This past Christmas my father received a 50 dollar gift card to amazon. He had no intention of using it so he said i could have it. I had initially planned on using it to buy a humidifier for my bed room, however i found one in the attic and decided i did not need a new one. That being said i was looking for the gift certificate today, since there is a certain size crochet hook i needed. I was planing on purchasing this crochet hook, which costs about 3 dollars, a book as a present for a friend and spending the remaining 30 dollars on something that i wanted for myself, whatever that may be.
There was one slight snafu, i was unable to find the gift certificate. It is not that i misplaced it, since i know exactly where i last put it. But living in a house with three other people things have a tendency to magically migrate to another location (read: be moved somewhere by someone). This has for quite some time irked me but i learned to deal with it and keep anything of importance in my room (even un-important things i keep there for fear of losing them). My mom decided to help me look for the gift certificate, since it had not been used by anyone who lives here, and she was also most likely the person who moved it. However, her memory is less than idea, a combination of aging and what she has referred to as “chemo brain” so she was not able to remember where she moved it to, nor find it.
She did offer to let me make the purchases on her credit card, so long as they were under the 50 dollar mark. Well when i went on amazon to see what i was going to purchase i found that there was no “extras” that i was interested in. This is a new feeling for me. I have always been able to find something i WANT, though not necessarily need, but i was not even able to find anything i wanted. I think i am at the point where i am starting to realize that stuff is not always what is important.
Also, just so you know, i ended up not purchasing the book or the crochet hook. I instead decided to look in the local bookstores for the book and craft stores for the crochet hook. This way i can alleviate the shipping costs, and my mom wont have to put a purchase on her credit card. While i am grateful that my mom ofered me her card, i know it is really my fault for not putting the gift card in my room and would not feel right taking money from her (she already gives me an allowance as it is).
This is a politically fueled post, if you do not wish to hear my views on politics please skip this post.
For quite some time i have noticed that the media, and America in general perceives being a socialist as a negative. I for a large amount of time ignored this, however since i firmly believe that i am a socialist i was eventually annoyed by these statements. I found that many of the media portray a socialist as someone who wants a huge government, ruling with there iron fist. Maybe they perceive it to be much closer to communism than it truly is. I think socialism is more in line with wanting the greatest good for the greatest number of people.
I have in many ways returned to written news (mostly form the Associated press) as my main source of information. I have grown tired of news casters who are not familiar with the topics they are discussion making broad generalizations. In many ways the demonizing of my views has lead me to this end. I should not have to listen to someone stereotype my beliefs, weather political or in some other facet of life. This may have detrimental effects of me not being immediately up to date on the latest news developments. That being said one major benefit i can see is that i will be able to draw my own conclusions about the news, rather than just latching onto some main stream ideas that are being sold by the major networks.
I appologize for this post, i was just growing increasingly frustrated with the way i almost felt assaulted by the news media. Also, on a completely diffrent note, this is my 100th post! It has taken me a long while to get here, but it feels like a huge accomplishment. I hope to get many hundread posts more during the lifetime of this blog.
This past weekend i went out to celebrate my friends birthday. While i had a wonderful time i did not want to spend a lot on her gift since i, as you know, have no income. i decided instead to make her a hat. I made a simple cloche style hat based off the pattern here. I am really proud of myself for finishing the project, and hope to make other crochet projects.
This ended up costing me nothing, i used yarn that we had around the house, but had no use for. I also already owned the crochet hook and the pattern was free. I am planing on stopping at the book store to pick up a book for my friend. She is a fashion major and while she is on break, she will be returning to school next spring. I was thinking the book More Fabric Savvy which i have had in my possession for quite some time. It has helped me a lot with the sewing projects i have taken on and think it would be good for someone who is working with fabrics on a daily basis.
Have you recently made any home made gifts? Would you consider doing so to save money?
I am proud to say that this month I have made a large payment towards my debt. A totally of 750 USD paid this month. That brings my debt down form 3,555.00 to 2,805.00
While my debt is still higher than i like (actually any debt is more debt that i would like) i am making great progress. In addition i am planning to make another large payment of at least 500 dollars next month. This is why i love my left over christmas and birthday money!
Also a little update, i am going to eventually add some of those awesome sidebars that count what percentage of the debt has been paid off. I will do my best to figure out how to do so and get the amounts up as soon as possible.
