Day 50: Tennis Lessons

Today marks the beginning of my third effort to learn to play tennis.

Once upon a time in High School I discovered that despite being in the top percentage of my class, I was not going to graduate because I was short a PE credit. So, I gladly dropped my AP German class and signed up for tennis.

After my first six weeks I received a B in the class. I was livid! I march up to the coach and expressed my anger and he informed me that only real athletes deserve to receive an A, and real athletes are not in PE they are in the athletics class. Needless to say I stopped participating and received the same grade the following six weeks. I also failed to learn how to play tennis.

In college I was again faced with the need to complete PE type electives for the purpose of graduation. I wanted to say some money and pay $40 for my PE class instead of $400, so I signed up for a class at the community college.

Each day of class my instructor would rail on about how community college students are slackers and a total waste of time to teach. A few weeks in I walked over to the registrars office, dropped the class and filed a complaint on the instructor. I then ended up paying way too much to take 3 PE classes at the university I was enrolled in and again did not learn how to play tennis.

Somehow despite these two experiences, a few weeks ago after running past the tennis courts at Golden Gate Park I felt the urge to ask Facebook if anyone had an extra racket and the desire to teach me to play tennis. My good friend Tom messaged me that he both had a racket and would teach me.

This morning I had the most helpful and patient tennis lesson I have had in my life! I obviously have a long way to go before I am not a terrible tennis player- in fact we didn't even get to the part where I played tennis, but it is so exciting to learn. I am also so grateful for someone who will teach me for free and I am that the game is free and almost every city in the US has free courts.

Once I am any good I think I am going to make it a goal to hot up all the courts in the city.

What is one thing you have tried and failed at before, that you wish you would try again?

This is what I am wearing today:

Day 50

The sun is out in SF

And one last thing before I go: 

I am so proud to be in SF right now and so HAPPY that the SCOTUS overturned Prop 8!!! 

Day 24: June and July Food Spending Goals

Spinach, Heirloom Tomatoes, Almonds, Chunks of Aged Cheddar, 

with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic salt

In the scheme of goals I set and blog about, this one is one of the ones I am most scared of posting. I am pretty terrified I will fail and everyone will see that when it comes to yummy things- I have no self control. Still, I need to take on my fear of failing at this and instead hope that just maybe I will succeed.

I spent this much on food in these months:

January $0 (This according to my bank statement, and I think I was in shock from loosing my job, so it might be true. I mean I had to have eaten something, but I have no idea what. Also, I know that I spent a good amount on my bf's birthday dinner, so I am thinking it is wrong.)
February $133
March $263
April $530
May $551

As you can see the numbers are going up too much in the past few months. So, with the beginning of June I am committing to spend less. MUCH less. It is so hard, because to be honest I was feeling good about how much I was eating at home and not spending until I looked at my budget review. I love food, and I love eating with people in fun places. It is my biggest budget vice (much more than clothes). Close to $200 of this past month was spent buying some things bulk in order to save and in order to support fair trade, but still that keeps me at $351 and that is excessive for one person who isn't making much money and needs to pay down debt.

The goal is the keep the number at $190, in general, but I think I might need to aim lower for 2 months. As in I want to eat on $25-35 a week. To be clear I am starting the 2 months off with pasta, rice, quinoa, and a bunch of other staples. I also have multiple gluten free mixes for pancakes, corn bread, pizza dough and such. Mostly, what I need is produce to make these food items into a meal. With so much in season in the summer I am planning to hit up the cheapest farmers markets and save some money while supporting local farmers.

I also need to limit what I spend eating out. For the most part any meal out in the city will kill my $25 for the week in one sitting and more likely take the following weeks money as well. I am also just not going to drink. I love wine and a good cocktail but I need to save the money (plus cutting the calories can't hurt.)

There will be 2 exceptions to this budget that I need to figure out: My parents and my older sister. I cannot have my family see the city for the first time, and not feed them AMAZING food. So, I will need to find some extra money for that.

As for today's outfit, here she is:

Day 24 

(I couldn't decide on the photo, so I posted both)

Sunglasses: Buffalo Exchange $10, Earrings: Random store in Texas Hill Country $5, Scarf: Hand-me-down, Jumper/Romper (not sure which title is best): Scavenged from a stack of clothes left over from a fashion show = Free, Bag: Hand-me-down, Shoes: Gifted by my parents

Yesterday I wore this to the theater: 

Day 23

I went to see Arcadia at ACT- it was so good!

Necklace: Gifted from my mom (She wore it when she was my age), Dress: Gifted by Jenny, Belt: no idea I have had it forever, Shoes: Ambiance (I wear them more often than I should)

Fear of Failing (and why it is making me broke) Follow Up

I was a bit surprised by how responsive people were to my Fear of Failure post. I am excited to hear that so many people are with me in making these changes and working towards getting out of debt. I also have to say I have already seen that this is going to be hard.

Nonetheless, I have come up with some action steps to take this week.

1. Draft actual budget.
   
2. Cancel my gym membership.
3. Change my CSA delivery to a small box every other week (I love my Farm Fresh to You box, but I throw a ton of it out. That is a waste of money and food.)
4. Research zero percent APR cards I can roll my debt over to so that I can pay towards my actual debt not just the interest that it grows each month. (This might be tricky, but I got some offers for 15 months no interest. I might be able to roll over onto one of them and get most of it paid off, than roll the remaining amount before the interest hits. I got this idea from my sister and I think it is worth a try.) I am also going to see if I can find a rewards plan that better meets my needs.
5. Research banks. Mine is great and I have had it for over 10 years. However, I get charged $6 every time I need to use another banks ATM.
6. Memorize the principles in this video:

I feel like this is enough to take on in one week, next week there will be more.

Side note: I ran 4 miles overcoming my fear of not being able to run 2 again (I was doing 5 a day this time last year, so that is my overall goal); I still need to write those blogs for Sweet Notions; I got more craft stuff and I think I will be hosting a small craft party to help me get my creative energy flowing again so that I can make some stuff to sell.

Side note 2: I am very excited that my choice to take on my debt coincides with the season of free events in SF. FuncheapSF is about to get a ton of attention from me, as will Broke Ass Stuart.

Love to hear more feed back and ideas on how to get un-broke.