Movin’ On Down

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I’m moving into a new apartment next month.  I will be moving down from a 1 bedroom to a studio.  This will save me $60 a month in rent.  My new monthly rent will be $375 which is pretty cheap even for here.  It is almost as big as my current apartment so there will be plenty of room for me.  I don’t have a lot of stuff and don’t need much space.

The location is nice too.  While searching for apartments I discovered that you can often get an apartment just as cheap in a nice neighborhood as in a crappy one.  My new location is very convenient being about halfway between school and work.  My bank and a grocery store is right across the street so I should be able to cut down my mileage a little. Hopefully that savings won’t be negated by impulse junk food purchases at the grocery store.

When I move in I will have to get gas service again.  It will be cold soon and I have to have the gas on for heat.  I’ll be looking forward to it because the cold showers are starting to get a little too cold.

Depression and Money

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Sorry for not posting the past few days. I’ve been experiencing a bout of depression and when in this state I don’t feel like doing anything. Not even things that I like such as blogging.

I know some people are probably thinking if I weren’t a Tight Fisted Miser and would spend some of my money I wouldn’t be depressed. It doesn’t work like that for me though. I’ve tried spending my way out of depression in the past and it didn’t help. That is how I ended up having to declare bankruptcy eleven years ago.

I’ve learned to keep my depression from causing me to waste money. Depression still hurts me financially though. It keeps from doing things to increase my income. It makes it difficult for me to keep a job and keeps me underemployed. Part of the reason I’m working the jobs I currently have is because they are so mentally and physically easy that I can deal with them even when depressed. The biggest impact depression is having on me currently is law school. It led to my poor decision to transfer schools and it led to me not putting in enough effort in school and being put on academic probation. I’m trying to work through it now but it is making it difficult for me to concentrate on the paper I have to write to be considered for re-admittance. It is better today and I hope it stays that way.

Caffeine is Killing Me

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Or actually the lack of it is killing me right now.  This is my third day without caffeine and I still have a headache from caffeine withdrawal.  I’m also experiencing a lack of energy. I’m hoping that these symptoms will clear up by tomorrow.

I decided to quit caffeine because I got tired of my energy level soaring and crashing depending on how much caffeine I’d had.  I’m also not sure what effect caffeine has on my depression but I’ve decided that without caffeine it will be easier to determine when physical symptoms are being caused by depression rather than something else.

Right now is probably not the best time to be giving up caffeine because I have an assignment due for law school tomorrow.  I’m being allowed to write a paper for credit and a grade while I’m out of school for this semester.  Successful completion of this paper will also be highly determinative of whether I am readmitted.  Therefore it is extremely important that I get this paper done on time.  The outline and thesis is due tomorrow but I’ve been procrastinating.  With my caffeine withdrawal and a bout of double depression I haven’t felt like doing anything. The only reason I’ve finally gotten around to writing a blog post is to delay working on my outline.  Oh well, I guess I have nothing left to do now but get to work.

My Biggest Freebie Yet

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As part of their grand re-opening a local McDonald’s had a promotion giving one year of free extra value meals to the first 100 walk-in customers and first 100 drive-thru customers.  They re-opening was scheduled for 5 am and the restaurant is located just a little off my usual route home from my route home so I decided to stop by and see what the line looked like.  I got off work at 4:15 am and arrived at the restaurant at 4:30 am.  There were only 3 people in line.  This was a lot fewer than I expected.  Since there was no worry of not being in the first 100 I left to gas up my car and came back.

I was the 5th person in line when I came back.  There were no problems with getting my free coupons when they opened up.  They are good for one free extra value meal a week for a year.  The line was short enough that I thought about getting in the drive-thru line and getting another set of coupons.  I decided that one free Mcdonald’s meal a week was enough though. I think this is my best freebie yet.  For a half hour of my time and driving a couple miles out of the way I am receiving about $250 worth of free food.  I know that McD’s food is bad for me but since I’m eating it anyway it might as well be free.

The 25th Carnival of Money Stories

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Welcome to the 25th Carnival of Money Stories and Tight Fisted Miser.
You can check out past Carnivals and learn more about the Carnival of Money Stories at their homepage. If your submission isn’t included it is probably because it wasn’t a personal story about money.
Spending/Saving

Eric presents The Cheap Lunch Wins Out posted at A Penny Closer.

Super Saver presents Wood Deck Maintenance – A Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Project posted at My Wealth Builder.

FIRE Finance presents Garage Sale Tips – A Complete Kit To Save Money! posted at FIRE Finance.

Financial Philosophies and Observations

glblguy presents Does Good Customer Service Still Exist? posted at Gather Little By Little.

Kay Bell presents Bank error not in my favor posted at Don’t Mess With Taxes.

Brip Blap presents find a nickel, pick it up posted at brip blap.

Millionaire Mommy Next Door presents The Powerful (and Addictive) Nature of Giving posted at Millionaire Mommy Next Door.

Amanda presents Observations on Las Vegas… posted at Young and Broke.

The Dough Roller presents Five Guys and the Art of a Great Burger posted at The Dough Roller.

Investing/Earning

Logan Flatt, CFA presents How to Get Ahead In America (1st of a 12-Part Series) posted at PowerWealth.com.

Amanda presents How I made $1592.53 in 1 month by blogging posted at the so called me.

Money for Military presents First Spouse Gold Coins Investment posted at Money for Military.

Financial Planning/Lessons

edithyeung presents The Money Series – You Are Not Going to Live Forever posted at Edith Yeung.Com: Dream. Think. Act..

Meredith H. Kaiser presents Financial (and Life) Lessons I Learned as a Kid posted at Saving Advice Blog.

Silicon Valley Blogger presents 10 Tips On Life and Disability Insurance: How And Why We’re Getting More posted at The Digerati Life.

Steve Leung presents Making an Offer on a Home: Behind the Scenes posted at Silicon Valley Real Estate Blog – 1SiliconValley.com.

FMF presents Money Saving Tip: Shop Now for Holiday Gifts posted at Free Money Finance.

Lynnae presents Why I blog about being frugal posted at beingfrugal.net.

paidtwice presents Eliminating Fees – Don’t incur them to begin with! posted at I’ve Paid For This Twice Already….

After reading the Carnival posts feel free to stick around and read through my archives. If you like what you read you can subscribe by clicking on the link below this post or on the feed button in the header. If you have a personal finance blog and would like to exchange links please contact me.

The next Carnival of Money Stories is being hosted by Paid Twice and you can submit your own money experience here.