save $.25/day (on average):
So far:
9 things
$5.23 per day
$.581 average
- Stop using so many danged lights. Turn on no light during the day and reduce the number of bulbs in use when we do need lights. $.50/day
- Wear clothing for two or three days, unless it's smelly. $.26/day
- Insulate upstairs radiators and turn down thermostat. $.50/day
- Drop three showers a week. $.30/day (Not sure about this one. If anyone can tell me how to figure this out, let me know.)
- Switch kids to cloth diapers. $2.26/day
- Air-dry almost all clothing. $.24/day
- Turn off kids' fans and use noise machines instead. $.26/day
- Homemade dishwasher detergent and rinse agent. $.73/day
- Homemade laundry detergent. $.18/day
So far:
9 things
$5.23 per day
$.581 average
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Feels like Kansas
The wind has been incredible the last few days. The tar paper is coming up off the half-finished back entrance to the basement. It'll be good when that's finished.
The house is much colder. The wind is pressing all the warmth out. I donned my thrift store long underwear. It's a little itchy, but I'm warmer.
The wind is so loud The Child dissolved into fearful tears earlier today. She's afraid of a lot of things, but loud noises have never been one of them. She curled up in my arms this morning for ten minutes, something that rarely happens anymore. I feel terrible that she was so scared, but the cuddling sure was nice.
Yesterday was not a good day for tightwadding. We had a house showing, which meant blazing lights and open blinds. Feh. I spent the whole day picking up and cleaning. I try to keep the house company-ready at all times. Not because I'm a clean freak, but because once I get buried under the weight of too many messes, I give up entirely. If I stay on top of it, housekeeping is easy. So perhaps the showing was good timing. We were close to the tipping point.
I drove by during the showing. I'm a creep like that. The couple did not look impressed. That might have been the 60mph gusts of wind in their faces, though.
Today I am working on a curtain to hang between the kitchen and the rest of the first floor. When that's up, I'll close the radiators in there and hope it helps the rest of the downstairs stays warmer. Old houses have their charms, but heat efficiency isn't one of them.
I'm fresh out of new ideas. I feel a cold coming on, and my head is all fuzzy and yech-feeling. Most of the time, I never actually get sick. I spend a few days fighting it off, and then it's gone. I think this one might actually stick around.
So, nothing new to report. I'm just making myself write because once I stop too long, it's hard to get going again. Time to go back to curtains.
The house is much colder. The wind is pressing all the warmth out. I donned my thrift store long underwear. It's a little itchy, but I'm warmer.
The wind is so loud The Child dissolved into fearful tears earlier today. She's afraid of a lot of things, but loud noises have never been one of them. She curled up in my arms this morning for ten minutes, something that rarely happens anymore. I feel terrible that she was so scared, but the cuddling sure was nice.
Yesterday was not a good day for tightwadding. We had a house showing, which meant blazing lights and open blinds. Feh. I spent the whole day picking up and cleaning. I try to keep the house company-ready at all times. Not because I'm a clean freak, but because once I get buried under the weight of too many messes, I give up entirely. If I stay on top of it, housekeeping is easy. So perhaps the showing was good timing. We were close to the tipping point.
I drove by during the showing. I'm a creep like that. The couple did not look impressed. That might have been the 60mph gusts of wind in their faces, though.
Today I am working on a curtain to hang between the kitchen and the rest of the first floor. When that's up, I'll close the radiators in there and hope it helps the rest of the downstairs stays warmer. Old houses have their charms, but heat efficiency isn't one of them.
I'm fresh out of new ideas. I feel a cold coming on, and my head is all fuzzy and yech-feeling. Most of the time, I never actually get sick. I spend a few days fighting it off, and then it's gone. I think this one might actually stick around.
So, nothing new to report. I'm just making myself write because once I stop too long, it's hard to get going again. Time to go back to curtains.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Surprise!
My house is a disaster for the first time in two weeks. I've been trying to keep it close to showing-ready so we don't have to scramble to clean when the time comes. Guess what The Guy called me about today. Just guess.
Yeah, showing tomorrow afternoon.
That, and to remind me a guy from a moving company was coming over today to take inventory on our stuff.
It was actually perfect timing. I got a bunch of stuff done that should have been done days ago. Picking up and organizing, *moistly. Took some donations to the local thrift store and picked up some long underwear for myself and some lengths of fabric to make curtains while I was at it.
(*"Mostly," that should read. My favorite typos in weeks.)
The peeling paint in our dining room is still not taken care of, and even though every single dish was clean yesterday afternoon, there's huge pile of dishes on the counter. I have no idea where they come from, since I use hardly any dishes during the day. Like rabbits, they are.
So, this evening and tomorrow morning, I'll be doing the more hefty chores.
I have only used a light twice today. The first time was while feeding the baby this morning. I should have fed her downstairs. I am a little bleary in the mornings.
The second time was to show the moving guy the baby's room. I'm content to stumble around in the dark, but I didn't think he'd appreciate it.
I'm wearing the same outfit I wore yesterday, and the toddler has gone with training pants for a good part of the day.
I figure I've saved us a dollar today. Didn't get around to lowering the thermostat, but I did close all the radiator covers upstairs (they're the kind that run along the wall, about 6" high, not the funky old-timey ones that look so neat; these look very... institutional, like a church basement). Now I just need to find some insulation that's safe for hot exposed pipes. We must bleed out a ton of heat in the yards (yes, yards; I don't know what these people were thinking) of exposed pipe.
What to do about the radiators that do have covers, and I still want to insulate? This is a conundrum. I think we could get away with covering all of the radiators upstairs. It'd be chillier up there, but it's bedrooms anyway, and that's what blankets and sleepers are for. We can use the space heater in the bathroom. The radiators don't get terribly hot, not even hot enough to cause mild pain. I wonder if it would be safe to simply cover them with towels or extra blankets? Don't worry; I won't try it without checking with someone first.
Time for me to get back to work. The baby is diligently tearing apart the living room again. Joy.
Yeah, showing tomorrow afternoon.
That, and to remind me a guy from a moving company was coming over today to take inventory on our stuff.
It was actually perfect timing. I got a bunch of stuff done that should have been done days ago. Picking up and organizing, *moistly. Took some donations to the local thrift store and picked up some long underwear for myself and some lengths of fabric to make curtains while I was at it.
(*"Mostly," that should read. My favorite typos in weeks.)
The peeling paint in our dining room is still not taken care of, and even though every single dish was clean yesterday afternoon, there's huge pile of dishes on the counter. I have no idea where they come from, since I use hardly any dishes during the day. Like rabbits, they are.
So, this evening and tomorrow morning, I'll be doing the more hefty chores.
I have only used a light twice today. The first time was while feeding the baby this morning. I should have fed her downstairs. I am a little bleary in the mornings.
The second time was to show the moving guy the baby's room. I'm content to stumble around in the dark, but I didn't think he'd appreciate it.
I'm wearing the same outfit I wore yesterday, and the toddler has gone with training pants for a good part of the day.
I figure I've saved us a dollar today. Didn't get around to lowering the thermostat, but I did close all the radiator covers upstairs (they're the kind that run along the wall, about 6" high, not the funky old-timey ones that look so neat; these look very... institutional, like a church basement). Now I just need to find some insulation that's safe for hot exposed pipes. We must bleed out a ton of heat in the yards (yes, yards; I don't know what these people were thinking) of exposed pipe.
What to do about the radiators that do have covers, and I still want to insulate? This is a conundrum. I think we could get away with covering all of the radiators upstairs. It'd be chillier up there, but it's bedrooms anyway, and that's what blankets and sleepers are for. We can use the space heater in the bathroom. The radiators don't get terribly hot, not even hot enough to cause mild pain. I wonder if it would be safe to simply cover them with towels or extra blankets? Don't worry; I won't try it without checking with someone first.
Time for me to get back to work. The baby is diligently tearing apart the living room again. Joy.
Can't Sleep
This whole frugal kick has me wired. I hope this isn't a sign that I'll soon burn out on this, too. This is the way I work.
My brilliant idea: Find 100 different ways to save an average of $.25/day. It's a bit ambitious, I know. But I already have a few ideas.
My brilliant idea: Find 100 different ways to save an average of $.25/day. It's a bit ambitious, I know. But I already have a few ideas.
- Stop using so many danged lights. I've unscrewed a few light bulbs in our upstairs bathroom already. Our vanity has seven bulbs. The blazing light is wonderful for applying makeup, not so wonderful for anything else. So I unscrewed all but two. It's a bit dingy in there, but I don't live in the bathroom, so I think I can deal.
Our dining room light fixture has five sixty-watt bulbs. Meals are like interrogations, especially since we have 7-foot ceilings. Maybe that's why the toddler is sometimes so unhappy at mealtimes. She thinks we're going to force the newest location of her Cheerio stash out of her (under the couch cushion is a favorite). If I unscrew two or three, it'll help. It will irritate my obsession with symmetry, but maybe after a while I'll cease to notice.
I've figured that if I turn on no light during the day and reduce the number of bulbs in use when we do need lights, we'll save about $.50/day. I get depressed without lights blazing all over the place, but maybe this will force us all outside on occasion. Couldn't hurt to try for a few days, right?
- Wear clothing for two or three days, unless it's soiled or smelly. Hanging it up at night instead of tossing it in a wad next to the bed should let it air out. I don't see many people during the day, so I don't much care, but I don't think The Guy wants to go to work smelling like a gym sock. $.26/day
- Put the toddler in training pants instead of diapers for at least two changes a day. $.35/day. Added bonus: may prod her in the direction of potty training.
- Insulate upstairs radiators and turn down thermostat. Our thermostat is upstairs, which is like a furnace through most of the fall, winter and spring, while our downstairs is more like a meat locker. I will invest in thermal underwear. Don't know what to do about my feet, which are somewhere between "ice" and "hand of a Dementor" when it's cold, but I'll figure something out. I avoid footwear as much as possible because I have the world's most screwed up feet, but maybe some extra wide, thick-soled slippers will do the trick. $.50/day.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
My vice: laziness
I am one of the most naturally lazy people I know.
Two surprise babies sixteen months apart (yes, we do know how that happens, thankyouverymuch) are slowly beating that out of me, but it's not something that's easy for me.
I'm starting this blog as a way to keep track of the things I'm doing around the house to save us money. I don't have a job, other than my SAHM duties, and not contributing to our finances is starting to get to me. My husband is enthusiastic about the importance of my role; he regularly thanks me for the things I do to run our home in an efficient manner. The problem isn't him or a lack of support; it's all in my own head.
I enjoy my life, but I've been feeling the burnout lately. We live in a small town in Wisconsin. Good shopping is limited. We have a Wal-mart and a Pick 'n' Save, and those are our best options. Learning to live the tightwad lifestyle is a lot tougher when you're also taking care of two little balls of neediness and self-destructive impulse. Two years without a break from kids is taking its toll. I so very much wish I'd practiced a wiser way of living before they were born, but now I have to make do with the way life is.
When it was just me and The Guy, we could get by on cheap food, small extravagances, and carefree living. We were poor, but we didn't care. Everyone our age was poor. We unwisely chose to live without saving money. And then... BAM. We were expecting a baby and realized we had no savings for such a huge life commitment. Ever since, I've been scrambling to learn a more efficient way to live, slowly relearning my old ways of thinking.
I get a thrill every time I think of a new way to save money. As a way to motivate myself, I'm going to keep track of such things here. Let's hope this blog doesn't fizzle before it even starts. Here's what we're doing so far:
The Oil Cleansing Method for my face instead of expensive skin care that only aggravates my obnoxiously sensitive skin. My skin has never been clearer. I love it!
Vinegar in the rinse cycle and dryer balls in the dryer instead of fabric softener. Added bonus: my skin appreciates the clean, clean clothes free of extra gunk. We also use Charlie's Soap, which is slightly more expensive, but so very worth it.
I make the baby food instead of buying it in jars.
I make almost all of our food from scratch. We rarely go out to eat, however tempting it is sometimes after a day riddled with bad naps and more tantrums than usual.
We only drink milk and water. The Guy likes juice, but we don't buy it often.
I scour the weekly fliers for good deals and try to match them with coupons. At Pick 'n' Save, I do double coupon days. This has fallen by the wayside in the last month or so, however. We're getting ready to move halfway across the country, and fixing up the house has taken over almost all of my extra time and energy. That, and the baby is newly mobile and getting into EVERYTHING.
We bought a small chest freezer for a pittance a few months back. I've been stocking up on meat when it's on special and freezing half of large batches of freezable foods.
I've recently joined the Simple Living forum. I'm already picking up ideas for future use there. Most of them I can't apply now, but I'd like to start planning for it anyhow.
In order to get my brain started on the right track, I want to start doing one thing thing every day that saves money. Like going a full day without turning on any lights (maybe I'll do that tomorrow). In our current house, this is very possible; our entire downstairs is full of light, even on cloudy days. It won't so much be about the money I save by doing such tiny things as it is about molding my mind into a different way of thinking. I get such a rush out of the idea of saving extra money, but when it comes to actually doing it, I like my things and my comfort more than I really should.
Ideas in the works:
Use a cloth diaper on the toddler once or twice a day. This won't save a ton of money, but it will help the boxes of diapers stretch just a little bit longer. One day, I'd like to convert completely to cloth diapers, but that will have to wait until after the move, and possibly after the toddler is potty trained.
Get rid of one car. If we move close enough to The Guy's work, we can do this. We'll save about $200/month in gas, about $60/month in insurance, not to mention wear and tear on the vehicle.
Gardening. I'll have to figure out a way to do this with out extreme arachnophobia problems. But I do so love tomatoes, and supermarket tomatoes taste like cardboard. They're also overpriced.
Canning. This will have to wait a while. The equipment is expensive, and I can't imagine that learning how to do it and getting it done will be very easy with two little ones underfoot. I'm aiming for next summer/fall, but we'll see.
I love to write. And when I actually try, I'm pretty good at it. I'm trying to figure out my niche; that's the hard part. The market is flooded with funny mommybloggers (ugh; I hate that word). I'm lousy at fiction. I'm lousy at deadlines, and the surest way to turn off the funny is to put me under pressure. I need to figure out a way around that.
I don't really care how little money I make. Just a few dollars a week would make me feel better about life.
So, dear readers who don't yet exist, do you have any ideas? Are there good books out there that deal with this subject? Do you have little tricks you employ to save pennies here and there? What's your favorite way to make every dollar scream?
Two surprise babies sixteen months apart (yes, we do know how that happens, thankyouverymuch) are slowly beating that out of me, but it's not something that's easy for me.
I'm starting this blog as a way to keep track of the things I'm doing around the house to save us money. I don't have a job, other than my SAHM duties, and not contributing to our finances is starting to get to me. My husband is enthusiastic about the importance of my role; he regularly thanks me for the things I do to run our home in an efficient manner. The problem isn't him or a lack of support; it's all in my own head.
I enjoy my life, but I've been feeling the burnout lately. We live in a small town in Wisconsin. Good shopping is limited. We have a Wal-mart and a Pick 'n' Save, and those are our best options. Learning to live the tightwad lifestyle is a lot tougher when you're also taking care of two little balls of neediness and self-destructive impulse. Two years without a break from kids is taking its toll. I so very much wish I'd practiced a wiser way of living before they were born, but now I have to make do with the way life is.
When it was just me and The Guy, we could get by on cheap food, small extravagances, and carefree living. We were poor, but we didn't care. Everyone our age was poor. We unwisely chose to live without saving money. And then... BAM. We were expecting a baby and realized we had no savings for such a huge life commitment. Ever since, I've been scrambling to learn a more efficient way to live, slowly relearning my old ways of thinking.
I get a thrill every time I think of a new way to save money. As a way to motivate myself, I'm going to keep track of such things here. Let's hope this blog doesn't fizzle before it even starts. Here's what we're doing so far:
The Oil Cleansing Method for my face instead of expensive skin care that only aggravates my obnoxiously sensitive skin. My skin has never been clearer. I love it!
Vinegar in the rinse cycle and dryer balls in the dryer instead of fabric softener. Added bonus: my skin appreciates the clean, clean clothes free of extra gunk. We also use Charlie's Soap, which is slightly more expensive, but so very worth it.
I make the baby food instead of buying it in jars.
I make almost all of our food from scratch. We rarely go out to eat, however tempting it is sometimes after a day riddled with bad naps and more tantrums than usual.
We only drink milk and water. The Guy likes juice, but we don't buy it often.
I scour the weekly fliers for good deals and try to match them with coupons. At Pick 'n' Save, I do double coupon days. This has fallen by the wayside in the last month or so, however. We're getting ready to move halfway across the country, and fixing up the house has taken over almost all of my extra time and energy. That, and the baby is newly mobile and getting into EVERYTHING.
We bought a small chest freezer for a pittance a few months back. I've been stocking up on meat when it's on special and freezing half of large batches of freezable foods.
I've recently joined the Simple Living forum. I'm already picking up ideas for future use there. Most of them I can't apply now, but I'd like to start planning for it anyhow.
In order to get my brain started on the right track, I want to start doing one thing thing every day that saves money. Like going a full day without turning on any lights (maybe I'll do that tomorrow). In our current house, this is very possible; our entire downstairs is full of light, even on cloudy days. It won't so much be about the money I save by doing such tiny things as it is about molding my mind into a different way of thinking. I get such a rush out of the idea of saving extra money, but when it comes to actually doing it, I like my things and my comfort more than I really should.
Ideas in the works:
Use a cloth diaper on the toddler once or twice a day. This won't save a ton of money, but it will help the boxes of diapers stretch just a little bit longer. One day, I'd like to convert completely to cloth diapers, but that will have to wait until after the move, and possibly after the toddler is potty trained.
Get rid of one car. If we move close enough to The Guy's work, we can do this. We'll save about $200/month in gas, about $60/month in insurance, not to mention wear and tear on the vehicle.
Gardening. I'll have to figure out a way to do this with out extreme arachnophobia problems. But I do so love tomatoes, and supermarket tomatoes taste like cardboard. They're also overpriced.
Canning. This will have to wait a while. The equipment is expensive, and I can't imagine that learning how to do it and getting it done will be very easy with two little ones underfoot. I'm aiming for next summer/fall, but we'll see.
I love to write. And when I actually try, I'm pretty good at it. I'm trying to figure out my niche; that's the hard part. The market is flooded with funny mommybloggers (ugh; I hate that word). I'm lousy at fiction. I'm lousy at deadlines, and the surest way to turn off the funny is to put me under pressure. I need to figure out a way around that.
I don't really care how little money I make. Just a few dollars a week would make me feel better about life.
So, dear readers who don't yet exist, do you have any ideas? Are there good books out there that deal with this subject? Do you have little tricks you employ to save pennies here and there? What's your favorite way to make every dollar scream?
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