so green im brown

I can start wearing shoes again now that my toe is almost healed up. Unfortunately almost all my shoes are still in the trunk of my aforementioned broken car which is still parked at the Applebee's parking lot. =( Biking with flip flops is a recipe for disaster so out of desperation to get to class on time this morning I stole my roommates chucks. Maybe it's a stretch to call it theft but I definitely did not ask him. hope he doesn't have athletes foot. oh well. I don't try to eavesdrop but I find it ironic how while I'm blogging about sharing shoes the ladies tabling for the Imani Clinic next to me are talking about the lack of self control they have when it comes to buying handbags and shoes. The statement that stuck out most was something like this, "Who needs rent, i just want those shoes!" Our society is so enveloped by consumer culture that the ability to weigh priorities have left some of us. I hope she buys some really big shoes.

Hypothetically, I could be saving lots of money

I say hypothetical because prior to this project I was already living a frugal life style. Let's say however, that instead I have been able to save $200 at the end of this project. If I continued saving at this rate through the span of the year, I would have saved $2400. That is a lot of money! Now if this moolah was invested properly, say in a mutual fund, then after compounding and interest the amount would be even more. After a decade of this practice, I will probably have enough money to put a down payment on my first house! That is pretty awesome considering by that time I will have completely adapted to my "green" lifestyle therefore making it seem like free money to me.

People have told me over and over that with a salary below $50,000 a year it is almost impossible to live in Silicon Valley. I propose a counter argument. Here in Davis I pay about $500 monthly for rent, $600 for food, and lets just say $400 for other expenditures. That totals to about $1500 of monthly expenses. Multiply this sum by 12 and you have $18,000 of annual expenses. If you were to make exactly $50,000 a year, after tax that would be around $40,000 give or take some (I'm too lazy to do the exact math). $40,000-$18,000 = $22,000. Let's also say you're making $400 monthly payments on a car because you weren't as smart as Ari and didn't get a fixed gear. Add other random expenses (times where you broke your self control to be green) that total to $3200. That's another $8,000. $22,000-$8,000=$14,000. So theoretically at the end of the year one should have $14,000 in the bank. I GOT MONEY IN THE BANK! (not yet but soon)

Some might say this will be impossible for them to accomplish but for me, I've grown quite accustomed to a frugal college budget. It is true that with this income I won't be able to support a family, but then again I'm fully expecting my future spouse to be making 6 digits, if not more. And like I said earlier, after years of continuously saving and investing, it will pay off when I can finally afford a home. When that happens the borrowing leverage I'll have will open a whole new world of spending options. Of course since I'm green, I won't be spending anything at all.

Sources: "Personal Financial Planning" (Gitman, 2008)


note to readers: this was completely hypothetical. i have poor self control and most likely by the age of 25 will be on the sidewalk somewhere asking for change. At least if that's the case, I won't have a choice but to be green. Cheers!

Like most college students here in Davis, I am broke. More often than not my wallet is empty and my checking balance is near or below zero. I can’t even afford the luxury of buying second hand clothes, let alone Seven jeans or whatever overpriced items they’re selling at the mall these days. It wasn’t always like this. At one point when I was working I spent most of my earnings getting some pretty nice “threads”. After quitting my job, however, I reverted back to being a semi-professional hobo. So since I can’t afford anything right now I decided to look through clothes I already own. After going through my closet I discovered all my Guess clothes were made in America. I always thought things made domestically were more expensive because American labor laws prevented sweat shops from being used to produce cheap clothing. According to the article “Forever in Trouble?” (Byun, 2003) that is not necessarily true. If I decide to buy a domestically made item over something say, made in China, I fully expect the premium I’m paying to go directly to an American laborer. Byun points out that some clothing manufacturers make their clothes here but employ illegal immigrants. These sweat shops are then able to avoid labor laws because most of their employees will not protest in fear of losing their jobs or being deported. They pay their employees the bare minimum needed to survive and then sell their clothes at inflated prices. Consumers are willing to pay these prices because they think made in America must mean better quality and better work environments for the laborers. At least that’s what I thought. It’s easy to put all the blame on these clothing companies. They probably should try to follow labor laws because after all, it is the law. But realistically in a capitalist society the prime measure of success is how much profit you can acquire. In this respect, the companies are only finding the most profitable option viable to them. Although the illegal immigrants work in harsh conditions, they do so by their own choice. The options they have besides working in a sweat shop are not necessarily better if not worse. I can go on forever about this so I’ll leave you all with this: maybe it would help if our government made an international announcement showing how life for an illegal immigrant in America really is like. In this day and age, America is only the land of opportunity if you have money.

Enjoy your long weekend homies.