snow falling in tahoe

welcome to the December 29, 2008 edition of do it yourself jubilee!

it’s been a chilly winter season for us here in the sf bay area of california.  and that’s only at the lowest maybe 30 degrees fahrenheit!  i know that others experience cold much lower than that elsewhere, so i won’t even start with the complaining here.  onwards!

what is the DIY jubilee ?!

especially during these times of recession, many of us are finding ways to cut back on our expenses. this might include taking action ourselves for tasks that we normally might have done by someone else, or creating something with our own hands (or machines, etc.) rather than buying it from someone else.

how have you been DIY-ing?

the idea is that the project or task was done with the primary motivation being to save money.  my hope is that the editions will be accessible and appealing to money-conscious readers first.  enjoying the DIY task (while allowed of course!) is secondary.

there were a number of submissions that fell in the ‘financial matters’ related category.  admittedly, i am still working on determining if these would truly fit with the DIY goals i had envisioned for this carnival’s accepted posts.  they are a bit different from the other categories.  on the other hand, there would be no doubt that stories such as ‘how to sell your house yourself without a real estate agency’ or ‘how to count a million unrolled coins for cheap quickly’ qualify to be included in an edition.  for now, i have included the submissions below.  this approach may change in future issues.

check out these accepted submissions from november covering areas of home improvement, food, and more !

please visit the writers’ sites and offer feedback and support.  and while you’re at it, why not promote this carnival by sharing this edition on the web, with friends, and family?

home improvement

• JCL flips houses, makes profit doing most of his own work in Rehab Your Own Houses or Write a Check? posted at The Real Estate Investing Journey, saying, “For people who invest in real estate and love to DIY, a fresh perspective on how to avoid burnout.”
• Mike Sowden presents ecosalon :: the green gathering :: 12 Fun DIY Projects for the Chic Green Geek posted at Ecosalon, saying, “From the oldest paint in the world to the newest (it’s alive!), from lining radiators to turfind roofs, there are plenty of DIY improvements around the homethat make a good green difference. Here are a few!” here are some alternative reuse uses of every day items from milk to pillow cases.
• Don recommends 5 things to consider in Choosing Replacement Basement Windows posted at Replacement Basement Windows, saying, “Selecting and choosing the right replacement windows can save you money in the long run”.
• Margaret Garcia outlines a handful of things one can do to Spruce it Up – 25 DIY Tips to Improve your Home’s Exterior posted at Top Online Engineering Degree.

snow in truck refrigerating milk!

in the kitchen

• Heather Levin tells us how handy hydrogen peroxide can be as a cleaner in Green Cleaning: How To Use Hydrogen Peroxide To Clean Your Home | The Greenest Dollar posted at The Greenest Dollar.
• vh suggests reusing those nylon mesh bags with a sponge to make a scrubber, in Two DIY mesh bag hacks posted at Funny about Money
• Buck Weber offers a recipe for making Friendship Soup Mix posted at THE BUCK LIST, saying, “A frugal gift idea!”

lasso power

it’s been awhile since i’ve done a DBN weekend (weekly) roundup.  it’s time for the first one of the year.

in a post two years ago in the spring 25 ways i save money part 3 of 5, lulugal at savemoney covers 5 items from her full list in more detail. although all 5 of her suggestions are sound, i was particularly drawn to the last one (or, #15), ‘cook for multiple days’.

i have the lack of desire to cook in common with lulugal. i too do no particularly enjoy cooking or working with food. i find eating a chore — the SO and i regularly joke, “man! why do we have to eat? sigh. can’t we just stick an IV into our arms at regular intervals and not have to think about it so hard?” although, i realize that this is a bit silly since: a) eating is a necessity to stay alive; b) there are people who have no food or not much at all who would appreciate food and be disgusted with my above comment; and c) dining can be tasty and fun.

similarly to lulugal, we also tend to over-prepare food so that we can have leftovers for days. the SO has a lower tolerance for eating the same thing repeatedly for too long though, so we do have to cook something different again a few days later. having saved food in tupperware makes it easy to pick out what there is available to eat, and also makes it more enticing to eat at home so that we are less compelled to dine out and spend/waste money on a whim.

this is a great tactic since dining out used to consume much of our disposable income. now we can have money last longer in our accounts, available for more urgent/important expenses such as credit card, house, utilities or other bills. and grocery shopping, of course.

at debtreductionformula, last spring ryan wrote about how bicycles were getting quite appealing due to the rising cost of gas at the time (then reaching $4 a gallon for drivers, as opposed to the current not quite $2 some places!). i’m not sure why, but i just can’t get into bicycle riding. i bought bikes twice in my adult life — one while 25(?) and another at 29(?) in order to commute via bicycle to and from work. during both times, i worked only about 2-3 miles away at home (different jobs).

both times the bicycling lasted about a month or two at most. after that, the bicycle, helmet, and lock all went into hibernation in the living room or in the basement. although somewhat invigorating during the weeks of riding, i just lost interest as quickly as the interest had arrived.

each times i went back to a combination of either riding buses and walking, or riding my motorcycle. although it does save a bit of money, i already don’t spend much as it is commuting with a motorcycle. also there is the time consideration — it took me 10 minutes with the motorbike versus the 30-40 minutes with the bicycle (slow rider). and during one of those times of the year, it became dark late, such that riding a bicycle through the ghetto streets i must ride at for portions of the commute is not the safest due to either the neighborhoods or the traffic.

riding a bicycle can work, but it really depends on each individual’s circumstances.

in her post how to cut back on discretionary spending, questtobedebtfree lists some great alternative resources such as borrowing movies from the library for free instead of renting. i wholeheartedly endorse this one. months ago, the SO and i borrowed a batman movie this way, and that was quite convenient. this works well of course, if you don’t mind that you might not get the movie you want asap, since there tend to be long waiting lists for some movies! we are still waiting for ‘the nightmare before christmas’ to be available!

i have other ideas to add to her lists:

1. subscribe to greencine for movie rentals
2. trade or borrow movies with friends or family for free
3. rent a movie for one night for $1 at places like raley’s grocery store or elephant pharmacy (if available near you)
4. order one large entree to split per 2 people
5. order from the children’s menu for an adult if the restaurant lets you!
6. drink a lot of water before and during the meal so that you won’t need to eat as much

i’ve borrowed series in boxes such as 24 and movies from a friend, and rented for a dollar from the pharmacy.  the SO and i often order one large entree and a side dish to share all between us since we are both small people and can’t eat much at a time.

one comment about buffets: of course, this may not actually be a money-saving approach for you if like me, you really can’t eat much at a given time!  i’ve found that one korean bbq place charged me $25 and a japanese restaurant about the same for buffet meals.  it is much cheaper for me to order sushi or an entree for at most $12 at a japanese place, and similarly for a korean restaurant for me!  it’s all relative and depends on one’s tummy and food needs.

the first week post-layoff was a strange time indeed. a plethora of emotions from bewilderment and shock to relief and glee, i had a challenging time gathering my wits about me, attempting to figure out what my next courses of actions should be, what order vague ideas should be pursued, who i should talk to, how i should be feeling.

being very aware that i was not the most ’stable’ with my emotions, i knew i should not undertake anything too fantastic. i would take it easy. no rash actions or decisions.

the healing mode

first, relax. accept that a bit of time would be needed to get used to the idea that a big part of my life/lifestyle/schedule had changed: my 40+/- hour a week job. +/- 5-6 hours a week spent commuting. +/- 5-8 hours a week spent getting ready to leave for work, preparing lunch, eating lunch, filling up for gas, decompressing after work. 50-60 hours a week total dedicated to work-related activities out of my 80 +/- waking hours monday through friday.

this was a big change indeed. i’m not the best at quickly adapting to changes in my environment/lifestyle. so i took deep breaths and prepared my mind and body to relax and to try to just ‘be’.

second, have discussions. talk with the SO about my thoughts on the turn of events when i felt moved to do so. slowly prepare myself to share the news with friends and family and others as needed.

also, be open, honest, and most importantly, gentle with myself. there was no need to feel too badly — it was only a job, a source of money, not like i was dying or lost someone important to me or something else catastrophic. if i were to take at face value (’if’) the information my manager had given me as to why i was chosen to get laid off, then it was not personal, but only business. it was not necessarily a reflection of my character, i was not a terrible person, i was just no longer affordable by this particular company. another job could be found, not all businesses were necessarily in the same financial state as my ex-employer. sources of money could be had by other means.

i also assessed and appreciated my circumstances outside of work. one of the reasons i did not need to feel overly despondent about my work situation was because my home life was going relatively well: i live with a loving significant other sharing our lives together happily, he had a stable occupation with a good income, he could help me for a while until my work situation changed, we had an awesome home to live in with the ability to (for then) pay rent/mortgage (especially since we also had 2 roommates to help us with this for the time being), i had my health, friends and family to talk to, and finally a fairly attractive career background/experience and desirable skillset within my industry.

the vacation mode

generally, the average working individual might receive somewhere between 1-3 weeks of paid vacation time a year from his/her employer.  as a result, one’s vacation time may be limited.  due to my turn of events, this means that until i figured things out or got a new job full time, i could perceive my time off as ‘vacation time’ as long as it was affordable.  i could work on or wrap up some personal or other projects i had been meaning to do with my newly founded spare time!  i could relax and goof off!  this was a positive way of looking at the current situation.

reaching out to network mode

i am generally not the best at consistently keeping up with my career networks (or personal relationships).  as a result, i thought, what better time than now to make the extra effort?

the day of my layoff, i immediately did two things:

1. post a message on an all-women programming community bulletin board that i was available for freelancing work.
2. e-mail a colleague that i would be available full time moving forward for contracting work (due to previous business related discussions pre-layoff).

those two actions would let me feel better over the weekend that i was proactive and did something — even small — to elevate a ‘downtrodden’ situation and disposition a bit.

after i had been laid off and came out of my shock a bit, i immediately processed my desire and memory of wishing to fulfill a freelancing dream.  what better way than to grab the current opportunity and go with the flow?  take advantage of the situation?  perceive the turn of events as a sign, as the universe working to help me?  it was up to me to see this and to take hold of it right away.

i would allow myself at least a week beyond the first’ weekend of recovery’ to have a mini-vacation in order to relax and to casually consider my options moving forward.  i would not stress out, i would be optimistic and realistic and move forward gratefully.  i would prepare myself to be ready to move forward doing whatever i would decide to do after the first week of rest and relaxation.

in the end, things went fairly well.  there were a few moments of relapse when i re-realized my situation and felt dejected for a few minutes or so, but overall i remained calm and was content.  sometime when i arrived home after getting laid off, i cried a bit from the stress/surprise/anxiety.  i then immediately filed for unemployment online.  i wrote to/talked with a few friends about the situation starting the monday that followed.

highlights of the week included:

• sleeping a lot
• crocheting a lot
• vegetating a lot
• dreaming about future career plans a bit
• .. did i mention sleeping a lot?

it was a much-needed relaxing sick/vacation week indeed that i put to good use.