Waffle

While discussing this post privately, Aggie pointed me to the Tightwad Gazette's website, which hasn't updated since the time when the earth was still cooling, and the blog The Simple Dollar, which, it turned out, is good enough to keep me reading for hours on end (though I'd like some higher ratio of meaty to brief postings - but I'm probably in the minority among blog readers). The Simple Dollar has the kind of strictly-finance stuff that always makes my eyes glaze over, but also lots of practical tips for reducing debt, budgeting and how to live frugally and enjoy it. I'll be studying it a lot in the next few weeks.

Last February, I got very interested in the blog of the You Need A Budget website. Their product is a range of personal budgeting tools ranging from well-designed spreadsheet templates to a fully-fledged application for Mac and Windows. I followed the blog for a while, subscribed to the course, kept detailed financial records for a few weeks, then decided that I probably didn't need a budget anyway. I need to reconsider that, considering how I managed to overspend this month compared to the targets I set for myself.

Both The Simple Dollar and YNAB are aimed at mainly American readers whose main goal is to live debt free. The Simple Dollar's main author has a life story involving a financial meltdown; I can't readily find the backgrounder on the YNAB site anymore (something about it began rubbing me the wrong way back in February/March, so I stopped going), but if I recall correctly, the author has always been concerned about avoiding debt. In any case, I'm not a perfect match to the sites' target audience. I've always been debt-free , and while I did have my own financial crisis last year, it resulted from my income drying up while I didn't have an emergency fund. So I could solve it by first going on the dole, then getting a job as fast as I could. Within three months, I was financially healthy and saving money.

The reason I'm now getting more interested in personal finance/frugality sites is that I have my own set of goals that involve having a lot more money than I have right now. My (modest) translator's salary allows me to live well, but leaves little space for what I really want, which is to travel and eventually emigrate. Before that, I want to take driving lessons, which in this country don't come cheap at all, and learning to drive after the age of 35 is probably going to take me a lot longer than it would have done when I was younger. I also have a few ticking time bombs in the form of rebates that I will no longer qualify for in the near future, replacement costs for household items such as my 20-year-old fridge and my computer equipment - stuff like that. Right now, I try to save 300 Euro a month at the start of each salary cycle, plus whatever I took out of savings again during the last salary cycle — so if I come up short during July and take € 150 out of savings, I put € 450 into savings as soon as my July salary comes in.

This month, that's kind of gone to hell. After stashing away that 300 Euro, I only have another 300 in disposable funds each month, and I kind of depleted that with the cost of a trip to Utrecht for a wedding, a gift for the bride and groom, dress footwear for the occasion (which I was going to buy anyway, but if it hadn't been for the wedding, I'd have held off for another couple of months), the new hosting plan for my website and a few other, smaller things that I'll need to track down. I'm not hurting, but a bit more clarity and restraint in my spending would help me a lot, especially in the area of not having to unexpectedly eat lentils for a week. I like lentils, but not every day.

There's one step I'll be taking this month; after a year of only being able to use it evenings and weekends, I'm giving up the studio I share with (as of August 1) four other artists. That's going to save me € 50 a month, and I'd done that immediately after signing on the dotted line for my current day job, that would have put € 600 in my pocket by now. That's one discount plane ticket to the US if I book early!

I'm also looking at the income side of things. I've decided that a second job is out, for the time being, and while selling my originals can deliver a nice bonus from time to time, it's not structural so I can't count on it. That's something I'm going to have to figure out.

Update: More from Aggie on socioeconomics and tightwaddery

Guy La Roche at A Fistful of Euros has a fascinating post up about his subtitling job, discussing subtitling standards, the way people think they don't read subtitles but actually do, the ongoing decline in quality due to an unwillingness on the part of clients to value subtitles appropriately, and most fascinatingly, subtitling porn. Lots of links (not to porn), worth a read.

I've got some more character art for sale through my Comicspace galleries. This time it's four nude character drawings, of Abui, Sash, Kel and Shireen, made in preparation for the Feral and Invasion storylines. Because they're nudes, only members of Comicspace can see them, but signing up is easy and safe (and if you sign up, you can see all my other galleries, mark some as your favourites and join my friends list there, which is one good way for a reader to help raise my profile just a little bit).

Sizes range from A4 (210 x 297 mm) to A4+ (297 x 370 mm) and prices range from $20 to $40, depending on the size and my subjective assessment of what they're worth - if you disagree with my assessment, you might get a bargain! As with all character art pieces, shipping is free if you also buy any item from the Invasion or Feral galleries!

Why Do Americans Insist On Buying Cheap Crap Instead Of High Quality Merchandise? at The Consumerist is, on its own, little more than a summary of Should You Splurge or Skimp? from MSN Money with some stuff added to make it look like original writing. But the comment thread is wonderful, full of concrete, practical advice on how to consider cost-per-use, how to recognise different kinds of seams and use that to evaluate the quality of an item of clothing, what to skimp or splurge on (naturally) and where you can still get these quality goods you hear so much about.

All right, so I speeded things up a little. Invasion updated today, Friday August 1, and will update weekly from now until the end of the storyline. This update is unusual in that all the art was done by me, but the colouring was done by regular collaborator Calvin Bexfield, whose normal input consists of scene visualisations and backgrounds.

This weekend, I'll work on the unfinished updates, finishing one and getting two to scanner-readyness. Hopefully, I'll be able to draw one more as well. The whole series is scripted to the very end, so it should be relatively easy from here on.