Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Cuttin' Back

I've sold my Vera Wang wedding dress to fund my bar exam passage quest. How sad is that? Husband didn't want me to, but that's because he doesn't know how much the dress originally cost. When I bought it, I knew I would have to sell it to justify the cost, so it wasn't that terrible...I thought of it as an investment! I think of anything with a substantial resale value as an investment. Husband thinks my logic is twisted, because he says an investment is something you sell for more than you pay for it. Whatever. How often does that happen?

So anyway, we're all having to resort to fancy bookkeeping to take this test aren't we? I kind of think it's funny. Piles and piles of student loan debt, an expensive apartment, and selling of Vera Wang gowns...it's a chick lit book in the making.

SIGH.

Other ways to save money:
1. I don't drink coffee. Yes, you read that right. No daily addiction to Starbucks to gouge a hole in my bank account.

2. I use my Discover card rewards points to get a Border's gift card and use it to buy my tea and other treats as I study. For $20 rewards, you get a $25 Borders card! It's an investment.

3. There's no where to eat near work. So I have to pack my lunch. Although I have to buy food from the grocery store to do so, it's definitely cheaper than buying lunch every day, which my lazy ass would totally do if I could.

4. I eat at my grandma's and other relatives' houses. In the evenings, I meander over to people's houses for food. It's yummy. I also enjoy graduations this time of year. I usually get a great dinner out of it. Of course, I have to buy a gift and it usually cancels itself out, so that may not count.

5. Not going out has it's definite perks. Alcohol at bars are expensive!

6. Not buying new clothes because I'm not going out. All the stuff from before doesn't count. Starting today.

7. Selling books/sunglasses/shoes/bags/husband's things on ebay. Not so much these days, but whenever possible.

8. Downgrading the tv options...no more TiVo for now...BOOO...but with the summer hiatus, there's not much for me to watch, so that's good!

Overall, there are many ways to Cut Back since we're currently unable to Make More Money. And if I could PLEASE get my state tax refund (yet another grievance against the state of CA), that would be wonderfully helpful.

8 comments:

Blonde Blogger said...

OMG. Tragic...I really almost cried reading this post. Vera Wang...sigh....must have been totally gorgeous. I applaud your fortitude in following your dreams. I would have slept with that dress under my pillow every night!!

Anonymous said...

Wow, you sound exactly like me. I too consider large purchases for their resale value. I too don't drink coffee either at all. I hate the taste and smell and everything about coffee. I just try to get enough sleep every night so I don't have to resort to caffeine!

That is so sad you had to sell your Vera Wang wedding dress though. However if we needed to, I probably would have the same thing. I don't have a wedding dress because Sarge (my fiance at the time) suddenly got deployed to Iraq so we didn't have time to plan a proper wedding before he left, and ended up doing the courthouse thing with the intention to have a wedding later. However, laziness set in and we haven't really felt like putting ourselves through the stress and expense of wedding planning. We just went to a wedding last weekend, and it put a damper on any desire on my part to ever have a wedding. Maybe when we hit 5 years - we're almost halfway there anyway! :)

Anonymous said...

Oh, I also meant to add that I also use the reward points on my debit cards which I charge as credit. I also pack my lunch for work. There are a ton of tempting places to eat near my workplace, so I limit myself to buying something once or twice a week. We're about to do the eBay thing since we're moving a few thousand miles away soon. I'm not giving up my TiVo though!!! Another way I save money is by scouring the internet for discount code whenever I'm about to buy something online from Target or Amazon or Kohls.com or the like. There's almost always a discount code or two floating out there.

Blonde Blogger said...

Ok, you guys are totally crazy with the coffee thing......I mainline it till noon when I switch over to it's cool cousin, Diet Coke.

I have never even considered the resale thing....hhhmmmmmm, now I can buy more expensive stuff!!

Blonde Blogger said...

Oh..and OMG!! Since you may be at Borders today, RUN IMMEDIATELY AND GET JEN LANCASTER'S NEW BOOK, "BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG ASS!" It is paperback, so should only about $12 or $13 bucks or so.....You will die, it is so hysterically funny. It made me want to be her friend....

I LOVED the Shopaholics books and basically, I will read anything that looks remotely chick-like and funny. If it has to do with the law or anything serious, forget it. I used to read Jodi Picoult and Joyce Carol Oates until rape and child molestation and the murder of innocent women in their homes got to be, well, a bit depressing. Like most of the books on Oprah's list....literary brilliance, but enough to make you eat an arsenic sandwich for lunch!

Emily Giffin's series is great too..."Baby Proof" "Something Borrowed" and "Something Blue."

I also like Augusten Burrough's "Dry." He wrote "Running with Scissors" as well but I thought "Dry" was better..he says things like, "that guy was so hot...I wanted to pay his rent for a year." Who says random things like that??? Love it!!

We should all start a group book review blog along the lines of http://www.mamapop.com/. We would SO rock!

Blonde Blogger said...

One last note.....Emily Giffin is also a former lawyer...gave up her legal career to write.....hhhmmmmmm

Blawgin' said...

Okay, I don't know if you guys like romance novels (I have an unfortunate addiction to them) but you have to read Judith McNaught. She is my absolute FAVORITE! Start with Whitney, My Love. I swear, it's not cheesy Harlequin type stuff!!

We should totally start a book blog. There's so much chick lit out there, it's hard to tell which ones are the good ones! After years of law school, I like mind numbing fun books now too.

I love the quote from Dry, though I've never met a man so hot I wanted to pay his rent... =)

calbar blondie said...

Echoing FBE, you sound just like me, too! And you have impeccable taste in fashion, I might add. We will have to have tea after one of the bar exam days when you are in San Diego. I'm resorting to herbal tea these days because the coffee just makes me even more nervous. You have to admit, frappucinos are not kind to the waistline either...
Loved your post, and I think you want your bar card as badly as I do to get this creative about the
process!