End of Month Update- May 2010

Pretty much flubbed all goals this month.

What *did* get done-

• Paid rent (mostly)
• Bought gas for car
• Talked to CC companies (wasn't on list, happened anyway)
• Bought Domain/ Hosting ($42/yr) for to build useful website on.

What didn't get done-

• Everything else

Srsly. I turned in applications, had an interview, tried the motivated thing. No job, no writing done, I didn't even level my WoW character.

At this point, to say anything other than "Holy Carp I'm depressed" would pretty obviously be a big stinky lie. It has a lot to do with how I sell myself (or not) during interviews, cover letters, and on applications. After all, if I think I'm useless, I'll have a hell of a time convincing someone that I'd be a good addition to their company.

It also stops me from doing other stuff that needs to get done. I have a domain and hosting for a website, but nothing to put on there. My room looks like a soda bottle recycling plant, a library, and a tall chicks clothing store puked all over it. Oh, and I'm about 6 months behind on filing paperwork in my little folder of "wow, I has a big pile of debt". Heck, I have photos all ready to go for a couple different projects, and I've done nothing with them- it's too much effort to plug the camera into the computer and move the files.

Only good point to the no-motivation thing? I've no motivation to do *anything* requiring effort- so no physical self harm, just a whole lot of telling myself I suck. I knew the whole "super lazy" thing would come in handy some day.

So, yeah... May was pretty much a total wash. I owe dad closer to $2500 now, too.

One positive- I didn't hit my goal (because I really didn't try), but I did make about $15 this month from adsense. That's better than nothing, right?

Taking A Day Off

I'll be back Monday with how I did on my goals for the month (I'll give you a hint- it isn't pretty), but for today, I'm just going to not think about money. I'm also not going to spend money.

And unless it's family or a potential employer calling, I'm not answering the phone or leaving the house, either.

Ok, that's a slight lie- I need to go turn in an application down the street.

But mainly, I need a day off thinking about money, and I have a bunch of stuff to write so I'm doing that instead.

See ya Monday.

Building Something from Nothing- part 4

I got my first ever payout from the magical Big G today. $116 and some change.

And thanks to a super nice father (to whom I now owe both kidneys) it can all go toward interwebby- costs.

Unfortunately, I have *nothing* written. Less than nothing, even. So now I have to write.

After all, I can't get cool, interesting information out there for people if I haven't written it. Without information, there are no visitors, and without visitors there's no money. So for the rest of today (after I go do another round of applications so I can pay *real* bills) I'll be picking up (real, on paper) information, calling places, and taking photos. I'm going to walk around, see what I see, and try to figure out a couple different walking routes, or "things to do and see" for different lengths of stay.

Oh, I'm doing a travel site- did I mention that?

Anyway, I'll collect information, take photos and try out ideas for most of the rest of the day, then tonight I'll write, do some photo editing, and hopefully have enough to get a (very rough) site up by tomorrow. I can then flesh it out over the next month or two.

But by the end of the week I want at least 30 articles/ pages- enough that if someone actually stumbles into the site they have something worth reading. Visitors first, then money. That's what everyone seems to say, anyway.

So how am I planning to get these visitors? Well, first I need to have the information up there, obviously. Then I am going to do a little (or a lot) of article marketing- where you write articles with keywords related to the ones on your site and put them in article databases and various other sites with a link back to your own, main site- places like hubpages. I intend to use some "free" adwords money Google sent me- once I have enough information to make it worthwhile- it'll cost $5 to get that actually running though, and I'm not sure they'll let me do a campaign for just the $100 I'll have. But I can try.

I need to send out some kinda press release- which I also need to write- so that people in the community know about it. This one's going to have to wait a little while. I could probably get something in at the local free press, but I don't want to point people at a shell- that just feels dirty to me.

Which brings me back to writing. I think everything comes back to writing. Once I have enough written, I can do all of this. Money is not (right now) what's holding me back. What's holding me back now is me.

Oh, and if anyone is wondering why I'm using this money to build something rather than to pay bills (as I'm sure my creditors would ask if I told them)- this is such a tiny amount of money that it makes no real difference in my bills. It would just get absorbed, and I'd be back where I am now, only worse. So I'm building something with it.

Most of what I'm buying with this money lasts at least a year- domain name registry, web hosting, photo hosting (maybe). Some of it's mine once I buy it- though I might have to buy upgrades later- like ad management software. I'm not buying a WordPress theme (tho the site(s) will be built on WordPress), I'm not paying someone to design a spiffy site for me, and I'm not buying beer with it. It's more durable than food or gas, and should be better in the long run then throwing it after debt right now. Even if I only ever make back the money I spent (which seems unlikely, if I really work at it), I'll have more than if I just use the money for bills now.

And isn't more for less the whole idea?

Going to be late

Today's post is going to be a bit late- probably have it up around 1pm Eastern US time. I have some sleeping and some thinking to do.

The Idea of Nothing

I just had to turn down the chance to make $20. If my sister doesn't take it, I'm not sure what my dad's going to do, but it was an interesting conversation. It went something like this

Him: Want to make a quick 20 bucks running me around so I don't have to call a taxi?

Me: (silence)

H: Unless you have an interview, or something

M: No, just trying to figure out if I have enough gas to get over there.

H: Don't you have some cash lying around?

M: No...

H: What about your Credit Cards? You must have some money on one of them.

M: No, nothing available on my credit cards. I put a gallon in last week, and I'm trying to remember how far I've driven. I *might* have enough, but I don't want to get most of the way over there and run out.

H:No, that would be bad. You're sure you don't have any money? I guess I can call your sister and ask her then.

Gee, thanks. And to make it even better, about a minute after I get off the phone with him, I have my weekly chat with my buddies from Amex. They want to know if I can pay them my whole past due amount, since I've been with them ten or more eyars now with payments "like clockwork" and all. They'll even offer me this great hardship rate (which they may or may not be required to do by law), but I have to come up with a couple hundred dollars. Is there anyone I can borrow it from?

Um, hello? If I had anyone willing to lend me a couple hundred dollars I'd finish paying May's rent, put gas in my tank, and get $5 worth of fresh veggies. We still had the chat for a couple or 20 minutes. Fun fun.

Wonder what Visa thinks? I should probably take a call from them. You know, before they firebomb my rat trap car.

I really hope the G. money comes in soon. I'll use $20 for gas, soda, and veggies, instead of saving it for some un-named other online expense.

I still don't think my father quite understands what I mean when I say I have no money at all, though. I suspect he thinks i'm ducking driving him around. which is funny, because if I had enough gas to get the 26 or so miles to his place, I'd be on my way there, rather than writing this post.

Fork.

Oh, and speaking of this post, sorry it's late- I over slept, then had some drama.

Don't Leave Money Unattended

When I moved back from NZ I waited to close out my bank account there. I was waiting for some money to come back (and by some I mean around $1000), and couldn't close it out until then. So I set up with the nice teller to close it when the deposits came in.

Which of course, I then forgot about. This was 2007.

A couple of days ago I found my bank card from NZ and wondered- had that money ever actually transfered? Had it been lost? Was it (long shot) maybe still waiting for me over there?

No, Yes, No.

In NZ, it seems, after a set period of time without any use, they can close out the account, publish something in the paper, and I guess claim the cash. While there might be a way to get it back, I doubt it.

The thing is- This is not a NZ only thing. I'm sure that at least one of my accounts over here does the exact same thing. In fact, one account I don't think *does* do this might have been closed down because I never updated my address. Why did I never update my address? They required that I either come in person, or mail them a physical letter. Since the bank is in NY and I am not, that never happened.

That one I probably *could* fix with just a phone call or two, actually....

The point here? Forgetting to follow up with banks, even when it's pretty uncomfortable, or takes a bit of effort, can be seriously expensive.

Fairies Live in My Gas Tank

Well, maybe not really, but sometimes I wonder.

After spending my food money on soda, and my gas (and gas money) on a few social activities that only cost gas, I am out of money. My tank as close to empty (though how close I'm not sure, since I know neither how accurate my gas gauge is, nor an accurate MPG for my car). I do know that it was well under the 1/4 mark when I parked it in the (very) early hours of Monday morning, and that it is/ was above 1/4 again when I took it out Tuesday, with some intermediate inching Monday afternoon. This is a car I've been putting around 2 gallons in, then driving 60 or 70 miles.

I'm pretty sure mid-90's Ford Escorts don't get 35 MPG. I'm *really* sure ones that leak gas (sometimes) don't. I also doubt that random strangers are wandering my neighborhood at night, secretly giving people gas (though how cool would that be?).

So the only possible explanation is that fairies live in my gas tank, and my car runs on fairy dust. Got to be. After all, driving 70 miles, repeatedly, on less than 2 gallons of gas, then putting one gallon in, and having the gauge show almost half a tank again... If not fairies, then how?

Of course, it's also totally plausible that my gas gauge is seriously forked and I'll run out of gas while I'm out somewhere, merrily thinking I've got at least 10 miles left. Cars are sneaky that way.