Owner: This Writer's Wallet URL:http://www.thiswriterswallet.com Join Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2008 12:42:58 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: I’m Grad Girl, often known as GG, a 20-something Chicagoan with a recent graduate degree in a writing-based field. At my blog, I chart my saving, spending and learning journey for you. Site statistics:Click here
Money Hacks Carnival #11 2008-05-07 08:14:15 I recently joined a newer PF community, Money
Hacks, and their eleventh carnival is up at Save and Conquer.
My post, The Way to Wealth: Rudeness?, is included.
Among my favorites:
8 Ways That I Can Save Money (I’m a sucker for a good list) and Are You Ready to Buy a New House (probably no for me, [...] Read more:Carnival
Spending Time Like Dollar Bills 2008-05-08 18:27:32 I have so much to do tonight and not enough time to do it, which reminds me, again, how much I value time. Maybe more than money.
I don’t know. What do you think?
On my agenda tonight:
1. Finish baby gifting
2. Bake the biscotti–long story, don’t ask
3. Vacuum! Clean!
4. Eat something (eek, I have to list this?)
5. [...] Read more:Spending
, Dollar
, Bills
On the Thing That Has Nothing to Do with Money 2008-05-11 16:45:14 My best friend and her family drove down Friday. Their son, 18 months old, threw up after they’d left their house–all over his seat, the car, himself. So they turned back, cleaned him, cleaned the car, cleaned the seat, repacked, restarted. Five-and-a-half long hours plus one. The directions, which I’d e-mailed her in a hurry, [...] Read more:Money
, Thing
, Nothing
4 adults, 3 cameras, 1 gorgeous kid = great weekend 2008-05-10 21:48:10 My friends just left a little while ago, after a very fast, very fun day-and-a-half together. Here’s how I did, money-wise:
Friday night dinner, Lou Malnati’s: $20
Saturday cupcakes for everybody: $13.23
Lincoln Park Conservatory: FREE
Lincoln Park Zoo: FREE
Dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, me and my brother: $42.00
Total cost: $75.23
And it really was priceless. Every time [...] Read more:gorgeous
PF Round-up for The Office Fans 2008-05-13 20:47:05 I am a huge fan of NBC’s The Office. Huge.
I’m also a 20-something professional who’s trying to manage my finances.
Put those things together, and you get the following round-up: PF for The Office fans:
7 Career Lessons from NBC’s The Office
CLIP: “You can do what you love. When Pam turned down a graphic design internship, viewers [...]
New Blog: Forest on Finance 2008-05-13 20:32:24 I’ve recently added a new blog to my reader, Forest
on Finance. Author Forest is a 20-something guy who, like a lot of the rest of us, is navigating his way through financial decisions, from saving and investing to spending and budgeting.
I’m already a fan of his site, and I bet you will be, too. [...]
I Was the Guest Speaker. 2008-05-12 20:31:40 Today, at a college class at my alma mater, I was the designated guest speaker. This is, I’m quite sure, one of the weirdest things I have gotten to do, to date. Just a year ago, I was sitting in a grad class, listening to guest speakers. Now I was the one doing the talking? [...] Read more:Guest
, Speaker
I signed up with PayPerPost! 2008-05-17 12:24:46 Inspired by Krystal, I have signed up with payperpost, a company that links bloggers with sponsors. From what I understand, there are offers based on Google PR and RealRank, and I can accept published, applicable opportunities. Then I write a post and get paid, via PayPal.
So I’m going to try it, just once in [...] Read more:PayPerPost
How Do Writers Make Money? (and other questions I’ve been asked) 2008-05-16 22:45:14 At my day job, I talked with a client recently who, in the course of casual conversation, asked me if I do other writing, on the side, she said. This was an interesting question, seeing as she was asking me this on my company phone, while I sat at my company desk, working on my [...] Read more:Money
, Writers
, questions
5 Things to Be Happy about Right Now 2008-05-16 08:37:32 1. Fabulous food blogs like Orangette
2. Beautiful photography like at 3191, a very, very cool site with daily photos from two different places
3. Long daylight hours
4. Things that make me laugh like cookie Popsicles
5. Thursday night TV–did you see The Office or LOST? Read more:Right
, Happy
On Lunches 2008-05-15 20:40:36 OK. So I had a good, long run of always making my lunches and brown-bagging my way through the first several months at my job. Then something happened–something for which I blame the complete change in my habit: Takeout-Taxi.
One day, we thought we’d try it, based on the coupons we kept getting. And we liked [...]
To the 508 Number Calling my Phone: 2008-05-19 19:45:43 Let me save you the time and trouble of calling my cell phone yet again. No, I do not want a better interest rate on my credit card—the credit card you don’t know the name of. No, I’m not going to call by the deadline you’ve given me. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.
If you [...] Read more:Number
, Calling
Giving Words 2008-05-19 08:45:14 I was given two thank-you notes this past week, one personal and one professional. The personal one was handwritten by my best friend, after her family visited, and the other, by the professor who invited me to speak in his class. Totally different people, totally different relationships with me, but one thing in common: kind [...] Read more:Giving
, Words
On Fixing my Car and, Loving my Dad 2008-05-20 22:19:00 Tonight, while driving home from work, my windows down and my radio playing, I realized my car was putting out a strong burning smell: the kind an older car has when its converters or mechanisms aren’t up to the latest environmentally friendly standards. Scorching chemicals, that’s what it smelled like, assaulting the air around me.
Thing [...] Read more:Loving
Freelancing 101 or, How to Tick off Your Editor 2008-05-20 08:07:17 GET YOUR WORK IN ON TIME.
Simple enough. So why did my new writer, when I called her 12 minutes after her assignment deadline had passed, tell me “It’s almost done”? Why, after my e-mailing her, calling her, repeating over and over again 5 PM, 5 PM, 5 PM, It has to be in by [...] Read more:Editor
New Grad: 5 Things I Wish I’d Known 2008-05-22 21:01:17 I finished grad school just a year ago, so I remember really well what it was like to search for The Job that would correspond with your major. I also remember that it was a little scary.
So Grads, this is for you. Here are five things I wish I’d known then that I know now. [...]
$4.19 2008-05-21 21:06:38 More than the cost of a medium-sized cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee.
More than four candy bars from the vending machine at work.
More than a round-trip ride on Chicago’s El.
More than a milkshake.
More than a bottle of nail polish or a new chapstick.
= The cost, right now and climbing, of ONE gallon of gasoline in my [...]
2008 Goals 2008-05-24 12:25:45 Of course, posting one’s goals for 2008 in late May isn’t exactly ideal. But it isn’t as if I’ve just now decided upon them; they’ve been in my mind, as well as tracked on my sidebar, clearly set for the most part for the better part of five months.
Only now, I’m laying them out in [...] Read more:Goals
Article Tip 2008-05-23 21:43:48 I just read a fantastic post at Forest on Finance, “Should I Be in Sweden or, Thoughts on Travel.” Here’s a clip, and you can go here to read the rest.
“All that to say, as savers, aren’t we a bit of risk-takers? Are we denying some instant gratification now to hopefully be gratified in the [...] Read more:Article
New Site: PF Buzz 2008-05-25 08:42:09 Go see what the buzz is about at PF Buzz (wow, lame, I know. just couldn’t resist!) It’s a new social media site intended to showcase the best personal-finance and money-related articles. Created by a PF blogger for PF bloggers, it seems like a great new place to find quality info.
I’ve submitted some of my [...] Read more:New Site
what’s on my mind today 2008-05-27 06:27:33 The nicest man I work with, the one who treats everyone with respect and fast became my all-around favorite 60-something, is having major surgery today. Major, major surgery. And I know he’s scared.
I hadn’t seen him around lately, and I thought his performance had been down and maybe he’d been let go. Apparently I was [...]
Carnival of Work-Life Balance 2008-05-26 21:24:42 I was honored to have my post, I’ve Chosen a New Work Motto: You Can Only Do So Much be included in the editor’s picks for the third carnival of work-life balance, hosted by Are We Balance
d Yet?
Go over and take a look at the long list of entries! Read more:Carnival
14th Money Hacks Carnival 2008-05-28 18:24:36 The 14th edition of the Money
Hacks Carnival
is up, with a golf theme. My post, New Grad: 5 Things I Wish I’d Known, is included in the career section. Go take a look!
Claiming Authority at Work 2008-05-28 08:37:25 A few weeks ago, my blogging friend Full-Grown Single responded to some questions I had about, essentially, how to be a manager:
She writes, “You have a different set of stuff to work through: how to claim your own authority, maybe, and then, how to get other people to want to do what you want.”
She was [...] Read more:Authority
Dear VW 2008-05-29 08:50:02 I have been your loyal customer for the better part of ten years, and I’m writing to tell you why that’s changed.
For a long time, I’ve been satisfied with my Jetta because of its great mileage and quality construction. Even though diesel prices have skyrocketed over the life of my car ownership (presently $4.99 in [...]
How a Saver Spends Vacation/Personal Days 2008-05-30 08:29:59 It’s hard to believe, but my one-year anniversary at work is coming up, and with it, faster accruing vacation times and two new personal days.
The way it works is this: After your three-month probation, you get paid holidays and two personal days, as well as accruing vacation hours up to one week (40 hours). After [...] Read more:Vacation
, Personal
Have You Heard about the Lifelock Lawsuit? 2008-05-31 14:46:08 I’ve been borrowing a car with satellite radio for the past few days, while we wait for my VW to act up again. The good news about this is that I can listen to my choice of radio stations (and now covet a satellite radio, but that’s another story).
Almost daily, whether it’s when I’m listening [...] Read more:Heard
, Lawsuit
Ammendum to 2008 Goals: Alternative Income 2008-05-31 08:33:00 Thanks to PF Buzz, I came across an excellent article at www.bripblap.com: How to Make Money without a Job and Why You Should.
He starts off with “Spend less than you earn is the wrong way to think! Your time will be much better spent thinking of more ways to make money than it will be [...] Read more:Goals
, Alternative
, Income
My Weekend Wallet 2008-06-02 07:13:34 I’ll start with a confession: I almost never have cash on me, unless someone has paid me back for something. Even then, just give me a few days and I’ll spend it on something, probably food. My former co-worker tells me this is terrible, that everyone should carry cash, everyday. I know, I know, I [...] Read more:Weekend
Sometimes I Really Feel Like a Girl 2008-06-04 20:26:45 I am learning that, at least when it comes to my car, I am all emotion.
A few hours ago, sitting outside a random Culver’s, watching my VW Jetta from a safe 50 feet away, it was all I could do to not start crying in public. While I had been driving home in insanely bad [...] Read more:Sometimes
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