I just found out there's no such thing as the real world.

HA. I wish. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. I decided to be a big girl this summer and get a job. I love my job, not for the job itself but because I work with really awesome people. I also somehow manage to get scheduled for the worst possible days because it always conflicts with something fun I want to do. Take the beach for instance. I get scheduled two days this week and one of those two is the day I was supposed to leave for the beach. What are the odds? 28.6%. Don’t judge me if that percentage is wrong. I suck at math.

However, every other Friday makes this so much more worth it.

I’ve also learned about budgeting. I have my life on a spreadsheet and the receipts from every purchase I make on a calendar. Yes, I AM A DORK. But I’d recommend doing this. It made me realize how much money I spend on little things and how much those little things add up! Now I appreciate riding around town with my parents because I don’t have to fill up on $4 gas. I also appreciate leftovers and raiding my parents’ kitchen. Generic brands are my best friend. Did you know at Southern Family Market they have a generic brand of Frosted Flakes that taste better than the real thing? It gets even better. A bag of the generic is the size of 3 boxes of name brand. One bag of generic is the same price as ONE box of name brand. That’s what I call a good deal.

I’m also a fan of honey. I love it. I love it on biscuits, I love it with peanut butter, I love it in my baked beans. A teensy bottle shaped like a bear is adorable. It’s the same price as the local honey in a quart size jar at your local co-op. Check out Brown’s Farm and Garden on Alabama St (beside Bullets). Their honey is ridiculously cheaper than the health food stores around Columbus and it comes from the EXACT same place. Same label and everything. (And just because that’s my brother and sister’s store doesn’t mean I’m partial) :)

When I “need” new clothes, I check out Palmer Home Thrift Store and sometimes the Salvation Army Thrift Store as well. If you’re against thrift stores, go to Walls. INTERESTING FACT ABOUT WALLS: Urban Outfitters sends all their rejects or last season clothes to Walls. I got 5 shirts that would normally be $30+ each for $4 each. The reason? The tags were printed crooked. One was from last season. I don’t know about you but seasons are dumb to me. If it’s cute I’m gonna wear it. I bought a ballin’ 100% leather jacket from Palmer Home last fall for $8. It’s from the late 80s/early 90s and yes, it looks like it! MC Hammer would kill me for this jacket. I think it’s precious and I wore it all winter, even when my parents said I looked ridiculous. (They’re usually right, too.) I love that jacket and it’s way warmer than my North Face. And $100 cheaper. That’s enough to buy me a month’s worth of groceries.

Another favorite thing: Elance, Amazon MTurk, Toluna. I get off work, come home, crawl in the bed and grab my laptop. I can work for hours in my pajamas at whatever time I please and make a little extra cash. Granted, they aren’t $20 jobs but the $5 jobs add up pretty fast, especially for the 30 or 45 minutes it takes to do them. If you need some cash and are lazy and wanna stay home, check these out.

I’ll end this for now since it’s pretty long and none of my friends have long attention spans so I know most of them won’t want to read anything longer. I’m sure I’ll post many more blogs about how to be stingy.

Until then.

PS, this was written Saturday morning but I didn’t have internet so it’s being posted late.