Arduous has written a coherent explanation of our cross-country July challenge over on her blog.  I, on the other hand, prefer to give you a window into our process - that girl is funny!  Plus, I'm lazier and less organized than Arduous...(I can feel myself losing this one already.)

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Monday, April 21, 2008

P.S.

I am seriously running low on ideas for my May challenge. Anyone have any bright ideas?

A totally freegan month.
Can you buy nothing at all? I will if you will.
Megan

April 30, 2008 8:42 PM

freegan?

Friday, May 23, 2008 9:25 PM

From: "arduous blog" <arduousblog@gmail.com>

To: "megan metcalf" <megangmetcalf@yahoo.com>

Dude, I can't believe you're even making me contemplate this. Crazy I tell ya!

Okay, let's start with food. How would we deal with fucking food? Because um between all the working and working, I don't have time to dive through the dumpsters of au bon pain.

Also, shit, I'm supposed to go to Vegas in July. Though technically I wouldn't have to spend much money as the hotel I've already paid for.

Re: freegan?

Friday, May 23, 2008 11:07 PM

From: "Megan Metcalf" <megangmetcalf@yahoo.com>

To: "arduous blog" <arduousblog@gmail.com>

I KNOW. Crazy. CRAZY.

Food. I have an unfair advantage in that my office provides breakfast and lunch. So I could just take the leftovers the four days I work and that would be it. But more interesting is that in my teeny tiny apartment with basically no kitchen I have enough food hanging around for an emerging nation. So really getting down to bare cupboards interests me...

As for Vegas, I am celebrating a big birthday in July and will likely travel so we could have a weekend jubilee...

What else do we need to buy? I'm doing laundry right now...could I skip it for a month? Probably, I have so many fucking clothes...the preparations and the failures would be part of it...methinks you're a tad competitive, definitely ambitious - unless I'm projecting too much of myself here...we could egg each other on.

What else? Shows? NYC has so many free ones in the summer. The prescriptions? No way, we're not that crazy.

Sorry if I'm raving - I might be developing a blogger-crush on you. Or maybe I'm just jealous: you'd have time for the ABP dumpster if you weren't friggin writing all the time!

Think of it ending your year with a bang. As for me, I've got to end the blog addiction soon and get back to the rest of my life...
Megan

Re: freegan?

Friday, May 23, 2008 11:45 PM

From: "arduous blog" <arduousblog@gmail.com>

To: "Megan Metcalf" <megangmetcalf@yahoo.com>

Let's see what else. Um, bills. I could do without phone and high speed internet for a month, but suspending them all would be a bitch. My monthly pass for the metro I'd definitely need. Oh, and I have some recurring donations to a few non-profits. I assume those don't count?

Maybe what we should do instead is try to compete as to who can buy the least?

I would say we could try to spend as little as possible. We could put up our spending tallies on our blogs for the whole world to see. And we could see how we do. That seems fairly manageable. Pseudo-freegan. And it would be a competition. Which would be fun, except yes, I do like to win. :)

Re: freegan?

Saturday, May 24, 2008 12:04 AM

From: "megan metcalf" <megangmetcalf@yahoo.com>

To: "arduous blog" arduousblog@gmail.com

ooooooooooh, I didn't even think about bills. Of course we have to pay our rent and stuff. I don't pay for phone, internet, or tv but that would definitely be allowed as they are too much of a pain to put on hold. Good thing I fired my shrink a while back. I'd try to skip the MTA and ride my bike; I've been wanting to do that anyway. Recurring donations to 501c3, 401K, credit card debt, and 403b seems like fair game. Dance classes and drinks with friends would be my big holdup, I think...

I like the "who can spend the least" game!
Megan

Re: freegan?

Saturday, May 24, 2008 12:19 AM

From: "arduous blog" <arduousblog@gmail.com>

To: "megan metcalf" <megangmetcalf@yahoo.com>

Yeah. If you looked at my credit card bill, it is almost all restaurant charges. I eat out waaaaay too much.

Okay, so here's my proposal:

We compete to see who can spend the least

Exempted from our calculations are:

Rent other monthly bills (internet, phone, student loans, car loans, etc etc)

Prescriptions

Charitable donations

401k/all that crap

Everything else counts.

Here's what I'm thinking. Some cheating is okay. For example, if you want to promise to clean your friend's house in exchange for dinner that's allowed. Gift certs seems like it would be cheating though....

Hmmm ... is it cheating if I buy a metro pass on june 30th and don't buy my new one until august?

yes it's cheating but we would blog about it