Image courtesy of Brainandspinalcord.org

April was Alcohol Awareness Month and although this blog comes a little late, it’s never a bad time to consider what a few crazy weekends can add up to. It’s the best feeling to ditch classes, work and worries for a couple nights of letting loose with friends. I encourage some solid partying every so often, but as always, moderation goes a long way. In honor of Alcohol Awareness Month, here are some calculations you may not have considered while out at the bar.

Calories, Calories, Calories

Did you know you have to walk the entire length of a football field to burn off the calories from one M&M? An article from Collegecandy.com asks you to consider this: what if you could compare how many cheeseburgers you drank the last time you went out? Well, thanks to an e-chug survey online, you now can. With this handy-dandy application, which allows you to keep tabs of your drinking habits, you can find out how many burgers you have consumed in a month. According to a writer on the site, after putting in her own information (eight standard drinks), she drank 4 cheeseburgers in one month. To burn the burgers off, she would have to run 10-minute miles for two hours and twenty-seven minutes!

Money, Money, Money

If you spend about $20 dollars a week on drinks in college, that’s about $1,040 per year. Try doing four years of that and then paying off student loans.

Zzzzz

Ever notice how after you pass out from a night of drinking, say around 3 a.m., you still wake up at the crack of dawn the next day? While alcohol decreases the time it takes to fall asleep, it disrupts the second half of the sleep period. If you can’t successfully complete your sleep cycles, say hello to a day of being crabby, lazy, exhausted and dehydrated.

Time Poorly Spent

Collegecandy.com says it all: “Quite literally, think of all the time spent drunk. Think of all the sober time you can spend with your friends, shopping (always productive), or trying out new restaurants. Let’s say the average college student is drunk (and awake) at least 5 hours a week. That is about 180 hours a year. Drunk. That is a lot of valuable time you could have been (I know it sounds nerdy) visiting museums, reading books for pleasure, or applying for awesome jobs. It’s pretty simple, getting wasted wastes a lot time.”

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I’ve tried to budget before – wads of cash hidden under the bed, leaving the debit card at home – we’ve ALL tried. What I realized last spring was that I was trying to regulate a shadow, telling myself I had to spend a certain amount without knowing EXACTLY how much I was spending. My budget was based on how I thought I should be, not how I am. It’s time to keep a record of my rights and wrongs.

It’s laughable that at 27 I consider myself crotchety and set in my ways. Yet at any age, a willful decision is no walk in the park. So here I am, raising my glass of Vino Verde to an entire year of managing my money. If you’re nodding and thinking “yeah girl,” keep reading.

•    Pay UP! I get money from three different paychecks. Though I list these numbers at the top of each two-week entry, how much you start off with isn’t so important and I don’t look at them very often. What I do watch is what and where I spend.

•    Know Thyself. Split up your budget into less than 5 simple categories. I use:

Bills. Groceries. Eating Out. Expenses.

$12 for fishnets ordered off sockdreams.com is an expense. Deli pasta salad at the co-op is eating out. Save those receipts and mark down the totals, the automatically debited car payment, the money you count out in quarters from the tip jar.  Staying on top of the paper is the most annoying bit, but it keeps me on track with my budget maintenance because once there is more white than green in the pocketbook, it’s time to evaluate.

•    Knowledge pays. I began shuffling money into my savings account within the first month. By that point, I had noticed a trend in my spending: roughly $60 bucks a week on non-essentials like manicures and beers at the Duck Island. So, if I didn’t spend the expected amount I would simply pull open a new tab and transfer it into savings.

•    Keep it simple. I use Excel, but a notebook and a calculator will suit. Do the math yourself; let everyone else play Sudoku.

It sounds too easy, but trust me. Once you start writing it all down and focusing on where your money goes – you’ll spend less. And it’s not about ‘accidentally’ charging appetizers and french75′s at Oliver’s Twist and having to forgo going out for a week to make up. I splurge, totally. Having a budget simply let’s the smart girl know what cards she’s willing to throw down on the table.

Let me put it this way: my spreadsheet is better reading than a diary. When you can read through your budget the way you look at old photo albums there will be a new understanding that takes place. Those little white slips of paper will start to mean something; they are proof…of who you are and how you can change.

photo by jeff keen

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Recently I was in Aspen attending an invite only CEO’s and Entrepreneurs under 35 conference, called The Summit. Not surprisingly, out of the 115 people attending, about 15 were women. Sadly, I think we have come to expect that women just aren’t in that top tier of business, or if they are, there are such few women that they typically make up less than five percent of any statistic.

I was fascinated by the social experiment that lay before me. What was it about this room full of insanely successful (especially for their age) young men? It took me back to seventh grade when Ryan Hatch asked Kara Crow to the Valentines dance and I was left wondering, “What does she have that I don’t?” The same question lingered in my mind as I watched a band of money making boys doing tequila shots at the bar; are you kidding me? What do they have that all my girlfriends lack?

It wasn’t until I had a conversation with one of the boys, Elliott Bisnow, the creator of The Summit and in his own right a master businessman, that new light was shed on my query. He said, “Yeah I’ve never understood it. In college, my best girlfriends were always the smartest people I knew. The only difference was that me and all my guy friends were always scheming, figuring out how to make money selling t-shirts, or hosting poker games. All we ever talked about was money and how we could make more of it.”

That’s when it dawned on me and I started asking all my girlfriends, my mom, sister-in-laws, women in the Starbucks line, any chick who would talk to me: why don’t we talk about money? And sure enough, most of the responses had something to do with the fear associated with being “money hungry.” It’s like it if we’re money conscious, then we’re heartless, maniacal,  and man-eating. So Instead, we are focused on getting dolled up, on why the Ryan Hatch’s of the world didn’t ask us to the dance, on discussing our latest diet endeavors (as though narcissism is a more acceptable reputation than greed).

And, ladies, I am so far from preaching about this from some soapbox because the moment I realized the necessity of money being a priority in my life, it occurred to me that, in creating and running this company, i am that girl, I have spent less than 5% of my time and attention on our finances. Are you kidding me?!?!

Now, I don’t know what kind of girl you are and whether you’re a fighter, but I am. I had a quarter-life epiphany and it could not have come at a better time in my life. I know NOTHING about money. I don’t know how to make it, save it, invest it and, as an adult, it’s important but, as a business owner, it’s ESSENTIAL. And for the record, just because I want a self-sustainable company, because I want to pay my employees very well, and I want to be able to afford the lavish lifestyle I live, does NOT make me a cold-hearted b-witch.

Here’s the deal: I had a male business executive tell me once, as we sat in the living room of his multimillion dollar San Diego mansion overlooking the ocean, “Money is a tool and no, it doesn’t buy happiness but it’s a pretty damn good down payment on it.” Maybe I don’t need oodles of money, but money is freedom and independence to do what you want, when you want, because you want. And the beauty is that money and passion are not mutually exclusive.

The challenge is on, money is power, and we here at i am that girl need power to reach all our sisters around the world. I’m on a mission to soak up years of lost “college scheming.” You may want to jump on this bandwagon because we’re on a mission to move mountains, very, very expensive ones.

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I’m no stranger to penny-pinching. My first experience living on my own was much like everyone else’s — barely making rent and feeling blessed to have a boyfriend who pitched in. Now as a young married couple, we work hard to get by and stash away a little at a time for our dream house.

A lot of us are hard-hit by the recession and are trying to stay out of debt or struggling to scrape by. Morning, noon or night —there are simple ways you can start saving:

Morning

•    Throw a roast and some veggies in the Crock-Pot before leaving the house. Inexpensive roasts or soup can make as many as three meals that can be refrigerated or even frozen for future dinners.

•    Eat breakfast before heading to work to avoid hitting the drive-thru. Addicted to Starbucks? You can pick some up at the grocery store. Brewing your own can easily save you over $700 a year.

•    Consider the efficiency of your mode of transportation. With the recent rise in gas prices, my husband sold his car and bought a motorcycle for his short commute. If you’re not the biker type, hop on a moped, a bicycle or use your trusty legs (assuming you work close enough).

Noon

•    Skip the vending machine. You could be throwing away several daily dollars on food that would cost you half as much at the grocery store. Packing your lunch may not be considered cool, but it does save money.

•    While you’re running errands on your lunch break and need to grab a little cash, only withdraw what you need from the ATM. If you have enough self-control to own a credit card, consider applying for one that offers rewards.

Night

•    Wait until after you’ve returned home and eaten dinner to hit the grocery store. You’re less likely to pick up things you don’t need when your tummy isn’t growling. Scour the sale fliers and pick your store accordingly. Subscribing to the local weekend paper is fairly inexpensive and will give you access to lots of coupons. You can also surf sites like coolsavings.com for deals. Bottom line — never buy something you don’t have a coupon for or isn’t on sale.

•    Start banking online. Some banks offer higher interest rates for online banking and with the rate of postage constantly rising, you can save $70 a year by avoiding snail mail.

•    Try dedicating every other Friday night to staying in. It can cost upwards of $25 to go see a movie in the theater, but renting one is much more cost-efficient. If you’re an avid moviegoer, subscribe to netflix.com where you can pay anywhere from $5-$17 a month to have movies delivered. There’s also the option of pulling out your favorite book or puzzle, or gathering your family or friends for a game night.

Now that your penny-pinching day has ended, you can sleep soundly knowing you saved money and didn’t feel deprived.

photo by laura billings

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A dangerous dichotomy is brewing in the non-profit sector. In these tough economic times, more people are turning to non-profits for help, be it food and shelter, financial counseling, medical assistance, or a slew of other services aimed at providing basic human needs. At the same time, most of these non-profits are losing huge chunks of funding from major corporations and foundations that have been hard hit in the disappointing Wall Street crisis and Ponzi scheme nightmare.

Currently, as the country continues to hold its breath, watching the roller coaster ride of the financial markets, a feeling of gloom and doom mixes with a budding hopefulness when it comes to the country’s 1.6 million non-profits.

Doomsday Prophecies
According to the Economist, one out of every 11 workers is employed by a non-profit. As funds dwindle and lucrative donors transform into failing businesses, some non-profits are considering the possibility of merging. This means more lay-offs as programs downsize, meaning less people out there serving the community.

On top of throwing more people into the ever-deepening pool of unemployment, the limited funds they still have are flying out the door to meet increasing need. For example the Red Cross, considered a “first-responder,” provides food, shelter, clothing, rent money, and whatever a family needs to get back on their feet after losing their home to a fire. As more families have their utilities shut off they turn to unorthodox ways to stay warm, dramatically increasing the number of house fires in cold climates.

Silver Linings
Fighting the urge to throw in the towel, some people are viewing the recession as an opportunity. Some directors argue that by merging they can streamline their missions and compile donor lists. Merging can help reduce the redundancy of some projects and make more funds available faster.

Another note they’re banking on is the hot new topic of “social responsibility.” You may ask how social responsibility is cool. Well, it’s more about how flaunting individual wealth used to be posh, but has quickly turned tacky. Wealth has to go somewhere, and if it’s not going into wardrobes, then non-profits are hoping some of that income will be directed their way.

But What Can You Do?
You’re broke, you say. Girl, I hear that, but you can still make a difference! Whatever floats your boat, be it the environment, animal rights, global hunger—your favorite charity needs you!
•    Volunteer! Donating your time is equally valuable. Especially with looming lay-offs, donating just one Saturday afternoon a month might make a difference in a program staying afloat.
•    Party! Throw a party and instead of asking your friends to B.Y.O.B., ask them to bring canned food, blankets, old clothes, toys (or anything you can think of) and donate your booty to a worthy cause.
•    Shop! Thank goodness vintage goodies are totally in vogue. Visit your local Salvation Army, Goodwill, Out of the Closet, Jewish Women’s Council Thrift, or a myriad of other businesses that use their profits for charity work. You save money, find one of a kind treasures, and help the needy all at the same time.

photo by patrick giblin

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Junk parties. That’s we called them back in junior high. My two best friends and I would organize one on a school holiday or to pass a rainy Saturday. We would meet at one of our houses, each with a bag or two full of our own junk — clothes that didn’t fit, makeup we didn’t use, jewelry we were sick of, and a whole hodgepodge of books, scrunchies, trinkets, and anything from our own bedrooms we considered expendable.

We would dump everything out, rummage through the clutter and refill our bags with each others salvages. For hours we modeled clothes, tested lipsticks and eye shadows to see which worked best, draped necklaces around each other and traded treasures. While we were each happy to see someone else have our one-time junk, we were also just relieved to be rid of some of the clutter from our own lives.

Although the three of us live in different states now and don’t get to have our parties too often, we reminisce about our junk parties and take retrospective pride in our ingenuity. We were saving money, recycling, and having a blast.

Organize a more sophisticated version of a junk party. Here’s how:

•    It’s all in the name. First of all, call it a Clothes Swap. It sounds more appealing (not to mention more rewarding) than “junk party.”

•    Narrow down your target party-goer. A small group of friends, co-workers or even your whole book club or pottery class would love to swap.

•    Choose a venue. My apartment was great for a clothes swap. A friend of mine thought big though and involved her whole congregation by setting it up as an event in the basement of the church.

•    Select your party favors. Decide to stick to apparel or broaden the exchange by setting up separate tables of makeup, books and movies.

•    Display case. As guests arrive, help organize their stuff into neat piles and have hangers on hand to display coats and dresses. Toss belts and scarves in a box and have an area to lay out jewelry and line up shoes.

•    Food for swap. Supply appetizers and drinks or include food in your swap fest by going potluck.

•    START SWAPPING!

•    Leave no leftovers. After everything is picked over, take what is left to a donation center or a women’s shelter.

Swapping instead of shopping feels great. I love altering my wardrobe without walking into a store and without spending money. It’s an awesome feeling to know in some small way I am reducing, reusing, and recycling instead of consuming, replacing, and disposing — and simultaneously encouraging others to do the same.

photos by ask dzign and jodi marr

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Here’s a brief breakdown of how the new stimulus plan could help you!
•    First-time homebuyers who purchase their homes before December 1, 2009 would be eligible for an $8,000 tax credit, and people who buy new cars before the end of the year can write off the sales taxes.
•    College students -or their parents- are eligible for tax credits of up to $2,500 to help pay tuition and related expenses in 2009 and 2010.
•    We can expect to see about $13 extra in our weekly paychecks, starting around June, thanks to the new $400 tax credit to be given through the rest of the year. Couples would get up to $800.
•    Those receiving unemployment benefits this year wouldn’t pay any federal income taxes on the first $2,400 they receive.
•    For those who have lost their health insurance as a result of losing their job, the government will now pick up the tab for 65% of the cost of continuing insurance through the COBRA plan for the first nine months while you look for a new job. COBRA is typically very expensive, often over $1,000 per month so this is a huge cost savings for job seekers.
•    Homeowners who add energy-efficient windows, furnaces and air conditioners can get a tax credit to cover 30% of the costs, up to a total of $1,500.

Information from the Associated Press
official portrait by pete souza

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Nicole is a Commercial Banker who has always been passionate about empowering women. She studied Finance and Entrepreneurship at Miami University (Ohio) and currently runs the Career Girls! Blog at http://smartsexysavvy.com.

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It’s hard times in Moneyville, ladies, and you know how I know this? Because I accidentally threw away my brand new mascara in the kitchen trash and rather than replace it with a brand, spanking new one, I went diving in after it. Sifting through old milk cartons, egg shells, and coffee grinds, I finally found my CoverGirl eye wand awaiting her rescue. Let’s be honest, six bucks goes a long way these days; it’s a Starbucks date on you, a promotional foot long at Subway, daytime valet, an hour and a half long distance call to Brazil, a medium Cold Stone ice cream with a single topping, or half of a Papa John’s pizza split between you and your best friend.

Here’s the deal, we’re in a financial crisis and it’s time we buckle down and get serious about our spending. Speaking of, I was recently the “plus one” to the premiere of Confessions of a Shopaholic and was pleasantly surprised by the glossy chick flick. Our leading lady, Isla Fisher, is hysterical and the storyline actually had some relevant advice for young women today: Get in control of your finances! Admittedly, something I am desperately working on!

I will never forget talking to a business graduate from Harvard, explaining to her how passionate I was about “empowering girls/women and how I just wanted them all to feel beautiful.” Her candid and rather trite response was, “That’s great, but if you’re not teaching them how to be financially independent, then you’re crippling them because it doesn’t matter how ‘pretty they feel’ if they can’t pay their bills.”

She had a valid point. From that moment forward, I knew that I wanted to build a company that was not just a “warm and fuzzy, feel pretty” company, but one that gave tangible tools to better equip women for what life might throw them. And if you want to see what is important to you, if you want to know where your priorities lie, check out your bank statement. Where you spend your money is a direct correlation to what matters the most to you.

For instance, while I wouldn’t throw down three hundred dollars for a new purse, I have no problem dropping a grand on a plane ticket to Tibet; because, for me, I simply cannot put a price tag on an adventure. Similar with experiences, I’d much rather pay for a dinner out with my friends as opposed to a new pair of shoes. Obviously what motivates my spending habits are adventures, new experiences and opportunities to hang out with the people I love.

So whether it’s shoes, clothes, food, entertainment, international tickets abroad, gym membership, art, school tuition, etc., you can quickly learn a lot about yourself. Who needs horoscopes, astrology or palm readings? Your bank statement will tell you more about who you are than all the fortune telling combined.

As for the current economy, figure out what are the “musts” and what things you can go without for a bit. Whether it’s fishing out your yoke covered mascara from the bottom of the trashcan or just being more conscious of your random credit card swipes, keep your purse buckled a little bit tighter, practice your restraint and together we’ll sail through this economic hiccup.

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There are several numbers a girl should be very protective of: her phone number, her social security number, her SAT/LSAT/MCAT/GMAT/GRE score, and her credit score.

With credit cards being offered out like sample sprays of perfume at the mall and made to entice young people with the ever-tempting free gift, this form of easy money has got this generation in some hot oil.

Your credit score says a lot about you. It is a report that gives you credibility as a responsible adult, and in this case, the higher the number the better.

Before you sign that application and start swiping, read and understand the fine print. As you begin to build your credit, there are a few important things to remember:
•    Introductory rates don’t last forever. What started off at zero can spike to 25 percent, it says so there in the fine print that no one reads. A rate of 16-17 percent is average, and fairly typical when establishing your early credit history. Any lower is a sweet deal; any higher, you might want to keep looking.
•    Annual fees are bad! They are fees often applied in addition to your APR. Don’t get stuck with a card that charges you just for carrying it around in your wallet.
•    Time is money.  A check received a few hours past a deadline can result in a hefty charge.  Most credit agencies are charge happy, they will not hesitate to pile on the penalties for late payments, paying a bill over the phone, or going over your limit.
•    Cash advances are really high interest loans in sheep’s clothing. They come with outrageously inflated rates, and should only be used in dire emergencies, if at all.

Paying your credit balance in full every billing period will earn you major brownie points with the credit gods. Allowing your balance to lapse over month after month will result in gathering more charges and yielding higher finance fees.

The next trick is to fight the urge to CHARGE IT! Every girl has the divine right to indulge. We need pastries to ease PMS, boys to relieve pent up tension and boost body morale, and retail therapy to renew our spirits on those bad days. But as your grandma would say: everything in moderation.

Creditworthiness is next to Godliness. Scoring high marks on your credit report card can be they very thing that gets you approved for the loan on your new car, passing your background check for that new job, or getting the lease on your first apartment.

Years from now, after graduation, when the loans are paid off, after you put in extra hours at the office and establish yourself as a fabulous independent woman, your credit score can help you make some of your bigger dreams come true.

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Time to rewind back to Econ 101. The beautiful topic of Economics is based on the principal of scarcity: we have a limited amount of time and resources available to us and must make choices of how to allocate what we DO have. In college, this means balancing the 3 S’s: Sleep, Studying and Socializing. Take a look at the following three principles and think about how you can apply them to your own life.

Opportunity Cost: what you need to give up to attain what you want.

For example, you can choose to study for an exam or go party with friends. If you choose to study, your opportunity cost is partying with friends. Opportunity costs do not always have a monetary value associated with them, rather, the cost is anything of value to the person assessing the situation including energy and time.

We are faced with many situations where evaluating opportunity cost can be very valuable. Here are some examples:
•    Should I go to grad school that costs $X,000 per year, or continue at my job making $X,000 per year?
•    Should I save that extra $100/month or put $100/month towards my high interest credit card debt?
•    Should I go out to a trendy new restaurant with friends, or stay in to work on my freelance projects?
•    Should I grow my side business, or put more hours in at my day job?
•    Should I stay at this job or should I find a new one?

These are not questions that other people can answer for you. In order to make better decisions, you have to figure out what you value first. Perhaps easier said than done for most twentysomethings, when we are still in the stage of figuring out what we want and value. We are so accustomed to listening to our professors, parents and bosses. But, at some point we need to figure out what WE value and want for ourselves.

Sunk Costs: costs that are already incurred and cannot be changed regardless of what action we take.

For example, a gym membership that you’ve never used or a car you’ve already purchased. A dangerous trap is the irrational thinking of “Well, I’ve already put so much money and time into this so I might as well just keep going.” In many cases, this type of thinking leads to throwing “good money at a bad investment.”

Instead, it is more economically rational to think of your decision going forward and leave your past expenditures out of it; your money and time are already gone. From there you can determine your values and use the principal of opportunity cost to make your decision.

The Law of Diminishing Returns: if one factor of production is increased while the others remain constant, the overall returns will relatively decrease after a certain point.

“For example, if more and more laborers are added to harvest a wheat field, at some point each additional laborer will add relatively less output than his predecessor did, simply because he has less and less of the fixed amount of land to work with.” (quoted from here)

Here are some real life examples that might make more sense:
•    Eating your 4th hot dog brings you less satisfaction than your first or second did.
•    A drug addict needs more and more of a drug to feel the same pleasure he did from his first high to get the same effect.
•    An extra hour of studying at 2am is less productive than your 1st hour of studying at 9pm was.

There are mathematic ways of calculating the point at which your action has less of an effect. The truth is, being aware of this basic principle should help you keep things in check in terms of spending money, buying too many new shoes, over eating, sleep, work etc. At some point the things you do in your daily life have a diminishing return.

photo by d.b. king

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Nicole is a Commercial Banker who has always been passionate about empowering women. She studied Finance and Entrepreneurship at Miami University (Ohio) and currently runs the Career Girls! Blog at http://smartsexysavvy.com.

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