Money, money, money.

Breaking news: I managed NOT to spend money in this candy shop.

My apologies for being an inconsistent blog writer.  It happens.  But holy cow, May is almost over already and I really had meant to write more this month. Recap: May has been Operation Consumption Liberation's official month of Reduced Frivolous Spending, the unessential goods and service month, and I laid out in this length post here what constitutes frivolous spending in my book, and committed to spending no more than $132 on frivolous things this month.  And as the month winds down, I can report that I've done pretty well with this whole budget thing (though not as well as I thought I had ten minutes ago--math is not my strong suit).

My frivolous spending since I checked in with $32 spent on May 6:

• $3.25--hot cocoa @ SeaTac Dilletante
• $2.87--coffee and donut @ EWR's Dunkin' Donuts 
• $40--dinner in Astoria, NY w/ JC and WR
• $2.50--coffee @ Chappaqua Station
• $7.70--pizza @ EWR
• $2--bagel @ Eltana
• $2--coffee @ Bean City
• $9--movie @ NW Film Forum w/GM
• $3--cupcake @ Cupcake Royale
• $9--3 tomato plants @ U-District Farmers Market (though is this really frivolous...
• $1.99--pint of Honey Cinnamon frozen custard
• $2--half of an elephant ear at Folklife w/CW.

*May 7-May 30 Total Frivolous Spending: $85.31

*May 1-May 30 Total Frivolous Spending: $117.31

*Remaining Frivolous Spending Budget for May 31: $14.69

Expense worthy: $2 Eltana wood-fired bagel

 

While the no-spending thing has been challenging at times, I have not suffered too much this month. Which is good, because as someone who is under-employed at present, I really NEED to have a tight budget. Which is tricky because right now, it feels like every single valuable thing I own is falling apart.

Example A: the car mechanic tells me that my car needs an est. $2774 worth of repairs and you know that auto mechanic estimations are always low, because they're sure to find two more parts that must be replaced in the process. Considering that I bought said-car two years ago for $4300...  It seems like I'm better off spending that money to get a newer car.   Wait, what money?  Do I need a car that bad?  I could live without it, but it would compromise some things, like my volunteering and where I seek employment.  Plus, I like the freedom of having my own car.  It IS a luxury though.

Car, why do you make me suffer so?

Example B: I noticed this week that the laptop which I'm typing this on now is splitting along the seam of the screen.  If I close it, it gaps open a quarter of an inch at one corner.  Note that I purchased said laptop in early 2006.  I've added RAM, updated this and that, replaced batteries, but let's face it, this thing is kind of a dinosaur.  It weighs 17 pounds.  I've been debating a replacement for a full year.  It needs to happen soon.  Frivolous spending?  Well, no, I'm a writer, I can even write it off on my taxes, I suppose.  But I do have a second laptop though it has less RAM, less stuff on it, and I bought it used--it's probably older than this one.  It does weigh less though...  I should probably dump both of them for a new, super-light, super-fast machine. 

Money-worries face.

Example C: Half of my regularly-worn long sleeved shirts have rips or holes in the arms.  Some have been mended once or twice already. As of yesterday, both of my wear-everyday-fall-thru-spring boots' zippers are broken.  My socks are holey.  I need new clothes.

And so on. 

Given these expected expenses and my under-employment, this month's practice has certainly made me think more about money and its role in my life.  I hate that making money and spending money preoccupy so much of my thoughts and energy, be it taking crap writing jobs for crap pay so I can pay for home Internet service (sadly, a must-have) or using that Internet service to search for less crappy jobs with less crappy pay.

I am taking steps to remedy my situation, but I am also trying to be patient and to take actions that honor my aspirations and values.  Yes, there are days when I think to myself, "you just need to buckle down and take any  job with benefits that will have you."  And then there are days when I think about how unhappy I used to be, and what I changed to make my life more peaceful and happier.  On those days, I know that, while taking the first full-time job with benefits I can find may settle my money worries for the time being, it likely will be at the cost of the balanced and content life I've worked so hard to have.

As this month comes to a close, I think I'm going to continue to set myself a frivolous spending budget.  I like these questions from And Then She Saved to help me determine whether or not something is frivolous or, as she puts it, "expense worthy."  I'll be applying these questions soon in my car, clothes, and computer decisions!

No expense NY fun: walk the Brooklyn Promenade on a sunny afternoon.

 

Oh yeah, recap of my efforts to add more outdoor outings this month! Though the weather has not been terribly cooperative, I've managed to squeeze some nice outings in: a park outing in NY with my sister-in-law MR, my 7-month-old twin niecews, and their dog; a Greenlake walk with CI and daughter S; strutting the Brooklyn Promenade and visiting the Astoria Sculpture Park with JC; playing corn-hole BBQ at MO & QH's; and a few runs, walks, and a 36+ mile bike ride out to Redhook with CW. If you want to go for a pedal or a walk with me, summer is just around the corner!

I'll be posting again tomorrow as NO CAFFEINE MONTH kicks off....

Adventures in (not) spending.

So.  Here I am on day 6 of my super budget May. Today, I walked past many bottles of nail polish and hand lotion in Bartell Drugs without buying any of them.  I did plunk down a small amount of money for a birthday card, and a small fortune for my prescriptions. (Though the cost of one prescription has gone down monthly from $141 to $76 so far this year--health insurance, I just don't understand ye.)  But I escaped without any foo-foo beauty crap, or chocolate.  Praises be.

I know I could have made a birthday card.  I am, in fact, halfway through the process of making some very sweet and very amateurish Mother's Day cards for my mother and the other mother-like figures in my life.  They don't look store-bought, that's for sure--but it is the thought that counts, right???

See, I made a tulip out of dried, pressed tulip petals!

Still, I think I've blown my artsy mojo on the mums' cards this week, so I decided to dip into some of my precious frivolous spending money for the birthday card.  In addition to the card, last night I met up with my book group and I bought a beer.  These two items totaled $8.00.

Then I went to get my hair done today.  The good news is that I bought a Groupon last month for my haircut and color, and it was a steal! The bad news is that Groupons don't include tip and that "Groupon customers tip on the full amount of the pre-discounted services."  Of course they do.  Good news for my colorist and stylist today: I'm a good tipper.  So that was $25.00 in tips.  Ouch.

*A pause for the Hair Report! The good news is the color looks great--my colorist is awesome!  The bad news is the cut... well, it isn't awful.

I know, it isn't that bad.  It isn't red either, as the lighting here suggests.

The stylist (not my regular gal) was nice and she was competent with the shears.  But you know how when you describe what you want (an inch shorter in the back, longer in the front, more of an angle, less poofy, lighter...), a stylist will sometimes really latch on to one or two parts of that and kind of forget the rest of that? Yeah, let's just say it's lighter and probably not so poofy, but I don't know where she heard "layering."  The lesson: you get what you pay for. End of Hair Report.*

But it DOES have a bit of a "she-mullet" feel, right? Stupid choppy layers.

Okay, back to money matters: so in six days, I've managed to blow... $32 of my 132 frivolous spending budget.  Eek!  Oh, and I'm going to New York on Wednesday.  Guess who IS NOT going to be going to any Broadway shows this time around?

This not-spending thing is not easy, yo.

In other news, I biked to my office all week.  And it was lovely, except for yesterday, when I was positive that every person or car I saw on the street was trying to make my ride more hellish.  I had some MAJOR bike rage.  Really, I was yelling the f-word like a crazy lady.  I got to thinking that maybe I need a specific outlet for my bike rage, somewhere to air it where I don't run the risk of getting hit by an angry driver. So, I have this silly twitter feed, and from here on out, that's where I'll be putting my bike rage. If you use the twitter, follow me! I will try to keep it rated PG-13, and I also use it to notify folks of new blog posts here! FYI, I have haiku aspirations for the future tweets...

In other OTHER news, I'm running a 10K this Sunday morning.  May my new biking muscles and regular running routine power my booty across the finish line faster than my race companion, CW, who has gone on a total of TWO training runs! Wish me luck!

Stop buying frivolous stuff, doofus.

Today, on top of a 6-mile bike ride and a 4-mile hike, I drove my car recreational for the first time since March!  Because it is May! 

May marks my second Reduce Frivolous Spending month, the unessential goods and services edition. (See The Eating and Drinking Out edition here.) Now, I’ve been very tempted this week to rearrange my Operation Consumption Liberation (OCL) Challenge schedule to make May my month of spending less time on the internet, due to the unhappy fact that my ISP/phone company lost the order for my new modem and I’ve been going without the internet at home since Tuesday night.

The other reason I’ve thought about swapping months around is that I intended to do more investigation into my finances and spending habits to find out how much I waste on unessential goods and services, etc.  I sort of feel like this type of challenge calls for more research than I’ve done.  However, I haven’t exactly been monitoring how much time daily I waste on Facebook and tooling around on the internet either.  So… I’m sticking with the plan and I've done a hack research job of my spending habits over the last month.  Unessential goods and services, here we go!

Due to the economic situation in the last few years, an awful lot of people have undertaken a “Spending Fast” and blogged about it.  One of the most notable examples would be Anna Newell Jones and her “And Then She Saved” blog.  Check out her spending fast and her spending diet guidelines.  Inspiring to say the least. 

Now I am not going on a total spending fast.  I’m undertaking something more like the spending diet, but I don’t like using the word diet for anything.  What I’m going to be doing is limiting my unnecessary expenses.  I am not going to put my Netflix on hold, skip yoga, or make my friends suffer another month of Absolutely No Drinks or Eats out.   But I am going to be working with a limited amount of money for nonessential expenses this month. Thus, once that money is gone, for the rest of the month, I’ll be spending my free time at home reading, playing Mah-Jongg solitaire online, and watching stuff on Netflix.  Maybe I’ll reorganize my kitchen cupboard finally.

So, the key question is: how do I define unessential goods and services?   

First, I need to define what expenses ARE essential:

-Shelter (gotta pay rent)

-Internet and phone services are essential.  Plus, I’m locked into contracts for both.

-Health insurance, auto insurance, medicine, toothpaste, and doctor visits (no one should have to go without any of these!)

-Soap for laundry, dishes, and the body

-Food and drinking water is essential (dessert, however, is not). 

-Gas for my car to go volunteer 

 Now here are some examples of nonessential things I’ve spent money on this month:

-$55 Groupon for haircut and color at my salon (Great bargain, sure, but…)

-$49.50 registration for a 10k race next week 

-$16.99 gym membership (haven’t been there in almost two months, but the cost to join was ridiculous, so I keep paying it)

-$10.94 Netflix

-$39 debit charges at restaurants

-$120 cash purchases (Although I do pay for some smaller grocery purchases with cash, most of my cash generally goes to nonessential bar tabs, restaurant tabs, movie theater tickets, and small miscellaneous trinkets and sweets)

-$68.50 of miscellaneous non-medical Bartell Drug purchases (yes, some of those purchases were for other necessities—toilet paper, laundry detergent, and toothpaste—but all those lotions, bath salts, almonds, nail polish, chocolate, As Seen On TV gadgets…  Fact: I get a little bonkers in the drugstore)

But I really need some more hand cream!

And so on...  I’ve done my best to calculate my unessential expenses last month, and it came to about $420.  That is more than half my monthly rent.  Out of control!

So do I seek to half this amount in May?  $210 is still a lot of money to be wasting on that kind of stuff every month, so let’s knock off another $50. That gives me a nonessential spending budget of $160, which is cushy, but considers expenses from my upcoming travel. From that $160, I’m subtracting my anticipated bills for Netflix and the gym (~$28, auto-paid).  That’s $132 to spend on nonessential goods and services as I choose for the month.

FYI: I will not be buying a $300 gong this month.

To help me track my $132 nonessential budget, I have a $50 American Express prepaid card for most card purchases and I am withdrawing $70 cash from my checking account.  And yesterday, I pulled out $2 from the lingering “April” cash in my wallet for May--for clean record keeping, I put the remaining April cash in my loose change jar this morning.

Two exceptions:

-If someone wants to buy me dinner or take me to, I’m not trying to curb his or her spending so that is allowed.  However, I’m not terribly comfortable freeloading, and I will not be soliciting you to purchase meals, movie tickets, or new clothes for me.

-I can spend gift cards and previously purchased Groupons as I am wont to do.  But any new prepaid/gift card or Groupon purchases will be deducted from my nonessential budget.

That's it.  I will do my best to spend my $132 wisely!  I may be taking a few hints from this here site... And of course, I will be reporting regularly here at OCL on my nonessential expenditures and my budget balance!  If you have any budget suggestions, or want to join me, I welcome both.

Oh YEAH: To counterbalance the cruel feeling of depriving myself, especially when I’m denying myself lots of nice, trivial, feel-good purchases, I would like to add more outdoor social activities to my life this month.  Free or low-cost activities, that is: park play dates, bike adventures, hikes, backyard BBQs….  This part of my month is off to a great start (65 degrees and sunny in Seattle-woo woo!). Even if the weather does not cooperate, I’m not totally adverse to rainy day adventures either. So who wants to play?

Low Gas Wrap

Cherry blossom avenue: so, so pretty!

I’m a little amazed at how rapidly April flew by.  For Low Gas Consumption Month, I’d meant to write a commentary about Earth Day and the environment, but time got away from me, and here we are on, the first of May. 

Ahh, spring, you sure took your sweet time arriving this year!

I drove up to Shoreline to volunteer three times this month.  Other than that, I didn't get in my car--driving approximately 40 miles for the whole month.  When I was driving to Shoreline last Saturday morning, I felt like I was dreaming because it felt so foreign to me after a two-week break.  Then I realized I better snap out of it, because driving in that kind of mental state is dangerous! 

If only I-5 were always so unoccupied.

I confess, I do enjoy driving.  But I also enjoy walking and biking (especially when it isn’t raining!), and I find the practice of riding the bus to be beneficial.  (The loss of control over when you leave and when you arrive offers good practice in patience and adaptation for much more serious loss-of-control situations.  And, for a writer, there is always someone of intrigue on the bus.) 

Anyway, now that my low gasoline consumption is winding down, I intend to continue using alternate forms of transportation more than I did before.  The price in gas hasn’t exactly dropped; CO2 emissions still aren’t good for the environment; and the weather is still continuing to improve (fingers crossed).  I’m setting a loose goal for myself here and now: I am going to try to consume no more than one tank of gas a month.  Of course, things do come up (multiple airport runs, vacations), and I won’t punish myself for that.  But I would like to incline my mind to consider other options before driving.

Goal: more biking around Greenlake this summer.

Not that you need any more pushing than the price at the pump, but I really want to encourage you all to try driving less.  We all have excuses of why we need to drive.  It does take some mental and logistical rearranging to bike or carpool or bus, and there are times in life when that kind of thought is in much shorter demand than cash for gas.  For those of you with young children, I know it is often impractical to impossible to ditch the car.  But there are also the undeniable benefits of biking and walking with kids: it doesn’t just promote physical activity, but the world outside our homes offers an endless learning lab. 

Walk learning opportunity #23: is it a feral cat or not?

For those of you in Seattle, Friday, May 20 is the official 2011 Bike to Work Day.  If you’ve got yourself a pair of wheels, give a bike commute a try on this one day.

Anyway, Operation Consumption Liberation now moves onto my second month of curbing my frivolous spending, the Goods and Services edition.

It's a good time to be less reliant on my car.

 

The State at the Pump: U-District.

I mean, really, did I time my Low Gas Consumption month perfectly, or what? 

Gas prices aside, I should also note that the weather in Seattle has improved since the first week of April.  Not a wild improvement, but I did hear the weatherman say that La Nina is WEAKENING, and to expect a "weather-neutral summer."  I can get behind that. 

Because the sky was more sunny than cloudy today, I decided to make the most of my leisure Sunday morning and walk to the yoga studio where I've been doing an immersion all weekend.  Which is located on Capitol Hill.  Five miles from my place.  Apparently, I don't need to drive to the mountains to get in a nice little hike.

And it was a really nice walk. As I walked, I recalled a college assignment from a Renaissance and Reformation history class I took at the University of Idaho.  We had to walk from Moscow, ID to Troy, ID--an 11-mile distance--and then write a three-page paper about our experience.  I think the assignment was part of a unit on The Return of Martin Guerre; the professor wanted us to have a sense of how peasants traveled in the 16th century, or something. Honestly, it was a somewhat useless assignment, but I remember it was a really lovely day when I did the walk.  I remember being a little scared of getting hit by a car when walking along Highway 8 (I think there is actually a bike trail now), but all and all, it was a nice way to pass the morning.  But not something you do everyday.

I'm not going to write a three-page paper about my walk today, because I think that I'd say about the same thing: nice way to pass my morning, but not something I can do everyday.  So, instead of writing three-pages, here's a little photo essay of my walk today! 

Spring has sprung: local color on my street

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lake Union view from the University Bridge

Le Fournil Bakery on Eastlake. Those are giant cubes of butter.  Butter!

The I-5/WA-520 Junction--never so quiet as on a Sunday AM!

Bruce Lee's last resting place, Lakeview Cemetery

Louisa Boren Lookout. Thar be Lake Washington and Bellevue, mateys!

The tower at Volunteer Park.  Would have been a great day to climb it!

Eager brunchers waiting outside Coastal Kitchen

Space Needle and the Sound!

View of downtown, and a sky full of bus wires--Pine & 15th Ave E

And that's all, folks!  Hope your weekend was as lovely as mine!

Adventures in Cycling

I had Lasik three months ago.  This means my vision has been fluctuating a bit.  It is fairly stable at this point, but certain things on certain days make my eyes extra tired and thus, my vision a bit blurrier than I'd like it to be post-expensive-scary surgery.  Among the bad eyesight triggers: focusing on my smartphone's screen too much and for too long; not getting enough sleep; and cold/windy conditions which dry my eyes out.  So on Thursday, I biked to my optometrist's office in my 3-month, post-surgery check up.

It was a rainy, cold, breezy morning--which I'll say more about later.  Anyway, biking in, my eyes got all dried out from the wind and cold, and needless to say, my eyes did not "perform" so well when I did the eye tests.  The eye doctor saw quite a few patches of dryness and recommended I start using the gunky night drops again.  (Blech.  They give me itty bitty styes, which are harmless, really, but frigging annoying. But if the doctor says...)  He also advised I visit with his buddy in the glasses department for some spiffy goggles for biking.

As much as I'd love to drop $60 on some fancy goggles, I can't afford that right now, so I walked three blocks to Big 5 Sports and investigated their offerings. They didn't have any biking goggles, per se, but they did have protective eye wear for racquetball and also for sharp shooting.  I went with the youth/women's sized sharp shooting glasses, for the handy benefit of UV protection.  Check 'em out!

So that's what I'm biking around wearing.  I feel pretty bad ass.

Anyway, as I mentioned, Thursday (April 7) was a cold, wet, breezy morning.  Thursday, like pretty much every day in April up to that point, was also a cold, wet, breezy day.  Remember my post two weeks ago where I discussed typical April weather in Seattle?  I had this cute little chart, remember, that showed an average of ~2 inches of rain for the entire month of April and average high/low temperatures of 58 and 43 degrees F?  I was, like, "oh sure, it rains in April, but not like constantly, it's much better than March."  Okay, yes, it is better than March.  But "much better"?  That's a gross overstatement, given the weather during the first week of April this year.  GROSS.

This is a La Nina year.  Now I'm one of those people who gets El Nino and La Nina confused, and thinks that the two weather phenomena only happen on leap years or something, not whenever the water temperature in the Pacific does X or Y.  Let's face it, if La Nina is the opposite of El Nino, then I'm the La Nina of a meteorologist. My approach to weather forecast is: well, it did this last year.  I'm sure there really are insights I could gain from last year's weather, but assuming that this year's weather will be just like last year's weather is not the insight I should be taking home.  Last April, it was warmish and fairly dry and lovely.  And then right around Mother's Day, it started to dump rain and didn't stop until the 4th of July.  So if that was El Nino and this is La Nina, then it should be a fantastic late spring and early summer, right???  Oh, good gawd, it's time to stop this erroneous speculating!

So instead, let me just inform you that, in the first week of April, Seattle got 2.01 inches of rain.  That's the monthly average!  And let me also tell you that the average low for the first week of April 2011 was 39.6 F and the average high for the first week of April 2011 was 49 F. A little colder than usual, but not revolutionary, especially for early in the month--but that wind chill has been horrible!

This less-than-desirable weather has not made an easy introduction to my month of low gas consumption.  I expressed my fear of riding my bike in the rain in this previous post.  Now that I've been doing it for a week, I'm less afraid of wiping out.  Instead, I'm afraid of freezing my arse off.  And then sweating like a pig for a bit and then freezing more because I'm wet from sweat.  But it is improving.  It's a balmy 55 degrees F right now, and Friday was a gorgeous sunshine explosion.

Jumping on your bike is easier when it looks like this out your front door.

Still, I am doing it, the whole no-driving-my-car thing (except for when I volunteer--what a glorious drive to Shoreline that is!).  And biking up hills is getting easier (muscles adapt faster than you think!), and I'm better tolerating cars and faster cyclists zipping past me with looks of annoyance on their faces. 

I have a lot of different objectives in this year of consuming less.  One objective is to push myself outside my comfort zone.  While I did have some uncomfortable sugar cravings in January, and had to do some extra cooking in February, and decline wine in March, none of those monthly challenges REALLY pushed me to do something I was afraid to do.  This month has already pushed me to face several fears, and there have been days when I've wondered if succeeding in this particular challenge is worth my heightened level of anxiety.  Right now, I think it is. I need to push through anxiety about a whole lot of things in my life, so I can just DO them.  I'm building muscles with this month's challenge so that I can go forth and conquer in other aspects of my life.  Definitely worth it.

Tough.

ACK! Welcome to Low Gas Consumption Month!

Hello there.

I've just spent the last several hours pouring through boxes of old photos, looking for a picture of me on a bike.  And I didn't find a single one.  Apparently, those are in one of my parents' custody, because I know they're out there.  I also was looking for some pictures of me in a doing a high ropes course to prove to CW that my arse looks enormous in a harness, thus I don't want to go rock climbing with him.  Couldn't find those either.  I did however find a picture of my brother on a bike, several pictures of friends as awkward children to scan and post on Facebook, and one photo of a staged Barbie orgy.  What can I say, I was a messed-up little kid.

Needless to say, as this is a more public platform than even Facebook, I won't be posting any of those here.  So here is a photo of my bike, and my ex-boyfriend's bike.  Mine is the one on the left, the one that's mostly not in the picture, versus the blue one that is mostly in the picture.

I got new tires shortly after this photo was taken.  My bike subsequently lost four pounds.

So this bike... Well, can I just tell you that I've had it since the late 80s?  I've had it since I was 12-1/2 years old.  Seriously, I have been pedaling the same cycle for TWENTY-TWO years.  And yeah, sometimes I think, "maybe biking would be easier if I had a newer flashier bike."  But hey, it's still working.  It has 18 speeds or gears or whatever you call them.  It has a bike rack.  And as of tonight, it now has a red flashing back light and a fancy-pants spot headlight.  Nevermind the fact that I've had my bike lock for about... TWENTY-TWO years, or that I bought my helmet at Fred Meyer for $20.  The bike is pimped out and I'm ready to dive into April, my month of low gasoline consumption for Operation Consumption Liberation!

I will also not be driving any Gators this month.  FYI.

I discussed my biking fears and the current economics of gasoline last time, so without further adieu, here are the guidelines I'll be adhering to this month:

1. No driving the car except (A.)for when I'm volunteering as an ElderFriend--I got to be able to visit and transport my friend who lives in Shoreline; and (B.) for emergencies.  That's it.

Acceptable mode of transportation #1: kayaking.

2.  I  will not be going on a road trip or flying in an airplane this month.  Who can afford that anyway?

Acceptable mode of transportation #2: riding a horse.

3.  I will accept rides with friends to carpool to outings IF IT MAKES SENSE.  In other words, if I'm going out to eat with my friend ES, it is totally cool to ride together because she lives less than two miles away.  But if I'm going out to eat with my friend SW, the only way she's driving from White Center-abouts to pick me up is if we're going out to eat in my hood, or North of here, and I'm not going to suggest that.  Better I bike or take the bus to meet her somewhere halfway.

Acceptable mode of transportation #3: swimming.

Acceptable mode of transportation #4: ride a flamingo.

4.  Speaking of the bus, I will be limiting my bus use.  Sure, the bus consumes less gas and pollutes less than all of its passengers in their own cars, but the bus is also EXPENSIVE.  SO here's how I'll be limiting my bus use: (1.) I'll be putting approximately the current cost of one tank of gas in my car onto my Orca card.  (2.)  When I run out of bus money, that's it for the month.

Photo by Andy Nystrom

So, for the record, here's the bus money math: The price of regular unleaded in Seattle is $3.795 right now.  My gas tank probably holds more than 12 gallons, but for this purpose, that's what it holds.  So a tank would cost me $45.54, so I've put $45 on my Orca card for April.  If I ride the bus only during Peak hours (1-zone peak fare=$2.50 w/ transfers for 2 hours), that gives me 18 rides for the month.  If I ride the bus only during Non-Peak hours (1-zone non-peak fare=$2.25  w/ transfers for 2 hours), that gives me 20 rides total for the month.

 Mind you, this last month, I burned through four bus fares in one day easy ($9.50 worth)--all I did was go to the office, come home to change, whereupon I went out with friends for dinner and a movie, and then came home.  I think I'm going to want to be careful about how I use those bus fares, because I'm going to want to meet up with friends and there will be late nights when I will want to get home and I won't feel safe or energetic enough to bike.  Not to mention really RAINY days.  This is Seattle after all.

Which means (5.) I will be riding my bike or walking as much as possible all month long.  Or running.  And I'm not opposed to rollerskates--I had a dream I was wearing these hella cool skates the other night--they were funky brown leather knee high boots on wheels, totally awesome.  If you know where I can get skates that rad, let me know.

Oh yes, I need to add something to my life to compensate for my removal of car and gas.  Something BESIDES more biking, which is grand, but is also work.  Hmmm, I'm open to suggestions.  Though I'm leaning towards dark chocolate, or flowers....

Chocolate doesn't get realer than this.

Poppies, Poppies, everywhere!