Christmas budget

When you live frugally you don't really need one.

Is there some reason we all get so carried away at Christmas? In my own family I was stunned to see what expensive and technologically-advanced presents the kids got. One of the cell phones I saw has a price tag here of over 500 euros for the cheap version! A 5-year old got a computer...

Karoline's answer to that: No words. Jaw on floor.

At the grocery store there was a woman complaining that she spent over 300 euros just for the party she was having at her house. 

Karoline's answer to that: Ever heard of a pot luck? That's where everyone brings a dish to pass. BTW I also had a Christmas party at my house so I feel like I can give my two cents on this one. I think people forget that the P in Party is for People! (If it was about food we would call them Farties, and who would come to one of those?!!)

Here's what I got for Christmas.

A pair of boiled wool slippers. That's what I wanted. That's what I asked for, and that is what Santa brought me. The hearts on them were a special surprise. Sure, I got some other things too, little fun things (a long zipper that turns into a purse, a yogurt maker for the family, a thermos). And a big candy bar in my stocking.

Know what? It was a great Christmas.

What I REALLY wanted was a few days off. And I took them. I plan to take next week off too. I needed a break.

We decided to go away for a few days since Sweetie has some days off too. First we looked at warm places but decided against them because we only want to go away for 3 or 4 days. Then we looked at cold places, which were pretty cheap. We found hotel packages in the mountains for about 250 euros for a long weekend for two adults.

Today we decided we would instead go to Bologna and visit Sweetie's aunt who hasn't seen our little Sweetie yet. There is a nice spa nearby. That means our expenses will be something like 36 euros for a day at the spa (18 euros each, baby gratis) and gas for the car and whatever we eat out. This way we save money and, more importantly, spend time with an aunt we really care about but never see.

When you put the emphasis on the good stuff-- people and relationships, you can't help but save money and feel happier in the process. That being said, a 500 euro cell phone might actually bring happiness as well, but I have never tried it.

PS Have you watched the Charlie Brown Christmas special lately? It's just as a propos this year as it was in 1965 when it came out. C.B. whines about how commercial Christmas has become and that people have forgotten what it's really about. Lucy wanting a modern pink aluminum tree, well that dates it, but only a little. 

It may not look like it

But I have lost 5 pounds in the last week because, presumably, I have started running again (15 minutes per day) and stopped eating meat.

Hooray for short runs!

Interestingly, one of my new students, a marathon runner, when she heard I was running 15 minutes per day, said something like "all you need to do is increase that to 30 minutes per day and you'll be all good." What she didn't realize was that 15 MINUTES IS PERFECTLY FINE, ACTUALLY.

Perfectionism is the enemy of fitness. There is no minimum or maximum time to run. Run what you feel, baby. The trick is to feel what you run.

Now that My Ship isn't Sinking Anymore

I'm starting to think about my role as the director of the Association. Am I really cut out to be the director of an Association that is NOT sinking? Where will I get the adrenaline now that we're not getting sued every two or three days? Running an organization that WORKS is so new to me.

Then again, the reason that it is working is that I am not really running it. Other people make it work. I've been thinking about who else could run it eventually. About a year ago I couldn't think of anyone stupid enough. Now I can think of a few really good people who would be great and wouldn't have to sacrifice nearly as much as we did (I'm talking about me and my partner in crime, D.T.) and they could probably make it run nicely into the future.

First thing, I think the person should be retired. That way they have some money coming in already and the time on their hands. Also, they should be smart and organized. All of these characteristics are things I don't possess but admire (Money, Time, Smarts, Organization). They should be friendly and have an easy time delegating authority. No control freaks allowed!

The search is on. Although I have not finished yet. I have some short and long-term goals to take care of first.

1. Pay off all debts (January 31, 2012)
2. Cultivate a positive and continuing relationship with an accounting office. Learn how to do as much as possible in-house. Make sure ALL past taxes are paid (even those from before my time. We get odd bills once in a while from like 8 years ago saying we haven't finished paying. Ugh!)
3. Get the carpets cleaned (they are DISGUSTING).
4. Create an emergency fund.
5. Automate our processes (Don't know what that means but it sounds like a good goal).
6. GET FUNDING from local and regional gov't.
7. Plan to move out of our building into a cheaper one with easier access.
8. Pat for our entire cinema series with corporate donations.

When this is done, maybe I can retire, too! I've got lots to do to get even close, but one by one I'll knock these off of my to-do list. And will keep you in the loop in the process. My new mantra is "You can do anything in 18 months" since that is how long it is taking us to pay off our debts (and we were seriously in the hole). After that, anything is possible.

Organizing from the inside out

Today is Monday. My favorite day of the week. I decided this year I would keep this day free for me. I teach 3 hours in the afternoon, but in a pleasant place with nice people and a fireplace. I spend Monday morning getting my ducks in a row for the week. I do my new habit of menu planning for the next week or so, I pick up the house, create a schedule for my free-lance work, and make something big and slow in a pot.

Today I am making bean soup. Cooking is a great way to keep me on task because it gives me frequent breaks (for stirring), so I can leave the computer and come back feeling refreshed.

Today I am feeling optimistic about the week, about the holidays. It's all good.

Tomorrow is Saint Nick's day. Here in Trieste he gives big presents to kids. But in our house he will be the Swedish St. Nick, the one who fills your shoes up with little treats. We'll save the presents for Christmas. Saint Nick is also coming to Baby Parking tomorrow, so he already got little Sweetie a little something to open tomorrow with her other teeny friends. Friday she sat on Santa's lap like she knew him all her life. She went to bed SUPER late last night, which bothered me last night, but today she is sleeping in, which gives me even more time to think about my day.

Have a good one!

The 15 minute rule worked

From Tuesday to Saturday I ran 15 minutes per day, which means I ran 75 minutes more than last week when I ran 0 minutes.

Go me.

You try it, too! Go you!

Did I read that right?

Is it TRUE that WALMART is trying to use the ole "but we're just a poor mom and shop" argument to complain about Amazon's not paying state taxes??? NOT KIDDING. In the NYTimes on Friday. Of course now I can't find the dang link to it just now. Tomorrow...

Now I shake my finger at you, Walmart and say:

SERVES YOU RIGHT FOR BULLYING EVERYONE ELSE OUT OF BUSINESS AND THEN GETTING BEAT UP BY THE BIGGER BULLY.

But, really, using the Mom and Pop shop law?

Tacky!

Can't really choke down that meat anymore

I'm glad I read Eating Animals. But if you do, beware. You will stop calling it MEAT and start calling it Animal.

Hmmm. I had a buffala pizza. Haven't even entertained the thought of meat since Thanksgiving (I ate the turkey because I had to honor the beast and he was already dead).

I think I'm going plant-based for a while.

Did you know that all flu viruses come from chickens and pigs? Eww.

We got in the PAPER today!

and Santa came to our library! Two great things. 18 months ago the articles about us were Not positive. THIS time there was a big picture of the turkey from our Thanksgiving dinner* (18 months ago that could have been my Head with the way things were going) and a Big Announcement about Santa coming to our library for a visit.

Man, that sure made my day. Plus I was quoted and I HAD actually SAID what was written. That was unexpected. My name was spelled wrong and a couple of other details were mixed up, But no biggy.

Our Christmas party was a huge success, by the way. Santa was the the Bello of the Ball of course and now our big events are done for this year (Halloween, Thanksgiving and our Cookie festival today are pretty close together as far as planning goes). We had an all-volunteer clean-up task force so the woman who does our cleaning (and has for the last 15 years or more and so was used to the place not having much action) won't cry.

All is good.

Plus, a couple of weeks ago I checked our bank account and I almost had a heart attack of joy! There was a LOT of money in there (compared to the usual negative 10,000 that it averaged when I first started looking at it). The only credit I can take for this is that I know how to convince people I like and who are smart to volunteer and thank god one of them knows how to deal with money stuff!

So basically it's OPPOSITE YEAR. Yeah!

*They were quite happy about the turkey picture. At the dinner, a lot of their guests had their picture taken with it because you don't see a lot of whole turkeys getting baked here.

You can do anything for 15 minutes

That's my philosophy this very busy week. I decided to start running again to jump-start my immune system. Today was the fourth day in a row that I ran for over 15 minutes first thing in the morning. I used to run lots more, of course, but that was a couple of years ago. I have not run consistently since I got pregnant, had a baby, and let a year go by.

So now 15 minutes a day is pretty good. I ran the same route each time and took Luna, my dog. How nice to run with her again. The first day it took us 19 minutes to do our loop. Today it took us 16 minutes. When we get below 15, we'll just have to add on a chunk.

I hope to do a longer run this weekend but the important thing is that I started a great morning habit this week.

And I am starting to be able to breath through my nose again.

Coincidence? I hope not. Or, if it is, just don't tell me.

I've been sick forever

Yeah, I think I have had a head cold for over a month now. I decided to start running again yesterday to see if that would boost my immune system. That, and I am trying to take a momentary (I wouldn't mind making it permanent) hiatus from meat. Have you read Eating Animals by Jonathon Saffran Foer? Read it and I am sure you will understand my dismay with the meat and fish industry. Also, is it really true that all of our flu viruses come from pigs and birds?

GROOOOOSSSSSSS!

If I want to get better, I need to fill myself up with something else. So running less than 30 minutes is supposed to help with this stuff. Long runs are good for other things, but for the time being I am just doing what I can to knock out this perpetual cold.

Plus I am working my arse off. Funny how the work starts to come in the second you get an entrepreneurial idea and you can't even find 5 minutes to work on the dang business plan? Oh, but I am not complaining. Mama's gotta bring home the bacon radicchio.

It's Almost Thanksgiving

Which is my favorite day of the year besides my birthday. And, can I just say, dear Reader, that I am thankful for YOU?

What I am NOT thankful for is the fact that I read the chapter on Turkey Factory Farming in the book Eating Animals today and I am THIS close to becoming Vegan. In fact, I feel like a complete ASS for eating meat and thinking that some part of me is just a little bit environmentally conscious. Because clearly the most important part of me is not.

Sigh. Tomorrow I will do like the Native Americans do and ask my food to forgive me.

The Accountants are Worse off than me!

I started teaching a Business English class for accountants. Nice people, really, and they are helping me get over my PROBLEM with Italian accountants... They are actually sweet, nice, don't mind talking, not averse to technology (two of them actually check their emails before and after the lesson-- wish MINE did once in a while). Not only that, but they're kind of funny too, and human! I'm glad I decided to take them on!!

But they make me sad, too. Because they all have something in common. People don't pay them. Sometimes they have to wait one or two years to get paid for their work.

Which makes me think. What the hell am I doing paying my accountant on time?? I could wait a couple of years and let that money work for ME!

No. I wouldn't do that. But many people do, apparently. Most of them are small and medium businesses because they pay their employees first, suppliers and service providers last. I wonder how they stay afloat. That will be my next question for them.

I will let you know what I find out.

Monti doesn't seem like a bad guy

Especially after suffering through Italy on Berlusconi... This, from the New York Times today talking about Italy's new premier, Monti:

"Addressing what he called a fundamental cause of Italy’s low growth, he said the government would work to grant young people and women greater access to the workplace. 'They are the two great wasted resources of the country,' he said."

Part of me says RIGHT ON!

The other part says HUH DUH! I could have told you THAT!    

Having Doubts

But I know that's normal. I have been so busy I haven't even had a chance to think much about my super duper business plan. I can't wait for the weekend. Except I have work to do.

Crimeny.

But my entrepreneurial idea is still there in the back of my head and I think about it every spare second I get.

Could it work?

It's amazing how things are coming together now that I am thinking like an entrepreneur. My ideas are getting clearer and it's great talking to my future partners about their ideas. Google docs are totally useful for collaboration. I have new enthusiasm for the future.

I know that we are creating something that has never been done before around here. It will provide a valuable service, too. Even so, an occasional doubt jumps into my head, which I try to squelch by taking notes and working on our business plan.

Will it work? Will others believe in our idea? Will it get funding? Will it give us satisfying work and a positive financial future? Let's hope it helps us and we help a lot of people like us in the process.

Send the good vibes. I need them.

Time to Write a Business Plan

First I wrote down all of my ideas as they came to me. This weekend I need to clean them up and narrow them down to create phases of implementation to start slow and leave room to grow. I pitched the idea to my two partners, who seem to like the idea. I will share my document using google docs and let them add what they want.

I downloaded the forms I need to help us complete the business plan. We are applying for funding, so we need to follow directions. I will keep you in the loop.

I am also starting my research phase and getting my head around the idea of being an entrepreneur. I like it. Here is what I am reading today-

There's more to do, but this is step one to creating a new working situation for myself. I have less than three years to do something. If I don't, I will be knocked into a new tax regime that will cost me lots and lots of money and will probably not be worth it for what I am currently making.

My two partners feel the same frustration. It's time to think big and try something new and different that has never been done around here before.

Send us the good vibes.

.

I Promise it's NOT a Doggy Bakery

Even though I'm pretty sure Italians would LOVE the idea, I'm just not interested in retail, or doggy snacks. Maybe it's more suited to France anyway.

My idea may be considered a tad crazy over here.

But I'm thinking Innovation, which has to be a little crazy to work.

I Have a Business Plan

I don't know where it came from but it did. I have a great idea for a new business and I am going to submit it to try to get funding for it. I don't want to tell you too much about it yet. I'm not afraid you'll steal my idea, of course, because I don't worry about such things. I am more worried that if I talk too much about it I will open myself up to criticism when I am feeling HUGELY optimistic. There's nothing worse than having someone pop your balloon just when you're feeling like the World is Completely open to you.

And today, by gosh, it IS!!

You wanna feel like a lousy mom?

Read those brain development books that say you only have like two years to teach your kid everything in the world they need to know for the rest of their lives.

Anybody know a good suzuki teacher in Trieste?

Reading Material for the Office Bully

The Triestino workplace (especially the University) is full of office bullies. These are the insecure folks who like to throw their weight around, give favors to their sweeties because it makes them feel more powerful (there are less and less resources, thus the office bully is losing influence, and he knows it, which makes him even beastier!), send threatening letters to higher-ups when they don't get their way, and, sadly, often do get their way because the people they are bullying want them to shut up.

Well, I realized that the problem with these bullies is they don't read enough. So, I would like to propose three books that may help them realize that treating other people badly is not a healthy way to live.

Here is my first recommendation, The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama. This is a great book for bullies, but also for their victims. Need some help walking away from negativity? Who better to explain how than the Dalai Lama!

Recommendation number two. The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle. In this book we have the friendly ladybug who is happy to share her aphids with the grouchy ladybug. The grouchy ladybug wants all the aphids for himself, though, and likes to pick fights. When the friendly lady bug stands up to him, the grouchy lady bug decides she is "not big enough" for him to fight and goes off to find someone bigger to threaten. This keeps happening until he finds a whale who slaps his arse back to the same leaf he was eating on that morning. An important learning opportunity for all bullies!

And, since we're on a roll, dear Bully, here is one more book for you to try out. The No Asshole Rule by Robert I. Sutton. This one is good for the bully but also for the misguided boss who thinks that having a bully in the office is good for business. This book (yes, it was actually a Harvard Business Review Study) has a helpful formula for recognizing if you (or someone you know) is a card-carrying asshole. It's a great test. Try it!

1. Do you treat people you feel are higher in rank than you well and people lower in rank badly?

2. When you walk in a room, do the people in it leave?

If you answered yes to one or both of these questions, then you are DEFINITELY a card-carrying asshole. 

Yes, all three of these books are available in Italian.

Worst Case Scenario

If we are unable to buy this apartment then we have to think of a plan B for our little nest egg. I feel lucky that we're even worried about something like this, especially after our lousy work situations over the last couple of years which proved that it's not how much you make but how much you don't spend...

Are there any decent investments around these days? I don't trust anyone right now and got to feeling like the old Triestini, that the only thing you can count on is what they call "mattoni."  But I have had serious doubts all along, that for one reason or another, this transaction is not going to go through.

I hope I am wrong.

Buying this Apartment is like Visiting Oz the 1st time

So I went to the Wizard  Notaio with the documentation they asked for: the marriage certificate that says that hubby and my assets are separate (so that this is considered my "first house" and I get a tax break) and asked for an appointment. The seller turned in a document from his doctor saying that he is in his right mind to sell his apartment. But even this wasn't enough. Now I have to get get the wicked witch's broom  these documents:

1. Certification of Energy (whatever the hell that is and wherever the hell you get it)

2. Details of building permits (if built after 1967).

3. Details of livability (whatever that means)

Shouldn't it be the SELLER getting these documents together?

Hmmmph.

Attack of the Pregnant Woman

So one of our teachers walks into a public school today and is told that she has to leave. Her crime? Being pregnant. According to the school, pregnant people cannot set foot in the place within two months before their due date and three months after the birth. Apparently this is a "legal" issue. Of course no one bothered to call her and tell her yesterday and the poor, helpless, pregnant woman had to drive (the horror!) all the way to the school, only to be turned away.

Um. OK. I can understand if you're on a PLANE close to your due date, but in a SCHOOL? It's not even that far from the hospital. So what are they REALLY worried about?

Pregnancy isn't catching.

But it's a great demonstration of how Italy sees pregnancy on all levels: sickness, risk. By the way, I was working at the same school up until the week before my baby was born last year and went back (with the baby in a marsupial) soon after. This was brought up (in a positive way) over the course of the conversation, by the school, to highlight a certain understanding that we American breeders are a little different. It didn't help our friend's case, though.

She is a libera professionista, by the way. She just opened her tax code a few months ago, she has no maternity benefits at all. She doesn't work, she doesn't get paid. So she gets none of the benefits but is penalized for two months before and three months after the birth, even if she feels perfectly fine, is healthy and WANTS to work.

That's what you get for getting yourself pregnant I suppose.* .

*Ironic statement. Sneer.

How Many Americans Live without a Dryer?

It's uncommon to have a dryer in Italy. They exist but they're not common. In fact they are famous for: using too much electricity, making colors fade, wearing clothes out before their time.

At my apartment we hang them on a clothes stand thing and put it outside in the sun during the day and in the bathroom with a dehumidifier at night (especially during the in-between season). They dry in about a day.

By the way

The apartment I was telling you about? The one that was donated? Well, it's still there, and it's still empty.

Don't buy an apartment in Italy that was donated

So here is the latest thing to worry about when buying a property in Italy: donated property. This happened to a friend of mine very recently. She was interested in buying the small apartment next to her own small apartment to join them and make a bigger space. No problem. She knew her neighbor, he had already moved and the apartment was empty. He was happy to sell it.

So they go through all of the checks and appointments and everything and just before making the final deal, the notary (they actually do work sometimes, I hear) uncovered the fact that this apartment had been donated. This is a clever way of having your apartment go under someone else's name so you can pay less tax on it than if you were to actually sell it. This works well in two situations: 1. you are so rich that you have a gazillion apartments and therefore a big enough percentage of your estate goes to your heirs that this apartment can go to whomever you want, or 2. You plan to live in the apartment you receive until you die. Then it will just pass on to your heirs and you don't have a thing to worry about.

Italian law protects the inheritance that should go to your heirs. There's no cutting your kids out of your will either. Two-thirds of your estate MUST go to them. If you try to donate your house to someone else in order to give them less, forget it. Your kids have up to 20 years after your death to get that house back, and they will. They have a right to it, especially if they didn't get that famous two-thirds (see, you can decide what you want to do with that other third, leave it to your guinea pig, but the other two are not your choice). This means that if you buy a donated house (it has happened and happened again and not come to light sometimes until the third owner after the donor gets the place taken away from him or her by the protesting heir or heiress, even after paying market price. GULP! Big loss, people).

So, don't buy a donated apartment, but if you are absolutely convinced that you must, don't pay market price. It's a high risk investment that could (probably) get taken away from you somewhere down the line.

If you have received a donated property you are not interested in, why not rent it out? You only pay 20 percent tax on the rent you recieve. Find a small place, live the simple life, and sock money away until you can buy the place you really want.

Just a thought.

As if our taxes weren't high enough

Now the aliquota for inps is going up to 28% on Friday (from 27%). Need I remind you that a regular salaried worker pays 9%?

Thanks to our friend, Eddie, for the news. He is closing his free-lance business the day the new percentage goes into effect.

Now, the government, which is already eliminating the simple tax numbers for those of using making less than 30,000 per year because there are "too many" of us, is making it even more appealing to evade taxes.

This comes on the heels of the dread I have been feeling all morning that SOMETHING must be done to change my situation. I am already trying to think of another investment plan since I will probably never be able to retire and get anything decent from either the American system or the Italian system, both of which I have consistently paid into but by the time my bones are too brittle to do anything it will have been too few years on either side of the pond.

This is a problem. I am thinking in lots of directions and I need to put it into action within the next two to three years. Here are some of my options.

1. Try to get a job in a company (ugh, but a steady paycheck would have its own reward).
2. Open a company with some other people doing similar work so we can save on accounting and go for bigger contracts).
3. Close my Partita Iva and opt for a Co.Co.Pro contract from clients (if they agree).
4. Close my Partita Iva and make less than 5,000 euros per year (ritenuta d'acconto)
5. Move back to America and try to get a job there (but what would husband do? This would also depend on what kind of contract he has two years from now. If he has a lifetime contract by then this won't make much sense unless I get lots of money).
6. Do something to try to up my income so that I can live decently in spite of high taxes. This would mean trying to quadruple my current income.
7. Buy up apartments I can rent out or start a B&B (you can have up to 5 properties you rent out without having to open a tax number and the tax is 20%).

Some combination of these could work as well. I need to think, plan, and act. The future feels scarey and a little depressing to me right now. I need to find a solution.

The other reason I didn't care about my phone

The phone I have is this one here, only black. It cost 30 euros. No, it was free, since my grandma bought it for my husband and then he gave it to me when we got a coupon for 10 euros off the same phone (hence, that one was 20 euros). Sure, it's low-tech so I would have had to re-insert those important numbers, but really, changing phones gives me a chance to purge numbers I don't use.

Plus, I knew I could keep my old phone number. So, no biggy. I would have probably cried if I had an expensive phone like an iphone (which in Europe means you pay full price for it-- we don't have those special deals for 2-year contracts and neat phones).

By the way, I get to look (not so) cool using my hand-me-down ipod touch (it was my mom's free with her computer, she gave it to my brother, who got an iphone and gave it to me, so I'm the third owner), which I use to check my email when I can find wifi (which in Trieste is not easy. We have it at our Association even though the Italian government wouldn't let us do a hot spot because of "security reasons" effectively keeping Italy in the stone age, while in Slovenia, even restaurants owned by old people have wi-fi free for anyone). Anyway just having it balances out my loser factor of the phone pictured here and makes me look somewhat up-to-date (in an out-of-date way).

Our cousin Paolo was still in the hotel when they found it so he's got it and is on his way back to Trieste on the train with it. Yeah!

Left my phone in Rome

and, surprisingly, life has gone on all the same. In fact, maybe just a fraction of a bit better since I haven't had to hear that annoying ring (perhaps I should change it?) since I was outside of Saint Peter's on Sunday (the one free day at the Vatican museum if you can stomach the wait. I couldn't). After that I apparently put it back in my pocket in just a way that it could fall out easily as soon as I sat down on a couch at the hotel (it was found and is on its way back to Trieste).

I didn't miss it at all. Not one bit. Although I felt quite GUILTY without it. As if my not being reachable at any time of day by anyone at all in the world was some kind of sin.

What is your dream entry-level job?

Mine is working in a hotel. Not kidding. I wouldn't even mind cleaning the rooms. Not that I would do a good job, but I wouldn't mind it. Sometimes I even do the triangle fold trick with the toilet paper in my bathroom when I clean it (which is more often now, thanks to Flylady.net) so it looks like it's been cleaned by someone else. I would put little paper covers on my water glasses in the bathroom if I had them (paper covers/glasses for that matter).

We are going to Rome tomorrow and staying at Giorgia's hotel downtown. It's a 5-minute walk from the Vatican. I wish I worked there.  I could make a really killer all-you-can-eat Continental breakfast.

Her hotel is called La Rovere and I recommend it. Tell Giorgia Karoline sent you.

It's Unicredit's dang fault...

If I can't get my taxes paid on-time. In theory (and in practice in the past) I can pay my taxes on-line. But for some reason I can't scroll down the page, which is really long. That means I can only tab down and it jumps me right up to the top so I can't enter the info.
HOW ANNOYING!! I'm already annoyed that I have to pay them at all, and now I can't get the stupid site to work?? So I assumed the system was down... YESTERDAY. But today it doesn't work either.

UGH!!!

BTW who knows when these taxes are due anyway. All I know is it's sometime in November. Encouraging.

Ok Let's be fair here

I did not mean to say that garages IN GENERAL are not a good investment. I meant to say that THIS PARTICULAR GARAGE might be a little pricey.

I just don't think the 65,000 euro garage or 55,000 euro parking spot is a great investment when you can rent a spot for about 120 euros per month on the next block. Even considering appreciation would you ever really get your money back on that one?

Now, if you got, say, a 15,000 euro parking spot somewhere just a little bit out of town (but will soon be considered in town), it might make more sense.

If I had 65,000 euros, sigh, I would probably want to buy a small studio apartment downtown and rent it out. Perhaps that would appreciate in value just a bit more (but cost more to maintain as well). And, as long as there are apartments in that price range and as many Italians are living alone as there are, it just seems a little more sexy as an investment opportunity.

But that's just me.

Since we are on the subject

I found out last week from a friend with a bed and breakfast and a vacation apartment he rents out that you can have up to FIVE rental properties without having to open up a tax number. That means that you only pay 20 percent tax on the rent you receive (much cheaper than, say, income tax) and you don't have to pay an accountant every month-- you can just make that same yearly appointment you've always made. Not a bad idea to up your income (listen up, low earners like myself!) especially at a time when it's not really clear where to put your money (especially in Italy). Italians still say bricks and mortar are the way to go.

Garage not such a good investment

The trend around these parts over the last couple of years has been to buy up small garages and parking spaces and rent them out. Low maintenance and there is definitely a market for parking... if you can get one at a decent price.

At last night's financial group for fun meeting (I need to come up with some kind of catchy name for it) we found out that a small garage downtown Trieste is going for 65,000 euros!! A parking space nearby is going for 55,000! How long would it take to get your money back on that investment?? According to one member's calculations, only 40 years!

Hmmm. Don't think I will be jumping on that bandwagon anytime soon! The trick seems to be to INHERIT a parking garage or take a groundfloor warehouse and convert it into a garage for several cars. That could make sense.

Last Tax Payment for this Year

Hoorray (hmmph!)! With this last payment of 1,000 euros, I will have paid exactly 45% tax on my earnings for last year. I was pregnant for most of it, but I worked up to 1 and a half weeks before delivery (I worked past my due date because Sugar was born two weeks late) and started working two weeks after. My revenue was about 10,000 euros (don't work, don't get paid, although I worked a hell of a lot for that money, I must say, much more than I would have liked). So I got to keep 6500 of it (woo hoo).

I am telling you this so that if you're one of those people who complain about libero professionistas not paying their share of taxes, you will think again. We pay lots of taxes, we don't get sick pay or maternity (we pay in, but from the experience of one of our financial club members, she got more money as an unemployed person after her first child than as a contributing professional for her second) and have no guarantees that we will make enough money to pay our accountants at the end of the year.

The same people who complain say things like "But you can work under the table" as if regular employees can't. Many do. Anyone can work under the table. It does not mean that Libero Professionistas are doing it more than anyone else.

By the way, if I asked my accountant how much I pay in taxes, or how much to put aside, he would not say "put aside 45%" he would give me a barrage of numbers like 18% here, 21% here, 4% paid by clients, half as a downpayment for next year based on last year, etc. But what it comes down to is this: I have to take my already miserable earnings and half them if I want to be realistic about my take home.

That is my thought for my Italian friends with safe and steady jobs (god bless ya!). To my American friends who think Italy is a great place to work because of amazing benefits, gazillion-year maternity leave, etc. I remind you of this.

For others who say "If it sucks so much there, why do you stay?" I remind you of this.

I have a great life here.

10 minute crappy art project lives up to name

I promised myself I would take 10 minutes a day to do some crappy art, since I felt like I wasn't using my hands for anything useless anymore, and it was time to.

So I took a ball-point pen and my journal and doodled for 10 minutes. It was great, my only rule was to respect my time limit and to fill up the page. At the beginning I was a little blocked like I sometimes am when I start writing, so I just drew what I saw around me. Baby toy, baby bottle, then some waves and lines and leaves and I connected them with my new experimental fake liberty font hand-writing. I felt like I was in middle school again, doodling during classes. And since it wasn't a special pen or anything, there was no expectation that it had to be anything other than crap. No pressure. Just doodling and getting it out.

I loved it.

This came on while I was writing

It's by the Decemberists, and I love a song with my name in it (doesn't everyone?) Just add ten to my age and we're there.

THE RAINCOAT SONG

Caroline, you're angry 'cause you sleep like a spinster and you're twenty-eight
You've been thinking lately you couldn't catch a cold
Bend your head double in the goose down, piling all the pillows high
Heave your fiercest sigh and see if that'll work

And the raincoat that you wore when it rained today
And the raincoat that you wore when it rained today
I think it only made it rain more
I think it only made it rain the more

And if the water's all wickin' up your pant-leg, better wear your britches tight
I should teach you right to be so down at heel
Going off half-cocked, not shot full of arrows from the cherubim
Oh, the nerve of them to not draw their bows

And the raincoat that you wore when it rained today
And the raincoat that you wore when it rained today
I think it only made it rain more
I think it only made it rain the more       

The Glass is half full though

The reason for that last post was that I got a new contract that I started today, which is pretty great, especially since I need to bring home some pancetta to the chitlins...

And to reward myself for a job well done including hopping into the car and going out into the middle of nowhere with it and not getting lost, I made my favorite food for lunch: ravioli (from a big bag) with tomato sauce (from a big jar), and for dinner: chicken (from the freezer) curry (well, I made the sauce because I can follow directions). Sweetie is working late, little chitlin fell asleep early (never happened before, ever, except last night, which makes me think this MIGHT be a NEW TREND?!) so I did the other thing I love to do these days: listen to my old college radio station.

And, surprise, it's still good, even though I'm something like 20 years older than I should be to listen to it.

And it makes me feel just a little bit like I'm in America, which I miss sometimes. Especially when I hear college radio.

It's harder than ever to ask to be paid

I can do it, but I find it embarassing lately and I second-guess myself. In fact, when people ask me to give them an estimate on a job, I give the same prices (I haven't changed them in a really long time) I always do, but where a few years ago I felt completely comfortable talking about it, now I feel embarassed and a little voice in my head says "Is this too much?" I think this feeling is leftover from when Hubby wasn't working. I feel a heightened sense of empathy for others who may be experiencing their own problems. The problem is that I have this default feeling with EVERYONE, even those I KNOW are NOT having problems. I need to get over it, find my worth again. But it's not easy. I think I need to listen to tapes (because these things are always on TAPES, not on CDs) with ocean waves and positive mantras in a calming voice while I fall asleep "YOU ARE WORTH MILLIONS OF EUROS" "THE MONEY IS OUT THERE FOR THE TAKING" "SUCCESS IS INFINITE"

or perhaps just this one over and over:

"GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR *SS!! QUIT WORRYING ABOUT EVERYONE ELSE'S FINANCIAL SITUATION AND BRING HOME SOME BACON, SISTER!!"

It's the little things

This morning, Sweetie, Sugar, Luna and I went for a walk downtown. Our mission was to find a pair of warm jammies for Sugar to wear this winter. See, now that she's wearing 18-month old clothes (yeah, she's 11 months), all those gifts and hand-me-downs no longer work.

First we went to a baby store that is supposed to have things like this. We were greeted by a very snotty woman who told us with a roll of the eyes as if our question was just SUCH A WASTE OF TIME and a HUGE INTERRUPTION from her folding that we would have to go upstairs. Okay. We have baby, dog and stroller. Where is the elevator (this is a baby store, after all, and they sell strollers upstairs). There isn't one. Mmmm. Okay. So we leave the stroller downstairs and go up to see the pajamas.

We were greeted by a young woman who showed us where the pajamas were and when we said we wanted to look at 18 months she took out the 9-12 month size like TWICE and then, when I told her I was looking for something a little warmer than the cotton one she was holding up, she was like "Um. Can I just tell you, you can't GET any warmer than CHENILLE*" and I was like "Um. That's COTTON, the (way too small one) next to it is chenille. Got THAT one any bigger?" "No."

Is it possible to work in a baby store and not know the difference between regular cotton and fuzzy chenille? Whatever.

We come down just in time to see the SNOTTY lady SCREAM at one of her colleagues for being an idiot (and surprise, it wasn't our genius from upstairs). Not pretty.

So then we go to H&M, which is like the IKEA for clothes. And there were like ANGELS singing in there the second we walked in and they had EVERYTHING you could ever want and super cheap. So we got the jammies, a couple of shirts, and some non-slip socks for like HALF the price of the Chenille Cotton jammies at the other place.

Then we decided to really splurge and go out to lunch and then we went to another place for coffee. I tried to remember the last time we went out for a coffee. I was talking to my friend Fabia about that yesterday. I was telling her that I make like NO money but that I feel a lot richer than I did when I made more money, and she was like "yeah, it's the little things, isn't it? It's going out for coffee every day, buying the Piccolo to see what's going on. It's those things that really get you. You've got to watch the little expenses."

*Note to self: in English we call this material VELOUR but I couldn't think of that word when I was writing this. Poor folks' velvet? I don't know, but it's warm.

What is missing in my life

I know it's a bit morbid,  but our book tells you to pretend you only have six months to live. You're supposed to write about what you would be doing, whom you would be with, etc. When it came up last night I didn't have much of a reaction to it until I heard what the others were saying they would do more of. The girls working in offices said they would immediately take sabbaticals (not quit) and travel around the world. The independents said they would continue doing their same work (including me) up to the end. I said I would get a small simple apartment (sans clutter of my current abode) in the city with lots of light (I have now decided it must have a fireplace).

I've been thinking about the question a lot today, though, and realized that there is one part of myself that I am doing nothing with these days: art. I think I should be doing some. My excuses for this are that I haven't done anything creative with my hands in so long I probably suck now, I am rusty, I would make crap.

So...

I have decided that I will allow myself to make crappy art every day for 10 minutes. Then, hopefully, I will get better until I make something less crappy and less crappy. I can afford ten minutes. Making crap in ten minutes doesn't feel like I'm wasting THAT much time, and, who knows, perhaps it will give me some much-missed creative satisfaction.

Hurrah for creating crap!

Personal Finance for Smarties

Yesterday's women's financial group meeting was really interesting. It was so encouraging to share ideas. There was a lot of talk about buying a second piece of property as an investment. Our friend talked about how she bought three apartments (one at a time) in Cash! I loved what she had to say about saving money and upping your earnings and socking the extra in the bank. I also wrote this down in my notebook.

DON'T BE EMBARASSED TO MAKE A LOW OFFER.

I appreciated her openness to talk about numbers, how much things cost, etc. This is something I have noticed-- people who are comfortable with money don't mind telling you how much they spend on things. And it makes you able to open up about numbers because you know no one is going to judge you or make comments about it being too high or too low, etc.

We are so programmed NOT to talk about financial details (especially women, I am convinced it is a plot to keep us lower on the payscale) that it feels a little bit like getting naked when you actually start talking about them.

But it is also liberating to know that you CAN face the numbers in front of other people, and you feel better afterwards.

Everyone in our group has a different financial situation yet we still have a lot in commont. Desire to do well financially, self-doubt when it comes to managing financial matters, but also the other pressures we have in our lives.

We decided to meet again next week and talk more about the book we're reading. I am going to spend some time today doing the writing exercises, I think. I feel energized and excited.

The Paperwork

For the next step of the sale we need to gather some documentation. The most important paper is the one saying that Sweetie and I are married but we have something called SEPARAZIONE DEI BENI, which means that our assets are separate. That means that anything we buy in my name is mine, in his name his, even if the marriage (gulp gulp) disolves. Besides acting as a sort of pre-nup, this option (you make the decision when you get hitched here during the civil ceremony) also means that you are considered separate when it comes to the status of having a "first" house. Actually this doesn't mean the first house you buy, it just means "not your second or vacation or rental property" so you can buy 5 first houses in a row. As long as you get rid of the one before, your new one is considered your first. And this one has certain tax exemptions. Like no property tax. When you buy a second house or apartment, you pay that and other taxes and have higher rates on just about every utility bill. To get around this legally, and Italy is all about getting around things legally, this second apartment will be in my name instead of my husband's. That way we have a house each. Except when I say HOUSE I mean APARTMENT. Now I need to get the piece of paper that says we're married but that our assets our separate.

Now, where the hell do I get that? I asked myself this morning. Then I found out by doing a little Googling. You go to the Ufficio Civica, which just happens to be on a piazza right next to the grocery store I always go to, a 5 minute walk from my house. Not that it's ever open when it could be useful (like when I'm not working) but at least it's close and if I can't get in at least I can go next door and get some prosciutto.

From there, we need to get a "CIRCULAR CHECK" for the downpayment of the apartment and wait for our seller to get a document from his doctor saying that he's in his right mind and is not being tricked into selling his place.

Then it's back to the notaio for more documents, signatures, contracts, and another BIG CHECK for us to write.

Seem to be getting closer to the sale!

We are getting really close to buying that apartment I was telling you about. In English we call it a reverse mortgage. This means that we buy the apartment with someone living in it but we have no rights to the place until the occupant (gulp) dies. This is good for the seller because he gets a big chunk of money to live on, especially if he has no one to pass the place on to. It's good for us because we get the apartment at a reduced rate.

This thing has been going on forever. We have had to do lots of talking and talking and talking to make sure we're doing the right thing. Of course the seller was hoping to just leave the house to us and get the chunk of money without giving us anything in return except the promise that he would leave it to us (um. I don't think so) and we are already choking at the idea of making a second house payment every month without even having keys to the place. So I guess the extra time hasn't hurt us too much, since it gave us more time to make sure we can afford it. We can, but only if we continue to live frugally. Hubby has already said that if this deal goes through we will take a big ole vacation somewhere in December! They went to the notaio yesterday, who turned out to be a swell guy and spelled out exactly how to do this thing in a way that benefits both parties.

Hopefully all will go okay. Because if it does, in a few years we will have paid off two apartments, well worth making a few sacrifices now. Will keep you updated.

Money Group Meeting One

Last Thursday I invited a very nice accountant to come to our association to talk to whomever was interested (mostly my teacher friends with VAT numbers or others looking into getting one) about changes to VAT numbers for next year and answer our questions. We wanted to get straight answers instead of the eye-rolling I get from my own accountant whenever I ask him something. Here's what I learned.

1. Italian accounting is ambiguous.
2. Accountants don't understand everything.
3. In three more years I'm going to have to change VAT type and pay EVEN MORE for taxes and accounting.
4. When looking for an accountant in Italy the question to ask is "How much will COMPLETE SERVICE cost me per year?" This will protect us from hidden costs.
5. Tax deadlines change every year (WHAT?!). That explains why I am always late, I guess. Why not just do April 15??

Some positive things came out too. For example, we had similar questions and issues, so we have lots to talk about. We already set a date for this week to do the exercises from the first chapter of Overcoming Underearning. Our accountant friend will come back in about a month or so for a follow-up.

I loved our group this week. The girls who stayed after to make a plan for next week are just the types I want to hang out with to learn more about getting smart about personal finance.

Secrets to the Association's Turn-around

I'm on a bit of a high this week after a great turn-out last Thursday for both a volunteer meeting (now we have over 25 and what an amazing group of positive people!) at the Association and the official presentation of our activities for 2011-2012. A year ago we were happy if we got 10 or 15 (on a really good day) people to attend our little events. Last week we had over 70 people (Denise says it was more like 100) come just to hear what we have planned for the season. There were folks spilling out into the next room (and filling it up!). Wow. What a difference from last year. The exciting part was how many people came who didn't know us.

Now it's time to reflect on what is making all this good stuff possible. Last year, our first priority was to get out of debt. At the same time, we had to think about GROWTH which we hoped would be the key to getting us out of debt faster. To do this we had to put a little team together even before it was really necessary.

When things were going lousy, we formed a special group of volunteers (people who were with us already and others we talked into volunteering with us because they were friends and had special skills that we needed) and gave each person a responsability/ies (accounting, communications, IT, legal, PR, fund raising, volunteers). Now that these people have a year of experience doing their thing, it has made it easier to organize new volunteers into groups with a mentor.

We started communicating differently with our volunteers and our members in general. For one thing, we eliminated our website as an unnecessary expense and started blogging. At that point we got a fair amount of criticism for this, but our Association blog has gotten over 17,000 hits in the last year. Lots more traffic than our boring, static site did. Having 3 administrators on it means that it is constantly being updated, and that keeps people coming back to it and reminds them we are still around. I had a great moment of satisfaction yesterday when someone came in to renew their membership and didn't want the printed info on our film series because he checks the blog "religiously."

We also send out a very simple, no frills newsletter every month with our upcoming events. The difference this year is that we made this the responsibility of our IT guru volunteer rather than having it done by just anyone and having 98% of them returned as spam. We try to get it out no later than the first week of the month and always BEFORE the first event on the calendar.

For all of our paid activities (English and Italian courses) we now offer a no obligation presentation in our library in order to explain what we offer, costs, introduce our teachers and methods, and answer questions. Since it is a free presentation (and therefore not in competition with language schools who pay for advertising), the newspaper prints the news the morning of the presentation (a surprising number of people come at a moment's notice).

The big winner for our Association's turn-around: TRANSPARENCY. We pay all of our teachers the same hourly wage (I'm sure we are the only ones in Trieste to do this) and we charge the same amount per hour for all of our courses. If you ask any of us anything about prices, we will tell you the same thing. Our teachers are the only ones who get paid at our Association, and only for the hours they teach. Our teachers are also volunteers, making us a completely volunteer-run non-profit association.  There is something very cool about the atmosphere that creates.

As the director, I am also a volunteer because I decided not to take the small, part-time stipend that came with the position. Since I need to bring home the bacon from other sources, I have to be efficient, that's for sure, but it's better for morale when no one gets paid.

One more secret to the Association's turn-around? We made the Association a place we would want to hang out. We got a good coffee maker (donated by illycaffè here in Trieste), put a changing table in the bathroom, used our US gov grant money last year to make a comfy children's library to cuten things up a bit and filled the place up with friends who attract more friends. The place is bustling with activity now-- people coming in for books and dvds and just to hang out.

There is still a lot of work to do, of course but things are finally looking up for us. If we can double our membership from last year, we will pay off our debts in January and really be on our way to a future of good things. We need to sell 600 memberships by the end of October. This will pay for our film series and not much else, but it will be enough to get us to our goal. Then we will plan for more growth.

Just say NO!

Last week I was talking with a friend about cultural differences between Italy and India. One of his biggest frustrations was that Indians were no good at saying "no". He joked that they say it by saying "yes" very softly.

Is that a cultural difference? I spend A LOT of time interpreting what DOESN'T get said, which is why I make it a point to say NO when I know I'm not going to change my mind and warning people when I'm going to be late instead of rushing and hoping they won't be mad at me for being late. I call it BEING REALISTIC and TAKING RESPONSABILITY.

But maybe that, too, is a cultural difference between me and the culture where I live.

I'm going to have to do an informal survey.

Notary not such a deadbeat

I told you yesterday about the Notaio appointment the seller was supposed to make and that his inability to get that appointment was sounding an awful lot like indifference to me. As a result of that I had started getting some estimates on how much this little transaction is going to cost us.

Well. I found 10 notaios to contact. I called all of them. Mostly friendly people, only one would not give an estimate by email (must make an appointment. No thank you). and only ONE had NO ONE answering the phone (not even an answering machine) on Friday afternoon (which is when I started asking for estimates). As it turns out, THIS just HAPPENS to be the chosen notaio of our Seller. Yesterday Seller tells us that this office just hasn't called him back (not surprising).

Also, incidentally, this is the same notaio that we used when we (didn't get any estimates because we didn't know you could) bought our apartment. I was shocked because he asked for an INSANE amount of money (and I've done LOTS of comparing since that time) and asked us for AN ENVELOPE WITH CASH (as in money he would not declare).

So this is not only the Corrupt notaio, but the guy who doesn't answer the damn phone. It's HIS fault we can't get this apartment bought. How annoying.

Just to give him a fair shake, though, I am going to call and try to get an estimate today. See if he answers. Hold on, here...

PAUSE.

Not only did someone answer, but they also gave me a lightning fast estimate by email. The price was on par with the others (no mention of cash envelopes, of course!)

So now we know that someone works there. It remains to be seen if we will get that appointment. If, and when, we do, at least I know the price will be decent (barring any surprises).

Two things I'm proud of from yesterday

I did two things as a result of my self-righteous blogging yesterday. I am proud of both.

1. I said no to a job I did not want to do and which was an INSANE amount of work for what it would have paid. This was a result of my decision-making post.

2. After posting about not spending, I decided NOT to use public transportation to get to work yesterday. Even spending that dollar totally BUGGED me and made me feel like a hippocrite.

So I took out the running stroller and baby and I RAN to work. The best part was that since it FINALLY cooled off, there was a moment where I actually felt kind of COLD. Loved that. I also got the great rush of having a NO-SPENDY Monday.

Yeah.

Try not to spend money today

I have been observing my local family members lately. They are spending addicts. They need to get their daily fix. They look for any way they can to spend money they can justify as "necessary."

The way they do this is by going grocery shopping every day. Even if it's just a couple of things, they can justify this compulsive shopping as something they are doing for the family.  They still do the MAJOR GROCERY SHOPPING on the weekends but then supplement their mega-shopping with baby shopping every day.

Well that stuff adds up and by the looks of it, it's so NOT about the food. It's about the rush you get from spending money. It's not good.

I used to do something similar with grocery shopping and books. I called those "work expenses" even though I just liked having new books.

Now I go to the library for books and dvds and I try to challenge myself to go as many days as I can without spending anything. When I do, it's for bus tickets usually. I try to limit my grocery shopping to the big trips, although I do have lapses.

This might sound extreme, but saving money on a daily basis can be as big a rush as spending it. And it's better for your financial health. Believe me.

Has he changed his mind about us?

We have been in talks for quite a while to buy an apartment "a nuda proprietà" which means that the seller can stay in the house until he/she (gulp) dies. This can be a good deal for both parties in that the seller gets a chunk of money to pay for, say, home nurses, eating out more, whatever, and the buyer gets a discount on the price of the house, which is linked to the life expectancy of the seller.

We made our offer in, I think, June. The seller verbally accepted. At the time he seemed to be in a hurry, while we weren't (we were hoping to get our account a little fatter before writing that BIG downpayment check). At any rate, his ONLY job was to make an appointment with the notaio (they don't use lawyers for these things here, but legal notaries, and they cost like lawyers. Ouch!). Well. Fast forward to September. No appointment. Every week we talk and it's like "yes yes, this week, I will make the appointment". So we decided to get an estimate from the different notaios. Those guys like to make you wait too. But the estimates are coming in and, in the meantime, no appointment.

It is this reluctance to ACT that is making me think he changed his mind. And if he did it's no big deal. It's just annoying that he hasn't said anything.

But his (in)action speaks pretty loud.

So I am already making new investments in my head. Rather than waiting for him to break up with us, I am already looking for new ideas, new places. I am also thinking about how nice it is to have some money in the bank account. Not a bad idea to let it grow, even if it's not really generating any kind of wealth. It's a nice safety net.

So now we will see what happens. Will he make the appointment and clean out our account? Will he tell us he changed his mind? Will he sit and do nothing until we can't stand it anymore and call the thing off ourselves?

You see, either way is fine with us. We just want to know.

Our financial group has a new mission

Marina and I have decided that we are going to limit the scope of our financial group to concentrate on one thing. We want to get together and do the exercises in the Overcoming Underearning book. That will give us plenty to do. Money issues are so personal, and so intimate, that we really want to have time to be able to write about, discuss, and explore every chapter IN DEPTH.

I can't wait. Time to set a date.

Simplify simplify simplify

Every day this week I am taking two garbage bags into every room of my house and creating a small tornado. In one bag I am putting garbage, and, in the other, stuff for charity. I did this for 10 minutes this morning and filled an entire bag with clothes to give away. I had been hanging on to them for years. My hoarding was a result of seeing how expensive new clothes were here. No TJ's!! It was like I went back to living in the Depression-era.

When I have my way I wear the same stuff over and over again. I realize that no one really notices but me. Or at least I don't notice other peoples' clothes that much. So I am giving those clothes away. Now my life feels lighter and my thoughts are clearer.

Funny how that works. You feel richer when you have less stuff.

Who is in control of your pizza?

Lately I am convinced that if you want to gain a higher position at work, or, frankly, in life, you must be able to make decisions. 

Here is an example and an experiment I tried myself. When I arrived here in Italy and we started going out for pizza, I noticed that the pizza menus were  FULL of choices (think family restaurant with 30 pages of choices in America). There were sometimes up to 10 pages of DIFFERENT kinds of pizzas you could order.

Well, at first I just couldn't decide because the number of choices was overwhelming. So I did what my husband did. I ordered the same thing (as him) every time: 4 formaggi. Funny how too many choices can paralyze you.

But then I decided I needed to try new things so I changed approach. Instead of doing it myself, I gave the choice to the Pizzaiolo. I figured HE was a professional, let him choose, and it IS a choice on the menu (called "fantasia del pizzaiolo"). That would at least give me some variety. I did that for a couple of years and had some really amazing pizzas and only one dud (deep-fried but not breaded egg plant makes for an overly greasy pizza. Fail.) One notable pizza had a fried egg on it and was covered with shaved truffles-- that was a really good pizza.

I got lots of credit for being adventurous from friends and family (almost NO ONE takes the fantasia option), but I still wasn't making any decisions.

Then I decided to CONSCIOUSLY MAKE DECISIONS about everything instead of LETTING THINGS HAPPEN.

I started looking at the menu and actually deciding to order a different pizza every time. Once in a while I allow myself a repeat.

Do you make decisions in your life? Think about it. Here is a quick self-evaluation.

1. What do you have for dinner at home? Do you try new dishes or are you on a routine of tried and true favorites?
2. When you go out to eat, do you try new places or do you go to the same places?
3. What do you order when you go out? Do you try something new each time or do you just have "the Usual"?

And, finally, and I believe this is related.

4. Do you allow yourself to say NO to people or do you go into sleep mode until the other person figures out that you don't want to do it?

There are a lot of non decision-makers out there if you think about it. Don't be one of them.

Heck, you can even make some wrong decisions. It is still better than avoiding them.

.

I'm here sort of

Things are good. Busy. I will be back soon. Promise.

Want some Inspiration?

Speaking of zones, which I was writing about this morning. The fact that I mentioned the exercise that I was neglecting was enough to inspire me to throw on a pair of shorts (the kind that make you feel like a pro), my favorite exercise hat, and my vibrams (that also make me feel like a pro), grab the stroller (I realized that the baby is just too big now for the baby bjorn. Actually she fits in it just fine, but it's killing my back. Baby's gotta grow up I guess), the leash, the baby, and the beast and briskly walk out the door.

We took a nice 30-minute walk together. Mind you, it was a walk, not a run. A couple of years ago I would have thought this was a little wimpy, especially since I have a kick-ass running stroller, but sometimes it's about baby steps. I knew it was too hot for the dog for a run, and usually that would be my excuse to sit on my duff and do other things. Really I didn't feel much like running either, but I did want the satisfaction of doing something healthy for me and fun for the baby. So a walk, it was. 

Speaking of getting off your duff...

A huge source of inspiration for me is this blog here . I just LOVE the DIRT DIVA. Whenever I feel a little down or lazy, I go to her site and read things like this: 

I finished in 8:19 didn't think I could be so slow running a 50k but after falling and having run a hundred miler the week before I was happy I made it. 

She is just so cool. 

Journal Entry June 23, 2003

After five days of living in Italy.

"Man, my Italian sucks".

June 30, 2003.

"I can't believe I'm not fluent yet."

Wow. What the hell was I expecting?? Makes me laugh now, as 8 years have passed and I'm STILL not perfect (WTF??)... haha.

Dividing work into weekly Zones

I know I keep talking about my new flylady keep-my-house tidy challenge, but I just have to tell you how I am applying it to work.

The saying is that your mess didn't get made in one day, so you shouldn't try to solve it overnight. Instead, concentrate on a different zone per week and do a little something every day starting from the top of the room to the bottom. Last week was the Master bedroom. Having a week to get a room in order is a hell of a lot less pressure than trying to do it in a couple of hours because you have company coming. And, it is much easier to keep it nice if you're working on it in 15-minute intervals on other days.

I decided to apply this to my work. Two weeks ago I spent the week making plans for my volunteers--each day I spent some time working with two other volunteers to create a manual that new trainees can consult when they have questions, etc. As we are only just starting to work outside of the panic zone, creating a document that can help us give more thorough training to our SVs (Sweet Volunteers) and provide a little reference feels really good. It is such a relief to plan for the future rather than constantly put out fires.

Last week was Intensive course planning. I spent some time each day scheduling, planning, and putting together a plan of attack for getting the word out, etc.

This week I am working on my contacts and fundraising. This means updating my mailing lists and getting my old contacts in one place. It's amazing how going through old weekly planners and putting those little notes and phone numbers onto an excel sheet can bring back the memories! I'm going to be doing some contact and friendship maintenance soon. There are some people I've worked with over the years that I would like to catch up with.

Next week I will go back to BUSY but at least I will have gotten my house in order and gotten a little internal organization going on.

My next step is to get back to exercise, which I have been neglecting like crazy over the last few months. Maybe that will be next week's zone.

Can I judge??

I don't know if you read this yesterday but it made me think. Ok. Look at the picture. Nice couple, very cute baby. They want to buy an apartment in Manhattan for $749,000. They want to borrow $722,000. They want to do this before the mortgage limit goes down to $625,500 in October. 

Um. Excuse me? Did I read this right?? A $27,000 down payment for a $750,000 apartment? And I am supposed to feel SORRY for these people??  Now, if they were in Trieste, and, for heaven's sake don't try to find a nifty loft like that in Trieste, because you'll never find one (although for $750,000 you could find a pretty kick-ass apartment in a historic building, or, gosh, maybe you could buy the whole damn building!) the bank would LAUGH them back out onto the street.

They would say-- WHERE IS YOUR 20% DOWNPAYMENT? That would be $150,000.

I'm sorry, New Yorkers! I don't want to be be mean, but, on the other hand, what if no one could buy apartments because of this problem? Would that housing market eventually give itself a badly needed bitchslap? You tell me...

Thinking for the next day

That's my nugget of good living for today. You can really cut down on the good morning panic attacks just by thinking about the day ahead. Here are some things to consider that I have gleened off of the flylady site. I am trying to think about them throughout the day so I am ready for today and tomorrow.

1. Where are your keys? (Since I can't get them surgically attached for a decent price)
2. What's for dinner? (I must go out and get something green! I have not done any real shopping since we got back from our trip. We are eating hurricane food and there was no hurricane around here!)
3. Set your clothes out for tomorrow. (If I wet and flick my new no-iron shirt today, tomorrow it should be ready to make me look like a million euros!)
4. Look at your calendar (It sounds obvious, but sometimes I don't and get into trouble!)

Take that, put it in your bubble gum pipe, and chew it, people. I hope it helps!

Don't worry about me, I'm just busy changing my life

It happens every time we come back from a good vacation. We decide to change our lives forever. Sweetie decided we should experience our city more. That means going to events around town and taking part in community life. It also means reading the newspaper, since that is where activities are listed.

I decided we needed to create a routine so that the house is always ready for company. As you know from older posts, I am following the flylady.net program, which is intense, but in a good way. She reminds you to do things you never dreamed people did (cleaning doorknobs and light switches, for example) and I like how tasks are simplified into 15-minute blocks of time. Each week you concentrate on a certain Zone. We are now in zone 4: the Master bedroom, our Disaster site. Since Monday I have done something every day to clean it up and de-clutter and am already seeing a difference. By tomorrow I will have finished the major purging and cleaning and be able to maintain it without too much hassle. 

I never thought it would be possible to create a permanently decent sleeping space, plus I never cared that much, since I knew I could just shut the door and forget about it when people were over. But inside I have always longed to have a nice-looking bedroom with a made bed and a tidy floor and no piles of clean and dirty clothes mixed up in various piles. Sigh! I can't believe how gross I live. It's GOT to stop!

By the way, I feel like HUH DUH!! Why didn't I think of this myself?? I say this every time I learn a new trick to help stay organized. But then I remember that Some of us need a Little Extra Explanation when it comes to these things, while others are just naturally organized (I hate those people, no I don't, I love them, no, I hate them). I guess that is how it works. 

I have been doing other things this week besides transforming myself into an organizational goddess. I have also been waking up at all hours with my nine-month old mini goddess, who is suffering from heat (Trieste is front and center of an interminable heat wave right now and we don't even have a fan!) and jet-lag. 

I have about 30 minutes of autonomy before she wakes up to face her fragmented day. I've got work to do. 

Best thing about America?

RUMMAGE SALES!

I just got back from my trip home visiting family and friends and here are the books I picked up.

BEARDSTOWN LADIES' COMMON-SENSE INVESTMENT GUIDE*
AMISH SOCIETY by John A. Hostetler
BE THE PACK LEADER by Cesar Millan

I think these books sum up about where I am right now. I visited my friend Noel whose neighbors are Amish the other week, so we went down to their house to buy some candles, Boo Boo cream and produce. While I was there I got so interested in their way of life that I was tickled when I found a whole big book on them when I got home! The Pack leader thing, well, I figure, if it works for dogs, it probably works for people too...

More soon!

*For all the haters, even if they goofed up their math, the Beardstown Ladies still rock. The scandal may be the reason I got the book so cheap. Besides, I like their ideas. Education first, Fun second, creating wealth third.

Even Warren B is tired of being treated like he's special

I hope you read this while I was away!

Gone Fishin'

I'm in Wisconsin taking a break. I will be back soon. I promise! VIVA L'AMERICA!!!

Millionaires doing the right thing

I was just watching the news on France 24 and I saw these links about millionaires signing petitions for higher taxes. You go millionaires!!

Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength

Wealth for the Common Good 

Interesting, though, that I had to catch this on the French news. On the front page of the NYTimes today? 

Even Marked Up, Luxury Goods Fly Off Shelves

No wonder there's this idea that rich people are jerks. I am not convinced it's the rich people buying all that crap, though... 

Anyway, keep in mind that once you create wealth, you can decide what kind of rich person you want to be.  

Financial Flashcards

I got the brilliant idea to study my way to financial savvy the same why I tell my students to study for the TOEFFL exam: FLASH CARDS!!

This is my source for definitions. Here are my words for today: 

MUTUAL FUND: An investment vehicle that is made up of a pool of funds collected from many investors for the purpose of investing in securities such as stocks, bonds, money market instruments and similar assets. Mutual funds are operated by money managers, who invest the fund's capital and attempt to produce capital gains and income for the fund's investors. A mutual fund's portfolio is structured and maintained to match the investment objectives stated in its prospectus. 

NO-LOAD FUND: A mutual fund in which shares are sold without a commission or sales charge. The reason for this is that the shares are distributed directly by the investment company, instead of going through a secondary party. This is the opposite of a load fund, which charges a commission at the time of  the fund's purchase, at the time of its sale, or as a "level-load" for as long as the investor holds the fund. 

LIPSTICK EFFECT: A theory that states that during periods of recession or economic downturn, consumers will eschew purchases of big-ticket luxury items and seek material solace in smaller indulgences, such as premium lipstick. 

Also known as the "leading lipstick indicator".

RETURN ON INVESTMENT (ROI): A performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or to compare the efficiency of a number of different investments. To calculate ROI, the benefit (return) of an investment is divided by the cost of the investment; the result is expressed as a percentage or a ratio. 

The return on investment formula:



In the above formula "gains from investment", refers to the proceeds obtained from selling the investment of interest.  Return on investment is a very popular metric because of its versatility and simplicity. That is, if an investment does not have a positive ROI, or if there are other opportunities with a higher ROI, then the investment should be not be undertaken.

*********************************************************************

Ok. That's enough for now. That last one made my head spin, and it's going to take me a while to write all that on a flashcard...

Learning to crawl takes time

You always hear about little people learning how to walk, but never learning how to crawl.

After that last post I decided to take a little walk with the dog and the baby.

Remember when I told you about how she was learning to crawl next to me that time?

Well, fast forward a couple of weeks and guess what. She is still learning to crawl. Sometimes she goes backwards, sometimes she gets a leg caught under the couch, sometimes she falls flat on her face. But she's still trying. She's careful. She wobbles. She sees a toy she wants and she gets close enough to grab it and sits back on her tush. I wonder sometimes if she'll ever do it. Then I look down and she's accross the room, still wobbling, still unsure, but THERE instead of HERE.

Learning to crawl takes a long time and it's hard work.

I Just realized I don't know what the hell I'm talking about

I started this blog to force myself into learning more about personal finance, leadership and management. Writing is a way of holding myself accountable. So far I have been getting inspiration from the books I was reading. But, sadly, I finished my last library book yesterday (I lie, I have Jane Eyre on my bedside table, and that could give me something to write about, but not yet) so I had to find some new fodder today. Of course my favorite place to look is in the blogosphere. There were some pretty interesting blogs on personal finance (see my favorites in the side bar under Blogs I love) but I think I O.D.ed a abit. Now I can't think of a thing to write about. Reading about others' journies, instead of helping me, made me feel small and dopey.

But then I remembered that the learning process is like that. You start out not knowing anything, then you realize you don't know anything, then you start learning but you don't realize it, and then at some point BAM, you know something and you know it. Barbara Stanny has a whole chapter on this in Prince Charming isn't Coming.

Well, I'm at the DAMN-I-DON'T-KNOW-ANYTHING stage, ready for a Crisis. This happens to my students all the time. I reassure them. It's all part of the learning process and it's cyclical. Just when you start to realize you know something, it all starts over again. Only the crisis doesn't last as long the second time around.

But it stinks being an adult because we are no longer used to going outside the comfort zone. We hate feeling stupid, we don't want to make mistakes in front of other people. But I guess we have to if we want to go to the next level.

So be it.

Find your Messy Corner and stop being a weeny!

One by one I am trying to plow through the things I don't like to do. As they say, actually I have been reading it everywhere lately, the difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is that successful people do what others don't like to do.

So I am choosing the messiest part of my house (starting with the kitchen sink, like Fly Lady says) and my psyche, and am making a commitment to spend a little time working on them each day.

Today's messy bit of the psyche is called relationship maintenance. I let too much time pass before I get in touch with people I care about, making me look like a passive weeny. I am always happy once I do get in touch or have a nice conversation, I am just lazy about doing it for some reason.

For the record, you can be a passive weeny with me and I will always forgive you, but I will try to cultivate our friendship a little more actively.

Starting now.

Getting my day in order

I told you about Fly Lady dot net yesterday. Well, I did step one kept my sink shining and today I got up and got dressed head to toe first thing, which was step two. Even gave my nail polish a touch-up.

Now I have to get ready to go to the dentist to finish up my work from last week and get a cleaning.

Yesterday's finish-up-what's-in-the-house supper was a success. I took the beans, petrified carrots, onion, and taters and threw them in a pot for a couple of hours, then took out enough for dinner, puréed it and threw in some curry and cream (naughty naughty!) and it was awesome. I took another bowl of it and threw it in the freezer for a rainy day and the rest I split up for our lunches today. Today's version looks more like stew. I love making soup, the next day you feel so skinny.

I forgot to do something with that ground beef, though. Will think of something today that can be tomorrow's lunch since we're going out with friends tonight for chinese. There's not much going on in Trieste as far as ethnic food but there is one (of many) Chinese restaurants that is really good. I've already got steammed dumplings on the brain.

This not going to the store all week trick  is not as easy as it sounds. I'm used to stopping at the grocery store to pick up a couple of things as a motivator to take the dog out, because I feel more productive if I'm doing two things at once. Now I am going to have to embrace the walking for walking's sake concept. When you start making a habit of NOT spending money, grocery shopping sometimes masquerades as necessity. It's the one place you can actually justify spending money and, I must admit, spending money does feel good sometimes. Of course what I buy doesn't matter, it's the thrill of buying something. This is a good exercise to get over that.

Which sounds extreme, but what if shopping were just about getting what you needed and NOT about getting some other kind of thrill?

I would certainly be richer if this were the case.

I decided to up my EARNING ceiling

I think an extra 500 billion will do. I just felt a little too limited before.

Soup! I can't believe I hadn't thought of that!

Thanks, Laura!

Ever try FINISHING all that food you have in your house?

That's what I am doing this week. Since we are leaving for a two-week Stateside vacation on Friday, I have decided not to buy any groceries at all this week. Not even as an excuse to spend money. Nope. I am making do!

Here's what I have left in my fridge besides condiments (ran out of peanut butter today, so it's definitely time for a trip to Wisconsin).

Yogurt (baby will eat that nasty stuff), some petrified carrots, half an onion, boxed wine (I use it for cooking, I swear), milk.

In my freezer there is some miscellaneous meat including ground beef.

In my food pantry there is; coffee, pasta, jelly, and tea, and some baby food (for when I'm lazy or when I'm trying to eat all the food in the house). Magic ingredient. POTATOES!!

In my cupboard there is some flour, crackers, melba toast.

Here's what's on the menu for tonight. Gnocchi (note to self: google the recipe for gnocchi without egg), meat sauce (Hmm. No tomato sauce, must make the white kind). This should give us enough food for tonight and lunch tomorrow. For tomorrow night I will have to get creative. I think I saw a bag of dry navy beans. What can I do with those? I have until tomorrow to think about it.

Finishing what you've got forces you to be creative. Try it!

What we can look forward to!!!

Love THIS.