exeunt october.

I absolutely cannot believe that it's November already. That being said, October wasn't such a terrible month. I got 3 paychecks instead of 2 which went a long way towards paying my debts. I absolutely love the few months where I get an extra paycheck. Unfortunately, being paid biweekly those months aren't as frequent as they are for many of those lucky ones who get paid weekly but I have no business complaining. I have a job that I don't hate. And it pays me.

Also! I finally made it out with my bestie magpie and her recently titled "Mr." We went to see Law Abiding Citizen which would have been fabulous even if Gerard Butler didn't go topless. But he did. So it was even better than fabulous. You understand...

It was a nice change because I don't generally go out to the movies, given my financial predicament I can't really justify 12.50$ for a movie ticket alone, plus gas and the food and beverages I never buy. So I must admit that a trip to the movies was very nice for a change. I think I'll have to do it again!

And that's about all I got out of October. I worked a lot. Saw one movie. Not much else. Maybe November will bring along a little more for me....What did October bring for you?

this and that.

If you're going to be in NYC this weekend and have 28$-30$ why not check out the Chocolate Show! Now I'm not a fan of chocolate but 3 days devoted ENTIRELY to everything chocolate kind of impresses me.

On another note...monkey and I have been together 5 years today. Well, I guess technically yesterday since it is almost 2am. For our anniversary I got him something from Etsy. My first Etsy purchase infact. Long time browser first time buyer. I'm pretty excited about it but because I had no idea what I was going to get I didn't order it in time for it to be created. Eh, he can wait but when I get it I'll be sure to show you what it is. VERY excited!!! It's cool, unique and was a great buy. I could only be happier if Etsy was on ebates. Oh, that would be glorious

shoe love.

Sorry I haven't been around, been picking up extra shifts at work and now I'm sick. Good times. But I do have something that will hopefully brighten your day! Since my love of shoes is no secret I have a coupon for DSW.com for you! And to top it off DSW is on ebates!! Happy Shoe Shopping!

crazy people can be so funny...

So, I've been working double shifts like a maniac and I'm tired and cranky and the government takes all of my money anyway because I'm unwed and without children so how can I handle constantly being at work blah blah blah.

It is a complete pain the my ass.

However. It is often also HIGHLY entertaining and thus easier to handle. I would like to tell you about a patient of mine, my current favorite patient in fact. Completely off his rocker. He is EASILY the craziest person I have ever met (and I meet A LOT of crazy people) but he makes me laugh. He has this thing where he thinks some people can turn into animals, usually "a wolf to the ceiling, 10 feet high, or 3 stories high maybe" or a lion. He himself is a zebra (under his skin he has his zebra stripes that's why you can't see them) and today I was sitting down chatting with him and learned so much about myself.

I am a bear. I used to be a bird (old news). Now I am a bear. "A small, baby bear not a big mean bear 4 or maybe 5 stories high, a baby bear maybe 7 or maybe 10 feet high." Not only am I a bear but I have prophecies and when I asked why he thinks I have prophecies he said "You have prophecies because you are a nice and pretty baby bear with green eyes of course!" (Mind you, they're definitely blue). And he went on and on. He simply makes me laugh and makes my miserable double shifts a little easier to deal with and so I figured I'd share in case you are maybe a small, baby bear with green eyes and felt a little alone right now. I'm here too.

time for a little autumn cleaning...

Have I got a surprise for you! Ok, well, it's not super cool like a unicorn or a gorilla but I expect you'll like it just the same. You see, my bestie, magpie, introduced me to a website I would like to share with you. Gazelle is the perfect solution to that plastic storage container hidden in the back of your closet with all those useless old cell phones in it. Or that 6 year old digital camera hiding under your bed. It is a website that pays you for your old electronics. You pop in to see them, enter what it is you're looking to get rid of and they tell you what they'll pay you for it. If it actually is worthless they offer to recycle it for you free of charge, you never even pay the shipping. In many cases they even send you a box to mail it to them in.

And so I went hunting for old electronics of mine. So far I've only sold them 3 things, but I do have a prehistoric laptop they've offered me 83$ for and an old graphing calculator they're offering me 35$ for (just need to find the damn power cord to the laptop and make sure my brother doesn't want the calculator-it is a mighty spiffy calculator).

Look, here's what I have to send them so far.....

Seriously, that was old junk I was expecting to throw away (very bad for the environment) but now I get money for it! They pay you through paypal, a donation to a charity, via check or with an amazon gift card. You choose! And to top it off I found a promo code online that got me extra cash. You really can't beat that!!

Wait! Ha! It gets better!! After I sold my junk to them I was cruising around their website and learned that they also have a referral program. You get 10$ for every person you refer after they sell their first 50$ worth of old gadgets to them. Not too shabby, eh? So clean out those closets and let Gazelle deal with your old crap for you! Hey, why not, it's better for the environment and your wallet!

so i got a makeover...

For my blog that is. The Sailor Girl is a shout out to my main squeeze (we'll call him "Monkey" because he rather reminds me of a monkey) who was in the navy for 5 years before we started dating and is still very much attached to it. And you'll notice my spiffy new debt meter (which I'll be certain to update monthly). Scary, right? Hopefully that bad boy will be completely blue before ya know it, damn student loans.

And to make things more exciting I'm on a secret mission tonight....I can't wait to tell you all about it but, alas, it will have to wait till tomorrow.

In the mean time, I'm going to go back to watching my wonderful October inspired movie the Corpse Bride.....How is it that Johnny Depp is even deliciously hot when he's made of clay?

Check it out...

i'm a very bad blogger.

Sorry! I have no excuse. I'm a bad blogger. But I'm here now!! And I have NO work this weekend so I'll be able to catch up with everyone! All what? Four of you? lol.

On the other hand, I've been researching more ways to make money online because hey, what else am I gonna do on my lunch breaks besides, ya know, EAT. And who really needs food anyway?? Ok, I don't mean that. I need food. But I don't need the full hour I'm mandated to take in order to eat it.

But anyhow, I pretty much can't wait to share my latest money making discoveries with you!! That being said, I'm gonna go get ready to clock into work where I can listen to my patients tell me I'm a demon or Jacqueline Kennedy or maybe even a Jewish angel (definitely not even Jewish, much less an angel).....ahhh, never a dull moment when you're working in a psych ward.

ok, seriously...

I can't sleep. Tomorrow I work a double-shift, same goes for Saturday and Sunday. That's THREE in a row. THREE!! And I can't sleep. Shit.

wha hoo!!

I made a banner! Ok, so I'm fully aware of how terrible it is. Don't judge. I'm new to the blogging world and so my new-terrible-but-it's-mine-even-with-the-dinosaur-type-font banner will be sticking around till I learn what the hell I'm doing.

Otherwise, I've got nothing. That was pretty much the highlight of my day. Tragic, eh?

travel just ain't what it used to be...

I just got back from visiting my kid brother in Chicago and have come to some very harsh realizations.

1. It NEVER pays to check luggage. I had already hit that conclusion but thought I'd reiterate it. It's just not worth it. Airlines lose luggage all the time and on top of that you have to pay to check it. Carry-on is where it's at.

2. Airline food is crap. Period. And somehow whenever and where ever you're traveling you usually wind up having to pay for that crap. It used to be free crap. No longer. Of course there are exceptions, Air Jamaica still serves hot meals and free champagne on all their flights but the exceptions seem to be few and far in between. My suggestion: down a few sleeping pills so you don't have to worry about getting hungry and having to pay for that crap on your flight.

3. Even though you're just boarding a plane and not going out on a fancy date, wash your hair and put on your makeup. I know it can be a miserable ordeal going through security then waiting at the gate for 4 days before you stand in the narrow aisle of the plane waiting while the dumbass that can't figure out out to open the overhead bins fights with one so he can load his designer bag full of God knows what above him but tough it out. I know a large part of you would prefer to suffer through airports and airplanes in pajama bottoms with the lines from your pillow still imprinted on your face and your hair in a tangled knot. You need to fight these desires. If you don't wash your hair and wear makeup and wear a half way decent shirt the pilot is bound to be SMOKING HOT. He's also bound to greet you as you exit the plane. And he WILL make eye contact. Eye contact with those blood shot puffy un-mascaraed eyes you were too lazy to pretty up before you left. You don't want that to happen to you. Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything *cough cough*.

double shifts are miserable...

But not as miserable as being broke. So I'm working a double tonight. Again. I work in a Psych Ward so a double shift can be extremely boring or extremely stressful or extremely funny. Really it can be anything but it is always "extremely" anything. Usually, my double shifts get my paid at time and a half. Unfortunately, this is for straight time. I'm going out of town to visit my brother so Friday is a "Holiday" for me, being as how I was stuck working Labor Day while everyone else was bar-b-queing. Since I'm technically only working 4 shifts this extra brings me up to a regular old 5. My Holiday will get me paid for 6 but all at straight time. Oh well.

so long monthly visa payments.....

Dear Capital One,

I know the holidays are coming soon and this is possibly not the best time to do this but I need to get this off my chest so I'm just going to be straight with you. We're over. I can't do this anymore. It's not you, it's me. I'm sure you could be very happy with someone else but we just aren't a good fit. I'm very sorry if you feel used, I didn't mean to hurt you.

Good Luck With Everything,

Slightly less Broke-Ass Babe

shoe shopping is NOT conducive to getting out of debt...

HA! That's what you think. Well, I'm here to tell you that I commited no foul here! In fact I actually made money on my new purchase...

(aren't the yellow ones beautiful?)

"How did she manage that?" you may be asking yourself, well I'm about to tell you. I purchased the shoes from victoriassecret.com for $138. Shipping ran me $17.99 so I'm up to virtually $156, tax was $12.16 and I had a coupon that saved me $15 off any purchase over $100 so that leaves my grand total at $153.13 but wait, here's where it gets good. I get 2% back of everything I spend at Victoria's Secret. 2% of $153.13 is $3.06 and because I had gift cards left over from last Christmas the purchase costed me nothing and I even made $3.06 off of it.

As a rule of thumb I virtually NEVER make an online purchase unless I'm getting a percentage of that purchase back. The secret to that is to shop through one of my favorite little websites, a certain online shoppers heaven known publicly as ebates. It's a beautiful place with more than 1000 online stores from which to get money back on every dollar spent. Some stores give as much as 25% back sometimes! As a matter of fact last Black Friday I did ALL of my Christmas Shopping through ebates and received a sizable check from them as a thank you. You see, on Black Friday virtually every store offers double cash back on every dollar spent plus they have special holiday prices and free shipping, not to mention the coupons you can get through ebates. I've purchased everything from airline tickets to socks through them and always get money back. What's even better is that you get $5 just for signing up and you also get $5-$10 for getting friends and family to sign up. If you get a chance I HIGHLY recommend that you check them out...go ahead, you can do it now, I'll wait.......

Nice, huh?

Even my technologically incompetent mother (who I love dearly) now does all her shopping through their website. It's very easy to navigate and takes no extra effort on your part.

So there you go, just one more way I'm working to get out of debt. Who thought buying shoes could go so far to help you financially?

the way it is...

Well, I'm not actually sure as to how you start a blog, having never blogged before so I'm just gonna kinda wing it and if I'm doing something wrong feel free to throw a tomato at me. Of course you could throw other food but I have a strong distaste for tomatoes so throwing them might solicit a stronger reaction than say throwing an apple, even if an apple would hurt more.

I fully intend to update this whole getup a little more as I clumsily learn my way around the world of blogging but in the mean time, here's the scoop...

I'm mighty broke. I have a substantial amount of debt (the specifics of which I intend to post once I've learned how to add one of those little debt progress bar thingies to the side). I graduated into an economy with few jobs, in a city with a 25% unemployment rate. Not fun. However, I've gotten it into my head that I can climb out from under this mountain of debt by picking up extra hours at work and making money online so I guess we'll see how it goes!

insolvent, destitute, impoverished

broke

 [brohk]

–verb

1.	a pt. of break

2.	Nonstandard. a pp. of break

3.	Archaic. a pp. of break

–adjective

4.	without money; penniless.

Synonyms:
1, 2. insolvent, destitute, impoverished.