Paid off the Jeep this week (!!!!), which was celebrated very briefly before we went to the farm for what was likely to be my final visit.

New chunks of family history were revealed; equal parts hilarious and dramatic. We gazed at stars we’d forgotten existed. We celebrated those who had worked so hard to build their dreams. We mourned the end of an era.

I have high hopes of writing more about all of it sometime soon, for now, I can’t find words other than these: I. Am. Thankful.

I’ve spent a lot of time lately focusing on debt reduction, and very little on how I’m enjoying myself while I’m not spending money.

It ain’t easy!

A couple of great things have fallen in my lap, though; making it possible to have a ball and not spend a lot of loot.

Volunteering
Volunteering is a blast on its own, and if you volunteer in the right places there are delicious fringe benefits to be had. A while ago I volunteered at Dad’s Garage, and was given two tickets to a show in return. Date night? Done.

Getting to know your city
The My Tour Guide app for the iPhone will give you a walking tour of historic spots in your town. I learned about the app on the local news on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and since they have a tour of historical sites in my neighborhood related to MLK, I’ve got a nice excuse for a walk and a history tour in my pocket.

The Beltline in Atlanta offers free bus tours, and I signed up for The Mc and I to take advantage of it in May. We’ll get acquainted with everything it has to offer and date night? Done x2!

Using forgotten gift cards -
Nearly two years ago I was given a gift card for a local spa by its owner in exchange for photography services. It’s about time I took advantage, and it gives me the opportunity to pamper myself…something I rarely do.

I mentioned in another post that my old boss used to give us movie tickets for Christmas and I used one to take myself on a date to The Green Lantern. 3 left, date night? Done x3!

Window shopping
In the interest of full disclosure, this frugality thing is only in part about getting out of debt. More importantly, it’s about getting out of debt so I can afford to furnish our cabbage. The Mc and I had our first day together in months on Friday and spent some of it in IKEA, trying to identify all the ways we can cut corners without cutting comfort or moving too far away from the aesthetic we want. It was a surprisingly nice to walk around the store (vs. surfing independently and sending each other links) and touch things while we talk about our future. Remarkably romantic and didn’t cost a cent (yet).

Barter
As I continue to build my portfolio, and since I’m otherwise gainfully employed; I sometimes barter for my photography services. One example of this is portraits or promotional shots for a restaurant I frequent, which works out perfectly. Dinner and drinks for date night? Done.

On another note…
Part two of the post is that I’ve already received my federal tax refund, and sent it to The Man.

I would have rather spent it on:
- Road trip to Utah
- Botox (that canyon between my eyes from furrowing my brow/squinting to shoot isn’t getting any smaller)
- New lens for new camera (specifically a 35mm/1.8 hint hint)
- A pony
- Replacement lower back
- A German Short Haired Pointer (his) and a Chocolate Lab (hers) or a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (so very hers)

No matter. One series of small steps, one giant leap for living debt free. Now, what additional ideas/tips do you have for being frugal and having fun?

Holy WOW you guys and your comments were great. You gave me a lot to think about, not only in terms of what else I can do, but also reminding me to celebrate the things I’ve already done. So much, in fact, that it took me a week to compile this rambling, poorly organized continuation to the dialog.

Three years ago, we sold The Mc’s house (affectionately coined “The Big House”) in the burbs and my condo in the city, downsizing from a collective 4,000sq ft into 1,000 sq ft. When we sold both and moved into an apartment, we thought we’d only be there a few months and that we’d be buying another house. Most of our belongings went into storage, and it’s probably little surprise how infrequently they’ve been missed. We decided to get the loft for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the ability it provided us to accelerate our plans to build a place in the mountains (status update on that in a later post).

It’s been an adjustment, but well worth it. Learning to share a single bathroom has had challenges that shouldn’t be discussed in polite company, as has the reaction to looking for something you know you have only to realize it’s on the other side of town behind a roll up door.

A year ago, I saved for and bought my kayak. It’s an item I’d been longing for a number of years. An item I’d researched to within an inch of its life and one I can look at and use with great happiness known it was paid for with cash. I saved for a reunion with my siblings, and I saved to celebrate The Mc’s 40th. Those funds may have been better diverted to debt, but alas, I believe in living and that presents its own challenges.

Six months ago, we canceled cable after yet another vacation where we lived without. It was always as liberating to curl up with a book instead of a remote control in a fancy hotel as it has been at home, and I don’t miss the $200 cable bill at all.

Years ago, I established a budget to ladder my way out of debt (more about this on Clark Howard’s website) and I’m coming close. I triumphantly killed one card last year, have another that will die with my tax refund, my truck will be paid off in April (oy, that’s a story in its own, what’s important here is that it’s $600/mo.), and that leaves one. final. card.
Walking/cooking with friends instead of going out has proved incredibly satisfying. Last week instead of going out with a girlfriend, she came over with a bottle of wine and I made us dinner for under $12. Compared to my average tab of $40/night for each friend “date”, this demonstrates a considerable savings opportunity.

Clothing, shoes and cosmetics don’t present a challenge (hello? Have you seen me?). My closet is roughly the size of three high school lockers and I’ve joked most of my adult life about dressing like Einstein . The most I put on my face is mascara and lip-gloss, and with the exception of a pair of sneakers I bought last year, a pair of boots I bought a year ago and a pair I bought 6 years ago, I wear flip flops most of the time. I will say, though, that when I used to run I started justifying bi-weekly mani/pedi’s, and that’s continued though I stopped running when I injured my knee (and fell in love) 5 years ago. I plan to correct the exercise issue, and pair back the mani/pedi’s to once a month.

As for Costco, there’s nowhere to put that volume of items in a 1,000 sq ft loft. As it is, our pantry is the size of a very small coat closet.

Areas that present challenge: dinner/drinks out, knitting, and books. To that end, I also renewed my library card, and have started knitting wraps (1 skein) vs. scarves (2 or 3 skeins) …so I’m pretty happy about my progress and the steps I’ve taken to correcting that which frustrates me.

It doesn’t help that when you think you’re getting ahead – or when I do, anyway – life has a way of putting you in check. This month it’s that our water bill hadn’t come in 2 months and finally arrived, my kayak slip rental was due, our annual water assessment for our lot was due, and the boys are heading in for their annual vet visit. Oh, and I have a friend getting married this summer which requires me to obtain a bridesmaid dress.

Three steps forward, one step back. It’s wonderful to be able to celebrate the triumphs of frugality and simplifying, and I have SO enjoyed hearing your tips from your own lives.

Once that other card is gone this spring, I plan to start using Mint.com. Truth is, I’ve been too horrified and ashamed to look at things in that level of detail – I’d rather close my eyes and throw money at it like a flailing victim in a bad horror flick.

I’m also practically vibrating out of orbit with my wanderlust. This is a rub with The Mc and I, since he doesn’t share Restless Soul Syndrome. When the financial dust settles, I plan on getting an AmEx for the points, and doing what Matt and his lady do (comment in previous post) – use it for everything (instead of a debit card), pay it off every month and reap the rewards.

So…what else ya got? Your comments were truly inspiring in the previous posts – I love that there’s a disconnected community doing the same simplifying I am, and being fiscally aware.

I mentioned previously that this year I’m working on frugality.

It’s hard. Challenges present themselves in the form of invitations from friends to get together (now: sure, c’mon over, I’ll make us dinner!), visits to the grocery store (still: ooh! shiny!), and this damn winter weather (then: oooh! parka!).

The bright side is this damn winter weather. The Mc and I were holed up in the condo for 4 days – with the exception of a few strolls to see the stupidity of Atlanta drivers on ice for which we had front row seats -and a few interesting things happened:

• I burned that inexplicable stockpile of tea-lights, which was great ambiance & bonus: WARM!
  
• We prepared properly for feedings while also making a dent in the excess of our pantry
  
• We didn’t spend any money going out…well…until the last night and that HAD to be done
  
• The Mc stumbled across a blog called And Then She Saved (which admittedly, I haven’t taken the time to really vet)

While still delirious from our involuntary confinement, I became suddenly and acutely aware of my filth and how low I was running on basic toiletries. A peek under the bathroom sink? BEHOLD! Several half-full bottles of shampoo and conditioner. Today, I took myself to see The Green Lantern and used a gift certificate an old boss had given me years ago (that was still good, FTW) and was able to get $4 off a book using loyalty rewards.

We live in a time of excess. Each trip to the market yields a game of Tetris in the pantry trying to find a home for the newly obtained bits, and the same is true when I go to restock the TP supply. A side goal: work our way through the excess. Get back to what we need. We started by cleaning what was left in the pantry and wound up with a bag of non-perishables to donate.

The saving continues, and with it, finding new ways to stretch the funds I allow myself to touch. Preferably, without denying myself the simple pleasures – like shampoo, and movies.

So all this has me thinking – how do you save money? What’s your favorite way to save, what do you cut back on? I know you’ve got your sneaky ways, things you’ve long since taken for granted or things you pat yourself on the back for every time. What are they?

Late this morning I bounded out of the house after throwing out a call for pavilion location suggestions on twitter, because reading in the rain (and sploshing around in it) makes me happier than a good many things I do/have to do. I stationed myself under an open canopy with a book I’ve been neglecting and got comfortable on the composite picnic table bench.

As I devoured the book* I was also making a list for myself. I like lists. I make them a lot. I make them because my memory for the inane is infallible (I could probably tell you what my dinner companion ordered 3 months ago) but for the things that matter, it stinks (what was my plan for world domination again?).

This isn’t contrary to my previous post where I make mention of the fact that I don’t believe in resolutions, it’s a compliment to it.

Here’s the list, maybe you can help me stay honest with it.

Plan a vocation vacation (this year? next? start saving)
Second savings account
Blog/confess London flight/trip fu@k up
S’mores with friends in Candler Park one night this winter
Monthly pot lucks
A year of living freely/frugally
No more fancy coffee (only as a special treat)
Blog/confess Jeep debt, celebrate it being paid off this year
Schedule the next ladies weekend in the mountains
Start a fired up book club
Thanksgiving half or full (don’t have to run the whole thing!)
Get a raincoat!
Identify a local non-profit that will benefit from photography adventure
Add “barter” to list of acceptable payment options for photography
Vlog once a month (with new camera…eeeee!)
Get stationary/write more thank-you notes
Tank (this is the working name for the dog we plan to add to our family one day)
Get the boys to the vet
Renew library card (got an email last week it’s about to lapse)
Less magazines, but if you can’t help yourself remember to recycle them at the library

There it is. Short and mid-term to-do’s for 2011. What’s on your list, and how can I help make sure you meet them?

*It should be noted that I was there 3+ hours, and my plans to finish the book before heading home we thwarted by 3 teen boys who crashed my pavilion, despite there being one open just down the hill. In fact it wasn’t their presence that drove me away, it was the foul stench – CK One. I left with 4 pages to go.

An acquaintance just left his cushy job as a lawyer with a big firm (and a stable income, etc.) for the freedom of working for himself, of chasing his own dream and not the dream of The Man.

I’ve thought about having a fundraiser here on maigh.com for my “get out of debt (that my worthless ex left me with when he found himself a new young honey but I still take partial responsibility for) ” fund so I could start over.

Would you contribute?

I’d probably make about a buck fifty and I could go back to grade school and buy a box of milk with it.

What does that have to do with being a man?

As I left on his blog: “I wish I was a man just so I could envy your balls.”

If I was out of debt, I’d buy myself a pair.

I also have to think that my sailor mouth would have been/would be better accepted. You know. If I didn’t have boobs and a uterus.

The last thing I won was a super superlative in 8th grade as “most energetic”, so you can imagine my confusion when @HamWithCam twittered last week shortly after my departure from an Atlanta Photography meet-up that I’d won a prize.

I was only there long enough to say a few hellos and enjoy a cocktail before I had to run out the door for a friends debut art showing at a library downtown. He’d been working with various mediums – photos, contact sheets, paper, ink, oils – for years. For years and hanging some in his house, leaving a good bit out of sight where he’d work on it in private as he examined his own psyche.

The risk he took putting himself out there nearly gave me an anxiety attack. He decided he was going to do it, reached out and let himself float into the unknown. I watched him with awe in the weeks between the decision and the reality and was dizzy and inspired. I’ve thought about/wanted to/couldn’t do/too scared over a dozen times out here right before your eyes…you’ve watched me want and you’ve watched me turn to stone.

How ironic then, that the prize (I’m still fairly sure @HamWithCam somehow manipulated) given to me by APE is free entry to display my work in a booth at an upcoming show. Ham has been trying to encourage me for months – every time I see him he gently nudges with supportive words and information on how to make it happen but again I’m paralyzed: not good enough/not enough time/too much.

Well, at least one of those excuses has now been officially removed from my path. Entry fee paid, space allocated. Here we go, grab your parka.