Living the American dream ... kind of

When I was 17, I decided to change my life. At first, it wasn't my choice. I was kind of thrust into it when all the plans I had for the future suddenly disappeared. I went from planning to stay in Missouri my whole life with a boyfriend that loved me to a single, prospective journalism student at the University of Missouri. I decided to live my life for me, follow my dreams and work at a place that I really loved. I wanted to move. I (still) want to see the world. I don't want to be stuck in a boring job that I hate.

After college, I was lucky enough to do just that. I moved to Savannah, Ga., to work at a newspaper that I got a great impression of when I visited. I love my job. I am doing what I love, and I don't dread coming into work every day. However, like most other journalists in today's world, an awesome journalism job doesn't actually pay all the bills. I decided to take up a second job about a week ago and began the rigorous application processes. Since I am working nights, I have all day off. I don't have high hopes for my second job, but I really do draw the line at fast food places (maybe Sonic ...  I can fuel the habit that way).

However, when filling out the copious amount of applications, I found that I am ridiculously underqualified for a simple customer-service-based job. I worked for Dierbergs for 4 years in high school and college; I have a short 6-month blip at a coffee shop, but no other actual menial job experience.  My hope is that I will pick up some type of seasonal job somewhere to tie me over until next year.

I have applied to: JoAnns, Bed Bath & Beyond, Starbucks(es), Barnes & Noble, Target, Kroger, Walgreens, JCPenney, Michael's and Best Buy. Wow, that's a lot. So far, I've gotten zero calls back.

But does anyone else find it absolutely ridiculous that I have a bachelor's degree, full-time job and I still can't make due? Or that I have a bachelor's degree and department stores would rather hire kids in high school over me? (I don't really know if the second part is true, but go with it, OK?)

Basically what it comes down to is that my dream isn't enough. Not for now at least.

I'm not quite the savvy shopper, but...

The Savannah Morning News has a weekly columnist called the Savvy Shopper. This woman uses sales, clearances and coupons to buy a crap-ton of stuff for really low prices. Not only does she have the column, but she also holds coupon classes and has a huge following in Savannah. While I don't understand why one would need 15 boxes of cereal at a time, she still definitely knows how to shop. Well, I'm not her, but I have been raised with a thrifty eye, which could be good and bad, I guess.

I flock to the clearance racks at JCPenney; I browse the end caps at Target, and I am now clipping coupons weekly. Sometimes I get really good deals. For example, today I went a clothes shopping. I went to JCPenney, Old Navy and Payless, and if I would have bought everything at full price (3 dressy shirts, a cardigan, 3 dresses and a pair of flats), I would have spent $240. Because of the clearance racks, my $10 off coupon and good eyes, I got it all for a little under $61. That's a savings of $179, people! Can I also add that I was doing all this while sipping on my pumpkin spice frappuccino that I got for free for filling out a survey for Starbucks?

What are the bad parts, then, you ask? Well, because I get such good deals on everything, I feel like I can't pay normal prices for anything, and I won't do it. A $40 pair of shoes? Nope. $50 pair of jeans? No way. I feel bad paying that much money for things that I might be able to get cheaper either at a different store or at the end of the season. I don't like to call it frugal, but I don't know what else to call it.

On days like this, though, I can definitely call it freaking awesome.